Two years ago, we did something that, in hindsight, looks a little crazy. In August 2023, we wrote a check and took ownership of Mushing Magazine and Team & Trail. At the time, we told ourselves, and anyone who asked, that it was a smart business move, a couple of 60-year-old titles with history, a built-in audience (as small and niche as it is), and (we thought) untapped revenue potential.
We were wrong.
What we actually bought was a passion that had quietly turned into a burden. Print costs skyrocketed. Postage kept climbing. Ad dollars shrank faster than Alaska snow in May. In two short years, we poured well over $100,000 of our own money into keeping the lights on, and every month the expenses still outran the income by a lot.
The hardest part wasn’t the money. It was the pressure. For fifteen years, ever since we hit “record” on the very first episode of Mush You Huskies in spring 2009, telling dog-mushing stories had been pure joy. No investors, no board, no one to answer to except a handful of advertisers and a community that just loved hearing about the trail. When the magazine came with real bills and real deadlines, that joy started to feel like a job we weren’t very good at.
So, we asked ourselves a simple question: How do we get the passion back and still keep the magazine alive?
The answer took eighteen quiet months of legal work, late-night talks, and a lot of soul-searching. Effective November 2025, Mushing Magazine, the print edition, the website, the podcasts, the courses, the archives, and our 30-dog sled team are now fully part of the Team and Trail Foundation, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit we built for exactly this moment.
We know the mushing world is small, tight-knit, and let’s be honest, sometimes a little protective of its own. We get it; that’s part of what makes it special. But our vision with the Team and Trail Foundation extends beyond the gangline. For years, I’ve spoken at outdoor-leadership conferences across the Lower 48, and the one thing every guide, program director, and corporate trainer has told me is the same: “Follow your passion, people will follow you.” Adventure is the most powerful leadership laboratory most people will ever experience, yet almost no one outside our circle knows it exists.
We intend to change that. Yes, we will always serve the hardcore mushers first, you are the heart of this thing, but we’re also bringing the broader outdoor and leadership communities into the fold. Because once someone spends a day behind a team of sled dogs, they’re never the same again. And the world could use a few more of those people.
We have watched other beloved outdoor magazines face the same cliff. Some closed. The smart ones, Sierra, Adventure Cyclist, Orion, and High Country News, removed the advertising crutch and asked their readers to carry them instead. Every single one came out stronger. Print frequency stayed the same or grew. Content got deeper. And the magazines are still here decades later.
That is the path we are taking.
Starting now, Mushing Magazine is member-supported. No more ad sales pressure. No more cutting pages to chase a late sponsor. Four print issues a year, mailed to your door, paid for directly by the people who love them most, you.
One annual Mushing+ membership campaign ($50, $45 for Alaskans) keeps the presses rolling and does a lot more:
- Funds college-credit mushing and leadership courses at UAA, APU and Dreamchaser Leadership
- Sends small grants to adaptive programs, junior teams, and outdoor leadership initiatives
- Keeps an entire second members-only bonus podcast feed full of the long, unfiltered stories we can’t fit anywhere else
We are recapturing what made this whole thing fun in the first place. We are going back to 2009, when the only thing that mattered was the story and the dogs.
There is a lot more to come, new voices, deeper series, university partnerships, youth initiatives, but the foundation (literally) is now in place.
The Fall/Winter print issue is in layout now and will be at the printer in December. If you are already a Mushing+member, it will be delivered to your mailbox next month. If you’re not, we hope you’ll join us. This isn’t just about saving a magazine. It’s about keeping a 62-year-old voice on the trail for the next 62 years, and beyond.
Join or renew today at mushing.com/mushingplus
Alaska residents: email leaddog@mushing.com for your $45 code.
Thank you for running with us all these years. The best miles are still ahead.
~Dr. Robert Forto & the entire Team and Trail Foundation pack
