Jake Berkowitz sleeps on a plywood bunk in a plywood shack, heated by a wood-burning stove.

Most winter mornings, the St. Paul native is up by 6:30 to help feed the dogs, more than 100 of them. After cleaning up after them and doing chores, he takes the dogs for an easy five-hour run in the snow-packed Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Well, they run, he drives.

The 21-year-old is a rookie in the 2008 Iditarod, an 1,100-mile slog over Alaska's punishing terrain in subzero weather. The race, which started Saturday, is dubbed by some "the last great race on Earth."

For Berkowitz, it's his first big test as a musher.

"You want to know how you stand compared to the other best mushers in the world. You're miserable throughout the race," he said. "It's test day. The rest of the year is just practicing.

"If you don't come in with broken bones or lost fingers or toes, you've done a miracle."

Berkowitz has been driving dog sleds for three winters.

He grew up a city kid in St. Paul's Crocus Hill neighborhood, with an affinity for dogs and a love for the outdoors. He played tennis and was active in his synagogue youth group. Music and movies didn't interest him as much as fresh air and trees.

Spending summers at Camp Widjiwagan near Ely, Minn., helped him hone his skills in the wild. He learned wilderness first aid and went on a 55-day Arctic canoe expedition.

He graduated from Central High School in 2004 and spent a year in Israel, much of it in the desert. He came back to start the fall semester at the University of Colorado but realized a classroom was too confining at that time.

Berkowitz spent that Thanksgiving with his family, then a few days later got on a bus to McMillan, in the Upper Peninsula, and got off at Nature's Kennel, where he was hired as a guide. It wasn't long before he fell in love with dog-sled racing.

He is at home with the deliberate pace of life in North Woods. He makes his living as a musher, and he and his colleagues at the kennel lead dog-sled tours to make money.

"I don't really miss the city," Berkowitz says. Three days is about all the urban time he needs.

"Although he's a very gregarious guy, if he had his druthers he'd hang out with his dogs," said his father, Sheldon.

It took Jake's father several months to get comfortable with the idea of his son living this lifestyle. But seeing a photo of Jake in his element, flashing an enormous grin, was enough for him to realize his son had found a passion.

"Unless at the end of the race he says, 'This was the pits,' I think he will continue to do it," he said. "He is very committed."

16 dogs and a mission

Sixteen Alaskan huskies will accompany Jake Berkowitz on the trek, which he hopes to finish in 12 days. Top mushers usually cross the finish line in nine or 10 days, and the rear pack usually finishes in 16 to 17.

A top-40 finish would be great, he says, but to complete the race with all his dogs healthy is the first goal. He has the highest confidence in Arrow, Art, Clair, Cupid, Dash, Gus, George, Hoover, Martha, Razzle, Rhu, Sprout, Superior, Tsunami, Vinnie and Violet.

As Berkowitz sees it, he owes it to the dogs to do the Iditarod. "They've given me everything they can," he said. "They truly love to do this."

He plans to hold them back for the first couple of hundred miles -- pacing is crucial, veteran mushers have told Berkowitz.

Before he battled the icy inclines and felt the wrath of the wild Alaskan wind, Berkowitz said he would like to do two more Iditarods. Maybe he will open his own kennel.

For now, he just wants to conquer the trail with his dogs and head back to the shack in the U.P. Chris Havens • 651-298-1542