The Iditarod Trail Dog Sled Race is a renowned event held annually between Anchorage and Nome, Alaska. However, the Iditarod is much more than just a race. It spans over a thousand miles of freezing temperatures, fierce winds, snow, and ice. It involves days and nights where sleep deprivation induces hallucinations that can be more harrowing than the worst nightmare. Above all, it is a test of endurance for both a person and a team of dogs. Woodsong partially recounts Paulsen's experience running the Iditarod. Although Paulsen finished forty-second out of seventy-three mushers on his first attempt, this book isn't about competing in a race. It's the story of a man discovering more about himself, his dogs, and the wilderness. It is also about how he transformed from being a hunter to a student of his dogs and the wild creatures in the woods.

The first part of Woodsong features Paulsen's reflections, presented as a series of short vignettes rather than a chronological narrative. Paulsen shares some of his experiences living in northern Minnesota, running a trap line to support his wife Ruth and their son, and traveling through the snow with his sled dogs. Attempting to explain how his perspective on nature changed due to his observations, he describes various encounters with wild animals and the woods. There is the fawn that waded up to his canoe, the deer that escaped timber wolves by leaping past his circle of sled dogs to stand, exhausted, by his fire, the ghost that turned out to be a six-foot-high rotten stump, and the deer found frozen solid, standing upright beside the trail. But most importantly, there are the dogs. It was the dogs who taught him the most and who were his companions during the Iditarod. In the second part of the book, Paulsen provides a day-by-day account of the seventeen days he spent running the Iditarod. However, this isn't truly a story about the race itself, but rather a chronological narrative of his thoughts, actions, and interactions with his dogs. It is a journey of self-discovery, making Woodsong a coming-of-age story for a grown man.