It snowed last night and has been lightly snowing all day... just beautiful...The temperature is predicted to get really cold by the weekend down to -25. We'll see if that happens. I hope it doesn't or we will be stuck at home and not out at the cabin.
Today the team and I got out on the trails again. We were hoping to do some exploration but came upon too many posted traplines to chance going in. Its so frustrating seeing so much danger out there. On the one hand I'm grateful that people are posting a warning, on the other it doesn't seem there are safe places to run the dogs any more. I'm trying not to let this bring me down and focus on the positive but its pretty hard.
On trail back to the truck I found a new trail that wasn't posted as a trapline and I figured we could chance checking it out. It dead ended abruptly and we were faced with making the decision of going forward or turning around. With all the previous frustration of not being able to explore I opted to go straight.
The trail was so snowed in Juno, Reba and Ichabod had no idea where to go so I got my snowshoes and ventured out ahead to show the way. It was tough, tough work but very fulfilling. I unhooked tugs to lesson the power but Remus was pulling so hard on his neckline I had to pull some dogs completely off. Having a team of four worked perfectly and the loose guys got a chance to play in the snow and goof off. A great way to add some fun and relaxation to a very hard trail.
I was hoping some of the loose guys would help break trail but it was not to be... Buddy tried for a little bit but was so bogged down, the snow was up to his chest, that he was happy to let me pack it down myself. The other loose guys, including the pups, learned how to stay off my snowshoes with the help of my ski pole wagging back and forth like a tail every so often. A couple of pokes to the dogs who were getting too close was enough to teach them a respectful distance while the sled and the four dogs pulling took turns resting and catching up to us.
Since it was starting to get dark I didn't break trail for too long. My goal is to tackle that trail again next time, pack it down a bit more and keep heading straight to open up more miles. This should give us another trail and another loop to keep us busy with the option of breaking more trail out in the future and adding even more loops.Of course taking a snowmachine out first to do the first pass would help greatly but I'm kind of old fashioned. Id rather break it out myself and teach the dogs learn trail manners rather than take the easy route and deal with a noisy smelly machine.
The pups did great this time, hardly any of them wanted to ride in the sled until the very end. Even then I had to pull them into the bag and make them lay down to rest. These guys are so resilient and tough!
At one time we had three babies in the sled and the team did great pulling all their bulk. With a short break all were off again running on their own. I'm thinking I might need to start adding regular weight to the sled... soon I wont have babies depending on me for a ride!
I think the trail breaking was the hardest for them. Calypso took it in stride when she realized she could ride the sled and have the team pull her along. It was the funniest thing I ever saw!
Total miles: 17.12
Eight dog team (Iggy and MollyAnna stayed home)
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