Thanks to Jasin's generous offer of open his home and trails to us the Alaska Recreational Dog Mushers (ARDM) had a fabulous trail run, bonfire and potluck!There really are no words to describe how beautiful the trails are out in Nenana. I often thought if Ive seen one patch of trails in our great state Ive seen them all... not true! Sure, many of the trees were familiar species and there were the swamp areas that are so common around here but being on a different trail miles from home offered many different views and a whole new feel for one who is in tune with nature.
It was a wonderful run, maybe a bit on the warm side but the temps stayed as low as they could at around thirty. Today its over 40 and the snow is starting to become very, very soft...
Our team was small for this run and I brought my rec sled. Didn't want to bring my dog truck so I could save a bit of money on gas. I was amazed that I could fit nine dogs in there! NINE!! Two of those were pups (the Buffalo Brothers) so I had seven to work with in my team.Kathy started with four and realized right away that she would need a bit more power so I gave her Buddy. That dropped my team down to six, then five when Griffin started feeling the heat and preferred to pace himself running loose.
The babies got into a bit of trouble with Brendan's team who was running up ahead of us but we got things worked out and Boreas learned the lesson of which team was his. Thani learned this on our White Mountains trip but the refresher course helped a lot and Boreas was able to pick up the lesson quick by taking cues from his brother.
After the main group turned around at the 7 mile mark Kathy and I opted to go a few miles farther up and put in an 18-19 mile run. We came back in good form, the dogs were just tired enough to settle in while we enjoyed the bonfire, good company and excellent food. Kathy's salmon chowder was the highlight and Jasin's cheesecake blew us all away!
It was such a good time and all of us wished we could have stayed longer. But since Kathy was hauling Brendan's dogs, and a few of mine so I could have room in the passenger seat to bring out the visiting New Zealander all four of us had to go at the same time.I think the events of the day left us all with a huge desire to plan this sort of thing again. It looks like ARDM will be doing another bonfire to help bring in the winter season!
Bonfire Team:
Juno, Ichabod
Reba
Salmon, Remus
Buddy (swing in Kathy's team)
Loose dogs:
Griffin, Thani, Boreas
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