On Sleds...Again.

It seems as if the snow is finally here to stay.  We got about eight inches so its back to the sleds again.  After going to Washburn, we had gotten some rain and it sucked for us, and demolished the trail in Washburn, too, but this last storm has allowed us to forget all of that.  On Friday-12-21-2012, we loaded up and went over to Marenisco again to enjoy some of our old standby trails up there.  There was a foot of untouched snow and we had to break trail the whole time.  It was warm when it snowed, so it was squishy and sticky and the dogs were tired after the 16 mile run, but we are not complaining-thank goodness for the snow!

We were joking that because I follow with my dragmat down to slow my team a bit and stay behind, Jeremy breaks the trail and my team "grooms" it...this is how it looks when I hit it...

and this is how it looks after.

Sledding in Washburn, Wisconsin

  We are still without much for snow (maybe two inches), and heard that Washburn, Wisconsin had gotten a foot of new snow with the last storm and that they have some nice trails over there, so we decided to make the 55 mile or so drive over yesterday with two eight dog teams and our sleds to check it out.  We were informed that there are lots of interconnecting forest roads and it can be easy to get lost so we should have maps for sure, so we studied the roads on Google Earth before hand and stopped at the Forestry office in Washburn to pick up a couple maps when we got over there (the snowmobile trail maps worked best on the sleds).  We carefully planned out a 25 mile set of loops and parked right by the Long Lake turnoff.   The snow had settled to about six to eight inches, which is good enough for us-beggars can't be choosers-and the trails over there are fantastic!  There isn't really much base, so there are a couple SHORT sections that are a little rough, but it was totally worth driving over for and we had a blast!  We will definitely be going over there again.  We didn't see any sign of any other mushers (unbelievable with those trails!), there was a couple trucks driving around out there, but that's just good training for the dogs (passing them).  I hope other mushers decide to head over there-we definitely recommend it.

 The dogs really enjoyed the 25.5 mile run and its really great to see the yearlings improving with every run.  Everyone finished happy and in great shape.  The maps were helpful and made it easy to navigate the trails (forest roads), even when we missed our first turn-we were easily able to improvise slightly and were able to complete the run with no problems.  We can't wait to do it again.

No More Snow and The Jack Frost Parade

Almost all of our snow has melted and we have had to go back to wheeled training.  This really stinks for everyone.  Its really hard on the dogs' feet having to run on gravel and frozen gravel and its really hard to get the miles up.  Its noticeably harder on the dogs in general-the snow softens some of the impact on the joints, too, and the dogs are just plain happier when they are on snow, to say nothing of the mushers.  Its really one of the most helpless, frustrating things to deal with this time of year-not being able to get the weather we need. 
  We went and tried out a part of the trail system we are hoping to use this winter over near Marenisco a couple days ago.  This section has a tunnel that goes under the highway-it's an old railroad tunnel that is now part of the snowmobile trail system east of Marensico that allows us access to many, many miles of trails (hopefully) without the worry of crossing the highway.  We decided to see how the dogs would take it, as they've never been through a tunnel before.  They slowed down a bit, and at first it looked like the leaders were searching for a way around it, but in the end, they went through with no trouble.

This Friday was Ironwoods annual Jack Frost Parade.  We've been talking for a couple years now about how we should get the dogs in the parade and get a little more involved in and exposed to our community, and this year we finally did it.  We decided to just have a small team of dogs pulling either a sled or four wheeler.  At first, we were hoping for the sled, six dogs, Autumn riding in it, Jeremy driving it, and Elliot and I keeping the team under control with leashes.  Well, the snow all melted so we had to go with the four-wheeler.  We decided to go with eight dogs , Jeremy driving, Spike (Autumns fuzzy little dog) riding in a milk crate on the front rack, Elliot, one of Elliot's friends, Charlie, and I held leashes to keep the dogs on the right path and under control, and Autumn walked along near the ATV to keep an eye on Spike (and stop frustrated dogs from chewing lines).  We ran a string of lights up the gangline, and had some lights on the ATV-the lights of course stopped working halfway through, ARGH!
  The dogs handled it all pretty well-we went with Thunder(of course) and Cherry in lead, Storm and Cloud in point, Hail and Lara in team, and Nakiski and Aspen in wheel.  The young dogs got some crowd experience and we had to take the two blue eyed dogs just for show.  Thunder really shined and enjoyed himself, grinning and pulling/leading the team like mad.  It turns out LOTS of people bring their dogs to this parade, so the yearlings (Storm, Cloud, Lara) were pretty nervous and vocal about it, and they all got frustrated with the SLOW and stopping, and Autumn had to stop some line chewing from happening, but all in all, they put on a nice show and lined out and kept moving forward nicely, and looked pretty professional if I do say so myself!  I took a couple pics before the start of the parade, but it was dark (parade started at 6 pm) and our camera is not good in low light.

The ATV with our logo sign on it.

Trying to get a pic of the lights before hookup.

The team waiting for the start.  I think their whining/barking/howling annoyed the people from the float in front of us, but we had to listen to their generator run for the hour before the start, so I think we were even.

You can kind of see Spike in the basket on the ATV.  He was a real hit with the crowds, too.

Other people were supposed to have been snapping pics for us, too so hopefully I'll get a few more good photos soon.

Sledding-November 30

We went up to Marenisco, Michigan to check out some of the trails we had scouted this summer.  We were pretty sure, but not positive, that they wouldn't be plowed and so far we are right!  We did a 25 mile run-not what we originally intended, but it worked out anyhow.  We barely scratched the surface of the trail system up there.  We hooked up at one of the several Ottawa National Forest Campgrounds over there, which is obviously not in use during the winter (but luckily the outhouses are left unlocked).  There is miles and miles of Forest Roads to play on and enjoy.  They also link up to snowmobile trails, too, and if it all links the way we think and is all unplowed like we think, there's probably 100 miles or more that you could run teams of dogs on, with campgrounds scattered throughout to camp at with the dogs.

We took two eight dog teams.

Presque Isle River.

Crossing an old rail road bridge over the Presque Isle River.

Now we are experiencing warm (mid 40's-up to 50 on Monday) weather, so the snow will be gone on these roads, but hopefully it won't last as there is snow in the forecast later on in the week.  We really hope this last week of sledding isn't just a tease!