Well folks Spring came and went quickly this year and provided us with an amazing month of mushing and camping. In the end of March, Cody's dad Sterling came to visit. He got a taste of what our winter was like when on the second day we put him on a sled with his own team and we headed out to Minto Flats for an overnight. We camped out in the flats and then took down our training camp that we had used all winter for race training. Dad can be seen to the left with his 6 dog team. We did about 50 miles in those 2 days. Previous dog experience was about 2 miles with 4 dogs about 2 years ago.. cowboy to musher.. overnight.
We then headed to the White Mountains for a 3 day trip staying at the Colorado Creek Cabin. We took the entire kennel except Stout, who was recuperating from a shoulder injury. Dad ran the same six dog team, Paige Ran the pups and I ran all the rest with the freight sled full of goodies for our time at the cabin. We had a great stay filled with hikes, firewood cutting, good food and drinks and games.
The next day after returning from the whites we had a goofy little event to celebrate our anniversary known as the Old Ridge Retro Rondy where folks dressed up in retro winter clothes and brought their dogs out for a short fun race. What a blast.
The last chapter in our spring of mushing was our annual trip to the north slope of the Brooks Range to test ourselves and dogs in some real wilderness and to find caribou to fill the freezer.
We spent an amazing week exploring areas of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and Gates of the Arctic National Preserve. There is nothing quite like a day of watching your team in awe as they break trail through shoulder deep snow for miles, nothing like gliding along a river with dall sheep on the cliffs above, nothing like paralelling a lone wolf for several miles on the open tundra and then hearing the entire valley go off with howls and nothing like the feeling of providing for the family with fresh caribou meat...This is what we live for.. spending time in the wilderness living with our dogs...... can't wait until next fall when we can do it all again.
Thanks for watching during the 2009 - 2010 mushing season. Stay tuned this summer for the arrival of our new team member puppies from Stumpy and Lucy.
