Snow has been falling for the last few days! It’s a winter wonderland.
Two Rivers added at least 4-5 inches of white powder, but other parts of Interior Alaska got substantially more. On a gamble, we loaded up 30 dogs (three teams of 10 dogs) into the SP Kennel dog trucks and headed to the White Mountains – just to the North of the kennel.
We arrived at the trail head parking lot just before noon. It was a good sign that three Alaska Department of Transportation snow plows were parked there.
Dingle glares at the photographer for dilly-dallying and
Scruggs checks out Big Red’s signage
as Scout, Malibu and Oddball waiting patiently.
After snacking, harnessing, bootying and unpacking all the gear from trucks, we trotted out onto the snow laden trail. And SNOW there was! Rose and Olivia broke trail (6 – 8 inches of fresh snow) for 15 miles. Then Chica and Ranger took over.
The teams ran 25 miles in just under 3 1/2 hours. A little slow for our outfit!
We turned around at a cabin in the woods. While we gave the dogs a short break another dog team pulled into the cabin. It was Ken Anderson (Yukon Quest and Iditarod musher). He was out with a large dog team pulling his chained up four wheel drive ATV towing a trail groomer.
So, when we left the cabin, we had a perfectly smooth 25 mile “race track” back to the trucks.
Perfect day.
This is a sunset photo (not computer enhanced) from the back of a dog sled
– please note the “hanging on to the handlebar, so the team doesn’t leave with out me” angle –
That is what I say a good day,great to hear training is good.
Looking forward to following your teams in the two Quest this year.Thanks for posting the pic's and your trail runs.
Pete
Beautiful picture. We went to the White Mountains for the first time last year after Christmas when we were visiting Todd. Beautiful place. Although it was a might too cold for our Virginia blood 🙂 Good luck this year!