A: Probably not.

The weather cooled down a little recently after an unseasonably warm thaw that started back at the start of the Iditarod on March 1. Winter came back in April, kinda’. It dipped below freezing and got down to 0 degrees on a couple of mornings, then we got a little more snow. So, what the heck. I have dogs, right? I took 12, most of them veterans of this year’s Iditarod, on a 20 miler on April 13. They had fun, and so did I.

The snow’s still pretty much gone down where I live at sea level, so I still had to truck the team up Oilwell Road to about 800 feet elevation. It’s our usual way of getting early and late sled runs around here. There were about five other dog trucks parked at the trail head, so great minds must think alike.

The snow is so deep up there that I’ll probably go back at least once more before I stash the sleds for the winter. It’s a good way to try younger dogs in lead, let the dogs stretch out a bit with no worries and lots of trail breaks, and just have fun being in the country with dogs.