That’s what a friend of mine called this time of winter in Alaska, when you’ve got 12 hours of daylight and the snow is hard-packed and the daytime temperatures are warm.
It’s great to get out and have a little fun, and I haven’t been here for it since 1998, being tied up either running the Iditarod or covering it up the trail. So freed up from all that nagging ‘work’, which I wish I still had, I’ve managed to have fun anyway, such as today. I took eight dogs out to Tustumena Lake to scope out a route to a cabin. (I’ll be taking a retired friend and his wife out to the cabin tomorrow; He’ll be running a small team and she will be riding in a sled driven by my wife.)
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- Breaking trail
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- Following old moose tracks
I had this totally miled up, small team of dogs and we broke trail across this huge lake that’s 22 miles long and maybe 5 miles from side to side. What awesome leader training. And when we pulled up to the cabin, I realized the trail back down to the frozen lake involved a hard right turn over exposed stumps and rocks. I paused for maybe one second, then began unhooking all my dogs from the gangline. What a blast!
They darted all over the place sniffing and relieving themselves.
Several of these dogs were the core of my Quest team and I’m glad to give them runs like this, where there’s absolutely no pressure and tons of fun extras. They snacked twice in two hours, for instance.
These cool March days, when it’s 5 below at night and 30 above during the afternoon, are a great time to let the dogs unwind and have a good time. I shot a short video at the cabin, capped with a statement from my my eight year old leader Shasta…
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March 21, 2009 at 5:02 am
Michou
Loved the video Great to see dogs that get to R & R
What a great place and such a cute cabin Makes me wish I were there Here south east of Montreal we no longer have any snow and with really warm weather last week and really cold since then there is only thick ice everywhere to dangerous to let the dogs run How I envy you with the snow conditions you have and loved seing your dogs having such a good time
Thank you for sharing this video
Michou
March 21, 2009 at 7:53 am
Laurie
This was a fun video. I love seeing the dogs just checking things. I am really surprised that they don’t just take off and run, when you turn them loose. Is it because they get enough running hooked up to the sled, so they don’t have that urge immediately, or is it training that keeps them close by? If Anvik gets out of our fenced in back yard, she just runs and runs and runs until she’s exhausted, and no amount of chasing, following, or tempting treats will bring her near until she’s ready to come back in and collapse when she feels like it. I would love to take her for walks and let her loose to run, but she would take off and be gone for hours. How do you get them to stay right with you?
March 21, 2009 at 8:08 am
Kristi-Lynn
I’m hooked! I’ve followed you for years – but it was only at “Iditarod time”… I think that’s changed. Your writing some how takes me to the places you speak of and your pictures solidify the feelings. Although the race is winding down and the Red Lantern winner should be home in few more days, I think this time I will keep following you. I am thrilled to have found your website and look forward to your stories year round.