Longer miles...

Ok, so here I am...a bit frosty. And this was after I'd already started dripping! I took the dogs on a 40 miler on the atv and boy did it get cold down there in the flats! Basically, that's all swampy muskeg in the summers...some very low lying ground. Brrr! Honestly though, only my fingers got cold...but, that was taken care of with some heat packs in my mitts. I have to tell you...that was the LAST long run on the atv...that's just plain miserable. And what a rough run on the dogs! I had to stop and clean feet a few times, as they started getting ice balls. Still, they ran strong and we went across the ponds just a mile from home doing 13-14mph. Cool! The line up for today was: Sunshine & Feather in lead, Chevy & China in swing, Zen & Just, Dusk & Booger, Jericho & Tricky, Hilti & Ahab, and Rocket & Inu in wheel (my wheel boys!). We went all the way out to the trapline loop, then headed back. I saw 4 different teams out there, all on sleds, all running 8-10 dogs. I had a head on pass with Olaf...but he had a little trouble and had to hook down. His hook held beautifully. I came up upon another guy after that, who had a tangle (probably from a head on with Olaf). My dogs were going by nicely (as they do most of the time...they're pros at passing...usually)...then Sunshine for some reason, decided to turn around and say "Hi" to the other team. I hollered at him to line out and he did...so just a small snafu. About 2-3 miles after that, I pulled Sunshine out of lead and put Chevy up front with Feather. These two dogs are awesome together! Chevy has this beautiful flying trot....he even trots at 15mph! He and Feather make a nice team up front and had us doing 10mph up the switchback hill. Nice! It took us 4 hours to do the 40 mile run...but with how hard and rough it is, it's easily equivalent to a 50-60 miler on sleds. We came into the yard and I gave the dogs nice sized fat snacks. They were all wagging their tails and pretty much inhaled those snacks! It's a good feeling to look at those fur kids so happy.

Zen is currently in heat (dang it!)...I'm really hoping she goes out by Cantwell time. It's such a pain to run a girl in heat. But, luckily Zen is all business, as are 'most' of my boys...of course, most of the dogs in our kennel are fixed, so it's generally not a problem. There are only 5 boys out of the 14 dog team who aren't neutered...which means I can move dogs around as I need to.

Wednesday will be a good 50 miler on sleds. We're planning on heading up to Stiles Creek Cabin trail. I'm hoping the trail is in good shape. Last I heard, there wasn't a whole lot of snow out towards the Angel Creek area. We'll see. We're going to break the team up into two 7 dog teams, just to play it safe. Well, I'm off. After 2 days of rough, 40 mile runs on that cold atv..I think I need a nap. Ha ha ha!! ;o)

-Were you a Rogue today??