Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Fun Days Dog Sledding at Fair Hill NRMA

Fun days dog sledding at Fair Hill NRMA

Eric and I along with the Maryland Sled Dog Adventures sled dogs have spent two enjoyable days dog sledding at Fair Hill NRMA near Elkton, Maryland with some of our mushing friends.

Calling all mushers!

Calling all sled dogs!

Getting ready to hook up the teams

Ruth and Eric both modeled their "toques" courtesy of our Canadian musher friend, Gino. Eric's hat has been embellished with a Vancouver Olympics pin.

On Sunday, after the Baltimore area received approximately 21 inches of snow, several mushers met up at Fair Hill for a fun run. After a six mile run with fellow mushers (and musher spouses) Linda and Kevin Powers, Ruth and Nick Sands, Jessica and Chris Bannister, and Reggie Brown, the whole gang headed out for a warm lunch. Following lunch, Eric and I headed back for a short two mile skijor session with Acadia.

Teams coming out of the lot

The Maryland Sled Dog Adventures team

Nick and team under blue skies

Three sled dog teams coming up the "big" hill

Wheel dog, "silly" Sobo, takes a mental break
The Powers Pack (Aura, Chinook, Fenway, Kodiak)

On Monday, Eric and I again headed back up to Fair Hill for another fun run with Linda and Kevin Powers, Nick Sands, Reggie Brown, and Mike Uleau. For this run we ran about 6.5 miles. Along the way, we had several "training opportunities" including many passes of other teams, several passes of pastured horses, and a little stretch of plowed road. There is even a video of us during part of our run courtesy of Kevin Powers. While the team was out dog sledding, retired sled dog, T-Bone, had some fun of his own!

Leaving the trail head is always exciting

Heading home is always so much more sedate...

While the team was out dog sledding, T-Bone had a nice walk in the snow

Nick departing the trail head

Nick whipping around the corner: this is when sled dog driving skills come into play

The Powers Pack working hard up the hill

In lead: Acadia and Zoe. In wheel: Sobo and Okemo