More Maine Dog Sledding Adventures: Exploring New Trails.

Eric and the Maryland Sled Dog Adventures team head down the Lemon Stream trail.

Continuing our Maine adventures, on Thursday, Eric headed out to run the newly discovered Lemon Stream trail with the whole sled dog team.

Another twisty, turning trail that the sled dogs LOVE.

Lemon Stream Trail

The first issue we faced was how to cross the plowed road that the cabin sits on since this particular trail picks up on the opposite side of the road from the cabin. One option was to head down the Tie trail directly from the cabin, take a "haw" (left) at the end of the tie trail, make a diagonal road crossing, and pick up the Lemon Stream trail. After discussing it, Eric and I discarded this option in favor of the safer albeit more cumbersome and time consuming option of loading the dogs onto the dog truck and taking the truck the couple of hundred feet or so down the cabin road, and parking it directly adjacent to the trail. Since this was our first run, we decided to play it safe.

After positioning the truck adjacent to the trail, Eric hooked up a five dog team of Acadia and Gypsy in lead, Luke in team, and Okemo and Sobo in wheel and headed out for what was to ultimately end up being a 15 mile run with 1800 feet of elevation gain! Along the way, Eric even drew a rough map of the trails and kept track of distances on the interconnecting trails. No easy feat when driving five raring to go sled dogs.

Hooking up the dogs on the Lemon Stream trail. Luke, as always, is raring to go.

There they go!

On Friday, we picked up approximately a foot of new snow at the cabin followed by 20-30 MPH winds. Remarkably, we did not lose power during any portion of the storm. As a result, most of Friday was spent shoveling, snow blowing (until the snow blower died. Note: never purchase a Troy Bilt (Tecumseh) snow blower), and hanging out with the sled dogs who were all cuddled up nice and warm inside the cabin.

The offending Tecumseh snow blowing machine is only about five years old and has only blown snow about ten times and now appears to have a broken connecting rod (which is apparently quite common on Troy Bilt/Tecumseh snow blowers)

Blazing fire in the wood stove kept the cabin toasty throughout the storm

T-Bone hangs out in the cabin during the storm

Acadia decides a nap is in order.

Saturday morning, dawned clear and very cold with temperatures slightly below zero. After it warmed up a bit, Eric headed out on the newly fallen snow for a four mile run up the Power Line trail and down the other side of the Power Line trail in the deep powder. Along for this run, was puppy monster, Sammi, who Eric reported pulled hard the whole time while breaking trail though the deep snow. Acadia and Gypsy ran lead, Sammi and Okemo ran in team, and Sobo and Luke ran in wheel. The remainder of Saturday was spent cleaning and packing up the cabin so that we could head home early Sunday morning.

Post run, Sammi had plenty of energy left over for mischief. Just look at that face!

We even cleaned the ceiling fan!

Up North Summer Adventures

Cabin in the woods

Eric and I along with the whole crew of Maryland Sled Dog Adventures' sled dogs, just returned from a little over three weeks of up north adventures at our cabin in Maine.

Okemo chewing on his nylabone.

Wheel dog, Okemo, shows off his playful side--88 lbs of playing (and pulling) power

Wheel dog and occassional lead dog, Sobo, clearly suffers from "Siberian Sleeping Sickness."

Chloe: These dogs are so undignified!

While in Maine we had a blast white water river rafting at the Forks, picking blackberries, hiking, making blackberry jam, visiting the Wilton Blueberry Festival, near daily swims at Clearwater Pond, camp fires, hosting several of our musher friends at a backyard BBQ, watching the stars, enjoying the silence, and, in general, just relaxing "up to camp." We saw several moose including a mama and two babies, a porcupine, several deer, tons of dragonflies, and many butterflies. We also heard the yips of coyotes in the distance. We also visited several swimming holes including Smalls Falls and Coos Canyon. Of course, we also did quite a bit of work while up at the cabin including work on the trails surrounding the cabin (we built a pallet bridge over a low spot on the trail that ties us into the main trail), split and stacked wood, and cut down several trees.

Fireweed

Fire pit awaiting an evening camp fire

The view down our tie trail

The view from the ridge

Eric working on the chainsaw

Cutting wood

Team mascot, T-Bone, romps on the trail

Veteran lead dog, Zoe, bounds down the trail.

I've found something

Maine: Up to Camp!

Live Maine Lobsters

Eric and I along with the Maryland Sled Dog Adventures sled dogs just returned from ten days of adventures up north at our cabin (to Mainers it's a "camp") in Maine.

Hanging the new sign we received as a gift

Along the way, we had two nice Maine lobster dinners. All of the lobsters we purchased this time were "hard shells" vs. "shedders." Eric and I both agree that shedders are much easier to eat than hard shells and even have a different (sweeter) taste than the hard shell lobsters we had on this trip.

We also purchased a new gas grill for the cabin to replace the tiny Weber "Smokey Joe" (portable) we were using as our grill up there.

Eric spent several days cutting and splitting firewood for the wood stove come winter. The new log splitter and the electric chain saw sharpener really helped make that task easier. We also managed to score four free pallets while down at the Home Depot in Augusta. One pallet will be used as a small "bridge" through a wet place on our tie trail (the trail that connects our cabin to the surrounding trails) while the other three were used as a base for Eric's wood pile.

New gas grill

Okemo waits for dinner

Chloe (the cat), Eric and T-Bone relax on the couch

For recreation, we hiked up to the top of Mt. Blue (approx. 3000 feet) in Mt. Blue State Park, took a trip up to Rangeley, and went swimming in Lemon Stream and the Sandy River. The hike up Mt. Blue was quite strenuous as it rises a little under 2000 feet in just 1.6 miles. Along the way we saw tons of moose activity but, sadly, no moose. Once at the top, however, the views were spectacular. Along for the hike were Okemo and Acadia.

On Sunday, we decided to take a short drive up to Rangeley. Along the way we stopped and got some Giffords ice cream. Even Acadia and Zoe enjoyed an ice cream treat.

Acadia checks out the view from the top of Mt. Blue

The view from the top of Mt. Blue

Eric at the top of Mt. Blue

Fish eye view

Webb Lake

Rangeley Lake

While up at the cabin, we had temperatures ranging from the mid 90s to the low 40s. As they say in Maine: "If you don't like the weather, wait a minute."

Most of the time the day time highs were in the 70s with very low humidity

Adventures in Maine Dog Sledding: Breaking in the New Dog Sled

Looking across and down the power line trail

One of the goals of our recent dog sledding adventure up at the Maryland Sled Dog Adventures cabin in Maine was to break in our new Outlaw dog sled and "put it through its paces." This sled was purchased specifically for its exceptional steering abilities and, hopefully, its ability to survive the trails surrounding our Maine camp.

Pulling hard down the trail: (l-r) Acadia and Zoe in lead with Okemo and Sobo in wheel

While gorgeous, these trails are not for the faint of heart, require an adventurous spirit, and are twisty, turny, and sometimes narrow. But they are oh so worth it once you've mushed along them under crystal clear blue skies and taken in the panoramic views.

Curvy trails ahead

Getting ready to head down the power line trail

We are happy to report that despite somewhat less than optimal trail conditions (icy with light snow cover), the Outlaw dog sled survived (as did the mushers) and in some instances even thrived.

Stopped along the trail: Zoe and Acadia in lead with Sobo and Okemo in wheel

Starting down the tie trail from camp

A little further down the tie trail

Killer turn: This is where the exceptional steering comes in handy

Whew, we made it around that tree and through the "killer turn"

Big wheel dogs Okemo (left) and Sobo (right).

After a killer "gee" turn, up the power line trail we go!

Another gorgeous day on the trail. What could be better?

Snow: 10-14 inches expected at the cabin

As it looks now....

The Maryland Sled Dog Adventures sled dogs can smell it. What is "it."? "It" is SNOW. The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning for our cabin in Maine:

Issued by The National Weather Service

Portland, ME
3:36 am EST, Wed., Dec. 9, 2009

A WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 9 AM THIS MORNING TO 1 AM EST THURSDAY.

ACROSS INTERIOR CENTRAL MAINE... LOOK FOR SNOW TO DEVELOP BETWEEN 700 AND 900 AM. THE SNOW WILL BECOME HEAVY AT TIMES LATER THIS MORNING AND THIS AFTERNOON... THEN BECOME LIGHTER IN INTENSITY THIS EVENING. BY THE TIME THE PRECIPITATION TAPERS OFF TO LIGHT FREEZING RAIN OR SLEET... BETWEEN 10 AND 14 INCHES OF NEW SNOW CAN BE EXPECTED.

AS THE PRECIPITATION BECOMES LIGHTER TONIGHT... IT WILL LIKELY FALL IN THE FORM OF DRIZZLE... .FREEZING DRIZZLE OR SNOW FLURRIES. THIS WILL DEPEND ON SURFACE TEMPERATURES... BUT LITTLE ADDITIONAL SNOWFALL IS EXPECTED AFTER THIS EVENING.

More Information

... SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL EXPECTED TODAY AND TONIGHT...

.A WARM FRONT EXTENDING EAST FROM LOWE PRESSURE OVER THE GREAT LAKES WILL APPROACH THE REGION THIS MORNING. AHEAD OF THE WARM FRONT... SNOW WILL DEVELOP FROM SOUTHWEST TO NORTHEAST BETWEEN 500 AND 1000 AM.

AN AREA OF LOW PRESSURE DEVELOPING ON THE WARM FRONT WILL RESULT IN SNOW FALLING HEAVILY AT TIMES FROM MID MORNING THROUGH THE AFTERNOON HOURS. SNOWFALL RATES OF 1 TO 2 INCHES AN HOUR ARE POSSIBLE DURING THIS TIME. TRAVEL WILL BE SIGNIFICANTLY IMPACTED FROM THE MORNING COMMUTE ONWARD... .AS CONDITIONS DETERIORATE FAIRLY RAPIDLY THIS MORNING INTO THE AFTERNOON HOURS.

Ten to fourteen inches of snow is predicted to fall at our dog sledding cabin in Maine and since we're all snow lovers we say: bring it on! While snow at the cabin means plowing, shoveling and clearing, it also means dog sledding, cross country skiing, skijoring, and snow shoeing, some of our favorite activities. To check snow depths, we use the NERFC Snow Depth Map which is updated daily.

As it will soon look....

Want to spend four days having a hands on adventure learning all aspects of dog sledding and mushing across the gorgeous snow covered trails surrounding our Maine cabin? Interested in learning how to skijor, breaking trail on snowshoes in a silent forest, identifying animal tracks around the cabin, and spending time with our lovable sled dogs? If so, check out our special women's dog sledding adventure trip: our Maine Winter Cabin Adventure. There are only six spaces available for this trip and they are filling fast so email catherine@marylanddogsledding.com to register.