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

Got Snow?

Acadia LOVES the snow

Got Snow?

Here in Maryland, we certainly do and more is on the way according to the National Weather Service.

30 inches of snow blanket the house from the Superbowl Sunday/Monday storm

Today's forecast includes a Winter Storm Watch predicting anywhere from six inches to a foot of new snow. And it's not like it's been a dry year. To date, this year (i.e., since January), we've accumulated 52 plus inches of snow here in Maryland. And that doesn't even include our early December 2009 blizzard which dumped another foot of the white stuff.

It's a good thing that here at Maryland Sled Dog Adventures LLC, we LOVE snow. And even with all of the extra chores associated with big snow falls, I have to admit it's been very fun running all of our dog sledding programs using the dog sleds instead of the wheeled dog sleds (called a "rig" or "gig"). For photographs from some of our recent dog sledding programs, check out this blog entry and our Gallery.

Acadia plays in the snow from the December '09 Baltimore blizzard

Happy dog sledding, folks.

Issued by The National Weather Service
Baltimore/Washington, MD
3:18 am EST, Wed., Feb. 24, 2010

... WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH LATE THURSDAY NIGHT...

A WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH LATE THURSDAY NIGHT.

* PRECIPITATION TYPE... SNOW.

* ACCUMULATIONS... POTENTIAL FOR SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 5 OR MORE INCHES.

* TIMING... A MIX OF RAIN AND SNOW THIS EVENING WILL BECOME ALL SNOW BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND 3 AM TONIGHT. SNOW WILL LIKELY CONTINUE THURSDAY AND THURSDAY NIGHT... ESPECIALLY ACROSS NORTHEAST MARYLAND.

* TEMPERATURES... LOWS NEAR 30 TONIGHT. HIGHS IN THE LOWER TO MID 30S THURSDAY. LOWS IN THE MID TO UPPER 20S THURSDAY NIGHT.

* WINDS... NORTHWEST WINDS 10 TO 15 MPH TONIGHT... INCREASING TO 15 TO 25 MPH THURSDAY WITH GUSTS AROUND 45 MPH LATE THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND THURSDAY NIGHT.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A WINTER STORM WATCH MEANS THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT SNOW THAT MAY IMPACT TRAVEL. CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE LATEST FORECASTS.

Now if we could just send some of the snow we have accumulated here in Maryland over the past month north to our cabin in Maine and to our New England mushing friends, everything would be perfect.

Here's hoping some new snow falls up at camp

Things (snow that is) are looking up even up at camp as a Winter Weather Advisory has been posted for Maine as well as Maryland. Up at camp, they are forecasting approximately six inches of snow out of the storm that produced rain yesterday here in Maryland with another several feet of snow in the forecast for later in the week.

Snowy cabin

Issued by The National Weather Service
Portland, ME
3:04 am EST, Wed., Feb. 24, 2010

... WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM EST THIS EVENING...

A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM EST THIS EVENING.

A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SNOW MEANS THAT PERIODS OF SNOW WILL CAUSE PRIMARILY TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. BE PREPARED FOR SNOW COVERED ROADS AND LIMITED VISIBILITIES... AND USE CAUTION WHILE DRIVING.

More Information

... SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL IS EXPECTED ACROSS PORTIONS OF WESTERN MAINE AND NORTHERN AND WESTERN NEW HAMPSHIRE TODAY...

.LOW PRESSURE LOCATED OFF THE MID ATLANTIC COAST THIS MORNING WILL TRACK NORTH AND WEAKEN AS IT APPROACHES SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND LATER TODAY. AHEAD OF THE LOW... PRECIPITATION WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THIS EVENING.

SNOW WILL CONTINUE... HEAVY AT TIMES... IN THE CONNECTICUT RIVER VALLEY AND THE MOUNTAINS OF NORTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE. DURING THE AFTERNOON... THE HEAVY SNOW WILL BEGIN TO AFFECT THE MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS OF WESTERN MAINE. AS THE LOW WEAKENS... THE SNOW WILL TAPER OFF FROM SOUTHWEST TO NORTHEAST. THE LAST OF THE HEAVIEST SNOW WILL EXIT THE MOUNTAINS OF WESTERN MAINE DURING THE LATE EVENING HOURS.

TOTAL SNOWFALL AMOUNTS FROM THIS STORM WILL BE AS MUCH AS 6 TO 12 INCHES ACROSS WESTERN AND NORTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE.

ANOTHER STORM IS POSSIBLE THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY... AND THIS STORM COULD PRODUCE LOCALLY HEAVY SNOWFALL. IT IS STILL TOO EARLY TO TELL JUST HOW MUCH SNOW WILL FALL WITH THE SECOND STORM.

Maryland Dog Sledding: Girl Scouts Go Dog Sledding

Group Photo: It's been a wonderful day of dog sledding

Here at Maryland Sled Dog Adventures LLC, our motto is "no snow, we can still go!" No snow hasn't been much of a problem given the 50 plus inches of snow that we received out of last week's storms here in Maryland.

Hanging out on the picket line

As a result, several lucky Girl Scout troops have been out to participate in our Girl Scout Patch Program in dog sledding, visit us and the sled dogs, learn all about dogsledding, and go dogsledding on snow.

Meeting Acadia

During our scout program, we teach the girls how to harness the dogs, all about the various parts of the dog sled, how to put booties on the dogs, and, in some instances, how to drive a small 1-2 dog team of sled dogs. At the end of the program, the girl scouts take a pop dog sledding "quiz" and earn their dog sledding patch.

Meeting Sobo

Dog Sledding is so much fun!

Learning all about the dog sled

Driving a 2 dog team (left to right Acadia and Sobo in lead)

The scouts' fearless leader, Carol, driving a three dog team (Acadia and Zoe in lead and Sobo in wheel)

Learning what the sled dogs eat and feeding them