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

Dog Sledding Adventures: Lynch Mountain, the Tadpole, and the High Plateau Trails

On the trail at Baisley Lodges

As we begin our second week in Canada, the Maryland Sled Dog Adventures sled dogs, Eric and I have enjoyed several wonderful dog sledding trips and adventures on the trails here in New Brunswick and Quebec. With so many great trips to recount, I’ll be keeping each of these blog entries quite short (lest I spend the rest of the trip here at the Edmundston library and not out on the trails with the dogs).

Riding on the dog sled

Okemo: Harnessed and ready to go

After a day of rest on Thursday, the sled dogs and I headed out to run the very hilly Lynch Mountain trail. While Gino had given me a preview of this trail on Monday after we arrived from the back of the snowmobile, the blizzard conditions that day were not conducive to me remembering much of the terrain.

Zoe and Sobo demonstrate "line out"

After my “swim” through chin deep snow earlier the week, snow shoes were a required piece of equipment on this dog sled adventure. For this run, we harnessed Acadia and Zoe in lead, T-Bone in team, and Sobo and Okemo in wheel.

Snowshoes are loaded on the dog sled

As we headed out, we first missed the turn off (a haw) for the trail that heads up Lynch mountain and had to execute a “come haw” at a road crossing which, much to my surprise, the dogs performed flawlessly on command. A come haw, early in a dog sled run can be a tricky command to get the dogs to follow since the sled dogs do not always want to turn around and return the way they came, especially early in the trip. This, however, was not the case and the dogs, following my command came haw.

Returning the way we came, we made the turn up hill but inadvertently selected the steeper of the two uphill routes. Climbing steeply, the sled dogs and I both got good work outs as we worked up the steep hill. Turning right, we followed the trail up through more gentle terrain, eventually passing the maple sugar house and a camp. After a stop and rest to catch our breath at the top of Lynch Mountain, the dogs were once again raring to go and off we went down, and down, and down. Before we knew it, we made the gee turn to head back to the excavator’s parking lot where the dog truck was parked. Total mileage was approximately 5.6 miles with a maximum speed of 17 MPH and a cruising average of 6.2 MPH (slow but this averages in the steep uphill climb to the top of Lynch Mountain). The balance of Friday was spent at the vet check and mushers’ meeting for the Can Am Crown Sled Dog Races with our host, Gino (running in the 30 mile race).

Sunday morning, March 1st, dawned clear and cold and after some rain on Friday evening and a solid freeze up on Saturday, the trails were hard and fast. Just the conditions I was looking for, I headed out to run my very favorite trail in all of Canada, the Tadpole trail. The Tadpole is a ten mile jaunt through pines and mixed hardwoods requiring a good deal of concentration. The Tadpole trail could also be aptly called the “don’t forget to duck” trail as there are many low hanging branches that will whip you right off your sled, if you are not careful. Indeed, at one point along the trail, I apparently did not duck fast enough or low enough and a low hanging branch grabbed my hat from my head. The Tadpole trail is easily the most technical trail I have ever run on a dog sled and requires excellent dog sled driving skills to avoid a wipe out or a collision with a tree. It is a narrow, twisting and turning dog sled trail that the sled dogs absolutely love to run. Indeed, I think I may have seen a twinkle in Okemo’s eye as he galloped downhill and ran through a tight turn. As expected with this type of trail, the whole dog sled team turned on the speed, producing a fast run in fast conditions. Unfortunately, I was so busy concentrating on driving that I didn’t get any photos of the Tadpole trail.

Blue skies and fast trails

Fish eye view of the trail

T-Bone in team and Sobo (l) and Okemo (r) in wheel

Monday morning the expected nor’easter that dumped more than a foot of snow on DC, New York, and Boston arrived here in New Brunswick and began generating new snow, albeit at a slightly slower rate than it had in the States. Our host, Gino, and I headed out Monday afternoon for a nice run on the fourteen mile High Plateau Trail. On my team were Zoe and Acadia in lead, Maggie (one of Gino’s big furry dogs) in team, and Sobo and Okemo in wheel. For this run, we elected to give sled dog, T-Bone, the day off. At about a mile from finishing the run, 9 month old Acadia, lost focus and we moved her out of lead and into wheel, moving Sobo up into lead and placing Acadia in wheel alongside Okemo. Even given this loss of focus, I was pleased that Acadia had completed a full 14 mile run, pulling hard and consistently for the entire duration. Total mileage for this dog sled adventure was 14 miles with a maximum speed of 13 MPH and a cruising speed of 7.8 MPH (not bad given the overall length of the run and the number of runs the dogs have done over the past week).

Lots and lots of trees

Stay tuned for more updates, as the Maryland Sled Dog Adventures sled dogs, Eric and I explore more of the wonderful trails here in New Brunswick, Canada.

Dog Sledding in Canada (Day Three)

A perfect day for dog sledding

Wednesday, day three of our Canadian dog sledding adventures dawned brilliantly clear with a perfect azure sky and nose hair freezing cold; a perfect day for…dog sledding.

Since today was the sled dogs’ fifth day in a row of dog sledding, Eric and I elected to rest the older dogs, Zoe and T-Bone, and take out a small team of the three younger dogs, Acadia, Okemo and Sobo.

Given the small team size, we decided to stick to the same six (which is really seven) mile loop we had run on Sunday. As we were setting up we met up with Gino’s friend and fellow musher, Johanne who was setting up and preparing to go out for her last run before the Can Am Sled Dog Races this Saturday. Not wanting to risk an injury, Johanne hooked her six strong and fast Alaskans to her skidoo for added control.

Johanne and her team of six dogs

Putting dogs on the line

After Johanne got off, we hooked up our dogs. In single lead, was Acadia. Running in single lead is a big feat for a 9 month old sled dog. Behind Acadia in wheel, we had the powerhouse sled dogs, Sobo and Okemo. As we took off, the dogs ran much better than I originally anticipated. As we cruised along, the dogs maintained a good pace.

Scenery along the trail

Turning gee and heading up hill, the musher got some exercise as well. As we approached, we could see a small, currently inactive wood cutting operation. Since the dogs were running and pulling good, I decided to pass by the five mile turn around point and continue on for the full seven mile loop. As we climbed up hill, the dogs again needed some musher assistance.

Setting up the dog sled

Sobo, a Siberian Husky

Our host, Gino, grooming the trails with his prized Skandic

Acadia in single lead with Sobo and Okemo in wheel

Arriving at the “loop” portion of the seven mile loop, I nearly continued past it since the near blizzard conditions and high winds of the days before had nearly blown in the entire trail. As we glided by, I realized this was the seven mile turn around point.

The trail ahead

Turning the dogs “haw” I decided that the trail must be up there “somewhere” and headed up the steep hill. Going up, the dogs and I managed to stick to the relatively packed trail even though it was not clearly visible. As we approached the top of the hill, however, the dogs turned sharply gee and dragged me and the sled into chin deep snow. My calls to move haw went unheeded and we found ourselves well and truly stuck. In the very deep soft snow it was impossible for me to pedal to assist the dogs and get us down the hill since ever attempt to do so resulted in me sinking chin deep in snow. Moreover, the three dog team was simply not strong enough to pull me, standing on the runners through the deep deep snow. At this point in time, I decided to radio Eric and see where he was and what his ETA was. I radioed my predicament and he called back that he was about 1.5 miles out and would continue to ski in to see if he could assist me and the stranded dogs. At this point, I realized why snow shoes were required equipment for sled dog races. Unfortunately, I had left my snow shoes at the cabin.

Winding through the pines

Slowly, the dogs and I wiggled, slid and sunk our way down the hill through the deep snow and just as Eric was cresting the last of the hill to reach us, we managed to wiggle our way down onto the groomed trail. Of course, as we hit the groomed trail and I called “gee” Sobo heeded my gee command while Acadia attempted a haw and another go around on the completely loop which she had apparently enjoyed immensely. Not so for the stranded musher. Since I had put Sobo up in lead while struggling through chin deep snow, I had not placed a neck line between Sobo and Acadia figuring that freedom of movement would aid them in the extremely deep snow. I finally convinced Acadia to make the gee turn and we headed back down the trail.

The high winds the day before left interesting ripples in the snow

All told, the sled dogs ran approximately 7.2 miles, I struggled through chin deep snow, we learned that Acadia is not a good open country leader, and that Sobo knows more than I thought and only pretends to be "silly" Sobo. Oh, and something I already knew but was still sort of fun to watch: Sobo likes to be snow angels by rolling in the snow and Acadia likes to hunt snow gremlins in deep snow (and I mean really deep snow).

Maximum speed was approximately 17 MPH while cruising speed (moving average) was a blistering 4 MPH given the hour the dogs and I spent trying to slog through the chin deep snow.

Finishing up with Acadia (l) and Sobo (r) in lead with Okemo in wheel