Wes, however, had an interesting trip with his twelve dogs. On the return trip, snow machines had come along my carefully groomed trail, and turned it into mush—whi
ch funny enough—isn’t great for mushing. Wes hit sloppy trail on his way home, with fresh snow, overflow, and tree drop snow making the trail more difficult than usual. His 6 hour trip took a few more than expected. As we waited for Wes to come home, we watched Aliy finish her run into Nikolai and then Takotna for her rest. I was pretty proud to be a part of the SP Kennel team, as she received her “Spirit of Alaska” award. Wes finally made it home—surprising us by coming into the yard backwards! Luckily, not sled first! Apparently, with all the fresh snow, our in trail to the kennel yard had blown over and the dogs could not find a way through the drifts to get to their houses. Taking the path of least resistance, they followed my snow machine tracks up the driveway and into the yard through the “out” trail. Allen has dubbed Wes, “Wrong Way Wes” after this particular sledding adventure.
This morning (Wednesday) we awoke to more snow falling. We’ve now reached about 15 inches of wet, heavy, powder snow. This is more snow than Two Rivers has gotten all year! The dog houses are covered to their roofs. The Iditarod dogs are going to have to tunnel their way into their
houses! The remaining dogs have been able to keep up with the snowfall, and packed down their circles. Even the Outla
ws have kept their circles clean. Yes, the Outlaws graduated this week to “Big Sled Dog” status. They received their bright red collars and were tied out on chains in the dog yard. They are borrowing some houses right now, until we can shovel out a place for them to live. They seem to be adjusting well, and enjoy playing with their neighbors. Pud and Bullet are taking it in stride, and showing them how to be good, calm puppies.
It’s almost time to watch the GPS Tracker again—Aliy will be finishing up her 24 soon and heading out. We’re pulling for you, Aliy! Way to go, Ryne!