Breaking Trail

The team and I tried a new trail today.  

About five miles from home there is a forest road the runs south from McNiven.  There is a lake out there somewhere and today I thought maybe we could find it. 

Backing the trailer off of McNiven was less difficult than I anticipated though parking far enough to the side without becoming stuck proved to be more so.  I managed, however, and after what seemed an incredibly long time, I had the dogs lined out and I pulled my snow hook.  

Waiting to Run

What a blast!  The dogs were running really well and, on one downhill, we hit 17 miles per hour!  That may not seem very fast, but this was the roughest trail these guys had ever been on:  The road started out well tracked by pick-ups and became less and less traveled.  We eventually got to deeply rutted parts of the trail that hadn’t had vehicular traffic for several snow falls.  

After a mile and a half, I decided it was time for a break.  I watered the dogs, donned my snowshoes, turned the dogs loose, and off we went.  I heard songbirds, woodpeckers, and Unidentified Noises which were probably from my snow pants and snowshoes.  I heard one grouse flush in the distance.   

Hare Tracks?

Small mammals had left tracks all over the place.  Some larger mammals had, too, though I saw no deer or wolf tracks at all, at least not while on the snowshoes.  Speaking of snowshoes, I am fairly certain I saw Snowshoe Hare tracks, though I’m not positive.  The bootie beside the front track is about three inches long.  

We never saw the lake but I will go back to look for it again. Check out the two videos I made of our journey on YouTube. 

Happy Trails!

Sally and Her Spider