Winter Left and Now Has Returned

The dog yard withe the snow covered High Cliffs as a back drop

A beautiful sight!

Phoenix and Oken gazing through the brush

Klaus seems a bit perplexed. He thought it was spring already!

The others are excited about the snow as they jump and play

Sunday evening once our PUWWA2009 participants departed and after a long run with the dogs, we heard the weather forecast on the radio indicating that anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 inch of ice was expected beginning Monday morning through Tuesday afternoon. Being too exhausted to pack up that evening and head out, we did run the dogs to the truck to spend the night so that we could head out early on Monday morning otherwise we could have been stuck for a couple more days. Not he worst place to be stuck, however we were needed back at Gunflint Lodge.

Monday morning arrived and we headed to the truck with the last load of gear in the snowmobile sled at 4AM. We then walked the little dogs and Zulu out from the cabin, dropped the sled dogs and we were on the road by 5:30AM. We arrived back at the lodge at 7:30AM and just one hour before the rain began. Since then, up here at the lodge, 46 miles up the Gunflint Trail, we have had no ice. Just temps in the upper 30s to 40 and rain. Yes, rain.

Overnight the temps dipped to close to freezing and we awoke to a beautiful sight. Snow! Snow thickly covered everything. Only about 2 inches, however snow is so much better then rain. Unfortunately, however, the trails and lake conditions are still not conducive to dog mushing so our adventures had to be canceled yet again today in hopes that the cold front expected to arrive this evening helps to harden things up a bit for tomorrow. A quick excursion on the lake with the snowmobile proved to be a wet one. No portion of the lake traveled was free of the nasty slush. On the upside, once the cold comes back, the lake conditions will excellent with a hard packed surface, allowing us to travel just about anywhere on the lake without the worry of slush or harsh conditions.