Yes We Do Have Snow Here!

Beautiful day on the trail

Well, despite all of the doom and gloom in the news with regard to the "winter" weather this season we have had decent conditions here in Lake Elmore. We certainly haven't had the type of winter we have in the past here and there have been many dramatic temperature swings but I have been able to make due with what we have received. I typically start grooming as soon as we have an inch of snow on the ground. This may seem silly but I find that it does begin to smooth things out and fill in the dips and ruts on the trail. My groomer does take a bit of a beating but luckily it's a pretty rugged piece of equipment and so far with the exception of a few broken sheer pins it has held up well. I have had to groom more this winter than in any winter past to create a safe surface for sledding. We have received most of our snow fall in one inch increments and with rain/sleet/snow every seven or eight days it's a real challenge keeping a nice surface. We have finally gotten to where we have about five inches of hard packed base on the trail though and that should be able to hold up to pretty much anything Mother Nature throws at us; for the time being at least. If things continue the way they have been I suspect we will have an early spring here in Vermont. As warm as it has been this winter I won't be surprised if it's 70 degrees at the end of March.

Sled view, beautiful snow!

Pax on a hike this fall

On other fronts; all of the dogs are doing very well this winter. We are feeding a combination of raw and a new kibble this year. The kibble is called Inukshuk and the dogs seem to be doing very well on it. It's a 35% protein, 35% fat food and the love the taste so there have been no problems with them eating. I'm also feeding them chicken every other night as well as their usual moose or venison stew for breakfast every day. We have the same group of dogs there that we had all of last winter so everyone is well settled in at this point. That makes things much more enjoyable for me. The only new addition is our latest puppy Pax who came here this fall. Pax is just over eight months now and has already been out for a few runs with the team. He loves running with the big dogs but won't get many miles in this year. We will wait until next year when he is going on two before we let him run each day. I'm very excited to see how much he enjoys running and look forward to many years of enjoying his company out there!

Moonlight in Vermont

The dogs, I and a few lucky guests had a perfect evening for dogsledding last night. We had two tours scheduled at Stowe Mountain Resort. With temperatures hovering around 3 below zero and crystal clear skies the ¾ moon lit things up very nicely. It is hard to describe the peacefulness of the experience. Running through the woods the only sound is that of the dog’s feet hitting the snow; their breathing and the runners of the sled sliding through the snow. The moonlight has a very different quality than sunlight; more subtle and soft but with the snow reflecting its glow you can see almost as well as in the daylight. The dogs stride smoothly in and out of the long shadows of the moon. Running in this setting you can’t help but feel privileged to be able to share the experience with the dog team.

There are not many evenings that the timing of the moon rise coincides with our running schedule and even fewer that it happens to be clear and cold as well. Being able to share the moment with others only makes it that much more enjoyable for me.

It’s hard to believe we are almost to the end of the first week of February already. Where does the winter go? It flies by way to quickly and soon I’ll be counting the days to fall training again. Time is a fleeting and seems to slip by more quickly with each passing day. I must remind myself each day to appreciate each and every moment. Running through the woods of Vermont with a team of enthusiastic dogs doing what they love to do is one of the best ways I have found to do this.

Winter Again

Once again we have changed over from fall stick season to winter. This is one of the reasons I love living in New England. There is never time to become bored with the weather since it is constantly changing. Of course I would like to have more control over whether we receive rain or snow this time of year. However it is an excellent reminder of how much in our lives we do not have control over. No matter how much we may convince ourselves we are in control you really never know what you will wake up too tomorrow (or whether you will even wake up). I continue to struggle with accepting the weather in my life. Even though I know there is nothing I can do about it I still obsess over it; often checking the National Weather Service eight times a day. Hey; it changes a lot... I suppose this is one of the down sides of running a weather dependent business.

This winter so far has been rather trying as we've fluctuated from -10 to +50 in the matter of two days several times already. We seem to be on some kind of wild weather roller coaster ride. The old saying "if you don't like the weather in Vermont or fill in the blank wait a minute" really rings true. One day I'm moping around because it's raining; the next I'm grinning from ear to ear because there is a snow storm on the way. Today life is good. We just received around eight to ten inches of snow overnight; our biggest snow fall of the season so far. I'll be spending the day snow blowing, shoveling and grooming my dogsled trail. This weekend we'll be back on sleds and running the dogs. Next week; who knows? Live in the moment; play in the snow!

Early Fall Snow!

Scene from our front yard in Lake Elmore on Wednesday, September 22nd. Not quite enough to run the sled but maybe it's a sign of things to come. One thing for sure; the dogs are loving it and are much happier running in these temperatures than they were at 55 or 60 degrees.

Our new to us Tidd Tech groomer arrived from New Mexico yesterday and I can't wait to try it out on our sledding trail. I've heard great things about these as a means of grooming dogsledding trails. I believe Stowe Mountain Resort uses the very same drag to groom our sledding trail over there and those trails are always beautiful.