Changing of seasons

The season finally came to an end up in Ely with guides, dogs, and all moving into spring with fresh, new, and exciting adventures ahead. The sled dog season ended quickly as warmer temps and sunshine sealed the deal for the end. Although a lucky few continued on traveling north to the Arctic Circle for a two week excursion ending up near Churchill nestled in Hudson Bay. As I write this they are trekking through Polar Bear Provincial Park, find adventure and extending winter fun.

For most other guides and myself, we move on to spring/summer season. This particular time of year seems to be a transitional period for many until the true busy season of summer hits us. So as I sit here in my transitional season I will continue to work in Minneapolis at Clean Water Action and finish my semester of school. This seems to be a struggle lately and I've found it hard to focus on studying. Like most others during springtime, my mind wonders dangerously into daydreaming mode, and for me my mind dreams of adventures. So what's next?

Well some adventure continues as I'm working for Wilderness Inquiry this summer guiding some of their many awesome trips, which the first is a sweet paddle following part of the Lewis and Clark expedition on the Missouri River. I also plan on finding time for myself to scrap the knuckles on rocks and train for some serious climbing later in the year. I am hoping to find a way to do a month long trek out west climbing with a few buddies. From early talks, it sounds like Red Rocks just outside of Vegas is high on the list, then Utah and possibly California all in search of bluebird days, big meaty jugular holds, and a piece of epicosity as some friends of mine would say.

Right now this is the hopes for my immediate future, while I plan on some more Ely dogsledding in December...

This is Pittackleton signing off...may your future be filled with smiles and adventures!

Stay tuned for more coming soon!

I'm back, I'm back

Well then....so after my brief absence from the interweb highway I am back online to update the latest adventures, which have been very exciting over the last week.

I ended my last trip visiting the pictographs on Hagman Lake, riding the wind on glare ice 8 miles down Moose Lake up into Canada. This was such a fun day. We loaded up 35 dogs, 7 sleds, 19 people into our trucks, trailers, and shuttles, and drove to Moose lake about a 45 minute drive from Wintergreen.

As you can imagine, the amount of dogs and participants was quite chaotic at the launch sight. It's what I would call a shit show. But credit to the other 2 guides and myself, it was a fairly organized shit show. We launched in intervals of 2-3 sleds per guide to avoid a the maximum number of 9 people per group in the Boundary Waters, spaced about 1/2-1 mile apart. As the first team launched our princess dog Lady Convington aka Covy took off chasing them as nobody noticed she was loose. So we were down a dog right away.

Next the second team launched without any problems and away they went. This left me with my group to launch last. As I hit the lake on my ski's I felt I was going to fly across the lake this morning. The glide was long, wind blowing to my back, and nothing but dark smooth ice ahead for 8 miles. I signaled for the first team in my group to launch and they did with no troubles, the second team launched next and their dogs decided to take a short cut over a significant rock pile next to shore. Two woman were riding this sled and as the dogs bolted over the rock the pile, one of these woman shot into the air but never letting her grip loose on the handle bar. The dogs kept running and brakes of the sled do little on the ice, so this poor woman who wouldn't let go was dragging behind the sled on her back. After a hundred feet or so we stopped the team and she stood up laughing hysterically. She hopped back on and away we went.

We flew for an hour gliding across the ice, with me having to wait up for the dog teams. We traveled north from Moose Lake, into New Found Lake, and into Sucker lake up to Prairie Portage which borders the Canadian Wilderness Area, Quetico. We had a great lunch, one of the guides fell waist deep through the ice near shore, and people relaxed for while.

We trekked back the same route enjoying the sunshine, endless landscapes, and bellies full of chocolate, coffee, and shore lunch.

The next day was a short day on White Iron and we cruised around showing the group Blueberry Cliff lookout point. As we headed back to the lodge we came across a section of ice that was pretty thin from all the warm weather. The first few teams raced by with no difficulties, but then came a team that felt the ice break a bit and this guy jumped off the sled thinking it would be good so the sled didn't break through, as he took two steps, he crashed through the ice and caught himself with his arms before submerging. Carefully, I came around behind him and reached my ski pole out to him. He grabbed hold tightly and another guide pulled my other ski pole and we pulled this guy to safety. A very intense moment, but handled very calmly, and most people we laughing at the guy.

I have had a few days since that trip and managed to find adventure on my days off. I headed to Ashland, WI to visit an old professor and friends. When I arrived I was asked to go paddle the Bad River which was running high from all the snow melt.

Friday morning we loaded up 4 boats, 4 dudes, in 2 cars, in hopes of a epic day of paddling. I am usually quite anxious when I paddle whitewater and this day was no different. I knew the river would be high, the waves would be meatier, the holes would pull harder, and the paddling would be technical. Basically it would be ready to kick my ass.

So I made a deal with myself that I would not walk any rapids this day, and wanted to avenge my last time on the river where I swam about 4 times, and walked a series of rapids.

We paddled hard all day, crashing through waves, catching eddies, avoiding big holes or paddling out of them when we did get stuck. We even shattered through a Class IV which I must say was the biggest piece of river I've ever done. An 8 foot drop into a pool of churning water which immediately dropped into a 10-15 foot slide of super fast raging water ending with a smooth exit. All of us dropped it, and we all came out successful.

We continued paddling the day and had some fun on the river, all laughing and ready for a hard earned beer. After realizing my social life has been minimal at best lately I decided to head out with friends for the night.

After the long day of paddling we dropped off the gear and found spots at the Deep Water Grille in Ashland. After a couple of pitchers of APA we headed back to my buddy John's place and ate some good dinner. Feeling good from the good day of paddling, I looked up some other friends and decided I would make the rounds. I followed another buddy to a house called Gia's Cradle at Northland. When we arrived we proceeded to the "hobbit hole" located in the attic upstairs. Walking into the "hobbit hole" there are old 70's penthouse posters hanging, artifacts or memento's from previous college kids celebrating the hobbit hole. A group of 10-15 joined in the room. To my surprise most seemed to be young 20 something earthy girls. Not to be an insult, but I believe many of them to be lesbian or feminists. As the haze in the hobbit hole grew smokier, the stories and ideas passed around the room were entertaining as I sat in the background observing. I watched two girls cuddled next each other whispering secrets away, another dude in the circle drawing pictures of party. The kid who sounds gay, but who your not sure really is sat next to me sassing all the feminists. My other buddy stares across the circle at me rolling his eyes at the estrogen filled, and smokey air. And some homely shy looking emo kid sat crushing on the lesbian next to him as he rolled spliffs and passed them around. Radically liberal ideas filled the room and it was fun to listen to the passion and some senselessness. I found it amusing that many of them self proclaimed vegans, were later chowing down a pepperoni pizza from Domino's. Guess the hobbit hole doesn't count.

Later on I hooked a ride over to hang with John, Mallory, and Thomas, two of the paddling partners earlier. We joked and exaggerated stories of our epic day on the river swearing it to be the first of many for the year.

FinallyI am back in Ely. I attended a wedding for two of the guides and danced to Irish Folk music. It was fun to see a small community of people group together for a wedding in the woods, and celebrated later with swing dancing and waltzes. I felt we were a group of hobbits clanking glasses and dancing into the wee hours of the night. The last few days have been full and exciting.

Back on trail Wednesday for a 4 day camping trip, but thinking it might involve backpacking rather dogsleds. We'll see!

Me so tired

This guy is getting wore out here. Not sure if I'm sick, feeling older, or just wore out, but I feel tired. I suppose skiing everyday can wear a guy out, but it doesn't feel right. But back in the saddle today and we hit the ice early before it got soft.

This trip is a group of doctors doing seminars and dogsledding and seems to be a fun bunch. We had 7 teams out with 35 dogs and cruised around White Iron Lake this morning. I've been playing chef more and more and cooked up a delightful pancake and sausage breakfast this morning for the 14 members of our group, and I'm enjoying the experience I'm getting cooking for groups. This will be useful for my summer adventures when I'm counted on as the one to cook.

Tomorrow we head to Lake Hagman to look at pictographs from Natives, the original people of this area. Mostly hiking and skijouring tomorrow and lunch in the woods.

Not much to say and I feel too tired to write anymore. Sort of a lonely day up here today, and I'm missing my little monsters big blue, the duder, and smiley jo (nicknames I came up with while skiing today for my beautiful nieces and nephew) They have weighed heavy on my mind today.

Off to bed so I can relieve this tiredness.

Enduring the conditions

Yeah, conditions aren't optimal right now, no snow, warm sun, nights that don't dip below freezing, but we continue to keep on keepin' on.

Just finished another trip with a fun group of 6. Friday we decided to not dogsled as we woke up to pouring rain. So to town we went to visit the International Wolf Center and American Bear Center. These are some neat places. Got to see some wolves running around doing their thing and learn a little more about them, and the same with the bear center. We bummed around town after that and had a relaxing day.

Saturday we awoke early and hauled 4 dog teams over to Moose Lake about an hour away. Since there is no snow on the ground we launched on the lake and cruised across a lake of ice without snow. How the dogs move quickly across the ice, and how the guides can glide across on their ski's moving at incredible speeds (for a x-country skier). It was a gray day with not much moving around. We followed Moose Lake up into Sucker Lake and dipped into Canada for a trail lunch. We found a designated camp sight to set up lunch in and it felt as if we were summer camping besides the dog teams and ice on the lake.

This ice can be quite scary looking without snow. It has a deep black color with cracks shooting randomly in chaotic directions. I feel like I should strap on my hockey skates instead of ski's but I chose the ski's. The melt is happening faster everyday and the season is virtually over. Although I've heard rumors of some winter type weather heading our way. This will do wonders for the trip I'm starting in the morning, otherwise we'll have to get creative and hope the ice stays thick.

Here's another video of some participants in front of me cruising on the lake ice and me holding the drag line as if I was water skiing on x-country ski's, only on ice.

Rain, rain, and more rain...really?

Let me start out by stating the obvious. Rain and dogsledding do not mix. This is exactly what is happening here. Right now Wintergreen has 3 camping trips out in the field, somehow, someway, they are sledging through the watery slushy mess out there. To my delight, I am on support (basically making sure dogs are good here for day trips, lunches are ready, etc...). Not only is this giving me time to do homework (which I must say is hard to do up here, and I feel like I'm slipping a bit there), but also gives my battered hip and back a needed break. I think I tweaked my hip skiing and slept on my back wrong...nothing a bit of ibuprofen won't cure.

Today I am dedicated to working on at least 2 of my papers in between the daily to do lists around here. So not much action yesterday or today.

Today our awesome Chef has the day off, so the clients out on trips coming to the lodge for lunch and dinner get served by me. Peanut butter sandwiches, granola, and tea is on the menu for lunch, with frozen pizza and beer for dinner. Wonder if they notice the difference from the gourmet meals they get from Bernard the Chef? If they're lucky, the pizza will come out just right rather than burned to a crisp.

That's all today....time to kick my ass and motivate myself for this homework stuff.

Pittackleton

Fog for an early morning start

Today I rolled down towards Farm Lake and looked out...wicked sites were all around. A lot of the snow melted yesterday leaving puddles of water scattered across the lake. The clouds rolled in, then the Fog, and the view was quite mysterious looking.

Unfortunately for many players involved, we still ran. I found myself streaking through ankle deep water on my ski's moving across the lake while the dogs pulled their best trying to keep cool. We zipped through the Highland Trail into Pickeral Lake, then the portage trail over to the Kawishiwi River. The puddles continued to be where ever we were. Trails in the woods were not so bad, though lacked a good amount of snow, but also lacked standing water. Never skied like this before, and was surely an experience. Ended the day early to give the dogs a break, but not before a nice lunch tucked in the woods with pizza and soup. We all swapped stories, encouraged the dogs, and headed back to Timber Trail Lodge. Another great crew on this trip and I enjoyed their company.

The next few days I am on call I guess I would say, and am supporting other crews where I can. Maybe some laundry and a trip to Virginia for supplies is in the mix...and a big dose of homework.

This dude is still smiling as I'm sure you would guess. Love you all!

Sir Maximus Pittackleton

Wet sloppy days

Spring has definitely come early this year. The melt is on, puddles are forming, and here at Wintergreen we continue to push on. Sure the dogs get tired, ski's stick to the wet slush, and participants get worked pushing to help the dogs, but it still rocks.

I found myself doing a lot of daydreaming today while skiing. I think that is part of the reason behind me loving this so much. I can be a dreamer most of the day. Now when I translate these dreams to reality....you better look up to the top, because I'm sure that is where I'll be chillin'. This whole idea I have for a non-profit Outdoor Ed/Community Garden program I've been cooking up has some serious potential. This dude might actually make a difference one day on a bigger level. We'll see, along with my dreams to be an epic Tele Skier, kayaker, rock climber, disc golfer, part time shitty musician, author, lover, uncle, brother, son, friend, do it yourselfer, liver of frugality, and just an all around bad ass MF, I have some serious hills to climb.

Anyway, just some thoughts I had on trail today. Still liking the pirates around here, they seem to speak a language I understand, and seem to be bad ass MF's themselves.

Heading back into the BWCA tomorrow for a good ride, am looking to spot a wolf, though with the dogs and stuff, its a fat chance. Though I did see 2 owls tonight, and almost ran over a dog. So exciting stuff even after work. Drank some scotch whiskey which burned my tonsils like a firecracker in my mouth, and pondered life and listened to good stories from the Wintergreen crew. Just another good day for a good dude.

Peace out.

A day off for homework and relaxation

Not much happening here today. The group left this morning after a good breakfast and a good-byes at the cabin. It was fun to see how strangers come together in only a few days to become very fond of one another. I've learned about all this group dynamic stuff in theory at school, which makes it fun to see it in action as groups come together.

Spent the rest of the day kickin' around Wintergreen. Went on a hike and did some Ecology homework on the trail which was a nice way spend the afternoon. Back in my room now to finish some more. Back at it tomorrow with a new group and more skiing and dogsledding.

There's so much I think about while away. It really is amazing how my thoughts change depending on location. Back home in the cities, it's go go go all the time. Even now working part time and school full-time. Go here, then there, then drive way the hell over there for this and that. Life is simpler here. Sure you still have to work and go places and get things done. It just seems to be at a simpler level. Maybe all the complications haven't sprawled this far north yet, or maybe it's the influence of the surroundings. Whatever it is, it feels nice. This isn't to say I don't like it back home, it's just nice to be fortunate enough to get away and do things like this.

This is the stuff

This is the stuff huh? Yeah it is. An awesome day on trail today. Though it got a little warm and sloppy in the snow, it was just a fun day.

We cruised mostly on trails today with the terrain being pretty rugged, especially with the exposed rocks and tree roots from the snow melt. A lot of hills, up and down, which I wiped out several times going out of control downhill on x-country ski's. I even tried taking a jump again, this time there was exposed ground which immediately stops you in your tracks, which made for a very ungraceful entry to the lake where most of the participants were watching me and asking me if I was okay. Of course I jumped up and confirmed I couldn't be happier!

We stopped for a nice lunch along the Kawishiwi River which is surrounded by tall White Pines and the classic northern Minnesotan look of giant boulders protruding along the shore. Enjoyed some pizza made by this guy on the trail, hot soup, and candy. I even got to bust out my flint and steel and made the fire without a match. It's always a crowd pleaser for folks out in the woods.

Made it back to the room early tonight and I might even get some homework done! Hope you are all doing well...life is good up north. I am glad I've chosen to go in the direction I have with life. Sure I've screwed up several times and been quick to jump ship to another, but this time they might be my kind of pirates.

Love you all!

Sir Maximus Pittackleton

Into the BWCA

Today the adventure took us into the Boundary Waters Wilderness Area...and as expected the scenery was fantastic going on and on for miles. We traveled about 20 miles, and the legs could use some juice. Guess I'm still searching for a good stride. The trails today were a bit more adventurous with a lot of up and down hill stuff on the portages in between lakes. I was able to get some "air" coming off a small jump near the bottom of one hill, and of course, crashed gracefully into the snow. Observed a lot of wolf tracks, scat, and kills along our journey, active beaver lodges, screaming ravens, and moose tracks.

I hauled my butt back up again and kept on moving. My crew seems to be loving it more by the day and are ready to get jiggy tomorrow, and want even more danger. One loose sled today as two of the participants slipped of the sled. Trying to jump on a moving sled whipping by with ski's on is no easy task, but a desperate lunge and being dragged a short way was the ticket to stopping it. The melt seems to be on up here as there are many bare spots on southern facing trails and the snow pack is withering away. I'm sure winter hasn't had its last epicosity yet, I am confident the cold and snow will be back soon.

The real entertainment came after dinner tonight. Another group of 4 woman in their 45-60's range is up here for "girls getaway". They call themselves the sno bitches. The sno bitches have come equipped with about 10 bottles of booze, wine, and plenty of mixers. The other guides I'm partnering with is getting married in a few weeks and they caught wind of this. So they proceeded to throw a bachelor party in his honor. These are some wild woman. We walked into their cabin to find bra's, panties, and chains hanging on a stuffed deer, h'orderves shaped like penini's and vaja's, and of course a cake (made of oranges, pancakes, and crushed granola) in the shape of a naked woman. These are some fun ladies, and boy did they come to party. They even showed me their......................yeah not what you think! Their flasks they've been bringing on the trails. So tonight we partied like it was 1999 (actually the woman did, this guy gets up too early to party these days). Most definitely an entertaining night.

Today is my Dad's birthday so a shout out...Happy Birthday Fasha...hope your day was good. Love ya Fasha.

This guy needs to study now, so back again tomorrow.

Skiing and dogsledding

Sooooo, those ski legs I talked about, yeah, I left em at home or something. The legs were burning a little today, my ankles hurt, and I feel exhausted. Long day from 7 til about a half hour ago. With that said, it still freakin' rocks up here and I am getting paid to ski. And I thought as a kid I would be paid for hockey, who would of thought skiing or hiking was my road to success.

Had 8 participants on our trip, and most experienced their first time on a dogsled. Every single person absolutely loves this stuff. It makes it so much fun because the customers are always so ecstatic, always smiling.

The dogs steal the show, whether its cute, gross, insanity while they fight, or whatever, they steal the show. We had a few good fights on the trail today, even some blood drawn. When it happens we just jump in with our ski poles and start smacking those doggers up. Not abusing them, just to get them to stop. Another guide made the mistake of getting his hand in there and got a pretty good bite. Another dog today on another team had puppies on trail...guess its not that uncommon as nobody knew she was prego.

So I never thought I'd say this, but this weather of 35 degrees is way too hot! Sticky snow, tired dogs, and sweaty balls wear the treads off quicker, so a slight drop in temperature to below freezing would be nice. It might help my skiing. I figured out today my feet angle outward, making it quite tough to x-country ski without groomed trails. My ski's are flying every which way and it drove me nuts. I remember this from last year too, and hope it goes away after I find my groove.

One sad spot today as we were cruising along just enjoying the scenery and we hear all this loud tractor noise. As we come around the corner about 20-40 acres of land was completely clear cut. Just a giant hole in the middle of the forest. Ugly, ugly, ugly! As you can see in the pic. So please recycle your damn paper so we can keep these atrocities to a minimum. It's easy not to think about when you don't see it like this, but when I came across it, man did it make me wonder. I know we need paper, building supplies, etc...but most of us are wasters, and paper is something we can have some control over. No matter if it costs more energy to recycle, at least we'll have some tree's left. And it's basic responsibility 101. Once our energy goes sustainable, the energy thing won't matter anyway. So just recycle your shit, it will help. We are actually logging tree's in the United States more rapidly then the Rain Forest, and its at an alarming rate. Something to think about. Screw the monkeys in the Amazon, save trees for the beavers in our own backyard.

Peace out dudes.

Here we go...

Cruised up early AM. I love when I get to Hwy 169 shooting north towards Tower and Ely. It just feels good, and I know it stems from those awesome childhood retreats to "the cabin" or Bear Head, or Mud Creek Road. Now its to Ely, where new adventures await.

Ely is a sweet little town with a good vibe. Dog races are this weekend up here, and dogsledding is the buzz right now. Good time to be here.

Heading out on a lodge to lodge trip tomorrow and anxious to see how my ski legs are doing. Probably lost or left at home, but it all starts at 8 AM regardless. Guiding dogsled trips here consists of (and this is not a complaint) skiing your ass off all day alongside, in front of, or behind the dogsleds with participants, while also avoiding piles of steamy pleasure the dogs leave on the trail. I just hope I start better than last year when I nearly keeled over trying to chase that sled in front of me all day. It was like the dogs knew I was catching up and kept speeding up to screw with the new guy. At the end of the day, I lost my balance because I was trying to run in my ski's and I fell shoulder first into a frozen tundra of turds. No matter, I am excited to do it again.

It's feels right to be here.

Today was a good day, tomorrow will shine.

Evening before departing

Just testing the blog site to make sure its working. Stories to come soon, and here is a video from last year heading into the dog yard in the morning to feed.