Winterization

I had some time off between trips and managed to fit in some skiing in over in Wisconsin, and happily spent much needed time with Kate. She hit the trail to Ely in middle January and came up for some 'winterization'.

After doing a small two day dogsled trip at Fortune Bay Casino's golf course for Wintergreen, Kate and I ventured down the famous 'Echo Trail'. This road serves as an access to several BWCA entry points and has a very wild and rustic feel to hit. As we drove in about 30 miles we came up to Moose River entry point and parked the VW diesel. Out jumped "Millie" our sled dog and we loaded up the pulk sled which would eventually be pulled by us. See, Millie is still somewhat of a puppy, so she's like a two year old on speed. Pulling was not in her interest that day. Though she was great and cuddling up with me and Kate later on.

So we booked it on our skis down an unplowed service road towards our eventual camp which ended up being tucked in the woods near the Moose river.

We were lucky to score a canvas wall tent equipped with a small wood stove which kept us warm during the brisk minus 44 degree night. Camp was fun to set up as we put up our wall tent, chopped and cut wood, and cooked over a fire. Millie enjoyed a nap on our bags while Kate continued her dominance in cribbage against me, we sipped wine, laughed out loud, and enjoyed a relaxing evening in 44 below.

When morning came around it warmed up to what felt like at least 20 below, so we decided on more cribbage, coffee, sausages, and burned bagels with butter in the comforts of our heated tent. Early afternoon quickly turned into late afternoon by the time we broke camp and started skiing out. Millie was feeling the urge to pull like a proper sled dog should and we scooted down the trail quickly.

So while we were out there camping in 44 below, Kate and I talked about my diesel car and whether it would start after a night this cold. I was convinced the gold golf would start, but Kate had a feeling, one that proved to be right....30 miles out of town, the only tire tracks on the road were mine for days,no cell service, and my car froze up like dog turd on the ice. Our option....ski down the road and hope for the best. But Kate likes an adventure as much as me so we stepped into our ski's, grabbed Millie girl and glided toward Ely. A few miles and hours later, around dusk, a car drove by and saved the day. Later on we enjoyed a beer, bucky burger, and a sauna!

Another successful day for Max and Kate.

Returning North

Well...I'm back, and way behind schedule on my updates. Guess I'll start from the beginning....

I arrived back up at the Wintergreen ranch December 27th and was immediately put on a camping trip with some kids from Mounds Park Academy out of Maplewood. 3 eleven year old girls, 3 fourteen year old boys, and one teacher ventured into the woods with Amy the other guide and me!

We hit the trails early in the morning and tracked our two 6-dog team camping sleds into the BWCA. We were fortunate this trip to bring our canvas wall tent with a small wood stove as rain and a wintery mix was in the forecast, which proved to be right.

After one night of "wintery mix", the kids moved into tents, and we spent the next few days trying to dry out. Conditions got cold and snowy after that and made for beautiful scenery as the snow stuck to the tree branches and created a scene out of Narnia.

For 4 days and nights we collected firewood, cooked around the fire, hiked and explored, joked around in the tent, but didn't do much dogsledding. The slush conditions were as bad as they have ever been and prevented us from cruising the lakes. (When it snows a lot, the weight of the snow on the lakes pushes the ice down, then water seeps through cracks and creates slush beneath the snow on the lake, which creates impossible travel conditions by dogsled.)

The final day attempted to cross South Farm Lake into Farm lake where we would rendezvous with our dog trailer and truck. We made about 300 yards in 6 hours in blizzard like conditions, as the slush froze our runners and prevented any good progress.

We pushed and pulled into the night, finally getting one sled out with 12 dogs around 8 PM. A long hard day that had 3 girls crying, one of which insisted on sleeping in the middle of the lake in below zero temps, the boys were collapsing in exhaustion after pushing the 7oo pound sleds through slushy snowy ice, and the dogs had about had enough. It ended with me and two guides getting the sleds out late into the evening while the kids enjoyed pizza in town.

That evening some other guides and me drank some beers and laughed about the impossible day, and stories of the past. It ended with whiskey yoga, led zeppelin, and finally a warm bed.

Just another good trip in the north!

Until the next one....

Sir Maximus Pittackleton

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