A Busy Weekend

It was a busy weekend at the lodge and much of it centered around sled dogs. In addition to Adam’s team of 8 dogs, there were three other teams here. On Sunday morning the dogs made an impressive gang line on the lake with 35 of them. They were all excited to get going and not shy about talking to us. Their barking and yelping carried all across the lake. It just added a festive nature of the day. In addition to folks who were going on rides, many of the guests stopped by to take pictures. Although cold (22 below), there was no wind on the lake. It was a perfect day for lake rides.

Here are a couple of pictures of the rides for you. One is Adam and his team approaching the end of their ride. Behind Adam you can see the ice houses for fishermen. Saturday was the opening of ice fishing for lake trout on Gunflint. Between fishing and dog sled rides, it was a busy day on the lake.

Another picture shows one of our guests trying her hand at riding the runners and driving. The lake with a flat surface is a good place to learn about driving. On woods trails it is a lot hard to drive the team. You are constantly shifting your body to help the dogs on turns. Then there are the hills that you are running up and helping to push the sled up. Adam says that he has lost 12 pounds since the sledding season started. I wonder why.

There are a couple more weekends for dog mushing this winter. On the March 10-14 weekend, we still have a few cabins open. Adam is also here all the time to give rides.

Monday we got some fresh snow. All the tracks from dogs, sleds, and people were erased from the surface of the lake. It is like no one was ever out there.

Back at our house, Bruce and I have some interesting entertainment while we eat breakfast: the deer are coming in and expecting to get their handout of corn. It is still half dark outside but the lights from our kitchen must attract them. They nose right up to the window. Usually there are anywhere from three to eight deer. With the smaller numbers it is a pretty quiet affair. Bruce often has one of them eating right from his bucket while he scratches its ears.

When they are all there, it is like a bunch of kids. They are all pushing and shoving to get the most corn. The bigger ones like to drive off the smaller ones. Sometimes two big ones are on their hind feet pushing each other away. Little ones try to sneak in on the sides while the big ones are occupied. Eventually, of course, the corn is all gone. It’s time to move down to the cabins at the lodge. Guests are getting up and ready to hand out more corn.