Sunday, November 25, 2012

In town adventures!

This Sunday, November 25th the pack thought they'd see how the back country conditions at the Nara trails were...
View out the kitchen window...let's go ski!
The yew was only partly covered.

Arly was too chicken to ski down the big sledding hill.

The bike trails weren't bad!

Finally, winter!


On Thanksgiving Day the pack scurried around to finish every last bit of fall yard work plus the final touches on the dam meadow bridge widening project. Why work so hard on a holiday, one where folks should relax and eat way too much? Because the last day of fall was going to turn into the first day of winter overnight...and the weather man had it 100% right!

So on Saturday November 24th our winter adventures finally began... 
Hey, it looks like a great day for a trail adventure!

C'mon! Let's go already!

We headed to the high country of Twin Lakes.
They had a foot of new snow!

We wore our color just in case.
(The deer hunters will be out until next Friday...
they can't hunt in this park but you never know.)

Ya Arly, I bet there's vermin in there too.

We stopped for a cool down.

I love to leap and bound in the fresh snow.


The snow thermometer proves they really had a foot.

 I was swimming in the snow, does that count?
After all the bounding, I got tired during the ride home.

After supper, we went to check out the trails at Tech.

All in all, it was a grand day for a winter dog!


A fantastic Porkies hike!

On Sunday November 18th the pack lured fellow trail lover Mark out on a fine cool, dry fall day for a loop hike in the Porkies. The 2-leggeds hiked 13 miles. I of course did at least 60...

Jeez! Am I going to have to lead these guys around AGAIN??

How did these trees manage to grow like this...
We headed to the Big Carp River mouth first.
We returned along the Little Carp.

We checked out Greenstone Falls along the way.

Hey! I think there's vermin here.


We ate lunch at the river mouth. I had lame kibble...

We next headed up along the Little Carp River.

Trapper's Falls...not to be confused with Trader's Falls
which was smaller and farther down stream.
We crossed the river again...what is she so nervous about?
The only mistake we made on this adventure was failing to get some photos of 3 deer hunters we met on the Lake Superior Trail. We will never forget them - each lugged full, large backpacks AND THEY ALSO PUSHED WHEELBARROWS overflowing with gear!

We'll accept that you think we are full of beans...we wouldn't believe it had we not seen them ourselves!

They were to be camping in the Big Carp 6 cabin for 10 days...it snowed heavily on their day 6...wonder how getting back out is gonna go.

Another photo op missed was at the end of our hike. We made it back to the car just after 5, just as sunset was approaching. A few miles drive from the trail head were a pair of hikers and their 2 dogs, all looking exhausted. So we turned around and ferried them back to their car. One wrong turn can ruin your day! Luckily my pack had me to lead the way and avoid any mishaps like that. 

Trail work update...


If you've been following my blog, you've noted that the pack and I have been neglecting to update it. So I thought I'd show you a few photos of what kept us busy: fall trail work!

Since the rain mostly quit between my last past and now, trail work is mainly what we've been doing and here are a few examples:


We had a crew come out and play in the mud!

Actually, they were working to improve the drainage on the trail.
I supervised...and found stick for them to throw.

After that, Mark stayed on to help us flip this ramp over.
Sandy didn't bring any lame kibble so she gave me a few apple slices
and almonds. Yum!
Arly built this to replace the flip-up ramp.
Skirts were added to widen the bridges.
It's been a busy day...I'm ready to hop in the ol' truck!