Memo to self: don't go out in dark semi-blizzard conditions...

We had a bit of a crazy run the other night. It was a night run, it was snowy and blustery out, and we lost the trail on the river. We were able to follow it right out onto the lake (about 5 miles), but after that, it was completely obliterated by the wind. Looks a bit nasty eh? (aside from all that fresh snow!!) This was the GOOD part of the trail.

That single file track on the right is Kuna making his own trail. He doesn't follow the pack...

Due to the snow blowing, I could barely make out where we were on the river and almost felt disoriented. It was weird and I did a sufficient job of psyching myself out - I kept thinking about unknowingly heading towards areas of unsafe ice and all sorts of nasty scenarios spewed from my sometimes overactive imagination. Even though we weren't even close to these bad spots, we still had a lot of river to cover. Also, Ripper and Rupert were in lead, bouncing around trying to find the trail for over a mile or so and I wanted to let them off the hook before this went on too long. None of us knew where the hell we were! They did fine jobs in lead though, as they really tried to find that trail. They sniffed the ground and looked around for *any* sign of a trail, weaving all over the place. It was frustrating to not be able to see much, so I figured the best thing to do would be to head back . Turning around a 10-dog team on fresh snow with no base can be tricky. But those leaders quickly figured out what was going on in my head. I walked part way up the line and called them over and they completely did a 180. And we were headed back with only one small tangle in the whole team.

All dogs were in great spirits and happy when we got back. Except later on, George had some weird thing pop up. Her eyes seemed to be really sensitive and she wouldn't even open one of them. The other one, only if she had to. I kept her in to keep an eye on her (no pun intended!), and she acted like a pirate all night - between the one-eye and her crankiness and grumbling.... Luckily, advice from lots of sleddog folks suggested the snow and wind might have irritated her eyes. With some eye ointment, she improved and is now losing the pirate look...

Here she is, back to normal! Woo hoo!