Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Good Bye Dog Camp. Hello Fairbanks.

As the green leaves turn to gold, and the cool nip of winter returns to the air it is time to pack up dog camp and head home again. Our Summer at dog camp on the Denver glacier just out side of Skagway has been an eventful, beautiful, and exciting adventure. It is a bitter sweet good bye to all of our new friends and the beautiful mountains of coastal Alaska. But it is with excitement we head home and prepare for this coming race season, full of hope and high expectations.

It was a two day trip from Skagway to Fairbanks with three people, and 49 sled dogs. We found a beautiful grass covered hill side off the road far enough to let the dogs out for a stretch and dinner, and also to let the puppies run around and play for a bit. The puppies were born on the glacier and had never before seen anything, but snow, they had quite the time running and playing in the knee high grass in the golden glow of the evening sun.

We have been very busy since arriving back home in Fairbanks. We are in the process of moving further out of town to have more room for the dogs and a bigger trail system for training. We have been working a lot on construction, building 15 new dogs houses, building an out house, preparing to put up a yurt, building a feed shed and so on. We have also been keeping up with the normal busyness that is our life caring for the sled dogs and meat rabbits, and this time of year getting things ready for winter.

Below are a few pictures of what has been happening around the kennel, some from our drive home and also some from the glacier. I hope you enjoy them and they hold you over until I can find enough of a break in our hectic lives to post again.

Fresh snow on the mountains near camp, on August 28. This
snow fall completes our summer with it officially snowing at
least once every month while we were in camp. 
The dogs hanging out in camp just a few days before leaving
the glacier. 
The view from our campsite in Canada on our way home.
Four Wheeler training back in Fairbanks, getting the team back in race shape for this coming winter.
Taking a break to cool off and get some water while four
wheeler training. 
During a tour on the glacier, towards the end of the season.
Photo courtesy Jim H.

If you went on a tour with us this summer and have a photo
you'd like to share please email it to
boundaryfursewing@gmail.com
Cooking up some goat scraps for the dogs.
Part of the new dog yard. 
Inside of our freshly finished feed shed,
newly stocked with 2,000 lbs of Inukshuk. 
One of the new dog houses we just built.