FIRST TIME LOST...FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5TH

Well, I decided that I wanted to take out a 12 dogs team today. Usually I run an 8 dog team while training. However, on the upcoming race I have to start with a minimum of 12 dogs. I am down 2 dogs from the last race, as Thornton and Walt are now retired. All my dogs finished the race with no injuries, but those two were older and I made the decision that would be their last mid distance race with me. They will now just enjoy 14 mile runs in the swamp, with no hills.

With Thornton retired, I am down one of my "GEE HAW leaders" which is not a good thing. So it is now up to Tok. I have other leaders, but Thornton and Tok were my best ones. On this run, I wanted to see how my team would do as a larger team. I wanted to change out different leaders, pair different dogs together and overall get a feel for running a 12 dog team before the start of the race next Friday.

Well, my run was exciting. I loved having 12 dogs in front of me. There was power going up the hills. I was planning on about a 40 mile run and was going to take a new trail that a Musher named Joe took me on. He is the guy who fixed my laptop. He also is a techie...and knows GPS units, so I offered to make Shanghai ribs for him and his girlfriend in exchange for a tutorial. Anyways, we were cruising along and it was about to get dark. I wasn't noticing familiar landmarks or my ribbons. It was snowing and the visibility wasn't that great. Also the trails were not broken from the fresh snow. As I came down a big winding hill and onto a plowed road I realized I was at Zero Lake Rd. Oh My ! That was where Ted and I got stuck in the truck when we were searching for the lost team. I was way off the trail I thought that I was on.

I turned the team and had to straighten out tugs lines and got ready to follow the trail back. It started snowing harder and also was getting darker. I put on my headlamp and also thought about the fact that I didn't have a second set of batteries...however I did have two other smaller headlamps. The trail was a fun trail and more challenging than most of my training runs.

Well, to make a long story short...I was soon lost. It was an uneasy feeling. I knew the general area that I was in, but at that point, nothing was making sense trail wise...I couldn't see my ribbons as they were mostly snow covered. I would see familiar markers but then I wasn't sure which trail that they belonged to. I spent about 2 hours lost and searching for the way home. At one point I was heading out across a lake...and knew that was wrong...when we got to the other side, there was a no trespassing sign that I had never seen. So, again, I turned my team and we headed back on out trail. When I got to where I thought the trail should be, I set my snow hooks and walked up to my leaders and I searched for the trail and found it. I went back to my sled and gave my leaders a firm "GEE". Tok got on the trail and a little further down it I realized I indeed knew where I was. During this time I was in cell contact with Ted and Paula and I let them know that I was on the trail back, but it would probably still be about 2 hours before I made it home.

The snow kept coming down and the visibility was very poor. It was hard to see anything in front of me and I was unable to really see any trail up ahead where my leaders were. I was elated when my leader finally turned onto Stevens Lake Trail. I was on familiar territory and heading home, but still about an hour out.

We finally crossed the road and were back into our swamp. There was a right turn up ahead that I needed to find....and when we got to it my leaders took it...they were taking me home. Incredible dogs. It was a good feeling to have experienced getting lost and having to work through two hours of meandering and then successfully finding my way.

When I got back to the house, I checked the GPS and we had traveled 57 miles. That was a great run. It was also so neat to see that the most of the dogs were still standing and waiting for their treats. Often after a long run, they will lay right down. The Bowers race has really conditioned these guys.