From the home page of Boreal this morning:

Wind Chill Advisory – Northern Lake, Northern Cook Superior NF NW (Minnesota)

 WIND CHILL ADVISORY NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 AM CST THIS MORNING…

WINDS CHILLS OF 25 BELOW TO AROUND 40 BELOW ZERO CAN BE EXPECTED THROUGH 10 AM. WINDS CHILLS THIS LOW CAN CAUSE FROSTBITE IN 10 TO 25 MINUTES.

A WIND CHILL ADVISORY MEANS A COMBINATION OF BITTERLY COLD ARCTIC AIR AND BRISK WINDS WILL CREATE DANGEROUSLY COLD WIND CHILL VALUES. IF YOU VENTURE OUTDOORS…BE SURE TO COVER ALL EXPOSED FLESH AS IT CAN FREEZE IN 10 TO 25 MINUTES WITH WIND CHILL VALUES FROM 25 BELOW TO AROUND 40 BELOW. THIS MAY RESULT IN FROST BITE AND HYPOTHERMIA IF PRECAUTIONS ARE NOT TAKEN.

Yep, Old Man Winter isn’t done with us just yet. The thermometer in the truck read -10 on my way down the hill this morning and the wind is still howling outside my window. Tonight the forecast is calling for the mercury to dip to a possible -20. I’m hoping that Mr. Winter is taking his last breaths and after this cold snap we’ll get some weather like last weekend (minus the blizzard please).

This morning Mark will be hitching the dogs to the front of the snowmobile to load them in the truck for a trip up the Gunflint Trail. Tomorrow afternoon we are giving rides at Gunflint Pines Resort during the Gunflint Trail’s Winter Tracks Festival. The festival started yesterday and goes through Sunday with fun things happening at nearly all the resorts along the trail all weekend. Check out the schedule of events if you’d like to come up and play in the snow. Tonight after getting the dogs fed, we are planning on heading down to Trail Center as local community radio station WTIP will be broadcasting live. Both the Roadhouse show with hosts Buck and Bob (our cabin neighbor) and the Small Change trivia show with hosts Staci and Cathy will be live and it should be fun.

Since returning from the UP200 race, after work each night I have been busy catching up on e-mails and updating the Mush For a Cure website. Our event is just two short weeks away (March 14th) and there still is a lot to do. Thankfully we have Bob Baker as our Trail Boss/Outside Guy and while both Sue and I were out of town last week, he took care of all the paperwork for our trail permits with the Forest Service, DNR and County. Thanks Bob!!!

We have a couple of new things added to this years event. First off, if you are in the area on Friday night, Sarah and the Trail Center crew are hosting a spaghetti feed. We are inviting the pioneers of sled dog racing on the Gunflint Trail and hope many of them can make it. Ted Young of Boundary Country Trekking/Poplar Creek B & B is putting together a list of the folks who organized the Gunflint Mail Run in the 80′s. For trivia buffs, The Gunflint Mail Run later morphed into the Beargrease! The cost for pasta, bread and salad is $6.00 and is free for MFAC participants.

We are also adding another aspect to the actual run…Skijor For a Cure. In case you are wondering what skijoring is it is a cross between XC-skiing and mushing. The “musher” is on a set of XC skis and has his/her dog pull them while they ski. We are opening up 20 positions for anyone who would like to participate in the 4.5 mile run. The skijor teams will start at noon on Saturday (the same time as the sled teams) but instead of starting on Gunflint Lake, they will start at the boat landing on Poplar Lake and run to Trail Center. We are really excited to add this aspect to our event and hope it will become permanent.

Check out the Mush For a Cure website for all the information on the event. We are also still looking for volunteers and more door prizes for our participants. If you’d like to volunteer or donate, you can e-mail Sue or I at info@MushForACure.com or go to the Contact page on our website.

Time for me to get ready for work, be sure to dress warm and drive safe today. If you are looking for some fun this weekend, come up the Gunflint Trail, there’s something for everyone at Winter Tracks!

Daylight Watch: Tomorrow will be 3 minutes and 24 seconds longer than today!!!

Now for the second half of the UP200…

After Mark left Grand Marais at 8:49 p.m., Lis, John Neil and I packed up the dog truck and headed out of the checkpoint sometime around 10:00 p.m. The drive to Wetmore was pretty uneventful even though it had started to snow. There was a couple of spots along the highway where I had slowed down due to the visibility, but no white-knuckle driving like I had been through the last two times we had been at the race. When we got into Wetmore I got out of the truck to make sure no one was behind me before backing up and thought to myself “what is that noise” and then realized that noise was coming from under the  hood of the dog truck. I went into headquarters and asked if there was a mechanic or someone who knew something about engines and musher Mike Bestgen’s handler, Dean, came out to take a listen. We popped the hood and as soon as I started the truck up Dean-o knew exactly what it was…the tensioner pully. The bearing inside it was squealing like crazy. Dean-o knew what it was because he had the same part go on his dog truck a couple of years ago on his way to a race. He suggested run the truck as little as possible and hope that it wouldn’t seize up on our way back to Marquette. The tricky part was going to be not letting Mark know there was anything wrong and convincing him to sleep inside headquarters (instead of the backseat of the truck with it running). After shutting the truck down we brought all the gear needed at the teams parking spot and prepared for Mark’s arrival. While waiting I told Lis and John Neil to get some sleep.

Mark got into Wetmore at 3:37 a.m. on Sunday. He said the team moved along pretty good for the first 3/4 of the run, but the last 1/4 seemed really slow. There was a section of the trail that had near white-out conditions but the dogs looked good when they came in. Mark on the other hand, looked like he could use some sleep. We took booties off, fed dry, bedded the dogs down, jacketed them up, put ointment on feet, rubbed down their wrists, put on wrist wraps, fed them beaver stew and finally let them rest. Once again after everyone was laying down, blankets were placed over them.

(Click on the photos for a larger format)

I did eventually have to tell Mark we were having truck issues when he stubbornly said that he wouldn’t be able to fall asleep inside the checkpoint building with people coming in and out. The gang there brings in rows of recliners for handlers, volunteers and mushers to sleep on so I told him to just try it. Within five minutes of closing his eyes, I heard him snoring and he continued to snore for all of his 2-1/2 hour nap. The plan called for the team to use their remaining rest of close to five hours so once again an hour before our scheduled departure we got Mark and the dogs up moving around. Once Mark came out to the team he watched how everyone was moving so he could take a good look at them. Everyone was happy to be up and moving and once again after bootie-ing them up and attaching their tuglines, they were barking and howling to go. We got the team to the out chute a couple minutes ahead of schedule so the officials could check his sled bag for mandatory gear and at 8:34 a.m. the team left right on time.

Lis, John Neil and I once again loaded up the truck and crossed our fingers that the bearing in the engine would hold until we got to Marquette. Well, I guess we didn’t cross our fingers hard enough as about ten miles from Wetmore it seized up and the belt blew. We pulled over and called race headquarters to see if we could get a tow truck. While waiting for them to call back, Race Marshall Keith Peppler, drove by and stopped when he saw our hood up. He told me we could limp it to Marquette if needed by watching our temperature gauge and shutting the truck down as it started to rise. John Neil mentioned that the fan belt was still running and after taking a look under the hood, Keith said all that we lost with the part failing was power steering (I can deal with that) and air conditioning (don’t need that in winter) so down M-28 we went. We got about 10 more miles down the road and we were hit with a wall of snow. As mentioned before, I have driven in snowstorms in the UP, but nothing like this. It was snowing and blowing so hard, visibility so low that the only way we could tell we were on the highway was trying to see snowbanks on the side of the road and listening for the rumble strips in the middle of the highway and on the shoulders. Honestly, I didn’t know if we were going to make it through a couple of drifts with our non-4WD one-ton dually. Thankfully, thankfully, thankfully we made it. However, we were supposed to make a turn off the highway to go to the Deerton dog drop, but there was no way I was going back. Not only did I not want to drive through that again, but the state police closed the highway after we got through it! So off to race headquarters I went to let them know I missed the turn off and to ask if Mark needed to drop a dog if someone would bring it to the finish line. It wasn’t necessary as he didn’t need to drop anyone!

While we were driving through the blizzard, the teams were running through it! There were reports of 20″ of fresh snow with a couple of pockets of the trail receiving up to 5″ of fresh snow an hour. While the snow slowed the teams to a crawl, everyone made it through it safely. At 2:14p.m. on Sunday afternoon, Eric Morris of Port Wing, WI was the first team to cross the finish line. Eric’s 11-dog team looked great running the last 60-mile stretch in 7 hours and 40 minutes. Congratulations Eric…you ran a great race! We watched 13 more teams come into the finish before hearing Mark was just around the corner. At 4:55 p.m. Mark and his 11-dog team finished the UP200!

It has only taken five attempts, but we can now say that Black Magic Kennels has finished the UP200!!! While it would have been nice to be further up in the standings (larger paycheck), Mark did finish “in the money” in 15th winning enough money to cover the gas to get there and back…every little bit helps! Thank you to everyone involved in the race: the board, the judges, the veterinarians, the volunteers…you were awesome. Thank you for putting on such a great race. Also way to go to all the mushers and their dog teams, it was a tough race (but then again, when isn’t it?) and especially to our crew…Zena, Carstenz, Devil, Athena, Scooter, Deuce, Trout, Jango, Foreman, Matty and Elbrus!

We need to say a huge thank you to our handlers…first off to Mel and Rob who were left at home to take care of the cabin and the dogs that didn’t race. You don’t know how important it is for us to feel comfortable leaving home for a week and knowing we don’t have to worry about anything so we can concentrate on the dogs and the race! A huge thank you from me to Lis and John Neil for coming up and handling for the race. The last two times we have been at this race I was the only handler and I don’t know Mark wouldn’t have finished with 11 dogs if you weren’t with us! It was great seeing you again and if you are available again next year…you’re more than welcome to come along!

I have to add one more photo…this is Lis with Jango at the finish line. Last year, Jango was Lis’s favorite dog and she told Mark that he is going to be a “Rock Star”.  Well, Jango was the youngest dog in the team as a 2-year-old and he did great! He was quite pooped at the finish line, but when the beaver soup came out, he ate like a champ. Next year Lis, maybe he’ll finish the race in lead!

So there is the UP200 wrap-up. I’m running late getting into the shower so I best get running. Thanks again to everyone involved in the race!

Daylight Watch: Tomorrow will be 3 minutes and 24 seconds longer than today!!!

We made it back home yesterday afternoon, with both the drive to Duluth on Monday and the drive up the shore yesterday smooth sailing. This morning is another story. When I went outside to start the truck it was snowing so hard I thought I was back in the UP: Big fat flakes, but at least the wind wasn’t blowing at 30 mph so after last weekend’s white-out conditions near Munising, this seemed like a piece of cake!

(Click on the photos for a larger format)

Now for the race…Lis and John Neil (our live-in handlers from last year) met us on Friday afternoon and came along as race handlers. It was great to see them again after a year and I have to thank Lis for all the photos. My mind is on the dogs and not taking pictures, so I didn’t even bring mine with. Thanks for the photos Lis! Mark started the race at 7:44 on Friday night under clear skies and temperatures in the 20′s. The race starts in downtown Marquette with the starting chute at the corner of Washington Street and 3rd Avenue (I think it was 3rd). The photo above is looking down Washington towards the starting line. Mark had a good run to the wilderness (no handlers were allowed to help or even stop by to watch) checkpoint at Wetmore, rested for five hours and took off again at 8:16 a.m. with all twelve dogs. He got into Grand Marais at 2:44 in the afternoon with both he and the dogs looking for a nice rest. Once the dogs were “jacketed-up” and resting comfortably on straw, Veterinarian Dr. Kendra came over to do our mandatory vet check. She found a couple of slightly sore wrists, shoulders and feet on the dogs, but overall thought the dogs looked great. Jango had a horrible sounding cough and she was a bit worried about pnemonia, but after listening to his lungs and heart and taking his temperature she thought he was fine, but wanted to have him listened to again before the team left again. After the vet check we fed the dogs a stew of beaver meat with everyone but Tucson, Carstenz, Zena and Devil standing up to eat (do you think that has something to do with spoiling them and letting them sleep on the couch at night at home?). Having the dogs standing up to eat is a good sign that while they might be tired, they aren’t too tired. They all ate like horses and after everyone had settled back into their beds of straw, blankets were placed over them.

Mark planned on taking a six hour rest in Grand Marais, so about five hours after he got in it was time to get the dogs up and walk them around to loosen them up. We rounded up one of the veterinarians to listen to Jango and after Dr. Bill listened to him and take his temperature, he said Jango was good to go. As mentioned in my quick post the other day, the only dog left behind was Tucson. When she came in she had a slightly sore shoulder and after putting a jacket full of heat packs on her and giving her rubdowns with linament while she was resting, the tick was still there. She also woke up with a two slightly sore wrists, so the Princess was marked out and loaded in the truck. Mark was a little bummed as even though Tucson’s nine years old, she still sets a pretty good pace in lead. Everyone else looked great and after bootie-ing them up, the tuglines were reattached and everyone barking to go. He left Grand Marais at 8:49 p.m.

That’s all I have time for today, I’ll give the play-by-play of the second half of the race tomorrow.

Daylight Watch: Tomorrow will be 3 minutes and 24 seconds longer than today!!!

If you haven’t checked the UP200 website yet Mark finished the race yesterday evening about 5:00 p.m. with 11 dogs in 15th place. The only dog dropped was Tuscon at the halfway point in Grand Marais with two sore wrists and one slightly sore shoulder. Other than her everyone else looks like they could head back out on the trail again…what more could we ask for?

I am typing this on my Blackberry while we are heading down the road so I will save the full trail stories for when I can get back to a computer. I will “tease” you a bit with mentioning the weather conditions on Sunday morning. Last post mentioned the uneventful drive to Grand Marais…well we made up for it on the way back to Marquette. Dog trucks and dog teams drove through a blinding blizzard and I got through it about an hour before the Micigan state police closed the highway… thankfully we survived it! That’s all I will say for now more to come next post…

I just woke up from an 8-hour sleep in the back seat of the dog truck. I’m letting the truck warm up before getting geared up to head inside for breakfast. The drive here last night was smooth sailing but the forecast is calling for snow this afternoon and tonight, so the drive back to Wetmore tonight might be a little more interesting.

I checked the race standings page on www.up200.org and saw that Mark was the 17th team into Wetmore this morning. His run time was right on with “the plan” so hopefully it was a good run for him. I’m guessing he should be heading out of Wetmore any time if he hasn’t already. Hopefully when he does leave, the standings will show he left with 12 dogs.

I guess it’s time for me to head inside and check in with handlers Lis and John Neil plus a restroom is calling my name!

Happy Trails!