Wordless Wednesday: Bikejoring

All Good Things are Wild and Free

In the Catskills by Thomas Doughty
"Generally speaking, a howling wilderness does not howl: it is the imagination of the traveler that does the howling." - Henry David Thoreau

Unless, of course, you travel with dogs. Then maybe it's more than your imagination.



I didn't have work on Friday, so I packed up the dogs and drove up to Chester. We went to Hacklebarney State Park, where I've hiked many times. It was about 70 degrees, warm and sunny, but you could feel that fall breeze starting to creep in.






The trails were slick in some spots from the recent rain. And the rivers that cut through the park were flowing fast. It made Nali nervous, but Dexter wanted to get closer and dip his feet in.



I think the leaves were starting to change colors -- but I can't be sure. I spent most of the hike focusing on not falling down. This was Denali's first real hike and she pulled with all her 40 pounds the entire time. She was in harness, so that's exactly what she should be doing, but it made the walk pretty intense.



Going uphill with two dogs pulling was a relief. Going down hill, or trying to maneuver over the rocky trail, was borderline scary. In hindsight, I should have avoided the rocky areas. I was asking for a sprained ankle, but somehow managed to make it out in one piece.



We only went about four miles, but it was pretty warm and I was beat. Denali could have went another ten, I bet. Dexter was content either way. On the way home, I stopped at Alstede Farms for some cider, apple pie, and honey. Nothing beats locally grown food.

All in all, a perfect kind of day.

To New Hampshire and Back

New Hampshire is pretty friggin' beautiful. We drove up there on Saturday. It was rainy on the way up, but the sun came out just as we started fishing in Newfound Lake. No bites -- unless you count all the flies and mosquitoes -- we definitely need a boat if we plan to fish there again. And next time, we avoid black fly season.



After fishing, we washed up at our hotel and walked to the main drag of town. It reminded me of New Hope, PA, but on a much smaller scale. We ate at The Common Man, which I'd definitely recommend to anyone visiting New Hampshire. Afterwards, we tried to find a bar with the Mets/Yankees game, but were unsuccessful. Instead, we spent an hour talking to some locals about fishing. Now we know where to go, next time.

We walked back to the hotel with a six pack of gas station Blue Moon and played in the game room for a bit. Most of the games sucked or were broken, save for the air hockey and pinball machine. Weird discovery: I'm not bad at Guns N' Roses pinball. Who knew?

We knocked out relatively early, only to wake up at 5:30 AM to head to the breeder's house. Once there, she took us to a spot where she trains her team. We helped get 16 dogs out of their dog boxes, onto their picket lines, into their harnesses, and onto the tow lines. Then the three of us rode on the back of her ATV, pulled mostly by her team, through the trails. I've never been pulled by so many dogs. It's amazing how well they all work together and listen to commands.

It was somewhat humid out, so the run wasn't too long. We put the dogs back on their picket lines, gave them water, and removed their soggy harnesses. Good training for my future team, although I think four will be my limit for awhile. Hell, two is enough for now.

Once back at the breeder's house, we piled into the puppy run and were met by six little balls of fur and teeth. I've never experienced such a happy swarm of, well, anything before. I had two pups to choose from, since the other four were being kept for the breeder's team. I chose the pup named Summer. Out of the two, she seemed to be more reserved and gentle. This being my first pure-bred husky, the calmer the better. After all, calm for a husky is a maniac for most other breeds.

We made the transaction, signed off on the paperwork, collected all her information, and packed up a bag of her current food. Everyone said their good-byes and the pup was packed up in her crate for the long drive home. She did very well on the (accidentally) extended ride (don't ask). She pottied at our pit stops and slept the majority of the time.


Once we got back, Dexter went just about insane with happiness. Friends and family came to great the new addition, and she began settling in pretty fast.


I'm pretty sure I've settled on the name Denali, after the National Park and alternate name for Mount McKinley in Alaska. She's a smart girl, but I can tell she's going to be more stubborn to train than Dexter. She's only had a few accidents inside, and she manages to keep them all in the same spot on the kitchen floor, so it hasn't been too messy. She cries a little in her crate at night -- the first night being worse than the second -- so I assume she'll grow out of it quickly.

She is a good little alarm clock, and she gets me moving before 7 AM every day. It's bittersweet -- I'm exhausted, but I'm getting much more out of my day. And waking up to an adorable puppy isn't too bad, either.

Eat. Fish. Sleep.

I've been fishing every day this past week, and I'm not complaining. I finally caught some this weekend: two Largemouth bass and a sunny. Next step is catching something edible -- but I'll have to leave central NJ for that.

This upcoming week will be full of rain, Netflix, new Tosh.0, and making preparations for new puppy's arrival. I'll be driving up to New Hampshire on Saturday to visit with the breeder and pick up my new girl. I'm trying to maintain my composure, but this really is the culmination of a childhood dream. Finally, I'm getting my first Siberian Husky!

Many, many pictures to come. And probably more huskies.

Dog People

My weekends are quickly becoming consumed by furry, four-legged beasts. This past Saturday, I took photos at the Howling Woods Farm clean up event. I spent the day hidden behind my viewfinder, narrowly avoiding massive dug-out canyons and poop mountains -- both products readily manufactured by the woofers.

Sunday I returned to the Pine Barrens for my second day of mushing -- well, my first real day. I borrowed Bolt and Spirit, the same two leaders as on my first run. Dexter once again took the wheel position -- this time, with no hesitation at all. Rob road with me at first, but hopped off once we hit softer terrain.

We road just under 2.5 miles in about 20 minutes, with our average moving speed just under 7 miles per hour. The lead dogs were a bit tired from their morning run, and I kept a relatively slow pace so that Rob could keep up on foot. Dex also decided he needed a poop break mid-run, so that slowed us down a tad. Our max speed was 14 and 1/2 miles per hour. The take-off is definitely the most exhilarating and terrifying part of the ride.

This Sunday, I'm going to get to the race site as early as possible and have Dexter run with my mentor's full team. I hope he doesn't mind being referred to as my "mentor" -- although, technically, everyone I've met thus far has offered lots of help and advice, and could be considered a mentor.

To conclude this entry, I will leave you with a short video from our Sunday run. This was taken by Rob as he dangled off the back of the cart, and he spent a bit too much time filming my dirty hair and goofy face -- so please, ignore that and enjoy the dog butts.