Here is a picture of our recent camping trip with the dogs in the mountains of Montana. Pictured here are my team of 11 dogs with Warren's team of 14 dogs up ahead of us breaking the trail at Keep Cool Lakes. It was definitely a good workout for our dogs who haven't seen 31/2 feet of powder snow like that all season. It was a good experience for the dogs, especially our younger ones who haven't trained down here before. We were really impressed with how they all did. Our camping trip was about 90 miles all together. We ran through a mess of soft punchy snow for the first leg- all the fresh snow that then had a few feet of water rained on it from earlier in the week. We then camped out under the full moon for a few hours and then returned. It was a long drive down for a camping trip but at least it was a good one. The kids are having so much fun playing in the snow they don't seem to mind that the race was postponed.

We saw how well the trail was marked for the Seeley races while we ran yesterday. Sure is disappointing that Mother Nature did not cooperate for the races. We have heard rumors that the race coordinators are working on a new date which we hope to be able to come back down for but the reality is that the Quest and Iditarod are approaching quickly. We will be actively working on Quest food drops as soon as we return to Yellowknife. We are starting the drive back home tomorrow morning. It has started snowing this afternoon with typical gusty Montana winds so it will be interesting to see if we can get out of Doug and Mel's road. It is infamous for getting blown in during storms. Keep your fingers crossed we make it out.

Another plus of the trip down here was that we got to have a great visit with my Uncle Hugh and his beautiful wife Teresa who drove over from Whitefish to meet us here in Lincoln for dinner. They had planned to come for a few days during the race already and we are really glad they still came over for a visit.

Cheers,
Kate