Well we are into the third week of training here at the new digs. Trail work has continued and I suppose will be never ending. One of the biggest trail updates is the use of this great body of water we have outside our living room window. With the moving of some river rock to define somewhat of a trail, we have a 1 mile trail loop that we can run that allows the dogs to cross the river here two times on the run. This is something that I have always wanted to do but could not do logistically. The water is pretty quick where we cross, and that's great! So how do you get a team across fast moving rapids? Well, start with some fearless leaders that love water, and they'll teach the others...boy is a good leader worth soooo much! Our first run doing this we took 6 dog teams for ultimate control and ran 4 teams (our pool is 24 dogs). Leaders were Frank and Cyclone, Cash and Hena, Edenei and Cleo, and Blackdog and Hurricane. So some older leaders paired with young up and comers, made for a good combination each run. We have a great pool of leaders to pick from each run and play musical chairs each run with all dogs getting a turn. It's all about instilling work ethic and manners in the dogs. Seeing the dogs charge across the current of the river, makes all sorts of good fuzzy feelings. Adversity and ways and means to overcome it is what it is all about. Crossing open water quickly and easily is a big adversity to overcome, and makes things go that much smoother during a race that may have open water or overflow. More over, teaching the dogs to do someting and do it with gusto when they do is a great attribute to have in the team. Tight, twisty trails, marginal down hill trails, steep uphill grinds, all are attributes of our new trail system. All are found during racing. I continue to forget the camera while doing the" River runs".. I'll get some photos ...(well Kate will get some photos) Trail work is done to connect to the 1700 rd, about 6km from the hwy. This was not imperative, but now we sort of have our own network of trails and won't have too much traffic in the fall. We have mapped out some 54 mile runs as well as 100 +milers, with the help of our lifeline here in Quesnel, local musher (and amazing custodian of musher history) Jeff Dinsdale. He has been so helpful and a great ambassador for the sport. Signing off for now, Warren