Cool Critters

Last Sunday marked the end of the Copper Dog 150. That's an annual pro-class sled dog race held over 3 days and almost 150 miles - beginning and ending in Calumet. After church on Sunday, we checked out the action as some of the teams made their way back to the finish line at the corner of 5th Street and Scott Street.

There were more folks on our side of 5th Street on Sunday, and there were spectators all the way down the street. The race start on Friday evening is packed with people several layers deep.

Although I don't have a photo of the winning team, this is the first time in the 8-year history of the race that it was won by a Canadian - and the first time it was won by a female! It just happened that 2 of the teams we watched cross the finish line on Sunday also had female mushers.

The Copper Dog is a fantastic event that requires hundreds of volunteers and really excites all the local communities. The dogs are so much fun to watch, so I think they qualify as "cool critters."

I gave you a sneak peek at this next "cool critter" in a previous post - with a teaser asking if you could guess what it was. Can you see it?

We were having our coffee in the great room one morning when I noticed this beautiful animal making its way across our yard.

The fox wandered in and out of the tree line for a few minutes. . .

and turned to head into the shade. . .

and we soon lost sight of him in the dense woods.

What a gorgeous animal! I saved my favorite photo of this fox for my Sunday Reflections post tomorrow. 

Oh, and I have to give a birthday "shout out" to 2 of my favorite people: (1) my younger brother, Danny, down in Florida and (2) my Aunt Edie here in the U.P. 

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Up to 222

We had another 2" of fresh powder overnight. 

That brings us up to 222" - matching last year's season total. We still have a long way to go to beat the 340.5" we had in 2013-14 or the 390.4" recorded back in 1978-79. We won't come anywhere close to those totals this season. March and April can bring us a lot of snow, so we may still reach our seasonal average of 260" or so.

Our snowstick is measuring the depth in our yard at almost 36" again this morning.

The bad news is that we're in for some more crazy winter weather with an extended warm spell beginning tomorrow. Will we be slushbound again? Time will tell, but we're prepared with plenty of provisions.

Unfortunately, our gorgeous snow-flocked trees will be bare again.

The local snowmobile trails will surely be taking a hit for the next week, but there is the possibility of a substantial storm in the forecast for next weekend. We all have our hopes up for that since the 8th annual CopperDog 150/80 sled dog races will be held here on March 3-5, and we would like our trails to be in great shape for that. It's a lot of fun to watch and a great boost for local businesses.

All is well in the Keweenaw.

An Eventful Day

Hi, Cocoa here again. Mom said I could write the last blog post for February. She still doesn't feel normal, but she is getting better. Her headache wasn't as bad today. She spent the day doing laundry and making a big pot of ham and potato soup (but she didn't give me any of it). Dad had to go to physical therapy, then the Traverse got stuck in the driveway, then he had to dig it out. Needless to say, he says he's pretty sore tonight. I enjoyed being outside with Dad. I played in the snow while he worked. 

The Copper Dog sled dog race started in Calumet this evening. I heard a lot of barking, and I was a little concerned about that. I tried to ignore it and went back into my doghouse to sleep. I was rudely awakened again at 9:00 tonight by something that sounded like guns. I don't like guns. Then, I saw some bright lights in the sky. 

When I heard Mom in the kitchen, I jumped up to look in the window at her. She knew I was scared, so she let me into the back porch until the noise stopped. She told me not to be scared; the bright lights were fireworks. I don't care what they're called; I still don't like them.

Now for the most exciting thing that happened today: Dad got a call from Steven. He's at the hospital with Beth, and they're going to have a baby boy anytime now. That means I'll be Aunt Cocoa pretty soon!

Mom says she'll write something tomorrow.

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Mush! Mush! -OR- Hike! Hike!

Warning!  Lots of photos today.  I neglected to tell you about one of the major winter events here in the Keweenaw.  The 3rd annual Copper Dog 150 was a 3-day, pro-class sled dog race.  The 150 mile race is held in 3 stages.   The sled dog teams raced from Calumet to Eagle Harbor on March 2.  Stage 2 took the teams from Eagle Harbor to Copper Harbor the following day.  The race ended on March 4 when the teams raced from Copper Harbor back to Calumet via Brockway Mountain.  I believe 23 of the 29 registered teams actually finished the race.  You can't imagine the excitement and the number of people the race brought to this tiny community.  Mushers and their teams came from all over the Midwest, West and Canada.  Hundreds of volunteers and many local businesses are involved in the events of the weekend.  It was pretty impressive.

The race was scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. on 5th Street on the same block as our Church.  Steve took a walk down several area streets earlier that afternoon to snap some photos of the dogs, trucks and last-minute preparations for the race.  He spotted this beautiful dog just down the street from our house. 

Some of the trucks or trailers proudly displayed the names of the dogs.

Trucks and dogs were everywhere.

Some dogs were relaxing.

Some dogs were eating.

Extra snow was piled onto 5th Street to create the track the dogs used while in town.  However, the majority of the race was actually run on the local snowmobile trails.

5th Street was blocked to normal vehicular traffic for the entire weekend.

A new log structure was constructed at the race start.

Shortly before the race began, a team of snowmobiles led the way down the 5th Street track.  The local Calumet web cam caught some of the action.

By 7:00 p.m., the street was crammed with people.  The race began as scheduled, and it took about 90 minutes to get all the teams off and running.  Mushers yell either "Mush! Mush!" or "Hike! Hike!" to get the dogs moving, but "Hike" is actually much more common in English.

The race trail crosses area roads in dozens of locations.  Volunteers are needed at each crossing to get the dogs to the other side of the road safely and to make sure the dogs don't accidentally make a turn onto the road instead of crossing it.  By the way, even though the Keweenaw snowmobile trails are used for the majority of the race, the trails are not closed to snowmobile traffic for the weekend.  The dogs are so well trained that they simply ignore the machines should they meet them on the trails.  Wow! 

After all the teams were off, Calumet was treated to a nice fireworks display shot off from the local park.  We could see them from our kitchen window.  If we had known we were going to have such a nice view, we would have put a couple lawn chairs outside by our back door and watched them with a cup of hot cocoa!  Next year!

As I said, the race was a 3-stage, 3-day event.  The mushers returned to Calumet with their teams on Sunday afternoon.  The last day took them up and over Brockway Mountain, and they ran through some heavy snow, so they returned a bit later than predicted.  No problem.  Steve was able to snap some great photos as they came into town.  You can tell this guy is having fun!

Some dogs ran with shoes (booties).

Some ran barefoot.

Here's a stereotypical musher.

Nice hat.

Here's #23, the winner from Minnesota with his lead dogs, Fox and Mabel.  Fox has snow on his face showing he was obviously trying to grab some snow while on the run - apparently not the preferred method of hydration.

All in all, it was a great weekend for the community.

We're even talking about volunteering at one of the road crossings or to be a host family after we move to the new house.  Wouldn't that be fun?  If you would like to read more about the Copper Dog 150 (or view some video), visit the official website at copperdog150.com.

All is well in the Keweenaw.