Call of the Wild Sled Dog Tours

Good evening: Apparently my last post didn't go. Trail update. Last Wed. 1/1 we got snow at night and did a tour Thurs. Lots of fun!!!A couple from western NY and their 5 and 6 year old daughters. the girls were perfect. They patiently listened to my 45 minute spiel. Then everyone bundled up and the girls got in the sleds with their parents for a 30 minute ride. Trails were good and the woods beautiful with the snow cover. When we returned the girls were realdy for hot choco...late which they had decided early on they wanted to wait until the tour was completed. When they were ready to leave the girls, with their chilly little hands, shook hands and gave Andre and me a big hug. That was a great ending to a few hours of fun with the dogs and our guests. Unfortunately Thurs. night brought real serious weather and our guests from Brazil could not drive from NYC to South Colton due to road conditions. Real disappointment on all accounts. They planned the visit to our kennel for 3 months. Early on Eli emailed me and said she was having a hard time renting a car with chains. I assured her no problems "our roads are always passable as long as you have an all wheel drive vehicle".Well the archilles heel was the road conditions. Son of a gun - hard to be correct when Mother Nature has input. This past Saturdayand Sundaywarm weather and rain. Dog yard turned to ice; however, trails were semi-OK in the woods. Late Sunday snow started and continued until Monday night.We got about 6 inches. Will hook up dogs to the snowmachine and tub (to compact snow) tomorrow.. Should have trails back by Wed. PM. If anyone's schedule permits we will do tours Thursday and Friday. Call ASAP if available. Then Saturday 40 degrees plus rain, then Sunday snow or rain? If not much rain we may have trails for Monday. Ever since I have had sled dogs (for 35 years) I have had to accept Mother Nature's blessings. Could be minus 85 wind chill in the Labrador 400 race for 3 days with no shelter except getting under rock outcrops to stay out of the wind with dogs wrapped around me for warmth or racing in the rain with 45 degree temps in the Can-Am 250 mile race in Maine! Spence

Good evening: Update on trail conditions. Bare ground!!!The recent rains have basically removed most of the snow from the trails, We were able to do a sled tour Thurs and a tour with the dogs pulling the ranger side by side yesterday. So we will continue doing tours with the side by side, which can accomodate 4 guest, until we can get snow trails back in. We had to cancell a tour with guest from Brazil today due to the bad road conditions. They were going to travel up from N...YC. To all those with confirmed reservations we will keep you indvidually posted on conditions. Staring into the crystal ball it appears appropriate to start downsizing the kennel. Having said that I have several dogs approximately 4 years old. They are all excellant racers with one exceptional lead dog. I would like to see these dogs go to a racing home; however, they would also make excellant pets. If you know someone with an interest please have them contact me (315-262-2145. Spence

Good evening: It has been a long time since I posted. We have been busy. Fall started out great. Our trails were in great shape we did some 3 to 5 mile training runs with the dogs pulling the side by side with guest. We had a couple group kennel tours. The most exciting being 16 students and staff from St. Lawrence University. Then Mother Nature threw a curce ball with very high winds that resulted in considerable blow down across our trails. In fact we didn't have a single... trail that we could go 200' without a blow down. This all coincided with hunting season, Christmas tree plantation season and dog training season. After the winds diminished, Mother Nature blessed us with snow that normally would be welcomed. However, we literal started logging the trails to cut out the blow down in deep snow that made the going difficult. After three weeks the trails were open. Then the rain came turning the trails to slush. We couldn't acess the trails since the cold would eventually freeze in the ruts. Hunting season was short. My son (JIm) and grandson (MIKe) took care of filling the freezers with 8 and 6 point bucks. Job well done. Now we only have dog training and plantation duties. Cutting Christmas trees went well, with lots of guest doing the "choose and Cut" option. We had a really great season with lots of repeat clients. Everyone likes to tell stories about my Mother Iola; who would brave the coldest of temperatures, at age 95, to go out and visit. Christmas season is about over, so we can start focusing on training the dogs. From early Nov. to now we would have a little snow and then rain which did not allow access to the trails. This Monday after 2 days of rain our lawn was bare, with a little snow left in the woods. Tues and Wed we got about 8 inches of snow. Andre groomed trails with the snow machine and tub on Tues and then hooked a team to the snowmachine Wed. and let the dogs do the grooming. Tonight it is 14 degrees below which will start freezing in the trails "create a base" which we need to train with sleds. We have lots of interest in tours. I have been a little tardy in responding since we are not sure of trail conditions. If things go well we should be able to start tours very soon. I will start trying to post trail conditions on a fairly regular basis. Spence

Hi All: Well it has been a busy summer. Caroluyn and I did a river cruise on the Danube. Great fun!!! I climber a bluff and got to see where Richard The Lion Hearted got to spend 2 years imprisoned in a cave with steel gate premitting escape. Just one of many things in world history that I didn't much care about in high school - but now can't get enough. We have done a lot of work on trails this summer plus developing a rustic camping site. Now have four sites done plus the... tent on a platform plus the cabin. If you want a truly outdoor experience come visit and enjoy the wildlife plus evening stars from on of our two observation towers - Third one comming next summer. We finally did a fall training run last week. What great fun - then it warmed up. Looks like Sundday night will cool done ot freezing so we will get a run in Monday AM. The dogs get so excited. It is like they are all puppies again. By the time they are all hooked up i feel 78 instead of 77. God willing and the creek dosen't rise we will have one more wonderfuly year together with my dearest and trusted friends.I know if we go out of the yard my puppies will bring me back no matter what as long as I don't let go of the sled. First cardnial rule in mushing - "never let go of your sled" could be one heck of a long walk home, Signing off for now. Happy Trails!!!!!! W