RIP Ferret

I am glad we celebrated Bosco's birthday a few days early b/c we were saddened to discover that ferret passed away this morning. She will be greatly missed around here, especially by Boscarelli who never let her out of her sight when she was out of her cage.  Chris made this box for her to be buried in. I really appreciated his incredibly kind gesture. Thanks Christopher!

Lake Como - Bosco's Birthday Hike

Bosco turns 1 on the 29th of this month so we threw him a little party today on our hike. Before anyone says anything, yes, I have little birthday parties for my dogs. And no, I do not care what anyone says about that. :-)

Kristin & I took the six-pack, as we've so lovingly nicknamed them, up to Lake Como to do the 8 mile trail around the lake.

The trail stuck close to the lake's edge & offered some nice views to the waterfall the feeds the lake.

The sky threatened to dump on us the entire hike and although it did rain a fair amount it thankfully never drenched any of us.

Blue Skies Over Jumbo

The weather man had been telling us all week that it was supposed to be cold & snowy today. While it wasn't the warmest day of the week it was definately not the miserable day I was expecting.

The skies over Missoula were clear blue & beautiful. From the top of Mount Jumbo you could see for miles. About an hour after we got off our hike the storm clouds finally rolled in.

Deadman's Point: Take 2

The blue skies calling, my friend Andrew & I, along w/ our trusty hiking partners Bosco & Mia took off for Deadman's Point.

After my last attempt & learning that forest service road #365 will be closed until May 1st, we took off a little earlier in the day than I started last time. The trail was also a little less muddy this time around making for a less squishy & more enjoyable walk. It was also nice to have someone to talk to again while hiking since Kristin & I haven't been able to meet up for our standard Thursday hike a lot lately & Chris works during the week.

The weather was mild & up until the last 1/2 mile I was comfortable in a t-shirt. Around that last 1/2 mile, as we ascented out of the forest and onto bare knoll, the winds picked up pretty heavily. Deadman's Point offered a stunning view of the Missoula valley & the snowcapped mountains beyond it to the north.

We stayed long enough to get some good pictures & hang out for a short while before the wind blew us back into the woods. The return hike was peaceful. My knee started to really bother me on the return hike so we had to stop pretty often for me to rest it, but otherwise the hike made for a good day!

Quinault Kennels

Earlier this week I had the chance to visit the home/compound/farm of the Alaskan Malamute breeder/musher Twila Baker. I've done some socialzation training for some of her younger pups & have always had a good time working with her dogs.

Chris company, MOE, is partnering up w/ Twila to provide dog sledding tours coming next winter. Chris was headed up to her place to talk some business so I took the day off work and tagged along because... well we all know I'll use any excuse to go play w/ dogs. The road in was... interesting. Okay, it was scary, but we made it in safe thanks to Chris' Jeep (love me some Jeep!).

Twila was awesome in showing us around her beautiful property (also guided by two of her dogs, Baxley, a foxhound & Zuma, an alaskan husky) on a fun little off road vehicle for most of the day. The views were amazing & I highly recommend anyone in the Missoula area come January 2011 to take a ride on a sled behind 12 Quinault Malamutes.

Iditarod

Ladies and gentlemen he's at it again. Kirk Barnum, whom I used to work for managing his Iditarod dogsled kennels, is back on the trail for the 2010 Iditarod. The race started today and will continue for the next few weeks. Keep track on www.iditarod.com or check out Kirk exclusevly at http://www.iditarod.com/race/race/musher/racemusher_282.html

Happy Mushing! (for those of you with snow at least!)

My Summer List

My hikes to complete this summer...

1) Teton Glacier
2) Cha-paa-gn (from the difficult side)     COMPLETED 7/14/10
3) Cold Lake                                              COMPLETED 8/14/10
4) Stewards Peak                                       COMPLETED 7/28/10
5) Trapper Peak

Which one would you like to accompany me on?