February Dog Fire

 

About 10 miles from the sled-dog starting gate, a blazing fire at a sled drop point provided warm comfort in the otherwise frigid darkness. The stars and moon were as intense as they can be, but they were still as cold as diamonds in the outer space deep freeze. I learned that teen-age boys are good people to hire as bon-fire tenders. They guarantee that the flames stay high and the heat radiates intensely. We had steam coming out of our gloves and coats.

Sled Dogs

 

The mushers had headlamps, which makes sense because the UP 200 starts after dark. The interesting thing to me, though, was that the lead dogs also had head lamps (in many of the teams). This makes sense, too, of course, but I wondered whether the dogs suddenly felt like they had a new supernatural ability to see better in the dark. What goes on in a dog's mind at times like that? What goes on in a dog's mind at any time?

Winter Waves

 

Sometimes Lake Superior waves at you invitingly, and though it's beautiful to look at, you know that you are better off keeping your distance. The crashing breakers are icy fireworks, spectacular but eager to burn with frostbite, hypothermia, and worse.