02.09.08 Sadie's Initiation

t was 10am on our first day into the bwca.... me, sadie, a new sled dog and norm a winter camping buddy of many years were heading across bearskin lake. it was a perfect winter day ... about 15 degrees and very little breeze and bright skies. as we pulled our sleds towards our destination we thought of juicey succulant trout, the main goal of our trip. we were in camp and had the tents up by noon. soon we were out on the lake heading towards our gps coordinates. we drilled a couple holes and were fishing within an few minutes. the beautiful day continued as did the conversations about camping equipment, dogs, children, women and cars. later in the afternoon i cought a trout.... small but a keeper. Back at camp we had supper and fried the fish. the evening continued with cribbage... norm won. but it was a close, compettive game. the rigors of travel had worn on us and we slept for 10 hours that night. the next morning we spent talking in camp while drinking coffee. we fished from 11:30 to 1:30 with no luck. While back in camp for lunch an artic blast moved through. the temmperature dropped 15 degrees in an hour. we went back out to the fishing hole to get our stuff but came right back because of the cold wind and snnow. Well.. when the going gets tough the tough take a nap. It was releif to get out of the wind but didn't actually go to sleep.. WE had supper way back in the woods to get out of the wind. it was the usuall good camp food but my stove was a temperamental problem requiring continuous pumping and norms quit all together and it was a new stove. Zero degrees stresses the equipment. but we got supper made and went to our tents. It was now 10 below. once in the tent it was tough going to sleep because the wind roared through the trees like locomotives. I have a strong tent but the wind still shook it at the higher gusts. this would make the frost from my breath that formed on the ceiling fall on my face and sleeping bag. after 2 1/2 hours i finally fell asleep. I slept till 5 am, where upon the locomotives were still charging through our campsite. I listened to them for 2 1/2 hours while i could feel the temperature still plummeting. I was barely warm enough in my 40 below down bag. it was so cold that we didn't have breakfast , slam packed our gear and headed out. It had to be 50 below windchill. the cold fresh snow was very coarse and difficult to pull t he sleds on. we stopped and rested every hundred yards and it took us 1 1/2 hours to go 1 1/2 miles. Sadie pulled nobly for the first 1/2 mile.... then i was on my own for the last mile across bearskin lake. It was probably sadies coldest night out ever as a dog from iowa. she did alright but was very tired all the way home.