February 25, 2013

2013 Expedition Update

Wow! Joe’s 100-day solo expedition is on day 46 already and I haven’t written a blog post with updates since I announced the start of it! Sorry I kind of dropped the ball. It’s been a busy winter.

Joe has been reporting waist deep snow and this entire time the ambient temperature has been hovering right around -55°F. The windchill has frequently dropped that number down to the -70°F to -90°F range. That’s cold in its rawest form.

Evidently, the foxes have been causing a little raucous coming in to camp trying to play with the dogs and maybe attempting to steal a little kibble. I wonder if Joe is trying the scarecrow technique he discusses in his book Malamute Man: Memoirs of an Arctic Traveler to deter them from their campsites.

The dogs have been doing great. They’re all pulling with a lot of heart. Even the rookies (Luna, Ben, Roxy, Bear Jr. and Jim) are pulling like old pros. Rumor has it Roxy was kind of a wild child at the start of the season, but it didn’t take her long to settle into expedition life. She learned very quickly the value of conserving her energy and maintaining focus on working.

Of course Joe has no way of getting photos from this season to me, so we’ll all have to wait to see them until he returns. But until then, here are a few from expeditions past.

2011 956_2

sundog

IMG_1026

 

  • lisa

    thanks for sharing! Great to hear the dogs are doing so good. Those are some cold temperatures and i hope he can solve the problem with the foxes.

  • http://www.familytravels.net/suhail Suhail

    This is simply impressive. Reminds me of the arctic exploration expeditions of the yore. Btw, I have started reading ‘The Malamute Man’ that I had ordered from amazon.ca.

  • http://www.eforunner.com Efo

    Thank you for the update and sharing a little update on Joe and the dogs! I can’t even understand that kind of cold. It’s been in the teens here lately, and brrr, that’s still too cold for my thin skin!

  • http://piappies.blogspot.com/ Piappies World

    So good to read about your update on Joe and the dogs. We wish them well and safe and we hope that all is good with you as well.
    Hugs from the Piappies!

    Love,
    Piappies Fudgie, Princess, Frappie, Mocha, Sugar, Wai-Max, Wai-Pai & Forgie

  • http://niktravel.blogspot.ru/ Nikolay

    To material from which made ​​your tent?