Casper Mountain Sled Dog Races 2008

Casper Mountain Sled Dog Races 2008
Feb 11th 2008
wolfmoonsleddog
West
Location: Glenrock, WY
Time - 8:17am
Temperature: 32 degrees F
Conditions: Partly cloudy, windy
Forecast: Rain or snow showers today, partly cloudy tomorrow. Lows in the 20s or 30s

Well I don’t have too much time to blog right now but I’ve got a lot to tell. The past two days I competed in the 4-dog 4-mile class of the Casper Mountain Sled Dog Races. I ran a loop trail with four Seppala Siberian Sleddogs named Misty, Smarty, Boogie and Judy. They were great dogs but they wouldn’t take my commands the first day. They kept wanting to pull into driveways on the righthand side of the trail. And I hadn’t been on a sled in a while and kept tipping over, getting dragged and crashing. Once I slammed into a snowbank and nearly lost my team. Fortunately there was some race help there and it wasn’t a disaster. Then I got sort of lost because the trail wasn’t marked very well. My time on day one was about 46 minutes, which put me in 5th place.

The second day was much better. The dogs knew me better by that point and I knew them better. We really were a team on day two. I drove the sled better and didn’t wipe out a single time! The dogs wanted to go down the same driveways but I told them not to and this time they DID obey my commands! It was great! We were smoking along and passing teams right and left. My time on day two was about 28 minutes which put me in first place.

The combined time of my 5th place finish on day one and my 1st place finish on day two put me in third place overall. So Judy, Boogie, Misty, Smarty and I did well. We won a hand-painted dog bowl and $20. That brings the amount of money I have won in sled dog races up to a whopping grand total of $45! LOL

The trail was nice but tough. A lot of uphills and downhills. There was one really steep hill - all I could think of was roller coaster!!!! The trail climbed pretty high and we could see a sweeping Rocky Mountain panorama! It was beautiful with the clear sky and dry air. Unreal. There was also a very challenging section of trail that was narrow, bumpy and twisty. Strangely enough, that was my favorite part. It was so much FUN!