A winning bag of dog food...

On Sunday in attempt to get me outdoors and out of the kitchen David suggested we take a hike "somewhere new". Those of you who know me well, know that I can never resist the suggestion of going somewhere new. We didn't want to travel too far, so we decided to head 20 miles down the road to Twin Bears Camp for a hike up Twin Bears Mountain. It was a beautiful sunny day and the temperatures were mild. As we arrived at twin bears camp it was a center of activity, families on snowshoes and snowmobiles buzzing around the lake. It seemed unusually busy, but with Brody attached to me on his lead our main concern was to negotiate him through all the activity without incident. It wasn't long before we got to the other side of the lake and were on our way up a little used trail to Twin Bear Mountain.

It was a beautiful hike, we spent most of the day appreciating the light streaming through the trees.

I forgot to bring dog treats, so the dog was totally not willing to participate in any cute dog pictures. He would sit looking sweetly into the sun, but as soon as David or I got the camera into position he would sink his head back into the snow.


The best we could get was this shot where we double teamed him with two cameras...

So now you know the secret, all those cute dog pictures always involve a treat in my hand. Our dog does nothing for free and has us trained very well!

The view from the top of Twin Bear Mountain was spectacular and there was lots of untouched snow for the dog to romp, dig, and chase snowballs in. 
As we headed back to the Twin Bears Camp we had Brody tied in as we weren't sure how much activity would be going on when we returned. The camp was pretty quiet, but we were still glad to have Brody clipped in as we found this waiting in camp...
Yes, that is what several hundred pounds (if not a thousand) of dog food looks like. Apparantly, Twin Bears Camp was the final mandatory rest stop for the Yukon Quest. As I write this post the racers have already left the bear camp and at this moments many are passing within a mile of our house on the trails we walk each and every day. The photo in the post heading home is part of that trail the mushers will take today. Literally, in a matter of minutes the winner of The Quest will be crossing the finish line and according to reports this guy is in the lead...
*Update: at 10:45 NPR announced that Sebastian Schnuelle was indeed the first to cross the finish line of the Yukon Quest. I told David on Sunday that he was going to win! I told him make sure you get a picture of that bag! lol 

The funny part is he was in around 3rd or 4th place at the time! What intuition!