Dog Sledding with Blaine 2003-7

 

 

 

Blaine Hawkes and I married in September 2003, and we lived in his home at the edge of St Anthony, Idaho at 4^th north and 3^rd west. That winter he realized that I loved dogs and snow. Blaine had created dog sleds and Siberian dog teams most of his life as a family hobby, but after his youngest son left home, he gave his teams away and kept only 2 of the many sleds he had made over the years. We discussed this fact and decided that we would try to do this adventure again.
 
His philosophy was that "If you build it, they will come." So he built a dog trailer and a large kennel. (We later named this 20 dog large kennel “HAWKES HAPPY HUSKY HOTEL” and, besides the dogs and sleds, this became Blaine’s pride and joy) Sure enough, through contacts in many areas, we slowly built up a dog sled "team" with dogs that had NEVER been sled dogs! These dogs were mostly Siberian Huskies from Idaho and Montana.



Is there anything cutier than huskie pups?



Caden and Catrice holding 2 month old puppies

We had fun breeding them, gaining 8 puppies who grew into lovely, friendly, but not well-trained sled dogs. We never did have really good lead dogs. Blaine ordered harnesses, lead ropes, booties, snaps, and much more sled dog paraphernalia. He was having a great time with a great hobby. I was as well. This activity was filled with wonderful winter experiences. I found out that it is also great summer exercise as we had summer training carts.

 

 

Catrice leading eight 2-month old puppies as Blaine rides the sled



Jane and Blaine with Cheyne's 4 pups

Napping pups

I found out that it is also great summer exercise as we had summer training carts.





 

Three carts, 10 dogs, and 5 handlers on Redwood Road north of St Anthony.   The dogs have booties on them



Another must-have item was a sled & dog travel trailer that would house the 10+ dogs, at least 4 sleds, a snow machine, and equipment. Therefore, we bought a 14 foot cargo trailer and a 15 passenger white van. We later substituted a 9 passenger vehicle.We had the equipment which resulted in great fun with family at "The Place" at Horseshoe Flats in Drummond, Idaho. The Hawkes family had homesteaded this land in the late 1800's, and Blaine was born on it.



5 dogs, Blaine, 3 carts, and two handlers in Cemetery by Snake River in St Anthony



Blaine, Olga and two sons,  and summer training cart  



At one time we had two brothers helping before the girls came along.  Here we are in the winter with 10 dogs and two sleds on Redwood Road north of St Anthony.

 
One HUGE yearly event was the Ashton Dog Races that are still being held each winter. My Idaho granddaughter, Catrice, and Utah grandson, Chris, both entered their own teams. What a privilege to follow in Grandpa Blaine’s dog sled tracks!


Chris Morford racing with his three dogs.  Dad, Marsh, helping to the right

 
Another place we enjoyed was the Big Springs trail from the warming hut to Big Springs and back through a circular 12 mile trail. Moose was often seen while quietly riding.  Following is a much loved story of one of our adventures.


Jane on Big Springs run with grandchildren in the basket

 

     In March of 2007 Blaine decided on a Big Springs trip.  I was all for it.  At 7:30 am, before we left for Island Park, we prayed for discernment and safety for our trek with the dogs. This is standard and wise practice because dogs, drivers, weather, etc. are ALWAYS unpredictable!

We drove to Mack's Inn, turned right, drove several miles to an official parking lot/warming Hut place, and got out the dogs and sled. The trail was freshly groomed, the snow hard, the air cool, and the sky cloudless! Our 8 dogs were on a high and ran the best they have ever done!

On our way to Big Springs, we saw either a coyote or wolf way off to the right. He sat down to watch us. I kept my eye on him, but he did not approach. At the springs, ducks flew off the pond startling the dogs, and they would have loved to give them chase. We met a man and his son from Texas, a forester, visiting this area for their first time. They loved seeing our team and sled.

On our way again, we circled across the bridge and headed NE for more good trail. In a little while, Blaine asked me if I would like to ride on the back and he IN the basket. So we switched. I love to be on the runners! What a sense of power! The trail, at one point, was a bit slanted, so I got my whole self onto the right runner to help get the sled more centered on the trail.



Just then I slipped and fell off the back. The dogs and Blaine (IN the basket of the sled) kept going right down the road. I yelled, "Whoa," but the dogs are SO well trained -- ;o) -- that they kept on going, and of course, deaf Blaine never heard me! So here I was, alone on a snowy trail, and very little traffic this morning!  After about 2-3 minute, I heard noises and stuck out my thumb.  If I had had lovely legs, I would have lifted a pant leg.  Four snowmobilers came racing along, stopped, and heard my story.  The lead one gave me a ride to catch up with the sled. As we neared, Blaine, riding with much joy, looked over to his right as we approached and started to wave at the snowmobilers. Then he saw me, which gave him a start! He had NO IDEA that I was not riding on the back!

As we rode along side of him, (I thinking that I would get off up ahead and run back to the back of the sled, and the guy asking me, well, was I getting off?  I could just visualize me flying off the snowmobile, John Wayne style onto the runners and gallantly resuming where I had left off!)



However, Blaine raised his hand and then, at 79 years young, proceeded to give us a great, agile, smooth, demonstration on how to get from the basket around to the back of the sled and stand on the runners. (I wished that someone could have videoed that whole event. It could have made it to the Funniest Video program!) Then Blaine stopped the sled and dogs, and I got on. We thanked my rescuers and all were on our way.

At the turn-off about 1/4 mile from where we had parked our van and cargo trailer, two other snowmobilers were looking at a map. We stopped for the dogs to go left and then noticed that two people were snowshoeing off to our right with three loose dogs! We had seen these same people and dogs on Monday when we snowmobiled to check out the trail. But on Monday, we did not get to the Big Springs trail until about 1 p.m. That is why we decided to start from home EARLY this morning to avoid them. It was now only about 11 am but there were still there!  Not good for our dogs!

Well, I jumped off and grabbed the lead dogs, but the three loose dogs were curious and ran towards us with their masters giving orders for them to come back. I asked the two guys on the snowmobiles to please help us, and one grabbed our dogs and the other helped get the other dogs away. When all was under control, we helped the guys figure out where they were on the trails. They were from Indiana. I told them that they were answer to prayer!

We mushed into the parking lot at about 11:15 am. After 11 + miles, the dogs were very happy to get in the cargo trailer and lay down!

We realize that we really ARE blessed to live in Idaho with its beauty, clean air, and good water, but even more so we are and were blessed by Heavenly Father in his watchful care of us. These folks came to our aid at just the right time. I could have been stranded for about 1/2 hour until Blaine realized that I was NOT along, and/or our dogs might have gotten into a big fight with those 3 loose dogs!

 

Blaine and his NEW sled  early December 2007

 

Soon after the above incident, Blaine decided two things. One was that I was NOT to ride on the back of the sled, but in the basket only! The other was to build another sled, this time ours. He ordered ash wood from the southeast, Black Angus hide from the butcher, and since he had all of the tools necessary, we started on months into a building journey that produced a lovely sled with only home made rawhide for the sides and rawhide and dowel fasteners. In early December 2007, we tried it out at the Big Springs run and were very pleased with the way it traveled.



Lower Mesa falls overlook with Caden, Blaine, Catrice,  Jane, 10 dogs & two sleds  2005

My Idaho grandchildren especially enjoyed this activity. One of our favorite places to dog sled was to Island Park’s Lower Mesa Falls from Bear Gulch and back. We would hook up 10 dogs and two sleds and Catrice, Caden, Blaine, and I would have wonderful, quiet, snowy rides through some of the most beautiful landscape one could witness. The overlook to the falls is awe-inspiring. When cross country skiers or snowmobilers met us, they gave "Thumbs Up" signs and great smiles.

Jane with lead dogs Ring and Dakota at Bear Gultch

Un-hooking the dogs from several sleds at the Big Springs parking lot

On December 15, 2007 Blaine suffered a heart attack and the next day was successfully operated on while 4 stints were placed in his heart. About fifteen minutes after he was taken to his room, as two of his sons approached his bedside, Blaine passed on. This was very sudden and totally unexpected, but I am very sure he was most happy to be with Bonnie. We were also quite pleased that he never had to be in a wheel chair nor a nursing home. What a kindred, happy, adventuresome spirit returned to Heavenly Father. (Are there dog sled rides in heaven?)

 
Concerning the dogs, we had had several years of young girls being our dog handlers, and as I got ready to leave Idaho for California in the fall if 2008, I gave the dogs to them for their own teams. Some of them are still running in different contests in the Ashton area. My son, Marsh, had a few years before taken our Seppela Siberian dogs, and along with other dogs, created teams of his own in Utah. He took the sled Blaine made, the cargo trailer, bought the 9 passenger van.  He and his son ran sled rides in the Park City area for 3-4 years with a winter entertainment business. Now none of our family is into the dog sled fun, but what an awesome era this was.