The North Woods Calls

The Pine River in Florence County, WI is a designated wild river.   You can paddle for two hours without seeing another person or structure.  You might even miss the takeout if you don't know the
'flags'.   We had a great group of paddlers yesterday, the youngest, age five, Josefina;  the oldest, age 81, Jim, not that age matters... just that any one can enjoy the Pine.  Josefina was entertained by turtles and birds and being on her first kayak adventure.   The river was low but passable.  We had a good rain last night, but it didn't seem to have done much for the river level, when we crossed over checking it today.  Nothing like a paddle on the Pine, healing, peaceful, cheerful, quiet, beautiful, wild, private, pristine.  We can take you on a guided paddle on a variety of different kinds of north woods waters.

SPK Paddle on the Pine

We had a group of seven kayaks today, ages five to 81 and one canine.  The Pine River
was a bit low, a few of us got stuck a couple of times, but mostly it was a perfect day on the river.
Turtles, birds of all kinds, ducks, a loon visited us on our two hour journey.

Wildfire at Spread Eagle

There was a wildfire at Spread Eagle this afternoon, closest one has come to us and too close for comfort.  We always had a plan to take our dogs to our river land if we should have a wildfire, but we can't do that now.   Fortunately we had a downpour and thunder storms which deluged us with water, thus saving the day, I'm guessing, with the wildfire.   It's been the loudest boomer for the dogs so far and they did not like it.  There was some accompanying hail and the temp dropped twenty degrees, for which we are grateful (dogs and I).

In the news

We are off of Second Crossing road in the Town of Florence, WI.   Today's local paper reports and has trail cam photos of a recent sighting of a mountain lion off on Second Crossing Road, near the Brule River.   It's interesting that our summer blog photo showing us crossing the bridge of the Brule is in just that area where the cat was sighted.   We've seen a cat or two over the years out here, so we're not surprised, but it is interesting that is published now.   As we always say, when you for a trail walk, look UP... the trees are interesting shelters for bears, bear cubs, cats, turkeys, porcupines.   This area has very interesting wildlife, coexisting with us.

Look carefully in the photo and you will see bear  cubs in the left and right v's of the tree, Mama was standing her ground watching us as we passed her by on the lawn mower, last June.

Welcome to our Summer Blog.

Our summer blog is a running commentary on summer for our sled dogs and humans.
We welcome kennel visits, volunteers and persons interested in learning about the whole world of sled dogs.   Believe us, it doesn't end in the winter!  The dogs run every day and of course all of the maintenance tasks continue with some added ones (e.g. mowing the miles of trails).   If you are interested in our kennel blood lines, please email us and we will get back to you asap.
Enjoy summer with Summer Place Kennel.  And stay tuned for some new plans for Winter, 2012-2013.