a hike to the canyon

gorgeous trip up to the canyon viewpoint today. a windy and sunny day. we took five puppies with us who kept busy hunting lemmings. the last time i was up on the plateau a few weeks ago the landscape had been blue and green. today it was full of reds and yellows. autumn is here in alta. we crossed several streams and found a cushy ledge of moss to rest on while we ate candy and absorbed the view. five hours after leaving, i came back to the house with hands stained purple from blueberries and a stiff back.

Bingis

The barn.

Canyon Huskies and Northern Lights Huskies spent the weekend training dogs at Bingis fjellstua in the Finnmarks Vidda outside of Mazi. In the winter, many miles of training is done in the Vidda, a large alpine area with very little trees, rolling hills, and open vistas. We had 30 adult dogs between us. The dogs were taken out of the trailer to run the last 10k into Bingis. Half pulled Roger's Suburban, Trine took the other half on the ATV. We trained the dogs all day Saturday, once in the morning and once in the evening. Andrea, one of Trine's handlers and I took out an 8 dog team on the cart we brought along. My camera seized up last weekend in Karasjok, so I don't have any pictures of Bingis other than the few low quality pics I took on my IPad. A shame, it is a beautiful fall in the mountains. The last of the wildflowers are blooming and trees turn more yellow every day. We saw several owls, ate good food by candlelight, and had a Saturday night sauna. I'll be seeing much more of the Vidda by dogsled this winter. Am looking forward to it already.