This morning we had a bit slower start to the day. After our usual breakfast of oatmeal, toast, eggs, muffins and juice we had some relaxed time at the ranch playing with a friend's dog, Yuki. Marcelle had gone into Whitehorse as she had been summoned for jury duty. Her visit into town took a lot longer that it had the last time she was summoned for jury duty. This time they were told it was for a murder case and they would be there until at least midnight that day to select a jury. People were then invited to come forward if they had a reason they could not be a juror. Marcelle came forward and said because her native language was French she may have trouble understanding the "lawyer words". When the judge asked about speaking English in everyday life she said that she works with dogs. He then asked what she did exactly and surely she must do some guiding in English. Eventually when she explained that she was self-employed and had clients waiting he dismissed her.
Once Marcelle had returned we all put on the last of our snow gear packed the car and headed out. We went with Marcelle, Johan and Yuki to a nearby lake, Louis Lake. On the way we passed 3 wild woods caribou which was very cool as they are endangered. At the lake we each strapped on a pair of snow shoes and began the walk down to the lake. Snow shoeing is certainly a lot harder than it looks. Forget the thigh master. It's a major work out for your thighs. Ryan took to it like a duck to water and was soon striding away. He even managed a steep, icy downhill section to the beevor dam at the bottom of a hill. David and Connor both kept having problems with their snow shoes and eventually gave up. I made it to the ice hill before deciding to walk down in in snow boots.
When David and I got down to the beevor dam Johan, Ryan and Connor were already well out into the lake. This was a little concerning because Marcelle had not yet had a chance to check the depth of the ice and make sure that it was safe. We encouraged them to come back closer to the shore. As it turns out we had absolutely nothing to worry about as we would discover when we tried to dig the hole for ice fishing. The first hole took massive efforts with a cork screw from Johan, Marcelle, David and then Ryan. When we finally broke through to the water below the ice was at least 2 feet deep.
We put down a tarp to sit on the snow and began fishing for Lake Trout. Muscles were then needed again to dig a second hole. Connor and Ryan were both keen to have a go at making the second hole.
With the holes dug we fished and ate lunch (soup, salmon and cream cheese rolls, chocolate biscuits, chocolate) and threw a stick for Yuki. David and Ryan had the most relaxed approach to fishing. David laid back and waited for the fish to bite and although hard to believe out on an ice covered lake, Ryan fell asleep.
Despite our best efforts and a few nibbles on the lines we went home empty handed. After packing up it was time to leave the lake and make the snow show trip back to the car. Connor and Ryan were the only ones who snow shoed as we had some issues with the two older pairs of shoes. Ryan was again of like a rocket and the first to make it back to the car.
When we got back to the ranch an exhausted Yuki went home with her master. It was then time to feed the dogs. Connor and Ryan were both keen to help Marcelle and Johan as they knew this would be their last chance to do so. The boys were then keen to have photos with some of their favourite dogs.
Once this was all done it was time for dinner. Tonight we were in for a treat having "Chinese Fondue". We cooked our meat and dipped it in a choice of 3 different sauces. We also had asparagus and bread rolls. After dinner David packed everyone's bags as we knew we had to be up and ready to leave at 4am.
After much discussion the boys had decided that they wanted to sponsor two of the dogs to do the 2014 Ididarod. It was hard to chose which dogs to sponsor as the majority of the ones to be used were the dogs that we had used as a family. In the end it was decided to sponsor Bandit - he used to be a lead dog but is rapidly losing his sight so will go as a wheel dog in what will likely be his last race even though he loves to run. The second dog chosen was Morisson - he was everyone's favourite and will be a lead dog in 2014. It was great; each of the boys made a short speech to Marcelle and Gilles thanking them for their wonderful experience dog sledding and staying at the ranch and explained that they wanted to sponsor the dogs. Marcelle and Gilles were genuinely touched. It was a wonderful way to finish our trip.
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