A cold day at the Springs is better than a warm day in the office! I don’t really know cold, even though I’ve been frost bitten, like our friend Lonnie Dupre.  Back in 2005 when he and his partner, Eric Larsen, were attempting to become the first people to make their way under their own power to the North Pole in the summer, Pati and I hosted a fund raiser for their “One World Expedition“.  They made it on their second attempt and were greeted by a polar bear when they arrived!  We have followed their exploits with interest ever since and currently, Lonnie is camped at around 14,200′ on his way to the summit of Denali.  This is Lonnie’s third attempt to summit Denali solo in January, something that has never been done.  Go Lonnie Go!

I made a little fire for comfort and Rich and I enjoyed a fine day making brush piles on the cut-off trail where we have been cutting recently.  We should be able to light these piles up this season, provided we get a little more snow.  We have around 60 piles left to burn and they are all relatively close to Hwy 67.  This is on hold until we get some snow cover and an east wind.

Here are a few before pictures looking first to the right, or north side of the trail, then straight west and finally, to the south.

We took frequent breaks by the fire to relax and warm up our finger tips; nevertheless, we did manage to stack up around 16 piles.

We plan to keep cutting and piling along the river side of the cut-off trail pending the next opportunity to burn some more piles.

See you at the Springs!