We are into a rhythm now as we execute the morning’s chores … cut more wood, make fire, collect and boil water. Breakfast is potato hash browns, sausages, and oatmeal with coffee or tea. The morning temperature is in the -20s and yet the sun feels warm. Our guides suggest that we could leave excess food and gear here and retrieve it on our return. So we hoist a large duffle bag up into a tree by a rope. Then I shudder as Paul climbs a pine tree with brittle branches and asks that I hand him a 40 lb block of frozen chicken (dog food) which he places in the branches and out of reach of the wolves. This will ease the task of loading our overstuffed sled. The sleep systems alone are quite bulky and it takes four of us to compress these into the sled bag and lash it closed with cold fingers.
Breakfast 
Packing up 
Dog food in tree
Leaving Sunday Lake we bushwhack through the forest along a route our guides have scouted ahead. About a mile and a quarter north is the expansive Crooked Lake which borders Canada. Along the way our heavy sleds topple saplings and we help our dogs drag the heavy sleds up over fallen trees. As the sleds and skiers emerge from the forest and gather on the lake ice Ellen notices that our sled has suffered some damage. We improvised a fix to the gang line as it attached to the bow of the sled and took note of a hole opening in the sled bag.
Sunday Bay on Crooked Lake
The dogs seem to enjoy the wide open flat lake and it no longer requires gymnastic moves for us to maintain our footing on the sled runners. In the distance we can see the Canadian shoreline where in summer 2014 we had portaged onto the lake with Chris and Katie. We make good time but our guide stops us as we approach an island with a prominent rock face. We tipped the sleds over signaling to the dogs that we would be stopping for a while. After giving each of our dogs some loving attention we grabbed some snack items from our pockets and approached the rock face. Paul showed us the ancient pictographs on the rock and one in particular which seemed to depict a person on snowshoes. Continuing along our route Paul searched for and found the wreckage of a floatplane crash which claimed the lives of the two passengers in 1940’s.
Lunch time 
Rock with pictograph 
Plane crash fuselage 
We made camp on the ice on the sheltered side of the island. After unloading and securing the dogs we started hiking a 3.5 mile loop which would have us bushwhack overland through deep snow west to Iron Lake and then back east to approach Curtain Falls from downstream. Paul had left earlier and so we (Ellen, Jeff, Todd and Olivia) followed his tracks until catching up on Iron Lake. The falls were spectacular and a reminder that this is a land of water and not just snow and ice.
Chaining the dogs 
Very tired doggers 
Iron Lake 
Curtain Falls
Hiking back now over Crooked Lake, we were approaching the island and camp as the sun was setting. Since we had not yet gathered much firewood Todd suggested we retrieve a nice looking log from the shore. However, as we dislodged the log from the snowbank Todd broke through the ice and was standing thigh deep in the shallows. He climbed out and we quickly carried that log to camp and set about starting the fire right away. Todd would spend the rest of the evening drying out his mukluks and clothing. We all chose to bed down on shore this night rather than the lake. Dinner was stir-fried vegetables with shrimp and rice!
Moonrise over Crooked Lake
Journeys with Jeff and Ellen 