Was planning on going up the Steese highway this morning to do some wolf hunting. Got up at 6am this morning and went out to get the paper. By the time I got to the end of the drive, (50 yards) my body was beginning to hurt from the cold. Half way back to the door I decided I needed to hurry, my feet were beginning to burn in side my sneakers. I looked at the temp after getting back inside. 45 below, darn. Looked at the forcast in the paper, decided to put the trip off for a few days. By Thursday it is forcast to be above zero during the day, I'll go then. I'm retired, timing is not chiseled in stone for me. I went back to bed.
Plus I drive a Diesel, that sucker don't like cold weather, anything below minus 20. At minus 40 it takes four hours to heat all that oil and cast iron to the point it will start. I plugged it in at 10, so it will be 2 before it will be warm enough to start, so I can go to the gym.
The paper (Fairbanks Daily News Miner) (
http://www.newsminer.com/ ) published pictures of the dog mushers running the Yukon Quest. They are out in temps down to 50 below, running that race. The leaders have already left Circle. Now comes the hard part of the trip. Up to this they have been running on the Yukon River. At Circle they leave the river and head up into the mountains. I think the leaders will arrive in Fairbanks tomorrow. The Iditarod gets all the press, but the Quest is the tougher of the two races.