It was a leisurely morning. We tend, early on, to tend to the details, taking care of the horses, the dogs, and ourselves. My routine is such – I pack up the sleeping gear and the tent, feed and water the horses, and pick up their poop, usually in this order. Pete makes breakfast. I think, oh lucky me. I hope he thinks, oh lucky me. One or the other of us let the dogs out of the truck and give them food and water.

After breakfast, Pete cleans and puts the kitchen gear away and I do whatever else that needs to be done; like this morning, take down the clothes on the clothesline. I have a hard time figuring out how to undo Pete knots, so I leave this to him. Last thing – we load the horses into the trailer and drive off, having conferred about where we are going.

Hrimmi and Tyra enjoy dandilion greens at Beaver Creek vistor center

Today our destination was Snag, a ways beyond the Canadian border. Our first stop was the Tetlin Wildlife Refuge visitor center, where there was plenty of information about the boreal forest, the taiga, and migrating birds. This is where they go. This is where they are. I paid the most attention to the information about migration. The wildlife refuge is where the trumpeter swans land for the summer. They head south in the fall. They have legs that look like scuba flip flops.

Disturbing news. The refuge interpreter first told us a story about he and his wife taking in a pregnant miniature horse and then then mentioned that his wife did horse therapy with Deb Moore. The interpreter said that she was up here recently, selling a tractor. He added that Roy, her husband of many years had recently died. They were living in Oklahoma where they moved last August. I said to Pete that he either had a lengthy illness when they left, or he died suddenly in Oklahoma. I feel bad for her. The analogy of a robin being without a mate comes to mind.

Onward. We had no problem getting across the border. The customs officer (after asking us about our trip plans) took our passports. As we were waiting for him, we watched two guys (Canadians) unload the back of their car. Neither of the two seemed unduly stressed.

Onward, to the Beaver Creek visitor center. We came in on the tail end of a barbecue. Pete got a free hotdog. There were kids and parents milling about, and the horses (trailer windows open) were the main attraction. The kids fed the horses dandelion greens.

We drove to Snag Junction after lunch. The smoke (from an ongoing fire) was palpable. We decided to camp at the Snag Junction campground and went for a ride on the road that goes to the old Snag townsite. It was easy to tell how the place got its name. There were burnt tree snags on the side of the trail, near the lake.

I wasn’t in the mood to do this ride – I was worried about Raudi being affected by the smoke. But once I got going, I wanted to keep going. The only problem was Hrimmi, who I was riding, kept diving for grass.

On the return part of our trip, it started to rain. Fortunately, we had camped right next to a picnic shelter, so we stayed dry for the duration of the evening. We had talked about staying here two days, but because of the smoke we decided to move on.

Next: 160. 6/12/24: Day # 7 Bayshore Lodge, Perchance to Dream