Wish they could talk

The black dog in the photo has been a leader of seven 1000 mile races and he is now retired. His name is Pedro. Having encountered and conquered mountains and blizzards and wildlife across Alaska , I do wish he could tell me his stories. He led the winning Yukon Quest team in 2000.

The red dog also led the YQ team in 2000 and she is still 'guiding'. A few years ago we had gone off this road into the trails , running young pups with us. We met a moose cow and her calf. Immediately the moose cow raised her hackles and we were hustling to grab puppies. Rubia helped us round them up safely. In the house she knew the schedule and was supervising me (ever so gently) . At night she would sleep next to me. She would pace in the morning when it was time to get out to the dogs. She is still leading in her retirement.

If only they could talk.

Roads in Alaska

When I picked up my rental car it had a list of roads that one should not travel while there... they include all the roads I have often traveled on... Chena Hot Springs road was one of them.
This photo is just off of Chena Hot Springs Road... it is Grange Hall Road and a sign says, Slow for Dog Teams. It is a busy training trail for many mushers, including Aliy Zirkle, Rick Swenson,
Jessica Hendricks, Judy Currier, Ray Redington, Jr. Mountains are in the distance, hard to see.

In 2000 we went by dog sled to go camping down this road in the photo, heading for the frozen Chena River. It was in the minus thirties as we took off late day under a full moon. I remember the peace and the silence out on the frozen river, going into the brush to cut bows for the dogs beds and the Big Dipper and full moon highlighting our camping site. We camped in a tent with a small stove which I fed with sticks of spruce all night long. The dogs fared well and were raring to go the next morning.

I did see a small bull moose on the road out here in March... saw many more last September.
This road is at about the 21.5 mile marker. Last summer, I believe it was, at 17.5 miles, two grizzlies went into a dog yard looking for food. They were young and unfortunately one of them did not learn, but the other was able to relocated.

Aurora Borealis

One of the things I enjoy most about Alaska are the surprises around each bend in the road, or moment to moment. Every once in awhile a glimpse of mountains, or a full face view of mountains, or also the Aurora which I'm sorry I couldn't capture too well on my small digital.

Interruption

We're sorry for the long interruption, but I lost connections in Alaska, but after all, it is Alaska.

Aliy had a great race but her dogs slowed on her , became a bit ill , out of Unalakleet, ending her hopes to be up with the top finishers. It was a new experience to be on the receiving end of the finishing dogs this year. As Ray drove them into the drive and then carried each kindly to their houses, the Northern Lights came out and danced in the sky... a welcome home for the dear dogs. The whole dog yard erupted in howling cheers and the returned dogs were very happy to join in, happy to be home.

Two Rivers, AK is a wonderful small community of dog mushers, the roads are dog trails, and I enjoyed my time there very much, away from the more hectic race activities.

I especially enjoyed time with Stella and with Fats, Flood, Pedro and Rubia all retired leaders, as I've said before.

I did see a bit of wildlife, a bull moose along the road, some beautiful red birds that I did not identify, a sign of Spring I'm sure. The mountains are always there in almost any directions I'd look.

Rubia patiently walked with me along the road each day as I walked other dogs on leash. Although Spring is coming, it was in the minus twenties each night.

And, after all, it is wonderful to be home in the Midwest... the white birches stand out after having looked at the small spruces of the Interior of Alaska.

Aliy is 24ing in Takotna

If you haven't received the update on Aliy, this will let you know she has declared her mandatory 24 hour rest in Takotna. Making up for her bib number she'll be there about close to 26 hours, having arrived there at (from memory so may not be accurate) 4:59 a.m.

Having been to Takotna, I know it's a neat place to 24... they have a separate place to sleep up on the hill... you can park your dogs out of the way and the dogs rest well. The villagers keep large pots of water hot on the edge of the river for all mushers to use. School is out for the day so the village children are helpers as well.

When you land in Takotna it's literally on top the mountain. We hitched a ride in the back of a pickup down to the checkpoint/village.. very scenic and friendly. They served wonderful mooseburgers in the little village building for the mushers, where we were also able to eat.
Very nice checkpoint.

Aliy dropped Sporty , a sprint dog who hadn't run distances before. He made it 400 miles, wonderful dog. I'll reunite with him today, hopefully, as I'm headed for the kennel now and will take a photo of him and of Sparky, her two returned dogs.

Paul Gebhardt ran into a tree and resulted in him having to chase down his team when the gangline broke. He hitched a ride for a bit with Doug Swingley.

Sue Morgan scratched and the press release indicated it was a result of a cracked rib. Am sorry to see her have to drop as she looked ready and fit at the restart as did her dogs.

Trent Herbst left Rainy Pass this a.m. at same time as Glenn Lockwood and I would imagine as rookies they're traveling that challenging trail together in the day light.

Fairbanks Photo Section on Iditarod

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/galleries/207-16.html?SITE=AKFAI&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

There's a great photo of Aliy in this section of photos in the Daily News Miner.

She's riding at fourth right now with the other top guns.... Bjorner Andersen lost the trail for a bit yesterday but he's back in the lineup now, in case you were wondering whyhe had dropped back .

I'm leaving Anchorage for Two Rivers and Aliy's kennel tomorrow... it's snowing here... not used to that in Anchorage usually... warm and soft snow, visibility limited but planes are flying out.

It's hard to not have trail photos this year as usually I'm out at a checkpoint but going to Aliy's kennel to care for her dogs and be in the midst is great fun for me... more later.

News links and photos for Iditarod

This is a link to the Anchorage Daily News....
http://www.adn.com/
On the right there is an Iditarod 34 section and they have great daily photos from the trail in that section.

Aliy is out of Rainy Pass into Rohn, in fourth right now, traveling well! Sparky is the dog she dropped, a tough little black and white gal.

Also good source is the Fairbanks Daily News Miner, but I don't have the link right now.

The Story of Wager

Trent purchased Wager in Alaska and drove down the Alcan Hwy with her in the front seat, hoping to assist in her socialization. As he said, after ALL of those miles, she chose Florence, WI to jump out the window at the local coffee shop. The coffee shop owner told them she'd call us, local mushers and we WOULD catch her. Thanks for the vote of confidence, Lisa!
So for four days a battalion of us chased her, lured her with salmon, drove through fields with lights, lost our hearts when she ran across the highway more than once in front of trucks, and FINALLY, with the help of our good Skinny and our neighbor, we cornered her off the highway.

She lived in our living room with two leashes until Trent could get back up to pick her up again and we loved her. She was very shy and very hungry but our house dogs welcomed her. We told her if it didn't work out for her for Iditarod she is always welcome back with us.

So to see her in her truck and to hear that she is his main leader now, was very heartwarming.
These are photos of Wager in her truck and running Iditarod, in this photo in point , not lead, just until she gets past the scary people.

Dog Drop and other

Left, Jeff Schultz, Official Iditarod photographer; right, Teacher on the Trail, Teri, 2006 from WI!












I just walked out behind the Millenium Iditarod HQ a few minutes ago and this is a photo of the area where dropped dogs are flown in for care. I tried to not i.d. dogs too closely with the photo, but just show that they are well attended and loved while awaiting reunion with their humans and /or veterinarians.

Aliy has dropped one dog but I haven't heard yet which dog it was. The lobby of the Millennium is a high traffic area as various people involved with the race are moving in and out. I'll work over there tomorrow in the telephone room.

And mountain photo through wet windows is just the best I could do for anyone wanting a quick mountain view for now.

Iditarod continued, computer glitch this a.m.

Here's a link to Ramy Brooks' website... they are providing coverage too...

http://www.ramybrooks.com/

Also, of course,
www. iditarod.com
www. dogsled.com

And will try to get the link for Bill Borden's Cool Dreams site as theya re posting photos too.

There was a computer glitch this a.m. so appeared that there were a kazillion mushers still in Skwentna. I believe they do not have to sign out of checkpoints this year so it will be anyone's guess who is where at times.

Go Aliy!! and Trent! and Ed!

Dogs of Iditarod

These are photos of teams coming onto Long Lake in Willow at the Restart... Aliy Zirkle,
Bjornar Andersen and Dee Dee Jonrowe.

Faces and Places of Iditarod

We had an extremely full day today at the Restart of Iditarod in Willow, Alaska.
I had hoped to not work today but they asked me to wave a big flag warning off snowmachines on a tricky little hill for the departing mushers, so I did just that all afternoon.

Prior to the trail guarding we did have a great chance to visit Aliy, Trent Herbst and family and Wager, his escaped dog we were able to catch and rescue last fall and Sue Morgan (who has Brant, the partially blind dog). From our perch with the flag we were able to share good wishes with numerous mushers as they headed down the second lake toward Nome, including, Aliy, Ed Stielstra, Karen Ramstead, Trent and many others.

We have many photos of musher's faces, dog's faces and the places of the Iditarod. Wager runs a fantastic lead for Trent he said... that was quite a lucky for him he said that Wager could be caught.

For starters here is Aliy (eyes closed) who is looking just great as do her dogs and Trent and Cali. Also a photo of Sue Morgan in center in front of her truck... It will take me a bit to sort these photos but each year I also try to take a photo of Iditarod's official photographer, Jeff Schultz, so am including that as we also had a nice chat today.

Two tired guards

We were laughing after a day of attempting to create a fun AND safe environment for viewers.
Most fans are so much fun and eager to cooperate... just a very few who hassle the guards and we had a few of those, too. This is a photo of a guard captain and me laughing with relief that our shift was over... The most fun are the excited children. I did get a photo on another camera of four young native children who stood with me to watch their mushers... ages 11, two 9 year old twins and an adorable five year old boy.... it was my highlight of my day.

Musher is Chad Schouweiler in Start chute, from Tomahawk, WI and! his Iditarider, Susan, a professor from the University of Central Florida... thanks for info, Susan. Susan, says, yes, she was cold.

Link to Cabela's Jon Littles thoughts on contenders

Jon Little, an accomplished musher, writes for Cabela's. This is the link to his article on thoughts on contenders for Iditarod 06....http://www.cabelasiditarod.com/coverage_2006/cov06_mar04_01.html

Particularly of interest to us is his comment that Aliy Zirkle is tantalizingly close to the single digits. Completing in 11th last year, she has the wonderful dogs , the competency and the drive to do just that. She's looking extremely fit and well prepared.
Photo is of Aliy and sister, Kaz, at the Musher Banquet. Kaz is the manager on all fronts of this racing endeavor. Team Zirkle has great depth in both dogs and people... Cha Cha, Girlfriend,
Frita's daughter, Bullet , etc. I will name her team after the takeoff.

Allen, Kaz, Ray, Mickey,Doug are all great handlers for Aliy. I'll be doing dog kennel care for them while they follow Aliy on the trail and am thrilled and challenged to do that. More from there.

Iditarod 06 Start

Teams of interest to us are , of course, Aliy Zirkle... our corner gave her a loud cheer but I couldn't get a photo , Trent Herbst whose runaway dog we rescued in Wisconsin last fall , Ed Stielstra from the U.P. of Michigan, Karen Ramstead with her beautiful Siberians and there are many others as well.

Photos are of Trent's team in the Start chute, and just a quick early photo of Team Norway's truck.

Iditarod Anchorage Start 2006

It was a great day for the Start of the Iditarod, March 4, 2006... a bit of groundfog in the early a.m. as the dog trucks started to roll in... the snow on the trail was hauled in but not too deep or punchy although it's always tough on the handlers.
We worked as Security Guards which is an o.k. way to volunteer, but doesn't allow for much photo taking.
Tomorrow we will go to the Restart in Willow and hope to get some better photos.

The photos attached here are, first, of Eric Roger's dog trailer in the very early a.m. hours and then of Ed Stielstra's team taking off near the end of the Start ... you can see a bit of the mountains if you look at top of photo.

Nome webcam in Iditarod week

One more time, the link for the Nome web cam is:
http://www.nomealaska.org/vc/camimage/704x480.html
This will get very interesting within the week as you'll actually see the traffic of Iditarod on the camera. There will be another one at the finish line , not too far from this cam.

Talk with Quest musher

Had a chance tonight to talk to the musher who had been lost during the Quest, as previously posted on here. His story of survival is quite incredible and I don't think I can do it justice, in the repetition of it. Suffice it to say, his first concern was the dogs, who with the Man Mat harness system, were secure , not tangled and lined out, safely waiting.
Also incredible is the story of the woman who was stranded on the mountain, slept in her sled, to wake up to someone knocking on it... unzipping her sled bag she saw a helicopter directly over her sled and a man saying "We're here to rescue you." Which they did, along with the stranded dog team, waiting for their musher. All ended well as we formerly noted, but to hear it from principals involved gives it a whole new look, and one more time points out the great relationship between mushers and their dogs.

Iditarod Fever

Anchorage is filled with the Iditarod frenzy pre race. Last night was the very looong Musher's Banquet which always ends with the mushers drawing their bib numbers. Aliy Zirkle, our friend, chose bib 26. This year they could select their position based upon the order of their signup. Some veterans chose late numbers.
Nothing is more energizing than to hear Hobo Jim singing, "I did, I did, I did the Iditarod Trail" as he entertains the very large banquet crowd at the Sullivan Arena. We had a great reunion with our Iditarod friends from around the world and made some new friends as well.
Tonight we are heading out to a celebration for Aliy and family and then getting, hopefully, a good night's rest in order to be at the Start on time tomorrow, where we plan to work all day as Security Guards.

North to Alaska Stella is at home , almost

Stella and Julie had a safe trip to Anchorage. Today we went for a walk on some city streets,
with Stella and her uncle, Fats, (also our Skinny's father). Stella is used to free running and seems a bit confused about this new regime , but she is on to very good things and we've been so fortunate to have her for a winter. Fats has returned from visiting out of State and is retiring back at the same kennel with Stella. They were both delighted to walk the quiet city neighborhood with us today.