Four teams on sleds today

Anna and Julia joined Jen and me after school and ran four four dog teams. We were able to run Skinny, Liller, Frita, Buddy, Josie, Medio, Zoom, Yepa , Yuki and Swix. Some of these dogs don't run as often as others so they were happy dogs!
Going to get cold here this weekend, probably not going to run with extreme weather.

Jen's team; Dog report card

My photography leaves something to be desired.

Three photos of Jen's team and not one of both Jen and dogs as she ran with them. :(
This is as Jen is moving to take team from Julia. Lillen had just rolled in the snow to cool off
(thirteen degrees). It was a perfect day for running.

In the 'grading' of dogs today: Lillen took the 'gee around' like the pro she is, winning perhaps best leader of the day. Her hookup is always perfect, as well, no nonsense. She's a great trainer.
Martin probably tied for best performance with Lillen, what a guy! Per Julia, Rosie runs like Ruthie (older sister), honest, head down, focused.

Per Jen and Julia, Medio was having fun (always does) , but not quite doing his share of pulling.
Matilda was the best behaved dog on the crazy team watching the deer. Kiddo always runs well and Sherpa, just two years old, was great, no problem. Perhaps least tired was Medio, but Jen noted that Yepa and Herman in wheel worked the hardest. Matilda ran in lead with Lillen and it went smoothly. We'd like Matilda to get some more leader training. Both Yepa and Martin tired, but Yepa is a bit chubby. Yeti is a bit timid (not at all like 'twin' Yepa); Tsunami kept his harness on and did quite well. Buffy had a few antics but mostly performed well in lead with Ruthie and then with Matilda.

Jen gets an A+ for her willing and capable assistance and her ready adaptation to this cold climate.

Happy Birthday, Julia! Jen's first six dog team

Today Julia celebrated her birthday and took three teams on different trails.

First, she took Buffy, Ruthie, Kiddo, Sherpa, Quattro and Martin for a 6.5 mile run to Florence and back. Trails ok, but some gravel poking through the new snow. Loggers felled a tree on some adjacent land and it revved up the dogs a bit. In this photo, Quattro is leaping to go.

Second, she took Matilda, Lillen, Rosie, Medio, Herman and Yepa over the Brule River to the Michigan turnaround for an 8 mile round trip run Part way back Jen took over the 6 dog team. She did well and chose to cross the bridge, voluntarily :) with her team. On Julia's run the team flinched at something in the woods and tangled very well. On the way back Jen could see the spot , but the dogs ran on by.

Third, Julia took a wild team , meeting six deer just off the trail and chaos reigned for a bit,
while Buffy, Matilda, Tsunami and Yeti sorted things out (and we sorted out their lines, pulled harnesses, etc. ) for 1.5 miles.

Skinny and Liller looked forlorn as we bypassed them on these runs. Maybe tomorrow.
Jen said she misses Skinny's confident stride.
nam

Photo of Aliy with leaders

Tundra Medicine Dreams, the host family for Aliy's Kusko 300 race, posted this great photo of Aliy with her lead dogs, Girlfriend, Dona and Bullet.

Bullet is the daughter of our dear Frita. She actually has a malocclusion of the jaw that is ok as not causing her problems, thus her nose being very 'bullet' like. She is shy and sweet like Frita.

The link to Tundramedicinedreams is further back in these posts.

Jon Little's view of upcoming Iditarod, Aliy, Allen

Jon Little is a musher and a reporter for Cabela's. He wrote an insightful article on the view of the top mushers/contenders for Iditarod and their training strategies. I find it very helpful in getting a view from afar. He gives several references to Aliy's and Allen's strategies, successes, depth of dogs. http://www.cabelasiditarod.com/coverage_2007/cov07_jan29_01.html,
along with , of course, the other major competitors.

Thanks, June, for the tip on the article ! :)

The Winter that Wasn't

The winter that wasn't! It looks like winter, acts like winter, but we are slow at getting miles of exercise. It's about ten below zero this morning.

This training season began late with too warm weather for running dogs on the ATV. We finally started with ATV's and deer hunting began, so we had to stop. Then the snow did not come and did not come. It rained in deluges and the trails and pens became treacherously icy. No ATV, no sleds. Our first sleds came out on January 25th with the 30 mile race less than a month away.

For mushers training for sprint races (4,6, 10 miles), it is a bit easier( IF they can find a race!) For us training for a 30 mile race (mid-distance) , it is downright depressing (but the race area has snow). And to coordinate the schedules of humans who can actually run and train in the particular moment that pops up as "right", has also been difficult. They get involved in other things because of no snow. The dogs are hopeful, as always.

I just heard that the Tustumena 200 in Kenai area of AK had rain on the trails this weekend, turning some to ice.
Anchorage has so much snow they can hardly drive, good for Iditarod Start anyway.

There are mushers getting out of mushing; there are others moving North North! I'm looking to NEXT year :), but will take what we can have for this year.

Sulatna flies

It's great to see Sulatna as happy as she was today. I try to capture photos of her 'flying' but this is the best I could get. Her recovery from surgery was so long for her. She's so happy to be back to normal. I think the house dogs are happier with Jen here as they see more of me, even when we're running as Jen does a lot of what usually takes me away from them.

Yea! 11 dogs run by Anna; Jen, handler in training

Thanks to Anna and Jen, we had eleven dogs run this afternoon. Jen is learning what it takes to be a handler as the antics and fast pace of a hookup occur. She knows we take off in a whirlwind to follow the happy , fast dogs as well, and does a good job of hanging on to gear, the machine , etc. as we follow a team around.

Today Anna tried 13 dogs and ran 11 dogs on three different four dog teams. The conditions are still marginal with curves of grass in some places. She's very accomplished at running dogs and nothing too untoward happened, except that Lillen, one of our main leaders, dove up the hill on the trail she walks with me every a.m. to feed the deer. "What do you mean I took the wrong trail? I take it every morning ." It was a bit unexpected for Anna (not to mention us behind her) and Anna did a great job of rallying.

Leaders were: Buffy, Ruthie (good job!); Ruthie, Lillen ; Skinny (wild to run and no wheezing) and Sherpa! (two year old, youngest kennel dog, Skinny/Liller granddaughter). Team dogs were: Josie(pulled 3x out of harness so stayed behind, again); Buddy
(wow, go Buddy!); Liller (no thanks, she said, hm!); Matilda, Kiddo, Herman, Medio and Zoom .
Although Josie didn't run, she was very excited to see Anna today, her favorite human, we think.

Photo of Anna and her first team.

More snow?

More snow, hopefully coming? More miles, hopefully?
Today will be some internal trail running, if all goes well. Despite the slow to appear snow for good trails, the dogs are getting free runs in different ways... solo, leashes, laps, etc.

Tustumena 200

This weekend Aliy, Allen and Randy are running teams in the Tustumena 200 and 100.
This is the link: http://www.tustumena200.com/calendar.htm

Trails

We are fortunate to have beautiful trails (when they have snow). This is a photo of a pair of deer watching us pass by with dog teams. They are in center, hard to see. :) We had several sets of deer crossing the trail in front of us, once on Jen's first ride. It gives the dogs a bit of a surge of energy.

Could have run six dogs

We took four dog teams because we weren't certain how good the trails would be for control/braking. Turns out we could have used six dog teams, but it was still a great day... running dogs were very happy. I think they may think we forgot that we do run sleds!

This is Julia's
team at the turnaround.

First sleds! Jen's first sled ride!

At last, sleds! It was a great day. We took off at about five degrees? out the gate and across the Brule River to Michigan (an eight mile round trip run).

Jen had a chance at a first sled ride with four great dogs (wild and crazy Skinny and Liller in lead, Quattro and Kiddo in wheel). It was fun to watch her go along with Skinny's need to pass all in his way, as they wound past Julia's team and took the lead position.

Julia ran Buffy, Ruthie, Lillen and Medio for a great run and then she ran a second team short with Buffy, Rosie, Herman and Matilda... all did well.

Jen's second 'fun' for the day was taking the dog truck back to the cottage... also well done.
Eventful day.

Yesteryear with Aliy, Kaz and Eunice

In the top ten experiences of my life was this great dog sled camping trip with Aliy and Kaz.

In this photo we had just returned from what Aliy called a "bit chilly" night on the Chena River with our dogs. It was minus thirty degrees when we left the dogyard, in the dark ,under a wonderful full moon. (We would not know the temps until our return). We traveled on along the Chena Hot Springs road a bit, following Aliy, t then down over a river bank onto the Chena River. We headed up the river avoiding frozen stumps, etc. Finally Aliy said, "We're home!" While Aliy and Kaz set up Arctic Oven tents, they sent me into the spruce trees, up the river bank to cut boughs for the dogs. The Big Dipper was in full view.

I remember thinking, "Wow, pinch me." I made several trips into the woods, cutting boughs and sliding on my rump back down to the river with my 'load'. We bedded the dogs on the boughs, gave them soup and then,went into the tent for Kaz's gourmet meal, (moose stew) cooked over the tent heater stove.
Our dessert was Yellow Snow and hot tea. We had small spruce boughs to feed our small tent heater all night, which was my job. Eunice and I shared a tent as did Aliy and Kaz.

Next morning we had a quick breakfast (hot) and headed out back to the kennel. I remember Aliy saying I should take up the rear, but my dogs, being good racers, bounded off over the stumps and driftwood, to catch up with Aliy... brake, what brake?

This photo is just at our return, still very bundled up, still minus thirty or so, as I recall.
Stuff that dreams are made of. Aliy and Kaz offer expert tours at www.naturalextremes.com
and they are pro's. Both Eunice and I were age 60+ on this trip . On a different night of this same trip, we went up to Chena Hot Springs Resort to swim in their outdoor hot pool (at minus twenty degrees). We had planned to go by dog sled as I recall, but trails were too hard/dangerous/rutty.

It was at the end of this trip that we all trekked to Susan Butcher's kennel where I was again able to go out on a ride with Susan in predawn (frigid) hours (wearing David's clothes), to have a look at Liller as a leader for us. Liller would join our kennel following that run. Skinny was in the dog box , a gift from Aliy, the greatest gift, as he and Liller would then be the parents of our current racing dogs. Both Skinny and Liller still run loyally for us. At the moment I'm writing this, Skinny and Liller are sleeping near my feet in the house, happy in their semiretirement.

Kusko Finish

Aliy's host family did a great writeup on the finish on their blog:
http://www.tundramedicinedreams.blogspot.com/
And just heard from KAZ that the leaders were Dona and Bullet (we have Bullet's Mom, Frita).
They finished one second ahead of Paul Gebhardt by six inches, it is reported :) Yea , Bullet and Dona! Aliy and the whole team. :)

Tustumena 200 link

This is the link to the Tustumena 200, next weekend...
http://www.tustumena200.com/index.htm

Looks like there will be good snow for this one.

The Klondike 300 is having weather problems, 14 musher scratches out of 21 when I last checked. Sounds like it's heavy snow, but will learn more on their website.

Kusko Finish

Martin Buser won the Kusko 300 and Jeff King was a fairly close second.
Nothing was as close as Aliy's and Paul Gebhardt's finish... Aliy ran in one second ahead of Paul. I hope someone got a photo of that fun finish. She placed tenth and Paul, eleventh. Aliy came in with nine dogs, so we'll be interested to hear how each one is doing.

Next weekend Aliy and Allen will run the Tustumena 200 , so will get that link on here.
Ken( from Michigan) will be there handling and Amy and I will be in the Midwest on the computers! :) Happy Birthday to Ken! :)

Klondike 300

The Klondike 300 is on as well, www.klondike300.org.

There are three Redingtons running it, plus, one more Redington team, I think, and numerous other Iditarod bound mushers.

Because of weather, they had to reroute, but it's basically from Knik to Yentna and around to Iditarod trail back to Knik . Temp at last check was 24 degrees, warm for dogs.

Kennel Support, Welcome Jen!

Speaking of kennel support, we have a new person joining us from California!

On Tuesday we'll pick up Jennifer W. in Green Bay and welcome her to
our wintry climate.

Jen will be here to learn the basics of sled dog handling and to lend much appreciated extra hands in our kennel.

Welcome, Jen! Dogs are howling a welcome too!

Mushing Strategy

The strategy of mushing varies from musher to musher. Aliy and Allen train with a specific plan and race on a plan that they have trained. In this current race, Kusko 300, Aliy reached the far point Pike's Cabin and has turned around and is out of Aniak. She is teaching the younger dogs to race , to be on plan. I don't know the plan, but it will involve good rest for dogs. We'll know more after the race. I believe she will choose four dogs from this team to be on her main Iditarod team. Allen ran twelve of the main dogs in the Copper Basin for his win.

The key to good kennels is the day to day support in the kennel. Having two racers requires double of everything (food packs, equipment, training, etc). KAZ, Aliy's sister, and husband, Ray, are key to the planning/implementation. KAZ and Ray handled for Allen in the CB300, then Allen, KAZ and Ray are holding down the kennel as Aliy races. Randy Chappel also comes from Texas to assist/run dogs/ race. I think he might be in Bethel, but not sure. Ken and Amy from Michigan may also assist in the Tustu.

Both Aliy and Allen will race the Tustumena 200 next weekend, if all goes according to plan.
That is two 300's back to back and 2 200's (for dogs), giving many of the dogs 1100 miles of racing prior to Iditarod. That sounds like a great plan to me.

This is a picture of Allen and KAZ getting Aliy's team out of the restart in Willow one year.

K300 is going

This is a good field of competitors and some families. They are out on the trail and , so far, staying close. I'm enjoying Aliy's host family's blog, too.

Will stay tuned through the weekend. Some top Iditarod/Quest mushers in here: Aliy Zirkle,
Lance Mackey, Martin Buser (and son, Rohn); Jeff King, Ed Iten, Jon Little and on! I believe Aliy is the only woman in the lineup.

Aliy's host family blog

Aliy's host family in Bethel has a blog and they're doing a great job of writing about her preparations for the Kusko.
http://www.tundramedicinedreams.blogspot.com/ .
Will try to update here too as soon as I know anything .

Aliy Zirkle racing Kuskokwim 300

This is the link to the Kuskokwim 300 for this weekend.
http://www.k300.org/ It's warmer in Bethel, AK area this year than last.
That was the race of the minus forties and delays. Sounds like it might be a bit too warm this year, as it is in many places.

Photo is of Aliy's team from Willow at Restart in 2006 as posted before.

The real thing

We had about four to five inches of snow yesterday and while it wasn't wet /heavy, it took most of the day to make trails/paths, haul and clean. We did run the trails with the Skandic but something was clunking and we have to haul it in to the shop today for a 'look see'. The main clue, apparently, is that the speedometer is not working... possibly a bearing. Hope not.

This a.m. it is below zero, about two below, I think. I can feel it seeping through the logs (walls).
And more days of snow are predicted, so it looks like winter has arrived.

We did haul more straw for houses, once again, so dogs should be pretty cozy. I also did get the harnesses ready and ganglines, so hopefully we'll get some runs in this week.

This is not a photo from yesterday as I was too busy, but the deer were wandering through as the one in this photo (mid left)

Allen Moore wins the Copper Basin, 300!

Congratulations to Allen Moore and their great dogs for winning the Copper Basin 300.
He finished last night at 21:16 with 11 dogs. His speed was 4.6 mph so it must have been warm or mush , some type of slow going on the finish trail. Many mushers scratched in this race.

Great job! This is his second Copper Basin victory, the other being in 2005!

Allen out of Wolverine first

Go Allen! Out of Wolverine first, with Seb Schnuelle less than an hour behind... I didn't check Schnuelle's rest times again. Shows Allen needing 15 min for his 12, but I don't think so.
(How do I know ? :))

Copper Basin ongoing

Well , I'm looking at the ongoing results: Allen Moore looks good although the results show him back a bit out of Meiers Lake. Race standings get complex (for me) as it's not who is in first, alone, but what the bib number is (must make up differential at a checkpoint); the speed of the dogs; the required rest times and then, whatever surprises come along the trail.

Allen has the most accumulated rest toward his 12 hour, per the results reported, but I don't see an update on that on Meier's Lake results. His speed into Chisto was the fastest ( average 11.3 mph) and he and Zack Steer (who is currently in first, had the same speed into Meier's Lake, 8.4 mph). Zack was out of Meier's about 1 hour ahead of Allen as they were both completing their required 8 hour layover. Zack's bib is 22 so Allen , being bib nine, has to give some there to Zack. But Allen has 1.41 hours more required rest than Zack (about evening out the earlier departure by Zack from Meier's??)

So, if any of this is correct figuring , Allen is going well. Anyone reading this who can correct me, please do!

Canadian race this weekend

Karen and Mark Ramstead plan to run in this mid distance race this weekend in Canada.

http://www.freewebs.com/larongeneckbone/

Cantwell Classic

This is the link to the Cantwell Classic which started yesterday. It follows the Denali Highway out of Cantwell.

http://www.cantwellclassic.com/

Copper Basin

This is the link to the Copper Basin 300 this weekend.
http://www.cb300.com/index

Go Allen!

WOLVES

This is a section from an article in MUSHING magazine, written by Miki and Julie Collins. They are experienced Alaskan trap line mushers. The article is entitled , "Wilderness Traveler" and this is the segment on Wolves.

p.20 Wolves
"Wolves are unlikely to tangle with a dog team. However, occasionally they will attack a loose dog, or even come into a dog yard to kill and eat a chained dog. On two occasions wolves have attacked our loose dogs, and several of our neighbors have lost dogs in their yard to wolves. "
(This is in Alaska).

" I have also had the pleasure of watching a wolf trot up behind my sled as I mushed across a lake, beninignly swinging up right past my startled team.

As with dogs, an offensively aggressive wolf has a hard, focused stare with the ears rigidly forward. It may be so fixated on its prey that it is unaware of other sounds and movements including those of a musher. ...

If a wolf actually tangles with your team, you should be able to beat it off with an axe.... An attacking wolf may not respond to a shouting human, but close gunfire would probably frighten it off.

Wolves are highly unlikely to be a problem unless they are hungry, habituated to humans or most dangerously, rabid. However, as with all wildlife, wolf behavior has no hard and fast rule. When a lone wolf attacked our retired leader..., Julie (Collins) shot it and was surprised to find it was healthy and well fed. "

Account of young gal meeting wolves on trail

The following is copied from Sled Dog Central, hope this is okay to copy it. I did email the young gal after reading this. She said it was quite frightening. But sounds like she used very good judgment in handling the situation. She was in the U.P. running her team.

Posted - 01/02/2007 : 08:50:56 AM
Yesterday afternoon i went out with a 7 dog team at my cabin in the U.P. It was sunny and we were going along fast and i thought what a perfect day. But i noticed some huge dog prints in the trail and my sister and my mom were a few miles behind me and the prints were not coming from my dogs, and my sister and i broke the trail just a few minutes before so i knew they were fresh. Then i looked up and there was an all black wolf trotting in front of us about 80 feet. The dogs didn't see it yet so i stopped my team to let it get off of the trail. Then we continued on our way and we went around a corner and it was standing about 60 feet in front of us just starring at us. So then the dogs saw it and I tried to hold the dogs back with all my might but i was on the brake and they still were way too strong. Then the wolf finally jumped off of the trail and it ran into the woods and i thought ok were fine, we will just finish our run and we will be fine. So we went down a huge hill and we took a hard left turn and there were 5 more wolves standing in the trail 50 feet in front of us!!! They just stood there and my dogs were going crazy and I tried to get my snowhook into the ground but they kept pulling it out. It took me about 5 tries to get it in the ground good. And i got off of my sled and grabbed my leaders and turned them around but of course the wouldn't stay lined out in the opposite direction of the wolves so I stood with my leaders and pulled on the gang line with all my might and the snow hook popped up and I started running with my leaders and then as they pulled the sled by me i grabbed it and we were out of there. The wolves never moved an inch. As i went up that huge hill again i ran into my sister who was skijouring with 2 dogs and i was waving my arms yelling at her to turn around and we got her turned around and we ran into my mom about 2 miles later and told her to turn around and we made it back with ripped jeans, 1 tore harrness and 1 falty clip on a neckline. But I wonder what would have happened if my team didn't stop and we ran into them what would have happened??? I have been dogsledding for 15 1/2 years which is my whole life and i have never experienced anything like that before. But has it happened to anyone else?? What else could i have done??Thanks,Mush On

Fuel

For dogs... . And the fuel " guardian", Boss Cat. We like Red Paw as the dogs seem to thrive on it. Boss steals bites ,too.

Boss keeps the mice away and supervises the dog yard from the windows. He is a very sweet cat.

ICE

Occurred to me yesterday that 'reading' ice for safe walking is a bit like reading a river for
safe kayaking. Every move is about taking the right route. Unfortunately, dogs do not seem to read ice as much. Martin fell and hurt his hip yesterday. We're watching him to see if he needs to go in today, or if it were just a strained muscle.

This is a photo of Yo's kong. It bounces on the ice and he likes that on his early a.m. run.
Some of them run as if they have hooves for surefootedness, but Martin fell while playing with Ruby.

Trail Puddles

Sulatna and Chena meander on the melting trails and it's Spring like. Unreal! It stayed close to 40 even overnight.

The NBC News said the rest of the winter might be like this because of an El Nino effect.
Jeepers! Maybe it will melt enough to go back to ATV running, at least. We are chopping ice in the pens as we do in April.

Vaccinations

Just put this photo in for fun... as we flew out of Rainy Pass one year, it felt like we could touch the mountains. This is what real snow looks like.

Yesterday we vaccinated 23 dogs. The new veterinary protocol says you can administer DHLPP every three years. Races require (good!) that we show proof of vaccines and I haven't heard a clear ruling on whether 3 year vaccines are acceptable. More importantly, I do not want to needlessly expose dogs to parvo or distemper in race settings without knowing, for sure, that these three year vaccines are meant for grouped dogs, as well. So rather than just a lepto booster, we administered full DHLPP and Bordetella. We'll need a second kennel call for remainder of dogs. We had three pairs of hands yesterday which made it a bit easier on the pure ice in pens.

Happy New Year! MUSH and Mush Not?

Never have seen a winter like this, ever. We're still not on sleds.

For the rest of the week into the high 30's, mid 40's. What a mess! Winter sports events are cancelling. Mushers and snowmachine dealers are doing snow dances. Training , where and how?

I broke my trusty Yaktrax so must get some new ones. And the wild smells are too attractive to the dogs, so no more running in families for a bit. (the house smells like the fox Chena must have met). The snow looks good in the photos, but it is all wet and full of pockets , slush, mush.

And it is a full moon. Pretty well sums it up around here.