IDITAROD 2011
For previous year's stories, click here
Hello Everyone!
As I write this, spring is in full swing here in Alaska, the days are getting long and the snow is almost gone….almost but not quite. This past winter was certainly very different than any I have ever done. As you know I decided to work for Sebastian Schnuelle this winter. I brought my 30 dogs and added them into the program with his dogs. All total we trained about 58 dogs this winter. That was certainly a handful for two people to train. The only way we could put enough miles on that many dogs was to run some very big teams. At times we had anywhere from 26 to 32 dogs in one team. We spent the first part of the winter training in Whitehorse, Yukon then in November we moved the whole gang to Paxson, AK. Many days were spent on the back of a dog sled at -30F doing 40 to 100 mile runs with the dogs. By January most of the dogs had over 2,000 miles of training on them. We ran a few mid-distance races as well. We pretty much had one to four teams every other weekend running in the mid-distance races. That really kept us hopping getting ready for races all the time with food drops and such. January got a little easier when we had a couple race clients show up to start their training for the Yukon Quest 300 in February. Nathan was from Australia and Rolf was from Switzerland. Both mushers had some experience running dogs but not alot and certainly not racing. It was my job to help with their training. We spent 5 weeks running dogs and training mushers on how to care for their dogs during a race. Often while they were out running the dogs I would be working on getting food drops ready for the next set of races.
Food drops are a very big part of racing. They are made up of all the supplies that we will need out on the trail to feed and care for our dogs. Meat for the dogs is cut, weighed and bagged along with dry kibble. Booties are bundled and counted. Runner plastic for the sled is rolled and taped. Vet supplies like foot ointments, muscle liniments, heat packs, antibiotics, and wrist and shoulder warmers are sent out. Dry clothes such as socks, gloves and neck warmers are packaged along with all the meals, drinks, cookies and other snacks that are sent out for the musher to eat along the way. So much preparation goes into a food drop. In total a food drop for one musher for a thousand mile race will weigh around 2000 pounds. The Iditarod has about 20 checkpoints and the Quest has only 9. This year we had 4 teams in the Sheep Mtn 150, 3 teams in the Gin Gin 200, 2 teams in the Copper Basin 300, 1 team in the Kusko 300 (but I had to prepare a 2nd food drop for another musher) then we had 3 teams in the Quest 300, 1 team in the Quest 1000 and finally 2 teams in the Iditarod 1000. Whew! That is a lot of food drop preparation!!
The Quest 300 this year was a lot of fun! I had never run this race before so I was excited about seeing new country and running a new race. I ran the race along with Nathan and Rolf and we had a really good time. This is the first race I was not worried about "racing" so to speak. The goal was just to get some miles on the dogs and for Nathan and Rolf to finish their first 300 mile race. It turned out to be fairly cold with temperatures between -20 and -40F. The first night on the trail I found a great camping spot for a 3 hour break. Our camp was on a knoll overlooking a small valley. The stars were out and the northern lights put on quite a spectacular show for us that night. I built a nice fire and we warmed ourselves up while the dogs were resting on straw and we stared in amazement at the light show dancing overhead. It was a 100 miles from the start to Breaburn, so after our 3 hr break in the middle we continued on to the checkpoint. My team of young dogs was moving very nicely down the trail so each time I would help the other two teams out of a rest stop then get my own team ready and head out on the trail as well. This continued for the remainder of the race, I would catch Nathan and Rolf's teams on the trail and get to the next checkpoint ahead of them. There is nothing quite like a really good dog team cruising down the trail at a good clip. We were running 75 miles in about 7 hours. The dogs were happy and eating very well. At each rest stop I would check in with Nathan and Rolf and give them any advice that was needed or even a helping hand occasionally. In the Quest 300 there are 4 legs varying from 70 to 100 miles a leg and only 3 checkpoints. All 3 of us finished with 11 out of 12 dogs and all the dogs looked great at the finish line. Only 3 dogs were dropped and even they had only slight injuries. Nathan and Rolf did a very good job and were so excited to finish their first race. Congratulations to them both!
After the Quest 300 was over I drove to Dawson City to help take care of Sab's team during his 36 hr layover on the Quest then I drove back to Fairbanks (about a 1000 mile drive) and had 2 days to finish up my Iditarod food drop. We just finished the last food drop preparations, dropped off mine, Sab's and two other mushers' food drops to be shipped out on the trail then we got to watch the finish of the Quest 1000. The Quest this year turned out to be one of the most difficult races yet. The first half was cold but had a great trail, the second half was still cold but the weather turned bad and they had to travel through some severe storms and winds. This meant alot of trail breaking and tough going through the wind not to mention alot of really bad overflow. Several top teams did not finish but Sab toughed it out with the best of them and finished 2nd with 3 of my dogs on the team. Congrats to Sab, Tetsa, Toad, Muncho, and the rest of his team!
Life didn't slow down any after the Quest was over. Even though all the food drops were done for the Iditarod we had plenty of last minute details to do in preparation for the start on March 5th. We tried doing a long camping trip into Maclaren Lodge and ended up getting stuck out there due to bad weather. On the trip out a storm came in and I had to do a lot of trail breaking with my team. It took me 5 hours to do the first 40 miles but then the drifts and visibility got so bad it took us 4 hrs to run the next 20 miles. I had my final 19 dogs with me with Ranger and Gracie in the lead. They were doing a fantastic job; it was just really tough going. We made it back to the lodge in the middle of the night and instead of leaving after 5 hrs to head out as originally planned we had to stay a day and a half. The weather had dropped to -35F and the wind was so bad that it was even blowing snowmachines off the road. If you have to wait out a storm you can't get any better place than Maclaren Lodge to do it! Susie and Allen are great hosts and really good friends! As it turned out when the storm died down and we did finally try to head back out to the kennel there was a section of about 6 miles that we were blown off the trail too. I ended up putting trusty old Kuling in the lead and since we had been blown off the trail/road I just told Kuling to take the team and go cross country across the tundra. It was a bit easier going if you could call hanging on to a 19 dog team bouncing across the tundra in 40 mile and hour side winds easy! Boy was I glad to get home that day!
Right after that we loaded up the dogs and headed for Anchorage…where the weather was at least nicer! : Of course on the way there the driveline in my truck broke. Never a dull moment that is for sure! We were now down to the last few days before Iditarod 39 was to start. With vet checks, drivers meetings, and banquets to attend the last few days are always very busy and full. I had a pretty good crew to help me including my "adopted family " that I stay with in Eagle River and who takes wonderful care of my dogs that come back off the trail after I drop them at a checkpoint. I checked in 19 dogs for the race of which I had until race day to pick my final 16. I drew bib number 58 which is the lowest starting number I have ever drawn due to my last minute signing up. I am used to starting in the front of the pack so this would be a new experience for me being almost at the far back. The trail can get really chewed up by so many dog teams running over it so the farther up to the front the better.
Race day dawned and it was a beautiful day! As it turned out we ended up having blue sky and beautiful weather the whole race. Boy was I going to love that! I had packed my sled with all the necessary items a couple days prior and everything seemed to be in good order, sled was ready, dogs were raring to go and me, well……..I was excited about running the race but was pretty worried because two days prior to start day, my back had locked up on me and I was barely able to stand on the back of the sled for the ceremonial start. Oh, which by the way the ceremonial start is always a great time! It is 11 miles through Anchorage on Saturday; we start with 12 dogs, a handler and an Iditarider. My handler that went this year was Carolyn who has actually been my Iditarider the last two years and comes up from MD every year to watch the start. She and her husband Jimmy are always alot of fun to have around and part of the team. This year my Iditarider was John Boyle from PA. I had an awesome time getting to know him and his family. They just fit right in with our team and helped out where ever they could. John even drove my team the last 5 miles or so of the trail. As soon as we finished that 11 mile run I drove over to see my physical therapist and very good friend Heini, who lucky for me had moved from Fairbanks down to Anchorage. She worked on my back and told me that my entire spine was locked up along with my pelvis rotated. No wonder I was having a hard time even standing up straight much less driving a dog sled! She told me I was going to be pretty sore for awhile but hopefully would get better with time. Well time was not something I had a whole lot of considering the race started the next day. Anyway back to the real start. I had picked out 16 dogs for my team when Sebastian told me he was not going to take Vasser who was a leader on his team and part of his final 19. Vasser had actually run the Quest 300 with me so I knew the dog pretty well. With only 2 hrs before start time I made the decision to take Vasser and leave a 2yr old named Quick behind. You can never have enough leaders on the team and I felt like I was already short on leaders anyway. As it turned out another musher named Paul Johnson from Unalakleet was also short on dogs so I gave him Quick to put on his team (just an hr or so before the start) and she ended up doing really well for him and finished the race. After the great dog swap was over I had my final 16 dogs: Kuling (who at 12 yrs old this would be her 9th Iditarod), Aztec (9), Montana (7), Grace (7), Mariah (6), Vasser (6), Gojo (4), Borax (4), Jaguar (4), Porsche (4), Ranger (3), Ruger (3), Lucy (2), Linus (2), Rolo (2), and M&M (2). Eight of these dogs had finished the Iditarod before and were veterans, 2 had run last year with me but did not finish and the remaining 6 would be in their very first Iditarod race. A pretty nice team although I would miss not having 3 of my main veteran dogs that have finished with me several times; Tetsa, Toad, and Muncho were still on Sab's team along with another of my 2 yr olds--Reese's. Still, that would mean all together I would have 20 dogs of mine running in this year's Iditarod on 3 different teams.
Our start time came and we had all the dogs bootied, harnessed and ready to go. Vasser and Grace would be in the lead to start the race. This was going to be my 10th time in running 'The Last Great Race" to Nome. The weather was so nice that I had most of my cold weather gear stuffed in the sled which made for a very fully packed sled. As we pulled the team to the starting chute, last minute good byes and thank yous were said to all my wonderful friends, handlers, and helpers. I would be on my own after the count down. There is always alot of emotion at the start, the excitement of the trail ahead, anticipation of the unknown - how would the dogs do, what would the weather be like, did I forget to pack anything in the sled, but most of all the thrill of adventure and the joy of being able to go on the ride of a lifetime behind a well trained team of 16 powerful huskies - my best friends. For the next 1000 miles it would be just me and my dogs against Mother Nature and 61 other dog teams. Were we up for the challenge? Absolutely!
The first 40 miles from the start running to Yentna is almost all on the river and people come for miles to watch the start of the race. There are hundreds of people that either drive to the start or go out on the trail by snowmachine or airplane to cheer their favorite dog teams to Nome. It is very festive and certainly a lot of fun! Skwentna was the 2nd checkpoint about 70 miles from the start, so my plan was to pick up straw on the way through Yentna and go almost all the way to Skwentna and camp out in a slew just a couple miles from the checkpoint. By doing this I can rest my dogs in a much quieter place so they can rest better. I usually try to avoid the first several checkpoints because the teams are still very close together early in the race and it can tend to be very noisy. It took us about 7 hrs run time to make it to the slew and there we camped about 3 ½ hrs. The dogs were running great and every dog ate very well our first stop. I bedded them down on straw and took their booties off. I then went around and massaged every wrist and shoulder of every dog, just to help keep their muscles loose. I got about an hour of sleep myself then I was back up and getting the team rebootied, sled packed, and the team hooked up and back on the trail. It was now about 2:30 in the morning and we had another 8 hr run ahead of us. I pulled into Skwentna grabbed my gear and dog food and headed out for Finger Lake another 45 miles away. The trail to Finger was pretty soft in places and had some really soft big holes that the dogs would fall down in as they were running. Linus who was one of my two year olds fell in one of those soft holes and pulled a muscle in his shoulder. He had done so well in the previous mid-distance races I really had high hopes for him to do well but that was not going to be the case this race. By the 3rd checkpoint of Finger Lake I had to drop Linus and send him home for this year. I was kind of bummed about this as Linus is such a hard worker and a real power house but he was starting to limp and I didn't want to injure him further so he was the first in my team to get a plane ride back to Anchorage. I pulled into the checkpoint and signed Linus over to the veterinarians there, and then I filled my straw bag full of straw, grabbed some bottles of heet for my cooker, tied everything down on my sled and headed back out onto the trail just a few minutes after arriving. As I left the checkpoint I missed a trail marker and ended up on the wrong trail. I knew it didn't look right but at first I thought that they may have just rerouted the trail for some reason. It didn't take me long to figure out that was not the case as the trail got very narrow and windy. I was not the only team that had done this as I saw runner tracks of several other teams ahead of me that had done the same thing. In fact I could also see Ramey Smyth's team following right behind me. We both got our teams turned around and headed back until we found were we had missed the correct trail. We were climbing into the Alaska Range now and boy was it beautiful on a clear blue sky day! It was a bit too warm for the dogs but they were handling the heat ok as we approached the Happy River Steps. The "steps" are always a fun challenge as we drop down onto the Happy River. They are a series of 4 steps that can be very steep going down. In fact there are times that with 16 dogs I can only see the back 4 as the front 12 disappear straight down the hill. They are not usually too bad and I am even crazy enough that some years I take pictures as I go down and this year I even hung on with one hand as I video taped with my little camera with the other hand. Well that went ok for the first 3 steps but boy did I get a surprise on the 4th step! The last several years the 4th step has been straight ahead and a bit on a side hill going down. Well this year the trail took a sharp 90 degree turn to the left and then is a straight drop off for a good 30' or so. Yikes! When I saw what was happening all I had time to do was drop my camera (thankfully the strap was still around my wrist) and hang on for dear life. We hit the bottom hard and I landed on my knees, thankfully I did not tip over like a lot of other teams did. My foot got stuck in the brake though, so I had to use my snow hook to stop the dogs and get my boot out. Once on the Happy River it is another steep climb back out of there and approximately another 5 miles to Finn Bear Lake were Mike and Ingrid set up the best unofficial checkpoint of the whole race. They have a cabin on the edge of the lake that they open up to the mushers as they are passing by and even have hot water waiting for us. It is such a quiet awesome place that it is one of my favorite places on the whole trail. This year was no exception. It was mid-morning and the sun was out, warming our camping spot up. After feeding the dogs and massaging them I even got a nice hour and a half nap on one of the bunks in the cabin while the dogs soaked up the sun's rays. After a 5 hr rest we were back on the trail headed for the Rainy Pass checkpoint. The afternoon was bright and very warm for the dogs. With only another 15 miles to go to reach the checkpoint it was still a challenging trail. We wound our way through the trees and alders crossing side hills up and down. Several times I thought my team was going in 3 different directions all at the same time with my leaders disappearing out of sight on many occasions. No worries about falling asleep in this section of trail! :
I was at the Rainy Pass checkpoint just long enough to sign in, have a vet sign my vet book and back out we went, thirty-five more miles to Rohn. As we climbed towards the actual pass the views were just breath taking! Blue skies and white capped mountains towered over us as the dogs trotted down the trail. Ramey Smyth was behind us again as we left the checkpoint and since I love taking pictures I had fun taking pictures of his team coming up behind us with the beautiful Alaska Range in the background. After our climb to the top, it was now dark as we ascended down the other side. This side of the pass is one of my favorite trails as we wind our way through narrow canyons, lots of alders and willows, and down a very steep hill were we finally get to the Dalzell Gorge. The gorge has several ice bridges that we have to cross as we wind our way down the river. It is challenging but I really enjoy it. The Dalzell dumps out into the Tatina River with just a few more miles to the Rohn checkpoint. Rohn is made up of just one cabin and an airstrip. Dog teams are parked in the trees around the cabin to rest. Often I stop here for a break but we had made pretty good time getting here so I decided to grab all the dog food and gear I would need to camp out on the trail and keep going for another couple of hours. It took me about 15 minutes to grab my gear and straw for the dogs and off we went again. Rohn was the 5th checkpoint in the race and so far I had not stopped at any of the checkpoints to rest. We had a good routine going and the weather was so nice I was enjoying camping on the trail. Now if it had been -40 or something I may have reconsidered and stayed at the checkpoint! The first couple miles out of Rohn are on the wind blown river ice of the Kuskokwim River. If you don't have good leaders this can be a nasty stretch, but I had Vasser and Ruger in the lead and we had no problems. After the trail left the river ice we climbed and wound our way through the trees in an area called the Buffalo Tunnels. In the past few years this area had been hit pretty hard by summer fires so the once green spruce trees we ran through were now all black and charred. About an hour or so out on the trail there is a tricky spot we have to go up and over called "the glacier". It is a hillside that glaciates over pretty bad with ice and can be a really slick bugger to get up. The dogs slip and slide and have a hard time pulling the sled up the hill. I have heard other mushers tell all kinds of bad stories about this stretch but until this year I thankfully never had too much trouble myself. The glacier was not even that bad this year. I have certainly seen it worse. But as we started climbing up with Vasser and Ruger in lead, I guess Ruger got scared and just froze. Vasser knew where to go but it was so slick he could not pull Ruger up the hill. Ruger would not do anything but stand there frozen. Well I had 13 dogs behind Ruger that still wanted to go and I could not hook down on that ice. I laid my sled over and slipped my way to the front where I pulled Ruger up the trail a bit to get him going. The team went around the wrong side of a tree, but I was able to pull them back around. We weren't to the top yet when Ruger froze again, this time putting my whole team into a ball. I should have taken Ruger out of lead but I figured he had to learn sometime. I pulled him back out slipping myself the whole time finally making it to the top and a better trail. An hour and a half later we came to a creek that I wanted to camp at that had some open water I could use for my cooker and dog food. I was not surprised to see another dog team already parked there but I was surprised to learn that it was Sab and his team (with my 4 dogs). He had been there a couple hours already and when I pulled in we chatted for a few minutes then he went back to sleep. He said later he had overslept by a half hour and left late. It was such a nice spot. So after taking care of my dogs, feeding, and massaging, I got a couple hours of sleep and overslept by a half hour too. It must have been contagious.
It was an 80 mile run to Nicolai with the rest of the trail in pretty good shape. After our rest the dogs were traveling well but I could tell something was not quite right with Aztec. Aztec was a 9 yr old dog and this was his 7th Iditarod, even finishing the previous 6 yrs with me. He has been one of my best dogs so if he wasn't pulling then something wasn't right. I was worried and suspected maybe a heart problem so I put him in the sled and carried him the last 3 hrs into the checkpoint. Mariah, also one of my leaders and finishing several times, was starting to limp on a shoulder so she too rode in the sled for the last couple hrs into the checkpoint. With 2 dogs riding in the sled for an additional 100 lbs, the sled was pretty heavy. The trail was in such good shape the remaining 13 dogs had no trouble pulling the heavy load.
Nikolai is a small village along the South Fork of the Kuskokwim River and the locals do a fantastic job of organizing a great checkpoint. Upon arriving and parking my team, they brought my food drop bags and a bale of straw so I could quickly take care of my dogs. They even had a barrel with a fire underneath for hot water. This was the first checkpoint I had stopped at so getting hot water and not using my cooker was a real treat. All the dogs ate well except for Aztec which again is unusual. The vets came over and checked out the whole team. I told them I wanted to drop both Aztec and Mariah. After the vets gave Aztec a thorough check we confirmed that it was indeed his heart. He had a grade 3 heart murmur which is not really bad but it was obviously affecting him. He did finally eat something after more rest but it was definitely his turn to go home along with Mariah. Both dogs were on the plane to Anchorage even before I left the checkpoint. I was sad to see Aztec go especially since he had always finished with me but I knew it was for the best.
We only stayed in Nikolai for about 5 hrs and continued onto McGrath 50 miles away and then Takotna 18 miles further. It was mostly river miles and the rest was swamps and lakes. I couldn't wait to get to Takotna where I would take my mandatory 24 hr layover - finally some sleep and good food! Takotna is certainly one of my favorite checkpoints. I usually park my team up by the church where we can go in and sleep on the floor, hot water barrel just outside to feed the dogs, and a short walk to the community center where they fix meals for the mushers. So everything is pretty convenient. During my 24 hr layover I feed the dogs, massage and walk them 3 times, get as much food as I want (including a steak), call my mom for a few minutes, and still get about 13 hrs of sleep. It is definitely a good break for both me and the dogs. Before we leaving and heading down the trail I decided to also send home Montana. Montana would limp on a shoulder but after palpating it, I still couldn't quite figure out exactly what was bothering him. I think it was more in his neck and back then it was his shoulder so after handing him over to the vets I was now down to 12 dogs. I do not get too concerned about getting down on dogs. I have left my 24 layover with as many as 15 dogs and as little as 11 dogs. Every year is so different and 12 dogs is still a nice size team.
Well rested, the dogs ran out of Takotna and down the trail to Ophir 25 miles away. We pulled in and grabbed some straw and dog food and continued on down the trail after just a few minutes. It was another 90 miles to the next checkpoint of Iditarod so I planned on breaking the run in half from Takotna to Iditarod. There is an old cabin they call Don's cabin about half way so my goal was to run there and camp for a few hours. It was another beautiful day so I was really enjoying the spectacular scenery and was proud of how well the dogs were running. I had been switching leaders every run so I could give them all a break. I mostly used Ranger, Ruger, Grace, Vasser, and Porsche, but still had Kuling as a back up when I really needed her. Our run to Don's went well and pulling up to the cabin I found a nice spot off the trail that already had some straw from another musher. I added the straw I had carried so all the dogs had really nice, comfy beds to lay on while soaking up the sun's warm rays. A few other mushers pulled in and camped alongside my team while others passed by and continued on down the trail. Camped with me at the cabin were Bruce Linton, Pete Kaiser, and Ken Anderson. Part of the fun of running Iditarod is getting to see other dog teams and visiting with other mushers so instead of getting some important sleep after feeding my dogs I stayed up and visited. One can always sleep after the race is over right? : Well after about 3 hrs of rest the dogs and I continued on down the trail to Iditarod and the half way point of the race. I would say overall the run went well but there were definitely a few interesting places on the trail when we ran into lots of overflow and ice. It was so slick the dogs were slipping and sliding all over. A few places were impossible to stay on the trail and we ended up in the bushes and trees. I could see from the tracks we weren't the only ones that ended up in the bushes as we wound our way through that mess. I almost managed to get through without breaking anything but of course at the very end of the worst stuff, a few dogs got wrapped around the wrong side of some trees and broke some necklines and tuglines. From the stories I heard later from other mushers I came out pretty lucky--one musher even got trapped under their sled!
The trail to Iditarod is mostly open with big long hills to climb. You can look ahead or behind and see for miles. It was early evening so I was glad it was starting to cool down for the dogs. It had been a little warm and with no shade the dogs tend to slow down. We pulled into the Iditarod checkpoint just before dark and I was pretty surprised to see how many teams were still resting there--only a couple had actually left by the time we arrived. I found a good spot right next to Dee Dee and close to my food drop bags and straw. Getting a good "parking" spot is so crucial, not only can the dogs rest better if undisturbed, but also I don't have to walk as far to get all my gear and water! The checkpoint is on the Innoko River so the dog teams are parked along the bank and what was once a booming gold mine town is now just a few cabins where we can sleep and dry a few things out. No rest for the weary musher though. After melting snow to feed the dogs and massages, I got about a half hour of sleep before getting ready to go again. Shageluk was 65 miles of big steep hills and soft trail away. I help the dogs out as much as I can up the hills and was pleasantly surprised when it did not take as long as I expected to reach the next checkpoint. Most of the run was at night making it cool for the dogs which is one reason we made such good time.
My original plan was to take my mandatory 8 hr layover in Shageluk, but since our last run was not very long I was second guessing my plan. I realized too late that I should have gone through and run straight to Anvik (another 25 miles away). But since I had already stopped and fed the dogs I had to come up with another plan. Strategy, strategy…it is so important. With the schedule I was on it was going to take 4 runs to get up the Yukon River to Kaltag from Iditarod while the teams that ran through Shageluk and went to Anvik were breaking it up into 3 runs. I figured that might put me about 2 hours behind some of the teams I was running with. Now this could go two ways. If I stayed with the shorter 4 runs my team might keep their speed and I could gain that 2 hrs back just with faster run times, or I could figure out a way to do three runs as well but since I stopped short my first run that would mean my next two runs would be longer. By doing that I take the chance on loosing my teams speed. Every year is so different depending on weather and trail conditions. One year the trail might be soft and slow so 4 runs is the best way to go, but this year the trail was turning out to be in good condition making that stretch between Iditarod and Kaltag very easy to do in 3 runs. Decisions, decisions! On top of that, there was also the heat of the afternoon on a bright and sunny Yukon River. I didn't get any sleep in Shageluk as my mind hashed out all the different ideas, times of the day, and what would be the best thing to do. Right or wrong, I finally decided to rest just 5 hrs in Shageluk then break the whole stretch of Yukon River into 2 runs to Kaltag. I had hoped the trail was in good enough shape to be able to do those two runs in 10 hrs each. As it turned out it took 12 hrs to do each run. It was a move that did slow my teams' speed down a bit but it still turned out ok and we got ahead of other teams.
After our short break in Shageluk I repacked my sled and bootied the dogs and headed out on the trail. I still had my 12 dogs on the team, but wait …..now I seemed to have 13 dogs. Just as I pulled the hook and headed out, one of the local village dogs broke a chain and chased me out on the trail. I yelled for it to go back, then stopped and hooked down the team, and chased the dog back on foot only to have the little guy follow me again. I refused to mess up my dogs heads by turning around and going back to the checkpoint so I continued down the trail. The little dog kept following, so I made a couple more attempts to catch the dog and tie it to a trail marker only to have it either pull up the trail marker or chew the neck line and keep following me. All this was getting very frustrating. I had stopped so much that now Sven Haltmann had caught up to me and the little dog started chasing him. Good I thought--let him deal with it. After about 8 miles some snowmachiners came up behind us and I waved them down and had them catch the dog and take it to the next checkpoint. The rest of the run went fine and when we pulled into Anvik I asked if the stray dog had made it. I was told it did and they already had a plane to take it back to Shageluk. I was in Anvik just long enough to sign in and back out again. Another 18 miles on the Yukon River and we would be in Grayling.
As we ran up the banks off the river into the village of Grayling, I had mentally planned everything I would need to grab and store in my sled to keep going down the trail before stopping to rest--dog food, straw, and heet (for my cooker). As we were leaving though I had Vasser and Grace in lead but Vasser didn't want to head back out on the trail. He thought since this was a checkpoint we should be staying. I quickly pulled him out and put in Kuling. Good old Kuling--she is such a good dog. I gave her a "gee" command and out and away we went back onto the Yukon River. A couple miles later, I stopped to take her back out of the lead and put in Ranger. I wanted to go another 40 miles before stopping to camp. This is the first year that Iditarod has allowed the use of a GPS so being able to carry one on the sled, I could keep track of how far we were. Whenever the trail was flat, as on a river, I would always sit on my sled seat and ski pole for hours to help the dogs out. I knew it was paying off because I could look behind me and see a couple teams following me out of Grayling but at the time I had no idea who they were. I was happy with the fact that even though the two teams behind me had just come off of a rest and my dogs were at the end of an 85 mile run, they never caught and passed me until after I pulled over to camp. It had been dark for several hours and we had passed some of the Idita-bikers on the river. One couple was standing along the trail and had their sleeping bags wrapped around them trying to stay warm. Not knowing what the heck that was, the dogs barked furiously at them. They must have thought it was the snowman after them or something.
We found a nice spot on the river to camp and was glad the wind was light as there was no way to get out of it if there was. I had just bedded the dogs down on straw when I could hear another team coming in the dark. The headlamp was off but there was no mistaking the voice. It was Sebastian. I had not seen him since the 24 hr layover in Takotna so I walked out to greet him along the trail. He was quite surprised to see me. I had passed him while he was resting in Grayling and he certainly did not expect me to be in front of him. I know how determined he was to beat me so I got a kick out of his surprise, of course that just fueled his determination. : Anyway, I only visited with Sab for about a minute then he was on his way and I went back to taking care of my dogs, massaging and feeding. Sab still had all 4 of my dogs on his team; I certainly missed not having them on my team! I only stayed camped on the river for about 5 hrs then packed up and was on my way. One nice thing about camping along the trail instead of at a checkpoint is the fact that I usually get more sleep. If I stay 5 hrs at a checkpoint I may only get about 1 hour of sleep whereas I may get 2 if I rest on the trail.
It only took us a few more hours to reach Eagle Island--the next checkpoint along the river. Eagle Island is set up by the Iditarod volunteers and officials and consists of a few tents and food drop bags along the banks of the river. I dropped Ruger at the checkpoint, grabbed supplies out of my bags and headed out on the trail again with the 11 dogs I had left. The weather had been so nice the whole race that I was really enjoying staying out on the trail instead of at all the checkpoints. There are 20 checkpoints in the race. I stayed at 9 of them with 3 being mandatory rests. I decided to drop Ruger because he has never been a great eater and he was starting to get skinny and dehydrated. I would miss him as he had done a pretty good job in lead. I had now dropped 2 leaders and only had Grace, Ranger, Vasser, Porsche, and Kuling left. I only used Kuling if absolutely necessary. She is one of the best leaders I have ever had, but at 12 yrs old not only was it time to let the younger dogs pull their weight but she just didn't go as fast anymore. But at least she would always go. Porsche was beginning to get a little burned out leading although she still was doing great in the team. This pretty much left me rotating between Grace, Ranger, and Vasser.
The afternoon sun was getting warm as we traveled up the Yukon River. It made for slow going but we finally made it to Kaltag for a total 12 hr run from our rest stop. I would take my mandatory 8 hr rest here (which is required to be taken somewhere along the Yukon River). I found a great parking spot next to some buildings for a wind break and it just so happened that we were parked right next to Sab's team too. I was taking care of my dogs when Sab woke up from his nap and came walking out of the building. He saw me and had a funny look on face as if to say "oh no, not you again". I just smiled and said "yep, I'm like a bad penny that just keeps showing up again". Of course that only made him more determined to get going early and back out on the trail himself.
Aahhh, an eight hour rest! Until then we hadn't stopped anywhere longer than 5 ½ hrs besides the 24. We had just done two twelve hour runs up the river with one 5 hr break and coming up was the big push on the coast to the finish line. So there wouldn't be another long break like this again until White Mtn. The dogs were all doing so well and eating great at every stop. With the warm weather they were holding their weight as well; in fact I thought some of them were getting fat! With Ruger off the team, my only other picky eater was Vasser and I had him figured out. He was actually gaining weight now too. Vasser would only eat a small amount of the normal dry kibble and meat but what he really liked was the pound of bacon that I sent out at every checkpoint. Because he ate that so well I just fed the whole pound to him every checkpoint. Once he ate that he would even eat some lamb and turkey skins as well. Then there were dogs like Rolo, M&M, and Gojo who would just eat anything including the bowl and maybe my fingers if they happened to get in the way. : Now that is how they're supposed to be.
Feeling good after a longer rest, we were back on the trail for the 90 mile run to Unalakleet. This is such a beautiful stretch of trail. It is always enjoyable. Last year we ran this stretch through a storm so it was even nicer this year with the perfect blue skies and warm weather. The team climbed up over the pass and down the long gradual slope towards the ocean. There was quite a bit of ice the last few miles coming into Unalakleet, but Ranger and Vasser handled it flawlessly. As we pulled into Unalakleet, I was surprised to see the village had made nice snowburms in the checkpoint for the dogs to get out of the wind and rest. Normally, it is very windy and cold and the straw blows away before the dogs can even lay on it. The locals had also put up a barrel with hot water in it so the mushers didn't have to walk all the way into the village to get water and heat it in their cookers. Between the snowburms and the hot water--this was a huge improvement! In fact, the mushers voted at the end of the race for Unalakleet to get the best checkpoint award. After taking care of my dogs, I walked up to get some sleep myself and when I walked into the building I got another surprise as the town mayor was cooking pancakes and bacon for the mushers. Now that was really going all out! Since I was only staying 4 ½ hr, all of this made a big difference so I could quickly do my chores, eat, and get some sleep myself! In the past I have gotten maybe 15 minutes or so but this time I was able to get about an hour. You may be thinking that isn't much just after 11 ½ hours getting there, then a couple hours of dog care but to me that hour was golden! After repacking my sled and booting the dogs, I put Kuling in lead and she did what Kuling always does best and pulled the team back out on the trail.
Once out of the village, I switched Kuling with Ranger and we headed for the Blueberry hills. I planned on running the 35 miles to Shaktoolik over the Blueberry hills and then continue on to Koyuk across Norton Sound another 55 miles away before stopping to rest again. I really enjoy the Blueberry Hills as they are beautiful. I never have any trouble staying awake during this stretch because I do alot of work running and pedaling up the hills to help the dogs out. The last 10 miles or so of trail into Shaktoolik drops back out of the hills and runs along the ocean. This stretch can be quite miserable and windy but was not the case this year. You can see the lights of the village for miles and it feels like you're on a tread mill not going anywhere as those lights never get any closer. Shaktoolik has to be one of the friendliest villages along the trail; the natives are always so nice and glad to see you. As I pulled in at 1o'clock in the morning several guys were there to greet me and help me park my team. I told them I was going through so after signing the checker board I put Kuling back in lead with Ranger and gave the "haw" command away from the buildings and back out onto the ice. Dogs are very smart and they know that checkpoints usually mean 'rest' so some teams don't like going through checkpoints. But Kuling is certainly a class act and a one of a kind leader. She never hesitated and went right out of the checkpoint. I could hear the guys behind me as I left saying that none of the other teams looked that good leaving. That's my girl!!
Back out on the trail though I pulled Kuling out and put Vasser up with Ranger. All was going pretty well. I had stopped just a couple miles out of Shaktoolik and fed the dogs, and the team was still pretty strong…… that is until we reached the shelter cabin about 14 miles out. The past 9 Iditarods I have run, the trail has always gone to the right of the cabin. This year as I got there I could see a trail going to the right and to the left. It was dark and as I shined my headlight to the left I could not see any markers but to the right I could see one old marker and even runner tracks. Since this was the way we have always gone that is the way I went. I had only gone about a half mile when there were no more markers or runner tracks. Strange….now what? The trail across Norton Sound is usually always very well marked with lots of markers in case of a storm. So what the heck happened this year? I was now out on the sea ice, in the dark with no markers to follow. The runner tracks I had been following must have turned around already. I got to thinking that maybe the trail had gone to the left back at the junction and maybe I could just tell the dogs to haw from where we were at and I would run into the trail (I hate turning the dogs around). I think it would have worked but after I had gone what I thought was too long in the dark and still hadn't run into the trail, I thought it best just to turn around and retrace my tracks and go back to the junction. There was a big out-cropping of rocks I could just make out in the dark and I was using that as my guideline. Once we made it back to the junction and took the other trail I could see why I had not seen any markers. The trail was on a bit of a slope and of course the markers had been put on the downhill side so when the teams in front of me had gone through they would slide into the markers and knock them down. All the markers were laying flat on the ground. Great…..thanks! Anyway as we were now on the correct trail there was just enough light from the moon to see the out-cropping of rocks and where we were and where we had been. I must have been within 1 to 2 hundred yards of the trail when I was wandering around on the ice earlier. I had been correct in my thinking about running into the trail but had just turned around a couple minutes too early! Bummer!
Remember how I mentioned that I hate to turn my team around? There is a good reason for it. It can really mess with the dogs' heads. Even though we were now on a trail to follow Vasser who was in lead with Ranger and is not my own dog, figured that I must not really know what I am doing and lost his trust in me. Trust is so important in a dog team. That is why I spend so much time with my dogs and my best dogs are also the ones I raise. Being new to me this winter, Vasser was a great dog but not really a part of my team yet. Typically it never shows up with new dogs in shorter races but when you are nearing the end of a 1000 mile race it can show up big time. Vasser decided to make his own decision and pulled the whole team off the trail to the right. I called him back onto the trail, ran just a bit further then he did it again. Well this could not continue or it would affect the whole team, so I pulled Vasser out and put Gracie in lead. We went along ok for awhile but Gracie didn't like running in the wind and kept veering the team off the trail to the left in the direction the wind was blowing. Ranger would pull them back, but in the process we would almost run over the trail markers which were on the left side of the trail. This seesawing back and forth wasn't getting us down the trail very fast. I traded leaders around a few times and ended up just putting Kuling in single lead. This way I didn't have to keep giving the dogs commands to stay on the trail, but Kuling being 12 yrs old just doesn't set a very fast pace anymore. We were at least still moving down the trail. I was getting pretty tired and actually dozed off a couple of times on the back of the sled so at least when I had Kuling in lead, I knew she would stay on the trail. When Grace and Ranger were in lead I would wake up to find we were not on the trail and actually drifting with the wind away from it. All this had an affect on the dogs mentally and they really slowed down so our time running across the sound was painfully slow. I had been ski poling the whole way across trying to help out and to also stay awake! I was so glad to finally reach Koyuk!
Koyuk is a small village that sits along the banks of Norton Sound so even when my team trotted up the bank and off the ice we still were not going to get a break from the wind. There were a few other teams resting there when we pulled in and I did the best I could to find my dogs a good spot, gave them lots of straw and started my routine of making a hot meal for them to eat and giving them all massages. We only stayed 4 hrs so by the time I did my chores, repacked my sled, got a bite to eat myself, I think I only got about 30 minutes of sleep before I had to bootie the dogs and get on the trail again. The coast is always a tough part of the race. Everyone is pushing hard to the finish so you don't get much rest; sleep deprivation is high plus usually there is a lot of wind on the coast to make things tougher and downright miserable.
Grace and Ranger were in the lead when I left Koyuk. Ranger was doing a good job staying on the trail. Even though it was not too cold and you could look straight up and see blue sky, the wind was really blowing hard on the way to Elim the next checkpoint about 50 miles away. A strong side wind can really wear on the dogs and in fact Grace would not run on the up wind side of Ranger, she would only run on the down wind side. Smart for her but that meant poor Ranger really got the brunt of things. There was not much of a trail to follow. We were crossing lots of soft wind blown snow and drifts with no tracks to follow. I was quite impressed with Ranger being a 3 yr old and his first Iditarod. He was running so strong in the lead and really taking charge. Of course I shouldn't have been so surprised as his mother was Kuling! He had good blood and brains!
The trail was slow getting to Elim and the team worked hard but we finally trotted up the street and into the village. The checkpoint was set up at the town fire hall. I did not want to stay long, just long enough to feed the dogs and give them a short break after their 7 hr run getting there. I knew it would be another 7 hrs or so getting to White Mountain over some pretty big hills. We had been pushing for a long time (the team had just done 5 back to back 12 to 14 hr runs with mostly only 4 hr breaks in between) so a short break would be nice. The dogs all ate really well. In fact the vets commented that they had not seen any of the other teams ahead of me eat as well--that made me pretty happy! I had 11 dogs coming into Elim but I decided to drop M&M here and continue on with the remaining 10 dogs. When I signed her over to the vets they couldn't believe I was dropping her as she was not injured and she was even fat! She was only 2yrs old and this was her first big race so I didn't want to push it too far (that trust thing again!). I was starting to see signs mentally that she was getting tired and wondering what was going on. I was very happy with her performance and wanted to keep it that way--besides I still had 10 strong dogs left anyway.
After just under 2 hrs I pulled out of Elim and headed down the trail to White Mountain the last checkpoint 50 miles away. Elim can be a hard place to leave because you are still running down the village streets and past all the houses so again I put Kuling in the lead with Ranger and away we went without a single hesitation! Once out of town Kuling got put back in the team and Gracie back in the lead. The run to White Mtn went pretty well. We climbed up over some steep big hills (or mountains to some people) and then dropped back onto the sea ice going across Golovin Bay. I ran up as many of the hills as I could to help the dogs with lots of pedaling too. The team ran through the village of Golovin with no problems and across the ice once more. The ice in the bay was as rough as I have ever seen it; in fact this is the first year they had to reroute the trail overland instead of on the ice. This unfortunately added a few extra miles. I was very happy to finally reach White Mtn. Even though I thought the dogs were doing well our time was pretty slow coming from Elim.
Aahh! Our last checkpoint and a nice long 8 hr mandatory rest! The teams were parked along the river next to the village, so as we came in I grabbed my drop bags and set to work taking care of my dogs. It was a beautiful day with no wind! The dogs rested and ate well while at the same time soaking up that great sunshine. It was nice to see them all stretched out on the straw totally relaxed and sound asleep. I was even able to get about 3 ½ hrs of sleep. WOW! I hadn't had that much sleep at one time since I left Takotna 5 days earlier. I was feeling pretty good, I still had 10 really nice dogs plus we were still running in the top 10! I was excited! I knew there were a couple teams behind me that certainly had a chance of catching us on the final 77 mile stretch but I was sure going to give them a run for their money.
Our 8 hrs were up and it was time to hit the trail one last time. Nome here we come! With Kuling and Ranger in lead and the rest of the team behind we totted out of the checkpoint on a beautiful sunny afternoon. It was a bit warm for the dogs but it was so pretty out I didn't mind at all. I worked my tail off running and pedaling up the Topkok hills for the first 27 miles. After that the trail drops out of the hills and down along the ocean for the remainder of the way to Nome. The only problem was that once we hit the flats the wind really picked up and of course it was a side wind as well. We hit the notorious "blow hole" and really got hammered by the wind. Grace and Ranger were doing a good job in lead keeping the team moving and on the trail but the sled was really acting like a sail and pulling the dogs sideways. You need good strong wheel dogs to handle that as the sled pulling them around can be hard. I had Vasser and Rolo in wheel and they did a fantastic job. In fact Rolo was just a 2 yr old and had run wheel the whole race. With this being his first time running the Iditarod and doing so well I knew I had a heck of a dog! Once we got through the worst of the blow hole I could tell Gracie was all played out. The wind had really taken its toll on her. I carried her in the sled for the last hour to the Safety checkpoint. This meant I had to put Porsche in the lead to help Ranger out. I considered dropping Grace in Safety but once we arrived she looked a lot better after her short break in the sled. I signed in and out of Safety and headed out for the last 22 miles to the finish line!
There is only one more big hill to climb in that last 22 miles called Cape Nome. As we climbed up over it, it was getting dark but I did not want to turn my headlight on so any teams behind could see me ahead. I kept looking behind me as we climbed up but didn't see any teams coming. Once over the top you can finally see the lights of Nome in the distance. What a welcome sight! I finally turned my headlight on as we descended down the hill. I knew the team was running slow so I ski poled and pedaled non-stop to help them out. It was almost midnight and as we got closer to Nome there are a few road crossings about 5 miles out. Even at this late hour there were lots of people to cheer us on. While this can be nice it was also a distraction to my team at the moment. At the first road crossing when someone yelled to cheer us on Porsche, who was in the lead, immediately decided to go and visit. Whoa, not a good idea. I quickly just took Porsche out and put Gracie back in lead. Looking back I wish now I had put Kuling in lead instead…..ah hind sight! : We continued on and I thought we were doing ok. I could not see any teams behind me or at least I could not see any headlights behind me……… as it turned out Ken Anderson was right behind me but I couldn't see him because he had his headlight turned off. There are a few turns coming into Nome that I needed my headlight to see the trail but Ken's leaders were just following me so he didn't need his light. Just as the trail leaves the sea ice and climbs the ramp onto the streets of Nome, Ken turned his light on. That is the first time I knew he was there. Looking back, if I had known Ken was there, I may have pushed the dogs alittle harder but there is always that balance. I could tell his team was faster than mine and I didn't think it fair to my dogs to all of a sudden yell at them so I just stopped and let him by. We both ran our teams up onto Front Street of Nome and ran the last few hundred yards to the finish. Oh, but was that last few hundred yards exciting! The town of Nome always puts a snow trail down the middle of the street for the teams to run on but of course the dogs never run on it. They prefer to run along side it down the pavement instead. When teams come up off the ice and run down the street there is always a police escort but I wasn't paying any attention to that--I was looking for Ken's team ahead of me. I was right behind him, but just as he passed a truck that was parked along the street, I was shocked to see a truck pull out behind him and start driving straight towards me! I had my team stopped but the truck kept coming. I was yelling at him and he finally stopped his truck about 2 feet from my leaders! I am not sure what he was thinking but I quickly told Ranger to gee around him and continue down the street. As we did, the first thing I saw was that Ken's team had run off the street into the sidewalk just before the finish line to the left! Now this was getting exciting! Paybacks! I thought. I started yelling at my team to get going and even though Ranger had never been to Nome before he took his gee command to go up the finish shoot. Only by this time some spectators had helped Ken pull his team back off the sidewalk and over to the finish shoot as well. We both ended up in a ball right at the end of the finish shoot! The crowd was screaming and cheering and Ken and I were yelling at our dogs trying to get them up the shoot. My leaders were totally confused now (that is why I wished I'd had Kuling in the lead; she would have gone right up the shoot). Ranger and Grace finally got going again about the same time Ken's leaders did too. We were neck and neck running up the shoot! Both Ken and I were off our sleds running and pushing them as fast as we could. From my view point it looked like a complete tie as we crossed under the burled arch, but later as I watched the videos of us finishing you could see that my leader Grace was about 4 inches ahead of Ken's leaders only a couple feet from the finish. But because of the loud cheering crowds she and mostly Ranger were intimidated by the people and hesitated just for a split second and veered off to the right just a bit, whereas Ken's leaders ran straight ahead. It came down to just luck at that point, or rotten luck for me, but Ken's leader finished about 3 inches ahead of my leaders. It came down to less than one second difference after 1000 miles and over 9 days of racing!! Talk about close! Ken finished 9th and I finished 10th. I had just completed my 10th Iditarod in 10th place, finishing with 10 dogs in 9 days and 9 hours. I had Grace and Ranger in the lead, Jaguar and Porsche in the swing, Kuling, Lucy, Borax, and Gojo in the team, and Vasser and Rolo in the wheel. Five of these dogs had finished before, but this was a first finish for the other 5 dogs. I was the top female finisher again this year and I was extremely proud of my dogs. This was our fastest finish time yet! All 10 of my dogs looked fantastic and in great condition, understandably tired but still in good shape.
Jim, my step dad, was there at the finish line and as always was waiting with a big hug and a bottle of Mtn Dew. Good old dads! I always look forward to seeing him at the finish line every year. Also there was my good friend from Nome, Mike Webber. He always takes such good care of me and my dad while we stay in Nome!
It always feels so good to finally reach Nome and get a full night's sleep but in some ways I miss being on the trail with my dogs. It is definitely a bittersweet ending. There is just nothing like traveling 1000 miles across Alaska's frozen tundra, rivers, sea ice and mountains, enduring extreme cold, winds, and snow storms all with 16 of your best friends. My dogs depend on me and I depend on them. There is a trust and a deep bond that develops beyond anything you would ever get with any pet dog. These huskies are very special dogs and I feel very privileged to get to come along on such an awesome journey!
I was so proud of all my dogs but I have to say Kuling, finishing her 9th Iditarod at 12 yrs old, is so amazing and Ranger, stepping up to the plate, was a shining star for me as well! He is such a special dog--he is all heart! In fact after we finished, Iditarod had a massage lady come to Nome to give the mushers massages after they finished. So of course I got one but went back a second time and took Ranger with me. The massage lady was so excited to get to work on a real sled dog, and Ranger certainly didn't mind it either. It was pretty cute! She even had a poster that all the mushers were signing so we had to put a paw print of Ranger on there too!
So much work and effort goes into putting a team in the Iditarod and I couldn't do it without the support of so many wonderful friends and family. I just want to say a very big THANK YOU to all who made it possible and who believed in me and my team! Thank you for your support and for coming along with me on an amazing journey! It is so greatly appreciated! I hope everyone is having a great summer so far. Look for the J team to have another great season coming up!
