Cosmic Canines Racing

More pictures from the Whites

2011-11-06T21:49:00.002-09:00

First sled run in the Whites

2011-11-06T21:41:00.000-09:00

We took our first sled trip out to the White Mountains last week, which marks our long overdue change in training. No more running in circles, tough pulling on the four wheeler, which I am proud to say I only turned the engine on twice, both times to slow them down on a couple gnarly down hills. Now our training will switch to alternate longer camping trips, and short heavy-loaded wood hauling runs. This is great because that means soon, we can just GO.

The “new” dog truck (Thank you again Bob Hauer) should be out of the shop soon and then it will be “look out Alaska here comes the Cosmic Canines!”

There is only a little bit more snow in the Whites, as there is here in Two Rivers, so it’s still a little bit rough. I am thankful to those low snow years I spent in Homer learning to mush now. Those are the skills I was tapping into to keep even a small team together.

Most of the trails are good there are just a couple tore up hills with alternating deep ruts and overflow that you have to keep on your toes for in between Lee’s Cabin and Moose Creek. Otherwise we broke trail all the way from Wickersham to the junction of the Haystack Trail. Then we traveled in the track of one solitary trapper on a snow machine. Looked as if he just put out his Marten Traps, and on the way back he already had one in a set.

There is not much of a snow hook hold except running for a random tree with your hook. So we focused on them waiting for me. Much as if they would do if we were setting out those traps on the line. I tell you when to stop; I tell you when to go. All of our survival depends on it.

While we taking a break at Moose Creek Cabin, I noticed all of the dogs ears perk at attention, they were focused on the center of the large meadow where the cabin is located. I noticed something silver trot to the path we had just come in on. Before I could register in my head, “Hey! A wolf!” along came a larger black one, and then another large sliver one. They sniffed around our trail and then checked us out pretty good before continuing on through the meadow.

Some say seeing wolves is “good medicine.” In any case, both the dogs and I thought it was pretty cool. Mushing in general is good medicine as far as we're concerned.

All in all I thought it was an awesome run. The dogs look great, nice and steady and tuning in. Jupiter and Black got their turn in lead and Jupiter really shined. He’s a fine big 65lb boy who has powerful speed and the strength and size to keep the whole team moving with him.

Borealis also stood out in this trip. At 14 months he is the youngest in the race team. He’s another big 65lb boy who handled his first camping trip like a pro. He ate up the trail, taking it all in like it was nothing.

It’s nice to be traveling again. All the hard work and routine of our fall training is finally giving fruit to what it’s all about. Getting out there!

The newest Cosmic Addition

2011-04-29T16:53:00.000-08:00

Spring is in full swing here a Cosmic Canines Kennels! The snow is melting quickly, geese and cranes are flying over head, and we are busy cleaning up the winter’s gear. The trails are slushy and muddy so that puts us in limbo. Not enough snow for sledding and too much for free running with a four wheeler or a mountain bike.

I have been hiking with the pups though. This litter has been nicknamed “the tribe” or “the savages.” They are a crazy little bunch of puppies. They are sorting out who’s the boss, which is a difficult position to step up to when there are 8 of them. They have left a path of destruction behind them; unfortunately they are quicker at finding newly exposed things that pop out of the melting snow than we are. Soon, I have to be the bad guy and put them on chains. However, they’ll still be able to “escape” on hiking trips.

Spring also means getting ready for the garden. I have so many starts in the house they seem to be taking over. It still freezes most nights, and we don’t have a wood stove in the greenhouse yet, so I can’t utilize it so far. I did score some nice grow lights at a garage sale last year though, so it’s a pretty nice setup. Everything is taking off nicely. I think I may have a surplus, but Two Rivers is good at swapping.

The most exciting news is the new addition to the Cosmic Caprines! Last year my friend Sarah gave me 2 Toggenburg/Alpine Goats, Pallas and Vesta*. I bred Pallas to a neighbor’s Toggenburg buck. And Voila! A little baby goat came to us yesterday. I can’t wait to start milking. I have to wait because the mother only produces colostrum the first few days, which is super important for the newborn kid. It is a girl, which is good. I wasn’t going to keep a male and I still want to expand our little herd. It is amazing that they can walk almost instantly, and within a couple hours, little one was kicking and bucking around some goat attitude!

Toggenburgs are the oldest breed of goat in the world. They are known for their heartiness and good milk production. They are perfect for our little arctic farm.

* Pallas and Vesta are large asteroids in the belt that orbits through our solar system. So keeping with the theme I will name the new little one Ceres. Ceres is the largest asteroid, and is spherical so it is actually considered a dwarf planet. Hopefully, though she is the smallest now, she will grow to be the largest. Ceres is named after the Roman goddess of growing plants, the harvest, and motherly love. Sounds perfect for this time of year!

Pallas is named after the Greek Goddess, Pallas Athena. Athena accidently kills her childhood friend Pallas, a nymph, daughter of Triton, while practicing the art of war. Pallas was about to strike Athena and Zeus, Athena’s father, intervenes. Athena takes advantage of Pallas while she is stunned by the blow and kills her. In mourning Athena then adopts her friend’s name.

Vesta is named after the Greek Virgin Goddess for hearth, home, and family. Ironically enough, Vesta the goat was supposed to also be bred last winter but circumstances were it didn’t work out. Vesta is the brightest asteroid in the sky and is the largest non-spherical body in our solar system.

Coming into Fort Yukon: Yukon Flats 300

2011-04-20T10:20:00.000-08:00

2011-04-19T22:48:00.002-08:00

2011-04-19T22:40:00.000-08:00

2011-04-19T22:11:00.000-08:00

The Morning Ritual: Coffee and Puppies

2011-04-18T17:30:00.000-08:00

It's hard to have a bad day when you start it off like this!

Yukon Flats 300 (Part 3)

2011-04-16T19:15:00.001-08:00

FORT YUKON TO BIRCH CREEK

Anthony, a local sprint musher, rode on the runners with me down the road to where the trail drops onto the Yukon. Its quite the drop off, and the dogs can’t see where you mean them to go. So the race helped us make the turn being, it’s so hard to stop on the hard-packed road.

“Abbie! You can catch Josh, your dogs look way better. He’s only one hour ahead of you!”

One hour! Ha! Realistically I knew that was a lot of time to make up in two 36 mile runs. The only way that would happen is if some radical, race shaking event happened. But if something like that was to happen, Lord knows THIS would be the year for that. I thought about this year’s Quest, Fur Rondy, and Junior Iditarod. What have we learned this year? It ain’t over until ‘til the fat lady sings. I wasn’t going to roll over, but in all likelihood Josh was the champion.

Right now I had to get Lady out of Fort Yukon with out a snafu. We dropped onto the river and I called the team up. The jumble ice and the windblown sand bar, mixed with the glow of headlamp made it seem like we were crossing the surface of the moon. The dogs got excited and we cruised across the river quickly.

Well, that was easy. Nobody even seemed to care we just left Fort Yukon. Cool. Actually, they seemed to be moving nicely. The Yukon River is few miles across until you round a sharp corner into Eagle Slough. Just before we slipped out of sight I turned and looked back to see if I could see a headlamp heading across the river. All I could see was the glow of the village. I felt better but not confident. Ken could be not very far behind and I know he knows how to keep a dog team together so he can push at the end. It seems he’s always that guy your not really paying attention to and then there he is, top 5 in the Iditarod. I had a lot of experience chasing me down, so I knew I had to keep pushing.

We climbed up the steep bank off of slough. The trail then makes its way through the Birch Forest. The trail has little turns and hills through the trees and then it opens up into meadows or little lakes. Its actually quite beautiful. We follow the same trail in and out of Birch Creek. I thought how nice it would be to see it in the morning light on the way back.

The team really was coming together. You couldn’t tell they were 2/3 of the way through a 100 mile run. Or maybe you could, this team isn’t about the high end speed. We aren’t going to go down and win the Nenana Ice Classic Race. They are trained to move at the speed they can carry FOREVER. This team knows how to travel. There are moments when they rumble like a freight train, and there are moments that they seem to float across the snow. You might not see it, but you can feel it on the sled.

Every time the trail opened up I would turn back to look for Ken. I like to keep my headlamp off often so other mushers can’t see where we are at, but it was too dark. However when I would turn back I would cover my light with my hand so that if Ken was back there I wouldn’t instigate his team to try and catch me.

I had a few scares because the Northern Lights were so spectacular and bright, I thought at first glance it was the glow of his headlamp coming.

There is always that moment in a race that you think back and remember, that was when it all was perfect. This is the moment I will think about for this race. The dogs traveling like a silk ribbon down the trail, being chased down by Ken Anderson and the Northern Lights. Trail marker reflectors streaking by in the night. Dropping into the low lying river cold of Birch Creek. And pulling into the spinning airport light of the tiny village of Birch Creek.

Josh’s team again was well at rest, so I could tell I hadn’t gained any time worthy of being a threat to him. But I never caught a glimpse of Ken either.

The volunteers were very helpful and brought me hot water for dogs and coffee. I had to maximize this short rest. I personally do not like 2 hour rests. I know they help the dogs recover a little, but I’m still not convinced its not wasted time. Someone once said any rest under 4 hours is a waste. But in this race, and usually in other races, they are necessary to be competitive. I incorporate 2 hour rests in training runs often, I just kept reminding myself of this. Also the team was rolling, but I was still holding them back a little. I didn’t want to stove them up before resting them so short.

The dogs were bedded and fed. So I went inside. There really was no point in trying to sleep. Josh was resting but I could tell, not really getting any sleep. It was just as well because there was a lady named Mackey who entertained me by telling lots of stories about Jay and his mother, and all her Aunties, and all her Cousins. Every story began with, “Oh so and so, she is my mother’s uncle’s sister-in-law’s cousin….” or something of the sort. As she told these stories she threw in phrases like “I dig it” or “it was a trip man. ” It made the time go quickly.

Ken pulled into the checkpoint about 35 minutes after me. That made me nervous. I didn’t want 2nd place taken away in the last few miles like on the Two Rivers 200, but with only 35 minutes separating us, that certainly was a possibility. Ken also mentioned that he had turned down the “New Trail” at the overflow, and realized quickly that it was a bad idea so he turned around to that the “Overflow” route. So that meant he had wasted some time. How much? Is that the only reason I am still in front of him? I had my work cut out for me in the last 36 miles.

Birch Creek to Finish

All too quickly, it was time to go. I went out and got the dogs ready. They weren’t as perky as usual, but I could tell we were going to leave well. Jupiter was a little stiff, hopefully he would warm out of it. We took off into the night. There was just a hint of a sunrise on the horizon. It would be day light by the time we reached Fort Yukon.

I had a head on pass with Tom Lesatz, just outside of Birch Creek. He didn’t seem very positive.

“I had a mutiny Abbie. How far to Birch Creek?”

“Its just right there.”

Then on the other side of the spectrum I met Jodi Bailey about 20 minutes later.

“Whoo hoo! How far?” she called as she whizzed by.

I had to call back to her, “About half an hour!”

After the dogs warmed up completely, Jupiter did run out of his stiffness, I decided we better start moving. Who knows if and when Ken was going to pull up behind us. So every open area I would call the dogs up, then I would let them slow down and rest in the trees again.

They really looked great. It was a beautiful sunrise. It was a great morning! Next I had a head on with Hugh Neff and Jessie Holmes.

Hugh said, “He’s about an hour in front of you.”

“I don’t care about him, I’m worried about Ken behind me!”

It seemed a lot quicker going back then heading out. But then it always does. Sooner than expected we dropped onto Eagle Slough and the dogs really started to drive. We made the sharp turn out onto the Yukon and we cruised by our midnight moon landscape which had lost its eeriness in the morning light. Now I could see the water tanks and shacks on the banks of “the Fort” and no Ken in sight behind. The dogs seemed to skip across the river ice and up the bank. They did it!

There was a small crowd gathered, Jay, and of course Earl. I couldn’t believe he was still out there! Cosmic Canines, the 2 time Yukon Flats 300 2nd place winners. Even though Josh declared at the finish banquet that we could all come back and try to beat him, but it would be tough. Maybe 3rd time will be a charm for us.

The Team:

Lady Grumpy

Sleepy Sirius

BossMon Jupiter

Mud Big Dude

Dopey Cloud

CONGRATULATIONS TO JOSH AND ALL THE OTHER MUSHERS!!!!

After the race

I want to thank Fort Yukon for being so hospitable. We stayed for the dances and the Sprint Race. I spent time with Jay’s daughter and granddaughter. It was a nice banquet. And although I didn’t want to leave, I had a wonderful run back to Circle. It was sunny and just the PERFECT spring day. And to top it off Circle served us some of the best Moose Stew, biscuits, and Salmon Salad I have ever had when were done. Thanks to you too!

This race has me anxious for the year to come. The up and coming pups combined with this group are going to be fun to drive. They’re solid, they’re happy, and know how to travel. I can’t wait to show ‘em off next year!

Yukon Flats 300 (part 2 of now 3)

2011-04-14T18:35:00.000-08:00

Circle to Fort Yukon

The hot sun really softened first 50 miles down the mighty Yukon River. The spectator and volunteer snow machine traffic didn’t help either but, I figured hey, we are all on the same trail. Sprint musher Clifton Carroll passed me not even 5 miles into the run. He was calling up the dogs and driving them like he had 30 miles to travel not 300. I wondered when his team would run out of gas. Sure enough about 40 miles later we caught the sprint dogs again. I honestly think that if the trail had been good the whole 80 miles, he would have smoked us all on the first run.

The Yukon is wide open and fully exposed to the sun. Sometimes you travel along a cut bank and get a little shade. I have only been up and down the river 5 times, but its enough times now that I recognize little landmarks. “We camped there once.“ “That’s where we set the fish net.“

I traveled with Ken Anderson and Tom Lesatz, most of the trip. At one point the trail was so bad Tom was making breast stroke movements with his arms. Making light of the wallowing dogs. We stopped a lot and changed booties often. I started running out of booties. I would pick up discarded booties from the mushers in front of us to check to see if I could use them. By the end of the run I could only keep all of the dogs back paws covered. If I could peg one mistake I made on this race, it would be I didn’t have enough booties and the ones I had, were used. I went through over 3 sets of booties during the first 40 miles! This is a race when I really could have benefited drawing an early bib number. But luck definitely is a huge factor in dog mushing. After 50 miles the sun went down and trail got nice and hard. Not to mention Lady realized she was getting close to home. We cruised that last 30 miles into Fort Yukon. I was in fourth after the first 80 miles.

Fort Yukon to Chalkyitsik

After a four hour rest we left FYU. It was early morning now, still dark but the sun was coming up soon. We were the 3rd team to leave. The mandatory rest for the race was 4 hours at FYU, 2 at Birch Creek , and 6 more musher’s choice. Ken chose to break his six up, add one extra hour to the 4 hour rest in FYU and then only stay 5 in Chalkyitsik. So that meant I wasn’t really in 3rd yet.

I caught Jessie Holmes in one of the portage trails right after the sun came up. The Portage Trails are probably the most fun part of the race. They are narrow and twisty. You have to “drive them like a ninja” according to Jay. You have to be quick to dodge over hanging willows and tree wells. Then the trail opens up onto a series of meadows, lakes, and sloughs until you arrive at Chalkyitsik 75 miles away.

It was mid afternoon now and the sun was beating down hot. Perfect for resting dogs, and mushers! We were warmly welcomed to the tiny village. Josh Cadzow’s team was already resting well, so clearly they had been there a while. It truly was his race to win. So I waited to see who would be next and how far behind they were. Tom Lesatz and Joel Swisher pulled in about 20 minutes later, so I had already gained on the seven minute lead I had on them. Next Ken pulled in, with the hour extra rest, that put him seven minutes behind me. I rested well and ate even better.

Chalkyitsik to Fort Yukon

Before I took off to leave some trail breakers mentioned about some nasty overflow ahead on the trail.

“We broke out a new trail that goes around it but it really soft.”

“How far out of the way?” I asked.

“About 3 miles.”

“How deep is the overflow?”

“I don’t know, I just gunned it.”

I decided that Josh is from here, I’m following wherever his sled tracks lead.

It was hot, the dogs were crawling. I just let them go their speed. I kept waiting for Ken to pull up behind. About 26 miles into the run I stopped to snack and change booties just after John Steven’s cabin, also known as Ni’chii Village, where the trail drops onto the Black River.

Sure enough here came Ken. We traveled together quite some time. He must have stopped at some point because soon he disappeared from view.

I came upon a sign, “New Trail” with an arrow pointing one way, “Overflow” with an arrow pointing the opposite. I saw Josh’s tracks going towards the overflow so I followed. Someone had broke a little trail to avoid the overflow, so there really was no trouble at all.

The trail firmed up with a little wind as we traveled down the Black River, over onto the Grass River and eventually onto the l2 mile portage, across 12 mile lake, where Pete Wallis had is camp. You might remember that from Velma Wallis; book “Raising Ourselves". Then Iver’s Bridge over the Sucker River and onto the Wood Cutting Road that leads into Fort Yukon.

One of our most difficult obstacles we would encounter was soon ahead. It is 70 miles from Chalkyitsik to Fort Yukon, and to stay competitive, we would have to pass through the checkpoint at FYU, and continue onto Birch Creek another 36 miles away. That is a 105 mile run, which is a long run, but not unheard of. However the dogs had stopped and had a nice rest last time we passed through so they might think that that is the game plan. That coupled with the fact that Lady used to live in Fort Yukon and probably thinks this is the end of the run, made me nervous about getting through Fort Yukon. Probably not as nervous as Josh was, stopping in “the Fort” is what his team has done a hundred of times, not a handful.

I stopped just after crossing the Sucker River, to give a big snack to the dogs and change booties. I gave them a good rest, because once we go past Fort Yukon , I wanted to keep rolling for quite a while. We took off again and approached quickly pulled into the checkpoint.

Earl Cadzow was waiting. Which, by the way, he did the whole race. That man sat out under the Yukon Flats 300 banner for at least 3 days! He asked, “Are you staying?”

“No! Just grabbing my drop bag and I’m outta here.”

I literally ran over to where my food drop bags were and ran the bag back to my sled. Terri Cadzow packed me a nice lunch, threw it in the sled, and I pulled the hook.

Yukon Flats 300 (part one)

2011-04-13T17:22:00.000-08:00

Spring has come to Alaska, it really is the best time of year here. The sun is reflecting on the winter’s snow making it so bright you gotta wear shades! The dogs are miled up and all the trails are in. Every village in the North takes their turn in celebrating. Fiddle dances, potlatches, ice fishing contests, and the crowning of the Village Princess all make up each community’s Annual Spring Carnival.

Of course at the center of all of the festivities are the dog races. Almost every community features a Sprint Race. Some add women’s, children’s, and some add longer distance races. Thanks to an idea contrived by Hugh Neff and Josh Cadzow, lots of hard work by families such as the Cadzows and the Carrolls, and some greats sponsors, the villages of Circle, Fort Yukon, Chalkyitsik, and Birch Creek get to add a World Class 300 Mile Race too.

This was the second running of the Chief David Salmon Memorial Yukon Flats 300 Sled Dog Race, and it was the second time the Cosmic Canines made the roster. Actually there was a little bit of déjà vu for us, it was our second run, both times with bib#7 and both times finishing 2nd place.

That made us something rare in this race, veterans. Hugh Neff and double rookie (the first. rookie finisher in both the 2011 Yukon Quest and Iditarod) Jodi Bailey came back to make their way around the land of the Gwich’in. Everyone else was attracted to the race for the first time for different reasons. Some to train pups, some for money, some to see new country. They all went home with all of that, and more.

There was a 12 dog limit, but I only had 10. Thanks to some recruits from Dew Claw and Iron Pearl Kennels. It was my goal to finish with all of those dogs. Sure enough the whole team made it around the track. The only other team to manage that was Ben Peter, running Chester Fields team. Not a race experienced musher but growing up in the Yukon Flats he was no stranger to driving dogs. Ben said he didn’t realize you could drop a dog. I guess one way to finish with all of your dogs!

The best thing was my team got stronger, as we went farther. By the end, we posted the fastest times on the last two runs. This is a good thing, keep in mind we are training for the 1,000 mile Yukon Quest. We still had 700 miles left in us, for sure!

What do I attribute this to? Training for fast recovery. Learning when to take your time and letting the dogs call the speed, even if it is slow. Knowing when to drive. Keeping your sled light. And reading dogs to know when to feed, when to let them rest first. Great breeding helps, but ya gotta run ‘em right too.

Oh! and by the way....

2011-03-09T14:03:00.000-09:00

Let me fill you in on the race team..... incredible run last night under the northern lights and a bad moon rising*. They were powerful and driving like a freight train. Seriously..... Made me feel good about the upcoming race even with some of the hurdles in our way. I know I will have to moniter and milk my ailing dogs along but other than that I am very happy with them, and they're just pups! I'll only be starting with 10 and there is a 12 dog limit. In a race with lots of hill, that means lots of work for the musher!

Lady: Our tried and true leader, the one that knows, sometimes even when you don't
Io: This is one of the strongest dog I have ever driven. He is 2 and he is a handful.
Big Dude: the other one of the strongest dogs I have ever driven. He is 2 and isn't the handful Io is, but makes up for it in intensity

Our 14 mo. old pups out of Thumper(Yukon Flats Village Dog) and Leo(Cotter/Buser)

BossMon: already leading. already driving
Sirius: Strong and tough good sized female.
Jupiter: BIG and Sweet, hopefully he gets over his cough or I'll have to leave him behind

Borrowed from Dan Kaduce and Jodi Bailey (Dew Claw Kennels)

Grumpy: A 35 lb. leader, yes, she is really that tiny, but she can drive!
Sleepy: A 37 lb. female
Dopey: The infamous dog that ran back to the start on the Basin. Besides that he is a good dog, I guess, I really am still mad at him for that.
Cloud: Blue eyed male. Was my fave out the Dew Claw kennel dogs until Grumpy stepped up.

* And About the Bad Moon Rising. Jay informed me that CCR must have written this song about the Moon's Perigee, when the moon is at its farthest distance from the Earth. The moon's revolution around the earth is an elliptical path, so in each revolution the earth is at a close point twice (perigee) and a far point twice (apogee). This is what creates extreme high and low tides. So last night the moon was at its perigee, and it was the closest it has been in 18 years. 18 years ago CCR wrote the song Bad Moon Rising, and though I couldn't find any proof of correlation of the two, I guess it sounds like a good story. So that little sliver of a moon that danced around the sky with us on our run last night was perhaps bigger than it looked.

Robutussin for dogs

2011-03-08T15:53:00.001-09:00

We are getting ready for our next race, which is the Two Rivers 200. The team looks great , solid and tough. These new pups really stand out amongst other dogs. Just when I think we're all good to roll, there is a hacking cough coming from the yard.

Jupiter sounds like he really needs to cut back on the cigarettes. BossMon and Big Dude have it mildly. So we have been resting them as much as we can letting them hang out indoors and been boiling spruce boughs on the wood stove so that my little cabin is filled with Christmas scented steam. It seems to be giving them some relief, but it not a cure.

I did some research and found some interesting home remedies. The one with the most claims of success is

3 drops of hydrogen peroxide

2 Tablespoons of honey

Vitamin C

Add to water and make sure they drink it all quickly.

So I will be trying this tonight and I will report on the results.

NOTHING IS.... GONNA STOP... US NOW!

2011-03-08T12:53:00.002-09:00

Senores y Senoras nosotros tenemos mas mas influencia con sus perros que tu tiennen, pero queremos creado y regado de Dos Rios, Abbie's addiccion!

stop janes addiction mp3 | lyrics

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the calendar of flowers, fish, and tourists

2009-07-22T23:28:00.004-08:00

The rain has come back to our little valley. No downpours yet, just living in a cloud. Its more of a saturating wet, but it feels good. The waterfalls that surround us had almost dried up, something I have never seen before. But now they have grown to their full glory again. It seems to rain at night, be windy in the morning, mist all day until evening then it fades to just cloudy. So I have used the evening to head out on little bike rides down the trail. The salmon berries up here on the mountain have finally caught up to the ripeness of the ones down by the channel. I was soon deep in a thicket happily gathering the orange and red berries in my mouth. Its hard to be sad in this state. I really must bring a bucket next time. Just think fresh salmon berries over pancakes for breakfast! I sat by Sheep Creek thought about the evolution of events here in our canyon and how they are marked by different floral and berry flags. Now the fireweed have climbed almost to full staff. I took a couple of my co-workers down to the confluence of Sheep Creek and the channel, they were fascinated by all of the chums packed into the little eddies. Cosmos was too, as he ran around in the stream and chased them everywhere. They're here! Couldn't help but to pull one in with every cast last week. The smoker is going, and the dogs are munching down fish heads. The elderberries are turning red, and but the cranberries are just barely forming into little green fruit right now. The blueberries at the archery range are deceivingly blue right now, but still quite tart. That means ours just above treeline probably have a few more weeks or more. The air must tinge of fall, because all I can think about is harvesting all of these things, but most will have to wait little longer.
Had a nice sauna tonite, it was just what I needed. Warm the bones a little, dry out. Kind of like what I call "charging the batteries" in the winter when I head out to the hot springs. Keeping busy here to occupy my thoughts from wandering back to the interior. Been beading some porcupine quill jewelry, painting a little, filling out my Quest Entry Application. Whoo hoo!( sorry thinking about it makes me react like that!) Can't wait to get on with the 2009/2010 race season. I think our tours have peaked now. Probably good in one way, with some of help going home soon, and me travelling back east in week. Preparing myself for heat, humidity, and culture shock, but it will be nice to see my family. I don't get back very often.
Well time to wander of to bed and dream about mushing down happy winter trails.

Zip Lining

2009-07-20T08:29:00.003-08:00

Gearing up for zip lining.

Nothing like a little faith and fear to give you a reality check.

A couple from work and I went zip lining last Saturday. It was awesome , though I have to say I was was pretty scared, but that's part of the point right? It is a short 5 minute boat ride across the Channel. There are 9 zips strung out in the canopy of the trees. Each platfrom that you slide to is any where from 50 to 180 feet up an old growth Spruce. The trees sway as you wait for your turn. The zips are varying lengths, anywhere up to 740 feet long, so you can travel up to 40 mph. You are in control of your speed, Your hand dragging on the cable is your brake. There are 2 sky bridges or suspension bridges which a found to be the scariest. The crew there was super nice and fun, you could tell they love their jobs. I highly reccommend it! It was a blast.

Think Return of the Jedi zipping through the forest on the Ewock Island meets Fear Factor.

summer sun, fun, and chum

2009-07-16T11:00:00.002-08:00

Our Motley Sheep Creek Crew

Jay and I (what a great team)

Sorry its been a while. It has been a little busier, plus Jay came and visited for a week, which was wonderful. It was good timing too, because we had our busiest day yet the other day and he was here to help. We had a record number of tours, along with record heat (92 degrees!) which means alot of extra work for handlers, as that we have to constantly hose off the dogs so that they don't over heat.

The chums are in full swing now, I went down to try to pull a king out from in between the mass of dog salmon but to no avail. It was kind of fun pulling a fish in on every cast but not even one was bright enough for my standards, even for the smoker. I did gather up a bunch of fish heads for the dogs though, and another woman was taking the eggs, so it at least not all is wasted.

This summer has been unreal for Juneau. I never thought there would be the time that I would actually want clouds in Southeast. They finally rolled in today, which is good for the dogs. It's making me think of fall. Soon enough. I don't want to complain about the weather 1. because it does no good to complain, you can't change it and 2. I'm afraid that it will swing from one extreme to another, in a month we could be wishing for it to stop raining non-stop!

Another day at the office

2009-07-01T07:51:00.000-08:00

Perspectives

2009-06-21T09:08:00.001-08:00

HOME SWEET HOME

Wandering

2009-06-19T23:33:00.001-08:00

I finally took the time to re-brush the trail down to my tree. It is an old cottonwood that grows in typical Juneau tree fashion, twisted and mossy. The first year here at Sheep Creek I would look from camp down over the valley and that tree caught my interest. I cut a trail down off the backside of camp through the hellebore, alder, and devil's club by hand and was pleasantly surprised to find it to be hollow. Up in the first saddle was the perfect moss covered perch. I thought, "What a perfect place to write or read a book, or just lay and stare at the mountain and daydream." I made a few attempts to climb up the knots but finally I gave up and went back to camp. I wasn't deterred though, I built myself a rope ladder and gathered some other people from camp to help me get it up on the tree. Every year I go back to the tree, I just have to clear the trail again, and that ladder is still there. This tree is so big and old that there is some currant bushes, jewel weed, devil's club, and a young spruce tree growing on the various saddles. The one branch is curved perfectly so one can recline, and still be cushioned with moss, including a soft head rest.

I hung out full, Alice in Wonderland Cheshire Cat style for a little while today after tours, but didn't bring any books or journals, and didn't feel much like daydreaming so I climbed back down and wandered off through the brush to scout a good route to cut out to the chocolate lily meadow. When I got to the meadow I realized I had never been to the far end of the meadow before so I went to check it out. I found a bear trail that took me to a series of fern clearings. Each of the ferns unraveled almost to full height, just with just a one inch spiral head bobbing in the wind. The bear trail went into a salmon berry thicket so I found another, and another, all with the same ending. Perhaps the bears are too scouting good routes to late summer snacking areas. I decided to go check out a stand of knotted spruce because I knew the traveling would be easier, and eventually looped back to the meadow and out onto Sheep Creek Trail.

I thought about how I would miss this place if I ever decided to spend a summer somewhere else. It would be hard to match the magic of our canyon here, but there are those that say you make your own magic no matter where you are.

Puppy development

2009-06-17T13:52:00.002-08:00

COSMOS WORKING ON BALANCE AND CONFIDENCE WITH THE PUPS

CHIRON SHOOTING THE RAPIDS

IO RUNNING THROUGH THE BUTTERCUPS AND LUPINE

Evening walks with puppies

2009-06-17T13:33:00.004-08:00

CHIRON

CHIRON and IO

the pups from Ed....almost 4 months

the BOYS and the MARTIN BUSER PUPS

LIFE IS GOOD

Living in the moment

2009-06-16T08:18:00.005-08:00

Hello to all:

Its been a beautiful season up here in the Sheep Creek Valley so far. The first few weeks were beautiful, almost like an interior summer, hot and sunny, great for mushers, not so great for dogs. It was nice while it lasted, I made sure I enjoyed the sun while it was here, because I know clouds are inevitable in South East. Lots of running, biking and laying in the sun on the beach. Well the rain and clouds are back, and I hate to say I'm actually kind of glad. I must have spent too many summers down here in the rain forest, and now I'm used to it.

All the dogs are doing great, they are strong and happy. They make me super anxious to get home and start training for the race season. I have high hopes for the winter. The pups Chiron and Io are developing into wonderful athletes, they are amazing to watch tromp around the forest on our walks. Thanks to Ed for giving these pups to me. I think they are going to be a great addition to Team Cosmic.

Tourism has been a little slow everywhere up here in Alaska, I'm sure due to the economy, but there has been no shortage of nice people coming up to camp to visit. I would like to thank everyone that has come up and shared my "doggy lifestyle" with me. Thanks for all of the contributions! Every little bit adds up.

Jay has been at the house in Two Rivers, watching the place and making improvements. Trying to make it so life is a little easier, and I can just focus on training dogs this winter. I can hardly wait!

A friend gave me some advice before I came down to SE this summer. He told me that I should not live in the past or the future and just live in the moment. This has been my mantra this summer. It has been hard though, with our future shining so bright. He quoted me a little poem from the Tao of Pooh as a reminder:

While Eeyore frets,

And Piglet hesitates,

And Rabbit calculates,

And Owl pontificates,

Pooh just...is.

To know the Way

To do the Way

To go the Way

The Way we do

The things we do

Its all there in front of you

But if you try too hard to see

You'll only become confused

I am me

And you are you

As you can see.

But when you do

The things that you can do

You will find the Way

And the Way will follow you

Another Juneau Summer

2009-05-31T21:59:00.002-08:00

MARMOT

FALSE OUTER POINT (good spot to fish for winter kings)

VEIW OF CAMP

Pictures from the Two Rivers 200

2009-03-18T10:36:00.004-08:00

Jack spoils Satellite at the finish line

Coming into the finish line, Haulin' @#E%&*%!!!

Look at the smiles on the dogs.

Bedding down the dogs at Pleasant Valley, the First Checkpoint

Coming into Pleasant Valley after a 100 mile run,

Jack Studer, my handler greets me

Two River 200

2009-03-17T15:09:00.002-08:00

The Cosmic Canines just finished their 7th race of the season. The Two Rivers 200 started Friday the 13th (if you’re superstitious, our next race starts April Fool’s Day). The weather was beautiful, a little bit warm for the dogs on the first day, but perfect and sunny for the musher. 17 teams were in the race, we started bib #9. To be competitive in this race we needed to run the first leg, 100 miles, straight with no rest. 5 teams pushed through, in order; Tom Lestatz (Jessica Hendrick’s partner, past champion of the Knik 200), Brent Sass (Yukon Quest top 10 team, winner of the men‘s division of this year‘s GinGin 200), Mark May (long time competitive musher, 2nd in the Quest ’01, and veterinarian, son of past Iditarod Champion Joe May), and Braxton Peterson ( Lance Mackey’s stepson, running his yearling team).

I knew the first 50 miles would be tough for my dogs. A few of area’s my own team needs some work on are running hills, soft trails, and in the heat. The first 50 miles you climb Cleary Summit, Iowa Dome, and the top of the Two Rivers Wood Cutting Road. The trail was just put in after are big snow last week. It was hilly and soft. We worked hard to stay in with the front runners. We passed teams one by one. Mark May pulled ahead of me in the hills, I could tell his team was stronger climbing. I tried to let the dogs “go” a little on the downhills, to keep up, which later prove to be a mistake. I knew once we got to the river the dogs word start rockin’, flat and fast is more of my team’s forte. I stopped every hour to let them catch their breath and praise them. Every 2 hours I snacked frozen beef or fat. Once we got over Iowa Dome and in to the Anaconda Creek flats I stopped one more time to snack, I knew from this point forward the dogs knew the trail and the trail surface would improve a little. What a beautiful day! The sun was blaring and the vistas on the hills overlooking the White Mountains were amazing. I perfect example of spring in interior Alaska.

We had passed Mark May before the 17 mile road crossing/ dog drop and we blasted through in 4th place. Once we crossed the road, the dogs expected to make a left (or haw) turn to head home. This in one our regular training trails. So when I made them turn right they got a little pouty. But we had practiced this a few times so it didn’t slow them down too much. About 5 miles later we passed Rick Studley ( running Dan Kaduce and Jodi Bailey’s team). He had pulled over to camp for a couple hours, Dan had given him a more conservative schedule to run because this was his 1st 200 miler. This excited the dogs and I think they finally realized that we were heading to the river so they kicked it into high gear. The dogs LOVE the river run because there are typically lots of moose on the banks eating willows so they think, “Yeah! Time to hunt moose!” I snacked them quickly in the AG parcel which is a few miles before you drop onto the river because I knew this was the place for me to catch up a little. Once we got on the river the dogs started rolling. The temperature dropped enough that I was getting a little chilly, I had just my shell parka on because I would be runnng up all of those hills earlier in the day. I had my big parka in the sled but I didn’t want to stop the dogs momentum.

We pulled into Pleasant Valley Store, the first checkoint, in 3rd 10 minute behind Brent Sass, and 20 behind Tom Lestatz. I was surprised because I never even caught a glimpse of them the whole day and there are some pretty open spots where you can see for a long way. I also never saw Mark May behind me once I crossed the road. He had to pass house at mile 60. So that might have slowed him a little. Tom passed his house at mile 50, that didn’t seem to slow him down at all.

Pleasant Valley Checkpoint was extremely organized this year. All of the mushers a had convenient spot to park and were brought both their drop bags and their straw, which is soooo nice after long run. The dogs looked great and ate well. I did a little preventative massage and applied liniment to some of the dogs problem spots. Soft trails, speed, and hills can equal pulled muscles. Kobuk’s wrist was borderline so I gave him a wrist wrap and some Zalox ( analgesic massage lotion) and decided I would look at it after the rest. He is a large and big chested dog, running downhill fast creates a lot of impact on his wrists.

Inside I got something to eat and enjoyed the company of the other mushers. Clint Warnke, who was handling for his wife Sarah Love kept us posted on the Iditarod with his iphone and gave us a lengthy lecture about the plastic runners we all use (he sells them). We had a good time. I asked around to see how long the other mushers were staying. There are 10 hours of mandatory rest that can be taken at Pleasant Valley or Angel Creek, or both. Tom told me he would stay 5 and 5, which was the direction I was leaning. Brent and Mark wouldn’t give me a straight answer. Braxton said he would stay there for all 10 because he didn’t get any sleep the night before and he was tired. I thought that he wouldn’t do that and would rest 10 and get to Angel Creek and take a couple more hours.

I went out to get the dogs ready. There was some confusion on the times in which we could leave because they had an older lady doing them whom I think is going a little senial. I got my time worked out with her and mentioned to the other mushers that they might want to check on theirs. As I was getting ready to go Mark was with his team.

“Val (the time checker) thinks I am supposed to leave at 5:14 but I keep telling her I am supposed to leave at 5:20.”

It was 2:30. I thought hmmm, Mark is staying for 7 hours here. That’s weird.

As I walked over team to finish up the last preparations to leave I realized, “Wait! Mark is bootying his dogs. He’s really leaving right after me.” So he wants to mess with me.

We headed out into the night. 4 miles into this run we would pass the house. I thought it would be pretty easy this direction it would be very difficult on the way back, 4 miles from the finish line. We passed the house successfully and the dogs didn’t slow down much. We went under the Jenny M bridge to the north side of Chena Hot Springs Road. We connected to the Flat Top Trail which is narrow and windy and has 3 or 4 nasty overflow crossings. Typically they aren’t wet but the entrance to them is steep and the trail winds around on them. They weren’t very bad, a couple of the dogs took some good spills on them because of the loss of traction from their booties. There is also a good little climb at the beginning of the trail. After about 15 miles there we connect to the Winter Trail which is fast and straight. We started picking up speed. There is a long stretch of overflow near the Colorado Creek Cabins. Apollo took another nasty spill there. After that he was sore and didn’t feel like running anymore so I loaded him into the sled.

I expected to see Mark May’s headlamp behind me at some point. But I never saw him. Morning came and we pulled into Angel Creek in 2nd. About 20 minutes behind Tom, only 9 minutes in front of Mark. Brent pulled in a little over an hour later, but because he rested 6 hours at Pleasant Valley he only had to rest and Angel Creek 4 hours, so actually he was in 3rd only 6 minutes behind me.

I had breakfast after tending to the dogs. Satellite’s wrist injury from earlier this season was showing some soreness. I would wrap it and apply Zalox and access it after the rest. I dropped Apollo, no sense in pushing him for the last 50 miles, and I certainly didn’t want to carry him, when I had Brent and Mark breathing down my neck for the last leg. I asked Mark how long he rested at Pleasant Valley.

“Never ask other mushers questions like that, they will never give you a straight answer.”

Oh, so we were still playing games. I know its all in good fun, and plus all that told me was, hey, you’re a threat.

I got about 1 ½ hours of sleep. I watched Tom’s team leave, they looked really strong. With a half hour lead on me, I figure 1st place was out of the question. I knew I would have to work hard to hang onto 2nd. We had a good howl before we left, off we went into the sunshine. They were a little slow from the start. Usually the first 10 miles are spent with the dogs taking turns relieveing themselves. In the exit shoot I ran into 3 teams so that didn’t help their momentum either. The dogs were travelling a little slow so thought for sure I would see Mark or Brent come up from behind soon. On all of the long straight stretches I would call the dogs up so that the team behind wouldn’t see me. I had my gray shell parka on again so I would also put the hood up so my bright blue hat didn’t stand out. I knew that if I team from behind saw me, they would catch me. We started to run into teams head on that were on their way to Angel Creek still. This sparked the dogs speed a little. I started asking teams how far ahead Tom was. After a few passes it dawned I me…I started telling the teams to tell whoever is behind me that I am at least an hour ahead of them. Ha ha, how’s that for a head game?

As we cruised along I started picking up a “vibe” from my team. It seemed every time I encouraged them they would turn around and look at me as if to say, “Will you shut up!” So I did. They started picking up speed. When we started climbing up flat top I began to push to help them up the hill. Again they started glancing back, “Will you quit it?” Okay….obviously you guys got this covered. And they did, we started travelling pretty good up the trail. I just wanted to get to the other side of the road before I saw a team from behind me. I knew for a few miles they would pick it up, thinking they were going home, and then the last 4 miles they would be slow, after passing the house. I got out into the Peasant Farm Fields, still no one behind. Whooo hooo. Now to get past the house.

We got to my home trail and Samson and Meade pulled over. I hit the break, “No, Gee”

Samson pulled harder. “No, Gee.” Meade pulled gee and Samson followed. I released the break. The whole team looked down the home trail with pleading eye, “But…..are you sure???” They all seceded.

I started calling, “ GOOD DOGGIES, GOOD DOGGIES!!!! Yeee hawww!”

I go them cruising about 15 miles per hour for the next 2 miles. We did it! All of those other local races that we did this winter paid off. I think they realized, hey if were not going home, it just means we are going to the truck at the store.

We pulled into Pleasant Valley Store in 2nd. We were happy, all of the dogs looked great. Satellite was a little wiped due to a pulled muscle, but otherwise they were still ready to go. I am so proud sand amazed with this dog team. They keep beating my expectations of them in every race.

The team: Samson (5)
Meade (2)
Satellite (2)
Dark Star (2)
Nasa (2)
Gemini (4)
Bear (6)
Kobuk (3)
Stellar (3)
Apollo (2)
Polaris (1)
Captain Kirk (4)
Everyone finished except Kobuk an Apollo

Top 5 mushers:

1st: Tom Lesatz
2nd Abbie West
3rd Braxton Peterson
4th Mark May
5th Brent Sass

The Hamburger Run

2009-01-28T22:03:00.000-09:00

The Cosmic Canines won the Hamburger Run Last Saturday. It is a fun race that usually runs from Pleasant Valley Store out to Angel Creek where mushers can have a hamburger, but due to bad trail conditions the race was rerouted. So we did a 25 mile loop back to the Store where we could have burgers provided by Quickie Pizza. The race is just a fun race, no purse, just prizes for different categories such as “Most Disorganized Musher” and “Happiest Musher.” It was kind of a warm day so I was going to where my shell parka, which is kind of plain, but then I overheard that there would be a “Best Dressed Musher” category and I happen to throw Jim’s Parka in the truck which is similar to mine, blue and yellow stars, just minus the skirt, so I threw it on, because I knew I wasn’t going to win “oldest musher” or “Ugliest dog truck.” The race is a Mass Start, which means the clock starts and then everyone has to hook up and harness their dogs, the first one done, is the first one out. I was at a disadvantage for this in two aspects, I had no handler, which most mushers had, to help me and I decided to run with the full 12 dog team that they allowed, most chose to run with 10 or less.
They gathered us around the starting line after the Skijorers left.
Susan Admundson looked at me in Jim’s big parka, “Where are you headed Abbie, the arctic?”
“ Ha, ha. Best dressed musher is mine. And I’m going to be the first musher out of this yard too.”
Suddenly the race marshal yelled “GO!”
Holy crap! Usually they wait until everyone is at their truck and they throw a hat in the air, then you can begin. I turned and I ran as fast I could to the truck which was all the way on the far side of the parking lot.
I didn’t have a handler but Sharka Meyer volunteered to hold my leaders for me while I hooked them up. She also had no idea we were going to start right then. So she was standing calmly with her 2 small children next to my truck. As I was running towards them full speed I saw her eyes get wide. Then she turned and scurried her kids behind the truck to the safety of their nanny and went to the front of my gangline.
Now I set myself up well. I hooked the dogs next to each other on the truck that would be next to each other on the gangline. So I grabbed 2 dogs at time and then I would put their harnesses on at the gangline then run back for 2 more. Back and forth, back and forth, I was sweating and out of breath in my huge parka. Last dogs hooked up, I looked around, holy cow! I was the first done. No time to think about it I pulled the snub line and off we went.
Half outta breath, pumped my fist in the air, “Yeah, 1st one out! 12 dogs, all by myself!!!” They all looked at me puzzled. Then I got on the trail. Ahead I saw Susan Admundson. I let out a deflated, “Ohhh. I didn’t see her leave.”
I caught up to her quickly. And we smoked past. She only had 6 dogs, no wonder she got out first.
I saw the mushers behind me for about 5 miles, and then I saw no one. I kept looking behind me, searching for someone. So I decided I would try to catch the skijorers that left before we even started hooking up. But skijorers are usually faster than dog teams, believe it or not, so it would be a challenge.
No of course since it is a local race, we had to pass the house. This race it was at mile 21, so it wouldn’t be too hard. They passed easily but they always get a little pouty when we do that. I know they are thinking, “Hey dummy….um….we just passed the house, do you know what you are doing?” So lots of encouragement is necessary. I saw a skijorer ahead, and I had to race somebody so I keep calling the dogs up but they were still whiny about passing the house, so I didn’t get much out of them. Slowly we gained on the skijorer. I felt kind of like a slacker behind her. Here she was skate skiing the whole time and I was just standing still on the back of a sled. So I started pushing. About 1/8 of a mile from the finish line I passed her. I felt kind of bad about it but she said she didn’t mind, she wished I passed her at about mile 15 so she could have drafted me the last 10 miles.
So we won the Hamburger Run, the next musher was 20 minutes behind. That’s quite a margin for a 25 mile race. And we had fun. And we did win best dressed musher because the officials liked how my parka, my dog truck, my sled, and my harnesses all matched. So we won 50 booties, and Gila Dolif was raking in the prizes, she won many of the categories, so she also gave me 50 more booties that she won.

Ready and waiting

2009-01-28T14:24:00.001-09:00

Dark Star and Digger

Apollo

Confessions of a junkie

2009-01-23T09:19:00.004-09:00

DARK STAR

KOBUK

Mushing is an addiction. Seriously, I have talked amongst other mushers about this, if you go a couple of days without running the dogs, you almost feel sick. The call of the trail, the power the dogs have over you is immense. When I cannot run the dogs I feel lost. A friend catches a case of PMS at the end of the season, "post mushing syndrome" and its not pretty. Luckily that time is far away and we are enjoying near perfect days on the trail. It would be nice to have a little more snow, but its not bad thanks to all of the hard work that Rick Swenson and Sonny Lindner put into maintaining our trails all winter.

The conditions are not so perfect down in the Mat Su Valley, where the Klondike 300 is held. It is getting colder down there but they need some snow to replace all the snow that melted. The mushers that live in the area have resorted to trucking their dogs to snowier places. So the Klondike has been postponed to Feb. 7th to give mother nature some time to mend the trail.

We're ready to race already!

2009-01-21T11:11:00.000-09:00

Can we have our weather back please?

2009-01-21T10:58:00.002-09:00

To catch everybody up on the Cosmic Canines. I travelled on some of the worst roads ever, almost 400 miles to run my last qualifier...the Klondike 300, only to turn around and come home again. Seems that mother nature thought it would be a funny trick to trade sub zero AK weather with warm and rainy lower 48 weather. Ha ha! That equals one big mess up here, and though it has been remedied up here in Two Rivers...the trails are wonderful here...it still hasn't cooled down enough down in the Mat-Su Valley (where the Klondike is held) to get the trails up to par down there. It doesn't look good to run the race on their postponed start this weekend, and the following weekend there is one more 300 mile qualifier to run, but this is also the weekend my food drops are due in Fairbanks. Also my handler broke his leg, so I am searching for another to help Nina with the duties. With my options dwindling and my Quest hopes for this year waning I am stuck here in the waiting game. So I am doing the only thing I can think of.....running dogs! Whatever the dogs end up doing, they will be ready for it. I never thought I had to consider rain in Jan in AK cancelling the races I chose to run this year! Go figure.

Gin Gin Part 2

2009-01-09T20:34:00.001-09:00

I gathered on all of my layers that were drying around McClaren Lodge. It was a little over an hour before my mandatory 6 hour layover was over. The 5 teams in front of me were already getting ready to leave. I grabbed the cooler of food I had soaking in the back room and headed down to the river where the teams were parked. I fed the dogs the mix of beef, kibble, and hot water. They ate like monsters so I threw them a chunk of fat each too. They were pretty active, paying close attention to all the activities of teams preparing to go. I bootied all of the dogs and hooked their tuglines. The five teams before me left, and we were waiting for our count down to leave too. The dogs were barking impatiently. Bridgett Watkins was the only female musher due to leave close behind me, I overheard her tell the checkers she wouldn’t be leaving at her scheduled time. Cool, I don’t have to worry about her. The Gin Gin began as an all women’s race, but the guys wanted to play too. So they changed the race so that now the women race against each other in the “pro race” and the men against themselves in the “amateur race.“ I know I am just trying to qualify but its hard not to be a little competitive.
Off we went into the darkness. We were starting our run in the depth of the night. I had heard before I left that it was 42 below at McClaren and typically it would be colder down on the Big Su River, where we were headed. Honestly, I wasn’t that cold at all. I kept the coats on the dogs. Occasionally I would get a little chilly but I would just push the sled for a little ways and I would warm back up again. That means my gear was passing the test. What wasn’t passing the test was the dog coats. They kept getting built with ice. So part of my hourly stop was to beat, break, chip off the ice in the dog and the coats. It was pretty lonely out there for a couple hours. It wasn’t bad, just a little boring, its kind of like tunnel vision at night, just being able to see in the narrow beam of light cast by your headlamp. It was also very easy sled driving, flat and straight river travel. I imagine during the day this run would be absolutely amazing. Finally about 25 miles in I saw a headlamp coming from behind. The headlamp put out more lumens than a spotlight, so I knew it had to be Jeff King. He always has the latest and best in gear, he’s one of the only one of us that can afford it. Later we would ask him about that light, to find out it could be purchased from Cabela’s, his sponsor, for $459.00. Ouch! Most good headlamps cost about $80.
Jeff caught me and passed. We kept up with him as we traveled. Looked like he had the same game plan, frequent stops and take your time. Then 2 more teams from behind Sebastian Schnulle and Lance Mackey. At least no women, I was happy in 6th out of 18 for the women. I had figured myself in at 10th before the race started. We all were traveling in a pack for a while. All these big names, they weren’t that much faster than me, at least at this point, so I was in good spirits. The trail was nice. Eventually we came off the McClaren River and onto the Big Su, but at which point I can’t tell you, it was to dark to tell. Finally the “big 3” pulled away from me. I stopped to snack and replace lost booties and “de-ice” the dogs. We were going along just fine when suddenly my leaders stopped and turned back into the team. I got on the sled to see what was up. As I approached the front of the team I found myself knee deep in water. You couldn’t tell it was water because it was full of slush. Then Brent Sass came from behind.
“Brent! There’s water up here!”
But we were all pretty bundled up so he had no idea what I said. He went to pass but his dogs got confused and turned into my team. After walking back and forth in knee-deep water about 10 times we got our dog teams sorted out and through the overflow. Neos (my water-proof overshoes) don’t fail me now! Darn! I had just de-iced the dogs, and fixed the booties now I had to stop and change all of the booties and try to get all of the ice off the water soaked coats. We went on. The trail got a little bit punchy and I just wanted to be off the river. I was a crusty, frosty ice monster and so were the dogs.
Sunrise came magnificently over the mountains. No end to the river in sight. Every bend I would come around I would think its going around this one, I would come around, nope! This went on for some time. Finally! The bridge, and there was a team stopped. It was Judy. She followed me for a while then we popped up on the road. Only 40 something miles to go. The traveling was painfully slow. The road went up and down and up and down. It seemed like we were going forever. I saw a mile marker sign ahead. When I read the number my heart sunk, mile 67. Uggg! I though for sure we had come further than that. Later I found out that every musher felt the same way when they read that sign. The lodge was at mile 42. This was the longest run I had ever done and it was taking its toll on both the dogs and I mentally. I keep upbeat for the dogs. Yes I am asking a lot out of you, but it will end….sometime. I had to do a lot of maintenance just keep the dogs thawed out. The coats were coated in ice from the water. I came to the decision that they were doing more damage than good, the ice was rubbing them raw. But I had to keep their “privates” warm or it would be bad news. Finally I cut my coats so that they would hang down to keep “under there” warm without touching the dogs. It seemed the end of this run would never come.
Finally I could see the lights of McClaren Lodge down in the valley. Yes! We made it. We pulled in to our previous camping spot just to find most of the straw gone. At this point I was very concerned with getting the dogs warm and well rested. Something that can’t be done on river ice at 45 below with no straw.
“Is there any straw left?” I asked the checker.
“Yes but you are only supposed to have the straw from before.”
“Look at my spot then look at that one, “ I pointed at Judy’s spot, “Or that spot.” I pointed at Bridget’s. “I think when the other teams were leaving they might have gone through here because I was one of the first mushers out and drug their brakes through my straw and drug it off.”
“ Yeah, there is quite a difference.” He let me get more straw. They could fine me, penalize me, I didn’t care I just wanted the dogs taken care of.
The dogs ate well again. Going through them I found no injuries but quite a few rubs, mostly from ice. I applied ointment and massaged all of the dogs with emu oil on their shoulders, wrists and thighs. I took off the worst iced up coats and put them in a garbage bag. The only place I knew of to dry things out at the lodge was by the woodstove in the main room. I didn’t think they would appreciate me melting the ice off my dog coats being that some of the ice was yellow. Pee yoo! I thought maybe I could get them part way melted in the bag and go from there. I felt sick about the dogs going so far and I couldn’t keep them warm in their coats so they would get good rest. I asked about the coats they had a generator shed that I could hang them in and they could dry in the warm exhaust. It worked well. I rotated the coats so eventually I got them all dried and back on the dogs. This made me feel a lot better.
As I ate some food and talked to other mushers I discovered that everyone had runs similar to mine. I was feeling like I had really made some mistakes. But I found out it was just the conditions.
Most everyone decided to leave the next morning instead of right at the end of their 6 hour layover. The winds that we encountered at mile 10 through 22 on the highways were still blowing, maybe even worse. No one wanted to go through it at night. Jeff King decided to scratch and just run home (his house is back the other way on the road) he was in first place too. I was nervous but more importantly I really felt I pushed the dogs a little too far on that 110 mile run and I thought they needed more rest. But another part of me was wondering how good of quality of rest they would be getting on the river ice at 45 below. I went down to check on them. They were resting and they looked warm in their DRY coats and under their blankets.
Aliy and Michelle figured they only had enough food to give their dogs a 12 hour rest so they would leave at 12 hours together and make their way over the pass together with Ed Hopkins. This made sense to me, over 12 hours would be a waste. Maybe I could leave so that I hit the pass at sunrise then I could see well. Tom and I talked about it and decided that that would be a good idea. We tossed around the idea that if Aily, Michelle, and Ed weren’t leaving until 12 hours we could leave at the end of our 6 hour and we would both get 3rd (in the money) in our divisions. I didn’t want to risk the dogs being tired and balking in the wind. I didn’t want to sour them, we had bigger races later in the season. I decided to get some sleep. I fell asleep on the couch, my favorite place to sleep.
I was awoken by Michelle, Aily and Ed getting dressed to leave. I got up to and ate some food. After getting some rest it was all clear. I would leave at my 12 hours too. That time came quickly. I went outside and fed the dogs. Still eating well, that was a good sign. I massaged all the dogs and walked each of them individually on a leash up and down the river to stretch out their muscles a little from such a long rest. They seemed lively. I bootied and packed my sled. I hooked up their tuglines, and though they weren’t barking this time they didn’t look miserable either. The checker helped me weave the dogs through the resting teams to the trail. He let go….it was the moment of truth….off we went. The next mile or so we had to stop a few time to let everyone poop, but after that we started cruising. I timed us between mile markers on the road. We were going about 10 mph, not bad! I was elated, 42 miles to go and we were done, and in 5th place! Better than I had ever hoped of doing. Still in the pit of my stomach something was churning. I was worried, almost to the point of being sick, about the wind. What was the worst that could happen? We could be blown off the road and have to hole up until help arrived. No! We would be fine.
When we arrived at Tangle Lakes, the beginning of the wind area, the wind was blowing but only enough to make you cold. I saw a falling star. Guess what my wish was? The wind increased and there was less and less snow on the road. I had to teach the leaders who are always taught to run on the right side of the road to run on the left on the upside of the wind or else my sled would be blown off the road. They eventually figured it out. I was only blown off the road once. It wasn’t nearly as bad as on the way out.
Johnny Schandelmeier, the trail boss said that once you get to the dead snow machine on the trail you were in the clear. As we passed it a felt a sense of relief. We made it! Just 10 miles left to go! The dogs slowed down. That wind took a lot out them. If they only could understand how close we were! I was still happy. The last 3 miles are all down hill into Paxson Lodge. Sunrise was gorgeous! A final reward for all of our hard work. I always felt this was one of the most beautiful places on earth. We crossed the finish line in 5th with all ten dogs!
Honestly the finish was pretty anti-climatic. No big crowd, no handler to tell me how good I did. I just drove the dogs to the truck, praised and fed the dogs and loaded them into the truck. Packed up and went inside for some food. It didn’t matter though, I felt proud of the dogs. They did great. I had so much confidence in them now for future races. We learned a lot, and have some new experiences under our belt. It was truly a qualifier. And though I didn’t think I needed one when I started, now I realized that I actually did. I wonder what is in store for my next “easy” qualifier, the Klondike 300.

At the Start of the Gin Gin

2009-01-03T10:58:00.003-09:00

The Gin Gin Team:

Samson(5) Leo(4)

Meade(2) Apollo(2)

Space(2) Captain Kirk(4)

Stellar(2) Polaris(1)

Kobuk(2) Bear(4)

Everyone finished! Samson, Meade, Leo, and Polaris all led. I thought Polaris and Meade did exceptionally well. They are all males except Meade is a little 35 pound female.

Check it out

2009-01-03T10:48:00.005-09:00

http://www.gingin200.com/
You can check out the race website at this link. If you look at the Gin Gin blog there is a picture of my team leaving the start.

Gin Gin 08 Part One

2009-01-03T10:37:00.001-09:00

I chose to run the qualifiers I picked based on the fact that I thought they would be easy. Ha! I have already qualified for the Quest, its just been too long ago logistically, I’ve run half of a Quest and lots of other races so I hardly considered myself a dumb rookie. Ha! Again. Little did I know that I had entered one of the hardest races that I, and according to veteran Iditarod and Quest mushers, including champions, have ever ran. I also learned that although I may not be a dumb rookie, there were a couple of skills both the dogs and I needed to learn before taking on the “big one.”
I traveled down to the GinGin 200 with Tom Lesatz so that we could save money on gas. As we got closer to Paxson, the start, we started to laugh nervously about what we were getting into. The wind was howling. You could feel the wind blow against the truck. Snow would kick up and make the road disappear for a couple of minutes so I would almost have to come to a complete stop to wait for the gusts to die down and the road reappear. Gulp, what’s this going to be like on the trail?
It was a social affair the night before the race, an advantage having over 40 teams entered. Lots of catching up and talking dogs. Good food and hospitality at Paxson Lodge. I recall being asked a few times, “Are you nervous?” To which I would reply, “Nah, I’m just going to take my time, I am just qualifying.” Ha!
The next morning was beautiful! (well at least at Paxson Lodge) About 10 below and sunny. I left 3rd which would turn out to be an advantage. The first few miles were wonderful. Travelling at good speed despite my sled loaded to the max. We were carrying all of our food and gear for the entire 200 mile race, so that makes for a heavy sled. We were surrounded by mountains. Within a couple miles I passed bib 2, Christine Roaloffs. Then we hit the wind. We have never been in anything like it. The wind would gust and snakes of snow would whip across the road. Some claimed it was blowing 30/40 mph some claimed 50/60mph, all I know that with the snow blasted off the road leaving only ice and asphalt it was strong enough to blow you and your sled clean off the road! The dogs would be running on the right side of the road and I would be dragging behind them, sideways, barely hanging on to the left side. At one point the dogs got confused and were like, “Oh, you want us to go that way.” and the turned haw off the road. “NO! NO! NO! GEE!” To no use, we were in the deep snow down off the road. I got them stopped and pulled them around to the road and went back to the sled to help them get the heavy load back on the road. Christine showed up by then and held my leaders on the road while I got them out. After thanking her profusely I began to pull away again. But a particularly strong blast pushed me back off the road and dragged the dogs with me so again they ‘hawed’ off the road. I got them turned quickly and I was pulling the dogs back onto the road I saw Christine pull up again. She stopped for just a moment when a team pulled around the side of her, it was Yuka Honda, and at that moment the wind blew Yuka and her sled into Christine and her sled and they both rolled down off the road together. Their teams were tangled, sleds tipped and their dogs began to get tangled with mine. I pulled my dogs away, and was about to go back and turn my sled toward the road, but Yuka turned it for me because she was standing right there and held her dogs out of my team. I caught my sled as it whipped past me and we were off. I felt terrible leaving Yuka and Christine behind, but there was nothing I could do with no snowhook hold, plus sometimes its better to eliminate a team out of the situation because it just causes more problems, which I would find out later was the case. Yuka said, it was better to just get out of there.
The next 10 miles or so there was very little snow and the wind continued. I managed to keep the sled on the road by riding on one runner or tipping the sled towards the wind, which was quite the workout with such a heavy sled. Plus Samson and Leo learned to stay to the right even if I was dragging of to the left helpless in the wind. With some of the big gusts I would have to run along side the sled and jerk it to the right with all of my might. I fell twice when the sled would be pushed hard to the left so I would be swung sideways then it would catch an edge. I clocked my head once hard on the exposed asphalt. After a while the wind calmed some, but I just wanted off of the road.
At mile 30 we finally got off the road onto the Mountain Loop Trail. It was punchy and a little slow but absolutely amazing. We travelled in a valley around a mountain and the alpine glow turned everything pastel. All I could think was how it was our reward for making it through the wind. At one point we were in a big open valley and the wind started to pick up again, the trail was already blown over from the team in front of me. I held my hand to the head of the valley, where the wind was blowing from. “NO!!!!” No more wind, but it wasn’t bad compared to what we had come through. I could see a team behind me in the distance, it was Aily Zirkle we were tavelling about the same speed so she never caught up to me. After about 15 miles we popped back out on the road. It was dark now, I could see the lights of McClaren Lodge down in the distance. Finally, the first checkpoint. Time for some good rest for the dogs. I pulled into the the checkpoint, we all were staged on the McClaren River below the Lodge. I set to my checkpoint chores. I was the 4th musher into the checkpoint, but I would be the 6th out because our times would be adjusted at this stop from our start order. I gave the dogs a fat snack. I pulled off all of the booties and checked feet and muscle soreness. I put straw down for them. We were each allotted ¾ of a bale of straw. When we returned to McClaren after the next leg we would return to the same camping spot and straw. I went up to the lodge for hot water for the dogs meal. They ate heartily, that was a good sign. I massaged the dogs and worked liniment into the dogs with past injuries as a prevention. I applied ointment to some minor toe burns and sores. All and all the dogs looked happy and healthy. I put coats on the dogs and laid blankets over them. Time to let the dogs rest. I went back up to the lodge, I was starving, a feeling that would continue through out the whole race and a couple days after. I ordered a reuben, and drank lots of hot tea, as I ate the lodge filled with more and more mushers. Each with stories of amazement and adventure. Comments were being thrown around like, “You’re definitely qualified now“, “ I’ve never been in anything like that., “ and “ I would have scratched, but I didn’t want to go back through that.”
I stayed up through the 6 hour mandatory rest, something I would never do on a race over 200 miles. But the conversation was good and I had to keep a eye on the dogs. We had a big 110 mile run in front of us. I was going to try to take my time, take lots of breaks and push through the whole thing with no long rest. I was a little nervous because it would be the longest run the dogs had done this season. I wasn’t sure if they could do it. The temperature had dropped to 37 below at the lodge and colder on the river. It would be an interesting run.

Greetings from the Global Warming Zone

2009-01-02T20:05:00.004-09:00

Well one qualifier down, one to go. I will be writing about my trip over the next couple of days while I am holed up inside due to cold temps. 43 below right now. It was 40 below by the time I came back from my training run yesterday. Low tonight is expected to be 55 below. Yuck! No end in sight to the cold weather until maybe wed when it will warm up to 20 below. Yeah! I researched around the state and its cold everywhere. Blah....well might as well get used to it, could be what's store for the Quest.

2008-10-25T16:10:00.002-08:00

2008-10-22T18:30:00.000-08:00

Fall, or early winter in Two Rivers is golden. I have left behind the deep greens, deeper grays of Juneau where everything is muted by rain. Soon our “Pleasant Valley” will be whitened with hoar frost and a few hours of a weak and milky sun. But now, everything glows. The sun is still bright enough to reflect off the crust of snow. The sedges and hay still sway gold and if you get out early enough they are still coated in frozen dew. Even though the leaves of the fireweed are bent and brittle they still have a brown “sun-baked” look to them. If I were to pick a soundtrack to the landscape the dogs steadily pull me and the 4-wheeler through it would be epic, operatic, or symphonic. But really I am listening to reggae, RHCP, and 311(oo0o amber is the color of your energy…) which is fine. It is a nice happy rhythm to cruise to, we aren’t building on speed right now just strength and endurance. I am running 2 ten dog teams, and 1 nine(old guys and pups) everyday so that leaves for plenty of socialization with all the mushers of Two Rivers, “Hi Judy, hi Rick, hi Allen, Aily, Jason, Susan, Judy‘s handler.” Some people don’t have names because I don’t know who they are. “I saw Carhartt Guy today.” We aren’t all spread out yet with big miles so we have lots of encounters.
The sun is also one of the best improvements of the new dog yard. Our old yard was kind of in a hole. Surrounded by tall black spruce, it didn’t let much light in. It made for a dark cold dog yard. For property value purposes our stubby black spruce that surround the new yard are less than desirable, but for us it’s a vast improvement. Its also a great spot for stargazing. Last night I saw the whole winter hexagon. A group of 6 constellations, each with a bright star making up the points of the hexagon. Taurus, Orion, Canis Major and Minor, Gemini, and Auriga. The waning gibbous moon was right dab in the middle of it when we got home last night from seeing my friend Brady’s band, Sweatin’ Honey. They rocked the Howling Dog. Good thing because there is no heat in the Howling Dog, so they had to churn up some dancers to make it warm in the joint. It was nice to get out and see live music, it will probably be the last time in a while. It will be a busy winter, so Jim and thought we might as well get out while we still can. Well it time to feed dogs and get on with the chores, so I can get to work on time. Even though it is totally irrelevant I will end with a line from Sweatin’ Honey just because I liked it,
“LIVIN’ WITHOUT LOVE IS LIKE BREATHIN’ WITHOUT AIR!”

Cosmic Canines are Quest bound!!!!

2008-10-16T16:29:00.000-08:00

I don’t know how one could feel nervous and excited as well as somewhere deep down, calm and relieved all at the same time. But that would be how I would describe how I feel after turning in my completed Yukon Quest Race Application. After 9 years I am finally going to tackle the adventure again, its been too long. Somehow that makes me feel a kind of peace. A generous sponsor from my employers, Alaska Icefield Expedetions, unhooked the snap at the end of the chain I’ve been yanking on for years and after running full speed for a while down the trail, experience tells me I better slow down, it’s a LONG TRAIL AHEAD. But still…
THE COSMIC CANINES ARE QUEST BOUND!
Time to EAT SLEEP DRINK BREATHE DOGS. Sounds like heaven!
We had a quick trip, though greatly delayed trip from Juneau. The other exciting event this winter is living in our new house. We got the dog yard put in, that was a project. Pounded all 30 posts in by hand, by myself. Moved 3 trailer loads of dog houses. The dogs were staged at Kris’s place 5 miles away, I was going to do whatever it took to get the dogs home ASAP. Soon we will have a well house, imagine running water! Busted out our out trail. What a magic carpet ride compared to where we had to run last winter. No more traveling down icy roads, dodging cars. No more 90 degrees turns 100 feet into our runs. Just a nice gradually turning private trail off the property, then down a powerline right onto Baseline, the main vein that connects many of the trails here in Two Rivers.
The dogs look good, strong, mature. Snow is on the ground. The freezer is full of moose (thanks to Jim’s 69 inch moose), rock fish, and smoked salmon. Spent the last couple of days at the Mushing Symposium, catching up with every musher on earth, getting inspired, researching. Booties are on the way, ointments ordered. Stockpile, stockpile; Batteries, handwarmers, snaps, runner plastic.
I also signed up for our first race, the Gin Gin 200 on December 27th. Unique in that it is an all women’s race. Just about every woman musher I talked to is running the race too. So its sounds like it will be a nice turnout.

Back to the blog

2008-09-06T09:58:00.002-08:00

Sorry its been so long. I really have no excuse. Its been a long and wet summer but all is well. I am super anxious to get back into the interior, back to the Alaska I know and love, mostly just back out of the rain! Actually, we have had a handful of wonderfully beautiful days. We've taken advantage of them by fishing and mountain biking. A taste here and there of Southeast Summer, a moment or two to see the tops of the mountains that surround us. The interior fall is calling me though. Our summer salmon is smoked, Jim is leaving to go moose hunting next weekend, and the dogs are riled up with the cooler temps, the daily tour routine isn't quite enough right now to expend all of their energy.

I just want to get on with our exciting winter season. I've ordered booties and new harnesses. I want to sign up for all of the races we have planned right now! But I am trying to be somewhat practical. Experience has told me you just may never know what might happen. Either that or I am listening a little too much to those that say "You Can't" Well while they are wasting their breath I am setting up Team Cosmic so that everything is a little easier for us come race season. Its all I can do to ease my itching to get on a 4 wheeler and start our actual training miles. Just 20 more days! Well off I go to enjoy one of the few dry days here in Juneau. A little moutain biking, a round at the archery course, and a little fishing. Triathalon Alaska Style!

Spring time in Alaska

2008-04-19T10:54:00.004-08:00

Can you believe it is the Middle of April ?!? Even for Alaska this is impressive. We have received over a foot of snow this month alone! I have been taking advantage of the SUN and the SNOW and the WARM TEMPS. It is like mushing in paradise. I have been giving the race dogs a little rest before their busy tour season and been focusing on the PUPS and the OLD BOYS. It’s been a blast. Telesto(12), Comet (12) and King(10) feel like the studs of the yard again. And Polaris(13 mos.) and Pluto(13mos.) are gaining confidence. They trained with the race team all fall, but were dropped after the miles became to long and fast. Nova (9mos.) and Pulsar(9mos.) are learning the joy of mushing. And building a solid foundation so that they can do some tours this summer. They were part of the “lucky puppies” the pups born 7/7/07, that many of you held this past summer.

Ahhh they grow so fast. No puppies this year has left me jonesing for my puppy fix. Guess I can wait a couple weeks until I get to camp.

Speaking of which, I am wondering if we will still be going down on the 3^rd of May. An avalanche knocked out the hydropower plant in Juneau, they don’t expect it to be running again for a month. This poses two problems: Juneau is running on the diesel powered plant until then, that means electric costs 500% more and if there is an avalanche at Shettisham, that isn’t very far from Sheep Creek, we can’t move up there until Avalanche danger is gone. We’ll have to see.

Jim is off bear hunting in Galena. He snowmachined from Manley (300 miles + ) and I haven't heard from him yet. Hopefully he'll get us a nice bear rug for our new house that god willing we close on THIS WEEK! I am holding down the home fort, Rationing the firewood so don't have to cut it again, but winter won't go away so I'd better warm up the saw.

MY season begins

2008-04-18T23:18:00.000-08:00

Well now that the dogs’ season is coming to an end, my season has begun. I ran my first 5K of the year. The Beat Beethoven. It is a fun race, it is a fundraiser for the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra, they play Beethoven’s 5^th Symphony and you are to finish the race before it ends (it takes 31 minutes so it’s pretty easy). There is also a guy who dresses up as Beethoven and runs the race, he times it so that he finishes at the exact moment that the music ends. I smoked him! Not my best time, but pretty happy for the first race of the year. Placed 7^th out of 60 something in my age class. The first mile is uphill (but nothing like some of the Juneau races) and it was about 18 degrees so it was a little frigid on the lungs. Over 578 people were in the race. I finished around 60^th overall. Have 2 5K’s this weekend. Hopefully the Sheep Creek crew is in training already too, so we can rock the SERR race circuit again this summer. We should do well with our 2 new mushers, Lucas has run ultra marathons, and Ed has run a few marathons himself, then of course we have both Matts, Tasha, and Sarah returning

Our Last Hurrah!

2008-04-18T22:27:00.008-08:00

Our last hurrah. Last week I was supposed to run the Taiga 300 but I had to spend the race budget on purchasing our new house, so to make myself feel better Jim and I loaded up 20 dogs and Cosmos into the truck and headed for the White Mountains.

We took 2 ten dog teams 30 miles out to Crowberry Cabin, a BLM cabin and set up a base camp. Everything had been melting fast so we thought this may be our last trip. It was snowing heavily when we left the parking lot, it was like running in a slow globe. That made the trails nice, but was kind of disappointing because without the vistas the whites are kind of blah. A forest fire 2 years ago wiped out much of the trees, and even the old Crowberry Cabin. But it was nice to be out with Jim and the dogs. Actually the burnt black spruce have a sort of charm to them.

We ate HUGE King Crab legs, Spring Asparagus and shared a bottle of Pinot Noir and watched the crescent moon rise behind the White Mountains as it chased the snow clouds away. The dogs were a little rowdy that night, 30 miles isn’t much even for the yearlings. Plus for some of the dogs, this was their first camping trip.

The next morning we woke to beautifully sunny skies and a wonderful view into the mountains we would be climbing. We headed out to the Windy Gap Divide. It was a wonderful trip, we made fresh tracks on the untouched trails, so it gave us the feeling of being “way out there” instead of just 4o miles outside of Fairbanks. It was hot so we stopped often, which provides for tons of doggy/musher bonding. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Back at “base camp” the sun was still out (thank god for Alaska’s Midnight Sun, or 10:30pm sun in April) and the dogs laid and basked in the sun. They were much relaxed after a big work out and the warm temps. Jim and I feasted on Burgandy-Pepper Steaks, and Asparagus, and shared a bottle of Merlot and watched the neon peach sunset dance with the wispy blue sky.

The next day the skies were clear again. We slept in and left at noon to head back to the truck. It was slow going, but we arrived tanned faced and happy. A perfect end-of -the-season trip.

Me and Meade

2008-02-12T11:04:00.000-09:00

Solstice 100

2008-02-12T10:35:00.000-09:00

The Cosmic Canines participated in their first race Saturday. We entered the Solstice 100. There were 12 teams and we finished 5^th. So I was pretty happy with the crew. The trail was a little slow because we just got 8 inches of snow and it was warm, so it was a little bit of a slog on the way out, which truthfully the dogs need. We’ve been training on a “bullet proof ice skating rink” for most of the season, so it was nice to give them a taste of some different conditions. But for us mushers, it doesn’t get much nicer, warm (25 degrees) and absolutely gorgeous. Sunny skies and warm weather don’t normally go together in Fairbanks in the winter. So it really was a blessing of a day.

My dog box isn’t built yet so I had to run the dogs to the start. It’s only 2 miles to Pleasant Valley Store, the starting line. I felt kind of “bad ass” pulling up to the parking lot like that. “Yeah, the Cosmic Canines don’t need no truck.” The start went relatively smooth and we started passing teams within 7 miles of the start. I was a little worried about passing our home trail, 4 times, but the dogs passed without hesitation. It was a wonderful, but slow trip out, but definitely fun.

Dark Star was running a little funny, though I couldn’t find any injuries, but she is young so I decided to drop her at Angel Creek. I must not have given Kobuk enough time to recover from his wrist injury because it was sore when I checked it, he’s a big dog, and didn’t want to carry him if it got real bad so I dropped him too.

I had a burger and a couple of beers while I enjoyed the company of my fellow mushers. There was a mandatory 4 hour layover, so I relaxed while the dogs rested. It was dark when it was time to go. I bootied up the dogs. I just wanted to hold my 5^th place position. Jody Bailey left 17 minutes in front of me, and Molly Yazawinski about 11. Carol Blevins was due to leave 9 minutes behind me. So I was worried more with Carol catching up from behind. The cooler temps firmed up the trail so it was a lot faster. The dogs were going at a good clip; I held them back a little to pace them for the whole run back. About 5 miles down the trail I saw a headlamp….ahead of me! I turned mine off, so I could “stealth” the musher that wasn’t aware of me catching up yet. We caught them quickly and passed. I turned my head lamp back on. It was Molly. Now I wasn’t planning to move up any positions, but just that little taste of competition drove me. Hey maybe I could catch Jodi too. We pulled away quickly; I began to call the dogs up. We went around a bend where I knew I was out of sight and I turned my headlamp back off. That way it would be harder for her or her dogs to see me and “give chase”. The moon was almost full and really I didn’t need the headlamp. I kept on the dogs to keep a good pace. Samson and Leo were responding well in lead. I could tell they were having a blast. About 15 miles later on a long straight stretch I could see a headlamp behind in the distance. “Oh crap, I don’t know if that’s Molly, or Carol, but I was getting used to the idea of placing 4^th.” I started pushing and running, calling the dogs faster. I knew in the open swamps it would be easier to see our silhouette against the glow of the moon reflecting off the snow, so I would really push them so we could hide in the trees again, then I would let them catch their breath again. We held the team off for about 10 miles. I had put my parka on because it was about 0 when I left Angel Creek. But I hadn’t planned to be getting so much of a workout. I was sweating. I didn’t even have time to pull my parka off. Then I remembered the strip of reflective fabric that I had sewn around the skirt of my parka for safety. I sure that it stood out in the light of a headlamp, even from a distance. So I pulled up my skirt in the back so it would cover it.

I knew the road crossing was coming. We train on this trail regularly, so my dogs don’t really need help crossing the road. On the way out the dogs kind of freaked seeing all of the people at the crossing. So I left my headlamp off hoping that the volunteers wouldn’t see me coming and I could skate past the crossing. But a truck was heading down the road, so I had to stop and the volunteers saw us so they came running out and the dogs balked. The got tangled and wouldn’t move off the road. Finally we got across and I had a hard time getting them untangled. Here came the team from behind. Shoot! All of that hard work ruined for something as stupid as a road crossing. They caught us quickly and I had to give them trail because we were still 5 miles from the finish. We tailed them but didn’t have quite enough to pass. Oh well, I was happy with 5^th when I left Angel Creek, I should be happy with it at the end.

So we finished 5^th, just seconds behind Molly. Not bad for a bunch of young dogs. It was pretty cool after pulling over the finish line to just mush the dogs on home, ”Race done, we’re not, later!”

Update from Paradise

2008-01-04T20:54:00.000-09:00

We've been putting on lots of miles and having fun. The team is really coming together. They really are surprising me, they are still young though so we are taking it slow. It has been pure luxury lately because after over two weeks of running this whole show by myself and working 6 days a week during the Lodge's busy Holidays...Jim is back and I have a whole 10 days off from work! Its been nice to focus just on the dogs and catch up on all of the stuff that has been barely maintained while I've been so busy.

I hope to do some long 50 - 100 milers during this time to choose my race team. Yes my race team! Thanks to generous anonymous sponsor, we will most likely be running the Don Bowers 200. 15 dogs are trying out for the race. They are:

All of my 2 year old "Solstice Girls" aka "the princesses" : Eclipse (L)
Corona (L)
Umbra (L)
Zenith (L)
My 3 year old "momma's boy" Leo(L)
My yearling stud Titan(L)
A good 4 year old leader I bought from Mike Jayne Samson(L)
My 14 mo. old super stars Apollo
Meade(L)
Dark Star
Wild man (2 years) Stellar
And his fellow freak (1 year) Space
The Saluki Hounds (3 yrs?) Scotty
Captain Kirk aka Captain Crunch (L)
and the Big man (3yrs.) Kobuk aka Chewbaca

I've been running 10 dog teams, would run 12 doggers if it weren't for the 2 rutted up 90 degree turns 25 feet into our run and the 2 miles of standing pressing as hard as you can on the brake to slow down on the hard pack icy road to get the the trail so we don't hurt our dogs or get run over by cars.

Its been great though, nice weather, not too cold 0 to 20 below. Checking out all the Two Rivers Trails. They are actually in really nice shape. Little bumpy in spots, but I can get a hook in anywhere. Nice enough I might get the Prairie Bilt out (the BMW of sleds). So far I have just been riding around on the beater toboggan. Which really is not a bad ride itself.

If the local dog club ever deems it safe enough to drive dog teams on the trails most mushers have been running on for a month now they may have 70 mile race Jim will run in.

We just got home from driving "out the road" to check if the river crossings are frozen and cut some firewood, then a soak in the Hot Springs, and a burger at Angel Creek Lodge so we could visit Steve and Anette. Time to go feed the dogs and hit the hay. Life is good.

A Day in the Life

2007-12-28T09:40:00.000-09:00

6:30 am : Wake up, stoke fire, run outside to "go", check to see if the wolves have eaten any dogs, and get a feel for the temp, which is very affective in just mukluks and long underwear.

6:45 am: Put french press on the stove (thanks mom, it works great), turn on NPR.

6:55 am: Coffee is ready, NPR has reminded me why I am hiding in Alaska and music is put on instead. Have a cup, relax, eat (oatmeal, bagel, or I hate to admit it, chocolate) Put together the dog team to run on paper and catch up on their records, read, or go online.

7:30 am: Water the dogs with baited water(water mixed with food and meat and fat).

8:00 am: Clean the yard, get the sled ready. Check out the dogs for missed injuries etc.

8:45: am: Stoke the fire, hook up the dogs.

9:00 am: Head out on the trail, by far the best part of the day!

2:00 pm: Get home. Put the dogs at their houses. Feed the dogs. Stoke the fire.

3:00 pm: Split and stack wood, or clean, or some other chore.

3:30 pm: Go get water, we haul 35 gallons a day.

4:00 pm: Try to turn myself from "tough musher girl" to "classy waitress girl". Stoke fire.

4:30 pm: Go to work at the lodge (6 days a week), either bartending or serving.

11:00 pm: Get off work, go home, start the fire which is probably out, feed the dogs. Sometimes I run a second team and then feed the dogs.

12:00 am: Read or go online, or "crash hard".

3:30 am: Stoke fire

Merry Christmas everyone!

2007-12-25T01:33:00.001-09:00

Just wanted to show everyone my new parka. It was made by Dogwood Designs, I LOVE it. Its my Christmas gift from Jim and man, is it warm!

Brrrrrrrr!

2007-12-20T06:50:00.000-09:00

Well finally I have some time to write…my thermometer says 50 below others say 42 or 48 below, but whichever one is correct they all mean one thing, it’s COLD! So I have some time to hole up inside, because perhaps we will skip running a day or two and wait for it to warm up to at least 30 below. I knew it would come eventually, despite the lack of snow, we’ve had a pretty easy winter here in interior Alaska. It’s hardly even been below zero yet, and Murphy’s Law states clearly that as soon as I am left to run the farm myself, the bottom would drop out on the ole’ mercury.

It’s funny when I think back to when I first moved to the interior, I though it was cool when it got really cold. It made you somehow feel more “Alaskan”. But with years of experience the novelty of bitter cold has long been frostbitten. Those same years have taught me some of the tricks to living with Jack Frost when he’s in a particularly bad mood.

Soon as NOAA radio (my favorite station) predicts the cold coming its time to prepare. First you have to know how to translate the forecast for here in the Central Tanana Valley. It can be quite ambiguous. Usually they report something like “ Highs 25 to 45 below, light winds, periods of ice fog and flurries. Partly sunny.” That means that it will be about 45 below and in the morning it will be foggy but as the fog lifts it will look kind of like its snowing, but really it’s just what we call “diamond dust” that accumulates to nothing but covers everything in rime ice, which is actually quite beautiful, especially sparkling in the 2 hours of daylight that we will have this time of year. ( Actually, exaggerations aside: sunrise 10:58am, sunset 2:13pm, so about 3 ½ hours of daylight). Unless you are lucky enough to live in the hills, then it will actually be 10 or 15 degrees warmer than everywhere else. When it is cold I purposely go up in the hills to take advantage of this, you can really feel the difference between the temps in the hills and down here in the swamp.

So if you live down in the swamp, you need to start getting ready. Dogs can start losing weight fast so you need to feed them more, especially more fat. I give them lots of fresh straw to insulate their houses and some of the thinner coated dogs I put blankets over their doors so that the house retain even more heat. When it’s cold I soak their food so that it makes a kind of warm mush, it is actually not a good way to feed the dogs all the time, but I figure I like eating things like oatmeal, and soup when it’s cold, they probably enjoy it too. Actually oatmeal and ramen with frozen vegetables are my main staples all of the time, along with gourmet chocolate, coffee, and smoked salmon. I am lucky to work at a restaurant so I take advantage of eating more vegetables at this time. A coleman stove discourages any gourmet cooking, though it can be done.

Make sure there is enough wood cut. However, I actually don’t mind cutting wood when it’s cold. Who said “he who heats with wood is twice warmed?” Out of all of the chores it isn’t too bad in the cold, but the chainsaw needs to come inside to warm up before it will start. I have been cutting the wood bigger because it’s hard to keep the fire going when I go to work at night. It is a small stove so maximum fire burn time is about 6 or 7 hours. I bigger log burns longer. If you have to leave for awhile fill your stove plumb full, and then try to get 2 or 3 more pieces of wood in that fire, I guarantee they will fit. Jim says this is one of my better talents.

Then there are the vehicles. If you are lucky enough to have electricity then you plug in your truck, so that the block heater keeps the engine warm. If you don’t have electricity, like me, you need to wake up every couple hours and start up your truck because if you don’t, it won’t start the following morning. If it comes to that I have some creative ways to warm up vehicles that involve propane weed burners, cookie sheets, blankets, and sofa cushions. When you go to the store or over to your friend’s house leave your car running. When you go to the grocery store 90 percent of the cars are running in the parking lot. Sometimes I think that this is what really causes ice fog. Either that or we are giving global warming a good kick in the ass with our emission boot. Don’t forget to periodically start your 4 wheelers and snowmachines, but most likely the 4 wheeler won’t start until it warms up and you will have to pull start the snowmachine.

Lastly, prepare your story. Bitter cold is like fishing, if it is 40 below at someone else’s house make sure you tell them it is 45 below at yours. And if you have been in Alaska longer than 20 years you haved earned the right to tell everyone that, “You think this is cold, in 19whatever it was 70 below for 3 months” or a similar story. I have observed also that the ones that tell these amazing stories of how cold it always used to be, are usually the biggest naysayers against the existence of global warming, which I find odd.

All of this being said, don’t forget to admire the beauty the cold brings. Hoar frost and whispy winter skies. The stillness of the cold and the way every sound echoes crisp and clear as if they are armored in ice. White tipped whiskers on the dogs faces and on the fur on their backs. The way their breath dances around their muzzles when they howl. The way the smoke from the chimney floats in flat swirls hovering inches above the stovepipe. Northern lights, and shining stars. Ice frosted eyelashes behind wolverine ruffs and beaver trapper hats. And finally how nice and warm it feels to stand close to the stove or get in the hot springs after spending any time outside.

I promise to be more faithful to my blog

2007-11-30T15:10:00.000-09:00

Sorry its been a while. Busy busy.....excuses, excuses.

Anyways we've been busy training all of the dogs. We were training them all at the same level for a while, now we have switched them into the "A" and "B" teams. I have been focusing on the pups. We have broke them as follows:

A TEAM
(its a pretty sweet team too!)
Samson
Eclipse
Umbra
Corona
Luke
Kobuk
Space
(yes, Space, can you believe it, he's coming around)
Leo
Gemini
Dark Star
Apollo
Titan
Stellar
Bear

B TEAM
(for a bunch of 14mos. and 8 mos. puppies and crazy hounds they are doing pretty good!)
Zenith
(my main leader now that I had to train one for this team, kicking butt at it too)
Meade
(still a hard charger in lead)
Captain Kirk
(leading quite a bit, just needs to work on his focus, goofy hound that he is) King
(hard job of training all of the above leaders)
Ursa
Scotty
Spock
Mir
Nasa
Satellite
Polaris 2
Pluto
Senor
Solstice
Horse

We have been plugging away at the miles, we are a little behind, coming home a little late and having to take time off to go stake my land down by Lake Louise, but its all coming around nicely even with our lack of snow. Its turning out to be another snow drought winter here in Two Rivers. We are still mostly on four-wheelers. But on a positive note its been downright BALMY this winter. Temps have been between 0 and 35 ABOVE!! Its only been below 0 a couple of times.

Off I go, have to drive the four-wheeler home so I can get ready for work. Been working 6 nights a week at the lodge. But, I will write more this weekend, no really, promise.

Heading North Soon

2007-09-20T17:35:00.000-08:00

Hello from the Cosmic Canines! Sorry it’s been a while, we’ve had a great summer and now we are getting ready to head home. This is our last week in the beautiful Sheep Creek Valley. There are only 3 days of tours left, and a few days of tear down. We did twice the amount of tours that we did last year, not bad for our second year! We have to organize and inventory everything. All the fences need to be torn down, stacked and bound, as well as our tents and our little “Gold Rush” town. Winds blow 80 to 90 mph up here and last winter there was 16 feet of snow. All the dogs houses will anchored to the dog posts so that they don’t blow away.

I cannot wait to head back up to interior Alaska. I am ready to just focus on training the dogs for races. I am looking forward to waking up to frosty fall mornings. And I am anxious to get out of the rain! I have to say this summer down here in Southeast has been pretty nice. Of course it is going to rain, we live in a rainforest, but it was nothing like it was last year.

We do have some new additions to the team. Polaris and Pluto have completed their professional puppy duty and have been promoted to the team. Both are doing excellent in harness. Polaris is quite the driver. And of course they are both hams for our guests.

Spock has been reunited with his brother. Spock is my ¼ Saluki hound that I got a year and a half ago. He did so well that when I was offered his two brothers I quickly took them in too. Scotty and Captain Kirk worked with Johnny and Sebastian up on the Herbert Glacier for the summer with Coastal Helicopters. They been part of Tema Cosmic now for a couple weeks, and wow! We can feel the power boost! I hope they work out for the Quest, they are pretty houndy, if not they will be an awesome asset for mid-distance races. Captain Kirk is a leader too. Spock seemed to handle a cold winter in Two Rivers pretty well. All 3 were born and raised in Bettles and it’s certainly not the Banana Belt there!

Satellite also had three boys from Telesto on 7-07-07. So they are lucky puppies. Nova, Pulsar, and Orion look like they are going to be big, feisty boys. They are already free running 2 miles with me on the bike.

Our last addition to the kennel is Samson. I bought him form the Jaynes who worked here this summer. He was in Mike Jayne’s Quest team last year and is a nice leader. I wanted to bring a little more experience into the front end of Team Cosmic, being that Telesto and King are both retiring.

So 38 dogs total will be heading on the ferry back up to Haines and the 13 hour drive to Two Rivers. We bought a new trailer to haul the dogs in but our welder friend didn’t have time to build the frame for the box so our old box has to make one more trip. (Cross your fingers) Then the new one will be started as soon as we get to Fairbanks. It’s a beautiful trip even though it’s hard work traveling with 38 dogs. I love the Yukon, especially Kluane Country. I though I love everyone here at camp I am looking forward to waking up in the morning and enjoying my coffee with just Jim and the dogs.

2007-09-20T17:22:00.001-08:00

Waiting impatiently for things to come in from the sea

2007-06-25T09:49:00.000-08:00

The Fishing Hole

Well, I still am waiting for the salmon to come in, and for Jim to get back from fishing. I spent my day off fishing, hiking through the wildflowers, and sitting on the beach. No one caught a fish yesterday at the Fish Creek fishing hole, so at least its not just me.

the Trail to the Beach

Lupines

The New Cart

Perserverance Trail Run

2007-06-24T09:57:00.000-08:00

We all ran the Perseverance Trail Run yesterday. It was fun but I was a little disappointed in my performance. I had planned to do the 7 mile. You can decide during the run if you wold like to do the 2, 4, or 7 mile. When I got to the 4 mile turn around I noticed that I was in 1st for the women because I saw no women coming back down the hill. So I decided to do the 4 mile, that way I would get more points for the Empire Cup. When I started down the hill I was way ahead of all the women. Then in the last 1/4 mile this girl comes out of no where. We were both sprinting neck and neck, pushing each other. I have mentioned before how I am nervous running down hill and this run is not only downhill, but steep and rocky too. It was fun actually racing someone, but she ended up beating me by 3 seconds. I still won my age group, she was only 24, but I only got 2nd overall women. Oh well. Now I am all pumped up to train harder, so it is probably a good thing.

Fishing and pups

2007-06-18T12:00:00.001-08:00

Things are still going great here at camp. Were are fairly busy and the weather has been pretty nice for Southeast. Jim has left for his first fishing trip and will be gone about a week. On my day off we went out and bought me a fishing pole, and Jim showed me a couple of fishing holes, I have been going out after work and trying to catch some King Salmon. They haven't started running quite yet but I have been checking every night . It would be nice to catch so

All of the dogs are really bulking up nicely. Almost every dog has had to move up a size for their harnesses to fit. This job is just so good for the dogs. It really gives them an advantage for when they start fall training.me to bring back to camp and hopefully enough to store for winter too.

APOLLO

I think the "pups" (the 10 mos.) are almost ready to try a stab at lead. So far I think that Meade and Apollo are doing the best. But really all of them are doing well.

MIR

Mir doesn't like running towards the front of the team, so I will wait awhile before trying her. Who would have guessed? When she was younger, she definitely was the one displaying the most leader qualities. Because of the repetition of the tour it is a nice place to start training leaders. They gain confidence running in front of all of the dogs. They have the routine down so they are set up for success.

Sheep Creek Dominates the Race Scene!!!!!!!

2007-06-13T11:55:00.001-08:00

Running down a dream

2007-06-13T10:30:00.000-08:00

One of the questions I often get asked on my tours is "What do mushers do to get in shape for racing?" Many mushers do not do anything at all. I however, run. My main objective is not to get in shape for my races, though it certainly helps, but rather because I enjoy it. I always have played sports and I think it is very important to stay active. Running is great because it is full of personal goals that you can tackle, though I enjoy being a integral part of a team in group sports. It is nice to participate in something where the outcome is solely dependent on you. It helps give me perspective on the dogs when the are running. Perhaps they think similarly as we do when giving it all and pushing it. I have been running in races for a few years now, every year I improve just a little bit. Last year I took second in the Empire Cup in my age class, a cumulative points competition here in Juneau, where you receive points at every race dependent on how you place. I want to win this year.

Yesterday was my first race, and it was awesome because everyone here at camp participated. It was a 5K (3.2 miles). The first mile was uphill, then we ran down a boardwalk call "the flume" leftover from one of the gold mines. Then by some of the nice house in town. It was a great run. I was in first place for the women for the first half, but then I was passed by a woman when we started running downhill. I have to admit I get a little nervous running downhill, I keep repeating in my head, "If I twist my ankle, I can't run dogs." So I am a little conservative on the down hills. So I took second overall for women, and first in my age class. Actually every single one of us here at camp placed either 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in our age group. Awesome! We were pretty pumped. Now we are all psyched for the next run which is the Perseverance Trail Run. You can run a 2, 4 or 7 mile. It is up and back down a mountain. Last year I did the 4 miler, but this year I am going for the 7. I actually already ran the trail last week. It was nice, but there was some much snow up top I wasn't able to go on the last 1/8 mile. Hopefully it will melt in time for the race.

Check Southeast Road Runners website some time. The link is over on the sidebar.

Leo saves the day

2007-06-12T13:44:00.000-08:00

On our tours, we stop halfway to tell our guests about mushing positions and commands. This gives the other team time to catch up to the turn around so that we don't have any head on passes. Yesterday while we were stopped my both of my leaders got loose and ran off ahead down the trail.

I was explaining, ".....the dogs behind the lead dogs are called swing dogs...."

Mid-sentence one of my guests spoke up, "Your swing dogs just got promoted."

I turned around to see Ursa and King running off in the distance.

Nicole, my handler and I went up to rearrange the dogs. I had Leo and Satellite in swing. Leo is one of my main leaders at home, but for some reason during tours he doesn't like to lead. I guess because it not the "real deal." Last year King did the same thing but this year King doesn't mind at all. Go figure dogs. I have plenty of leaders so its not a big deal.

Satellite is one of my 10 month old puppies in training this year. And though I had her up there to get used to being up front it was only her second time in swing. I didn't feel like she was ready for lead.

I looked at Leo, "Okay buddy, you gotta pull through for me."

I moved him up to single lead, and explained to Nicole, "I don't know if this is going to work."

Of course I knew we would make back into the yard, its not like we are doing that last 100 miles of the Quest, but I wasn't sure of the mess that would go down in front of these guest that were there to witness our fine skills in the training and running of dogs. Leo looses his focus here during the tours. He turns around to pick up on the ladies and pick fights with boys.

I walked back to the cart and gave a "disclaimer" for Leo to my guests.

Instantly the cart started cheering, "YEAH LEO!!!!! Way to pull through for us!!!!"

As we headed down the trail everybody keep cheering and yelling for Leo, " GO LEO GO!!!! TWO FOUR SIX EIGHT!!!!!! Who do we appreciate LEO!!"

As we pulled into the yard everybody was watching us because we were making such a ruckus, wondering what was going on. Nicole and I were on the back of the cart laughing hysterically.

As we pulled to a stop everyone ran up and hugged and petted Leo. He looked so proud. I'm not sure if he knew what he did or not. Thanks to my guests for giving so much encouragement. I can't wait to try him in lead to see if my guest helped train him to lead on tours again.

Thanks also to all our guest who have contributed the Cosmic Canines through tips and donations. We already have over $500 saved up in our 2007-2008 race fund. It is much appreciated!!!!

PS: Ursa and King made it home fine without us. I made them lead the next tour, the whole tour this time.

Back in Juneau

2007-06-11T13:44:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone sorry it has been so long since an update.

We are happily back in Juneau at our summer camp. It’s nice to be back in our little paradise tucked in the Sheep Creek Valley. Tours are in full swing and we are a lot busier this year than last. Half of our crew returned this year, which is nice. Matt my handler hasn’t arrived yet but we expect him in about a week.

The massive amounts of snow Juneau received last winter (over 200 inches…they hogged all the snow this year, Fairbanks only received 28!) has slowed the greening our canyon, but slowly the Hellebore is growing tall and the wild geraniums and monkey flowers are blooming along the sides of the Sheep Creek Trail. The mountain goats are moving higher up the mountain, though they still can be spotted in the narrows. And our resident black bear, a young lanky thing, perhaps one of the cubs with his mother we spotted last year, has been hanging out on the hill above camp. He is easy to spot silhouetted against the snow chutes that still come down the mountain. They are melting fast though. The waterfall we like to stop and point out to our guest is slowly shedding its white cloak it falls behind. I remember hiking up to where it drops behind the snow last year. I was amazed at how far it went down. I stood where the water flowed out at the bottom of the massive snow cave. A cold wind blows from inside, like it’s kept there saved from the winter winds that are notorious up here. I will have to hike up there soon, but I am going to let it melt just a little more first.

I am also impatiently waiting to hike up to the top of Sheep Mountain, I have been eyeing the line of trail on the ridge, it seems the snow is getting closer to being safe. So my hikes have been limited so far to our valley. Yesterday morning I took the puppies, Pluto and Polaris, down to creek. I lay in the sun amongst the buttercups and starflowers, while they chased each other around, up and down the trail and through the salmonberry and currant bushes. They even went for a swim in the creek.

I ran up the Perseverance Trail last weekend, training for a race next week, there was still enough snow at the top ½ mile that I finally turned around. Part of the trail was even wiped out up there from a slide. So wonder if we are even going to be able to run the 7 mile race. They may have to shorten it.

Our trip down to Juneau was an adventure again, as it always goes when you travel with 33 dogs. Though it was a little more challenging this year because most of my females were in heat, it was a lot easier because I wasn’t traveling alone this year. Jim came down with us so he could start working on the boat. When we first arrived in Juneau we stayed over on Douglas Island to wait for the snow to melt up at Sheep Creek. We set up the Arctic Oven, a winter camping tent, about half way up the Eagle Crest Road. There was a real nice spot across a meadow, where the dogs could have some privacy. One of us Jim would let the dogs out of the truck and I would call them across to the other side of the meadow. It was fun watching them try to pick their way across the swamp, dodging water holes, and sometimes missing. I fell in one myself, I was up to my waist in snow melt!

We are busy saving up for this year’s race season. Both Jim and I will be racing so it should be a great year. Plus I am getting close to buying a large parcel of land 40 miles north of Fairbanks. It is located in a favorite training area in the White Mountains. Miles and miles of BLM maintained trails, with public use cabins scattered every 20 miles or so. It is southern facing hillside with a view of the Alaska Range. It should be perfect. Mushers all over the state go to the White Mountains to train their dogs. We are still working with the realtor at this time but we are getting pretty close to having our Cosmic Canine “Home base.”

Succumbing to peer pressure

2006-12-30T13:35:00.000-09:00

Last night I went down to the local hangout, Two Rivers Lodge. The neighborhood was celebrating that the ownership of the lodge has again switched over, for the better this time. So everyone was there, drinking beer and eating good food.

Jack asked me, " So Abbie, whats going on?"

"Oh just running dogs, I've done 100 miles in 24 hours between the 2 teams, not to mention I cut some wood today, cleaned my stove pipe."

" No I mean, what's going on?"

Ilooked at him puzzled. Though I knew in the back of my mind, what he was getting after. Jack used to race and he always is asking me what races I am running, am I training the dogs hard, etc. etc. So I could feel the corner of my mouth turning up into a smile.

Jack slaps me on the back, "I mean, what race are you running, did you sign up for the Basin yet?"

Before I could answer Brent asks, "You're running the Copper Basin 300?"

"Well..." I start to explain.

Jason chimes in, " You signed up?"

I was bombarded from all sides. I felt cornered.

"You see, I don't know if I have the money, I don't know which race I want to do yet. I haven't put any double runs on my dogs yet...."

"Sign up for the damn race Abbie," Jack insists, " You know you want to run the Basin."

Jason says, " Its stupid to train the dogs as hard as you have been and not race."

"I know, but....."

Jack slams his fist on the table, " I'll put in $150 towards the entry fee!"

Susan cries ou, "I'll match that!"

Ralph joins in, "I put in $50!"

Then the whole bar starts chanting, "ABBIE!ABBIE! ABBIE! ABBIE!"

What choice did I have? Plus Jack is right, I do want to run the Basin, it is by far my favorite race. I may be crazy, and I have just signed up not only for the Basin but also for being close to broke for the next month. But hey, you only live once. I was so excited I went home and wrote out my very strict training schedule for the next two weeks. Along with the pages of things I need to purchase or get ready. Hmmm.....maybe this is really doable.

The race is on January 13th. It is known as the toughest 300 miles in Alaska. I have run it twice, once in 1999, and again in 2001. Jason has volunteered to be my handler. And Susan will feed the dogs left behind. When I told my Dad, he said he might fly up for it. That would be cool!

They haven't updated my entry on the website yet, they have 18 mushers signed up so far. You can follow the race at their webite. COPPER BASIN 300

Titan: What a Stud! Not even a year old.

2006-12-25T21:58:00.000-09:00

A Christmas Story.......corny but true.....kinda

2006-12-25T21:43:00.000-09:00

Last night, Christmas Eve, the dogs and I were out on a training run. They looked good, moving along at a nice pace. We climbed high up into the hills, snow was lightly falling, and it wasn’t too cold (-10 below). It was the second team I had run for the day so we didn’t leave until quite late. I don’t know if it was the beautiful night, or the festive feeling in the air, or both, but everything was running smoothly and the dogs were really eating up the trail. Part of being a good musher is recognizing this and going with it. It works the other way too; if everything isn’t clicking together sometimes it is better to shorten your run. (Not always however, everything isn’t going to go perfectly on a race (unless, of course, you are Jeff King) and you need to learn how to work it out.) But last night was an awesome night so instead of running the 30 mile run we had planned we went 15 miles farther.

If I run over 30 miles (and sometimes on shorter runs too) I usually stop and snack my dogs at some point. It is just a nice attitude enhancer for the dogs. Joe May gave me some good advice once, that he never runs his dogs 60 minutes out of the hour. He always stops, even for just for 5 minutes, and gives the dogs a break. Every other hour he usually snacks too. This is a philosophy I follow, and I think you make up for it double in the speed of your dogs, for the rest time you “wasted.” Not to mention, it’s an excellent excuse to stop and pet the dogs. If I didn’t want to be out there with my dogs, I would go and buy a snowmachine, what would be the point? So I stopped at one of my favorite spots, where during the day there is a nice view, and a small spruce tree that I can securely set my hook on, gave the dogs a little fat snack, and pet them, telling each one how great they are. Leo was rolling around in the soft snow just off the side of the trail (just like his Dad, Chebah, used to do). Spock was inspecting the ground around him, making sure he didn’t miss a crumb. Telesto was busy barking, “What are we stopping for?!? Let’s go!!” Gosh, he still acts like a yearling and he is the oldest dog in the team.

All of a sudden, Leo jumps up, Telesto quiets, and Spock looks up. The whole team is turned looking back down the trial, ears perked.

Now I like to “rock out” on my runs, so I have my MP3 player head phones in, listening to something or another (my mushing soundtrack I will touch upon in another blog) plus I have my thick beaver hat on, the one my handler used to hate me to wear because she would try to talk to me but I can’t hear a thing, so I didn’t hear anything. I have some of the best ears in the animal kingdom to listen for me, and they were all alerting me to something coming up behind us. I pressed pause on my player and lifted one of my ear flaps so I could hear what it was.

I could hear a jingle in the distance. As it grew closer the jingling grew very loud. Dogs are given metal ID tags each time they compete in the Iditarod and the Yukon Quest which hang from their collars. But this jingling was so loud, I thought, “Geez, this team must have run both races for the last 10 years!”

As I attempted to work out which musher would have such an impressive race career, I could see the silhouette of a team against the white snow. I tried to make them out through the falling flakes and dark, “Holy cow! Those dogs are huge!” I said out loud to Telesto. Then I saw shadows of antlers coming out of the dark heads. Was it a herd of moose tagged so many times by biologists that they rang like bells? Then I saw a giant sled driven by a fat musher.

“HO! HO! HO!” He cried. I actually say “Ho!” to make my dogs stop, instead of “whoa!” So I thought the musher was just telling his team of “freak dogs” to stop. He got off his sled and walked up to the front of his team, “Good boys and girls,” he said in a jolly voice. All of my dogs started wagging their tails madly. I could see he was wearing a red parka with a white ruff.

It was Santa!

“Well it’s nice to see another driver out here tonight,” he said as he approached. He smelled of candy canes and ginger spice, “Nice night for a sled ride!”

Santa and I exchanged training tips, and talked about gear like harnesses. He actually uses QCR plastic and aluminum runners on his sleigh; they ride nicer on roof tops. He was also contemplating swimming the reindeer during the summer like some of the top mushers do now. He liked my homemade “Seavey Style” spreader bars that hold the tuglines the dogs pull from straight, so that they pull more efficiently and is thinking about having the elves make him some to try out. He said Donner has been fighting a chronic shoulder injury and he has been massaging it with Algyval. I asked him what kind of headlamp he used and he said he didn’t need one on account of Rudolf. I asked if he had an Iditarod win wrapped up in his sled for Lance Mackey, and told me that no matter how good we mushers are, victories are only given out by good dogs, good luck, and hard work.

“Speaking of work, I must get back to delivering all these presents.” He turned around go back to his sled, but then stopped and turned back around, “ I noticed you didn’t hang up any stockings, and I am afraid to put any gifts under the tree you decorated outside, you know how the ravens get into everything. I was wondering how I was to give you….”

“But Santa,” I looked at my dogs, down the trail, and at the softly falling snow. ” I already have the best gift ever, I’m living my dream.”

“HO! HO! HO!” He smiled at me with a sparkle in his eye. Then, without a word he climbed back onto his sleigh. The snow danced and whirled around us as they flew by into the sky.

I went back to my own sled, but before I could pull the snow hook all of my dogs began to howl.

“OOOoOOoOooooOOooooOOooooo!!!!” I couldn’t help it, I joined them.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!! I hope you all got your dreams for Christmas too!

Happy Solstice!

2006-12-21T16:35:00.000-09:00

Happy Solstice everyone! It not only is the first day of winter but is a big deal up here because tomorrow we start gaining daylight. Officially the sun rose at 10:58am today and set at 2:37pm. and even when it is up it is just above the horizon glowly weakly. It isn't very motivating, and though life goes on here even though it is in the dark, I think every Alaskan does "hibernate" in a way. I try to remind myself that we are the Cosmic Canines, think of all that time under the stars. And at least we aren't above the Arctic Circle, they haven't seen the sun at all since some time in November, and won't see it again until sometime in January. I went to a bonfire last night to celebrate and will go on a night run tonite (gee what are the chances) with the dogs. I thought I would share a poem I wrote a long time ago about the Winter Hexagon, which is a group of constellations that are very prominent in the Winter Sky. If you would like to check out a star chart mapping the WInter Hexagon. CLICK HERE

WINTER HEXAGON

It twas the 21st of December
I kneeld to poke the burning embers
To strengthen the only lamp
Of this remote forest camp
Where my dogs and I stopped for the night
The fire cast its weary light
Chased by my tired eye
On things around me lie
It was a startling observation
My surroundings resembled the constellations
There across the river's way
Which on top milky ice lay
Awaits my sled, my arctic chariot
Where the star Capella aught fit
Next to which seemingly from the same cone
For so akin they had grown
Stood two spruce trees dignified
Where should the twins Gemini
There's my small lanky husky
Which silent drinks the river's tea
That through rocks and pebbles steeped
Now through a hole in the ice it seeps
The other dog gazes at me with eyes of blue
The larger more serious of the two
In a monent 4 ears perk
For into camp something lurked
I turn my gaze past my snowshoes where
Earlier I had seen a hare
I kept turning full 180 around
Till a bull moose my eyes found
There for a moment silent he stood
And then turned a disappearred into the wood
I thought long to wonder why
This animal had not been shy
I figured he came to represent Aldebaran
Solely to complete my Winter Hexagon
So to complete this stellar riddle
Leaves me like Betelguese in the middle
To this thought the night became colder
Because I don't have Orion's shoulder
On which to rest my tired head
For miles away is the homestead

AIE Camp on the Denver Glacier

2006-12-17T19:23:00.000-09:00

On the way to Denver Glacier by Helicopter

2006-12-17T19:18:00.000-09:00

Our trip to Skagway

2006-12-17T19:14:00.001-09:00

Because it took me so long to post on my blog, I wasn’t able to tell you about some of my adventures I had while I was still in Juneau. Occasionally I will post these stories so that you can see what I was up to for so long.

It seemed every day off I had was another adventure. Halfway through the summer Matt arranged the schedule so that once a month we could have two days off instead of one. I had been debating whether or not to take up our company discount in which we get ½ off flights on SkagAir. I had wanted to go to Skagway all summer but I still hadn’t decided whether or not to spend the money and head up. I got off after tours on Friday and wouldn’t need to be back to camp until Monday at 11:30am. Johnnie also had off on Saturday and asked if I would like to go take the boat out to Echo Cove which is located 42 miles North of Juneau, at the end of the road. I decided to go with the flow; it was the most beautiful day. It had been raining (imagine that in Juneau) for days, but Saturday the sun had chased every cloud out of the sky. So I agreed.

Cosmos, Johnnie, and I jumped in the boat and headed off to sea. We went out in the boat and all the way to the head of the bay. It couldn’t have been a better boating trip! On the way back we even pulled the boat close to shore and went swimming. I couldn’t believe I was swimming in the ocean in Alaska! It wasn’t too bad either; Echo Cove is pretty shallow so it gets warmed up by the sun.

We headed back in after spending the afternoon on the water, and of course had dinner at Johnnie’s favorite eatery, Chan’s Thai House. He was leaving for Wyoming that night and I had agreed to take him to the airport. So after dropping him off I went to the waterfowl refuge which is at the end of the airport runway to camp. That way in the morning I could wake up and take a jog on the 5 mile trail that winds around the wetlands. I had a half marathon to train for so I wanted to keep in shape.

I woke up and strapped on my running shoes, the trail runs right at the end of the runway. I still was debating whether or not I might head up to Skagway. The plane didn’t leave until 11:00 so I thought I could take a run, clear my head, and make my decision. As I ran at the end of the runway, it was if I had planned it, I was directly under an Alaska Airlines 737 as it took off. To those of you that have never experienced being about 30 feet under a plane taking off, it is quite overwhelming.

It stopped, and jumped up and down with excitement. “That was AWESOME!” I yelled. There was a walker coming from the other way, they looked at me as if I had just escaped the asylum.

I started to run again, now, perhaps I am silly, but I took it as a sign. After my jog I was going go take a shower at the company duplex, and then jump on a plane for Skagway. It also was the second perfect day as far as weather goes, so I thought I’d better take the opportunity as it arose.

I had a nice run, took my shower, and headed to the airport. The SkagAir planes are small, 4 person planes, which to some people are scary. I am the opposite, I feel quite nervous a jet, if there are problems on a jet there is no second chance usually, you just careen to the earth. I guess the physics of a multi-ton vehicle thousands of feet in the air doesn’t compute to me. That doesn’t mean I won’t get on a jet, it just means I am one of those that have to have a cocktail or two for some liquid courage and a window seat, because if I don’t look out the window at all time the plane might go down. Now on little Cessnas and the sort, if there are problems you can possibly glide to an emergency landing. I know my logic is skewed, but remember I am the girl who makes travel plans because I had a “sign”.

Flying with me that day was a jewelry dealer making his business rounds from his Juneau to Skagway stores. (You would be surprised how many jewelry stores there are in both towns catering to the cruise ship travelers. They deal all kinds of jewelry, of coarse specializing in gold nuggets, Russian Diamonds, and my favorite amolite. Amolite, is a semi-precious stone that changes colors as you turn it back and forth, reminding the holder of the aurora. On one of my first trips by the stores in downtown Juneau I had to make an oath to myself not to come by the jewelry stores after getting paid, in fear I might buy one of the gorgeous pieces they display in their windows instead of saving my money for more practical things like, dog food. I thought of my Aunt Karen who would have a field day picking out something to add to her amazing collection.

The other passenger was a teenage girl who had come up from the lower 48 for a mission trip through her youth group. It was her first trip in a small plane and she was very nervous. I tried to give her my philosophy of flying in small planes but I might have been making things worse so I stopped.

As we were taxing, the pilot asked. “Would you like to go straight to Skagway or would you like to take advantage of the beautiful day and take the scenic route?”

The jewelry dealer said, “Whatever.” He had taken this flight to many times to be impressed.

The teenage girl didn’t say anything, she was too busy praying and making sure her seatbelt was tightened.

Cosmos couldn’t see out of his kennel in the back anyways so he didn’t care.

I said, “Definitely! The scenic route!”

So off we went. The pilot took us over the mountains and glaciers, tilting the plane so we could get a nice view. It was incredible!

After an hour of stunning landscapes we arrived over Skagway. The plane had to do a sharp 180 to get situated properly for landing on the airstrip between the mountains that tower above the tiny town.

After we landed, Cosmos and I asked for directions to the Temsco Headquarters, which is the helicopter company that flies for our tour company. From there I called my friends who were working at the other “dirt dog” camp in Skagway. They are our competition so I wanted to check out their operation. They didn’t get off until late afternoon so I decided to also check out our own company’s glacier operation in Skagway.

I booked a trip, which wouldn’t leave for an hour or two, and Cosmos and I headed down town to check out the historical Gold Rush Town of Skagway. It is a cute town like Juneau, geared for tourists, but Skagway is more rustic or frontier. I also noticed that the gardens were so much nicer than Juneau. It is one of the more “sunny” places of the notoriously wet Southeast, and it is apparent in the beautiful gardens that are scattered about the town. We had lunch at a little café with a patio. Cosmos sat on the chair next to me, attracting all kinds of people. He is such a popular dog. Then we headed back to Temsco to catch a heli to the glacier.

Cosmos had to stay behind unfortunately. I boarded a copter with 5 other tourists, who had no idea that I was a musher myself. I wanted to get the full experience of what it was like to go on a heli tour.

I had been to our other camp before, but I took a crew flight, which b-lines right for the camp. On the actual tour the pilot took us on a scenic trip over ice falls and high mountain lakes, giving us information about glacier formation and such. When we landed we walked out we were given an orientation speech by Ken, who I had met before. He smiled at me knowingly. Afterwards he pulled me aside and asked if would like to go on a tour or just walk around camp and check it out. I told him I wanted the full tour effect. We were split into groups and assigned a musher.

Glacier rides are done with 2 sleds with seats in the basket of each one. The musher drives the front sled, and one person sits in their sled, then one tourist drives the “tag” or “tandem” sled tied behind the mushers sled with another passenger inside of their sled.

Being by myself I rode in the front sled with the musher, who was Tim. Tim has a reputation of being one of the most entertaining of all of the tour guides in our company, a title which he deservedly earned. Though he was a little “cheesy” from my standpoint, being in the business, his demeanor was perfect for the tourists. I found myself thinking I wish I was funny like him on my tours. Partway through the run we stopped so that the tourists could take pictures. Tim asked if I would like to drive the sled. I needed a sled fix, so I jumped at the opportunity. I finished the tour on the runners.

At the end of the tour while we were waiting for the helicopter, many of the “glacier people” came over to ask how our camp was and introduce themselves. We loaded back on the helicopter. The tourists were incredibly impressed with the tour. They all agreed it was one of the most amazing things they had ever done.

When we landed, I still had a couple of hours before my friends met me, so I went the botanical gardens and the museum, then finally to the bar.

Matt and Becca came from their dog camp and picked me up. We went out to dinner then headed out to their camp which is located outside of Skagway in an old settlement called Dyea. We drove their truck the 9 miles around the winding dirt road that skirts the end of the inlet. We had to park near the river and pile, all three of us, onto their 4 wheeler.

Now if you are paying attention, in a 48 hour period I had traveled nearly everyway possible. By foot, by swimming, by boat, truck, plane, helicopter, dog sled, and ATV. I though I should find a horse or tank or something to round everything off.

Before we headed up the hill to their camp we stopped at the creek that we had to cross to see if we could catch a salmon. The river was full of spawning salmon. Matt and Becca tried with the net along the shore. I asked for a chance. They handed me the net, I rolled up my pant legs and waded out into the freezing river. After many attempts we gave up, those salmon are fast, and we were full from dinner anyways.

They gave me the grand tour. Their operation is much different than ours. First of all they are on a treed hillside so the dogs are not as organized as our camps. It was nice but they it made me appreciate our company’s strife for ultimate professionalism. Plus they didn’t have half the amenities we have at our camp. Like showers and a cook, and wifi. One thing I did like better was their carts. They were lower to the ground and lighter.

We hung out and exchanged stories of our summer. They are housed in small cabins at their camp, and invited me to crash on their floor. But I looked at the soft cushy moss that covered the floor of the surrounding forest and opted to sleep there.

“But it’s going to rain Abbie.”

Clouds were forming in the sky, and it is Southeast, but the moss looked so inviting. I decided to take my chance. I rolled out the sleeping bag in the trees up on the hillside above their cabin and crossed my fingers and Cosmos crawled inside with me.

About 5 in the morning I awoke to the sound of drops on the forest floor and my sleeping bag. I poked my head out of the bag and looked up to the sky. It was sprinkling. But oh what a heavenly sleep! I didn’t want to go to the cabin.

“Please,” I pleaded, “Let me sleep out here the last few hours!”

As if the clouds heard, it stopped instantly. (I have tried this pleading repeatedly lately, asking for snow, but it has yet to work.)

We woke and went down the hill to begin Matt and Becca’s dog chores. I met Sebastian Schnuelle who I had been emailing for quite sometime. He had some harness for me to replace the ones that had been chewed over the summer. It was a brief encounter, as that he seemed very busy, I would find out later he was having a very bad day.

They finished their chores and took me back to town. It was raining now. So the flight back to Juneau wasn’t as spectacular as coming up.

It was a wonderful weekend. I as I remember it I long to go back to the Southeast. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not anxious for the end of winter (probably because we have hardly had one yet!) but how wonderful that I am actually looking forward to summer!

Skagway

2006-12-17T19:14:00.000-09:00

Herbert Glacier from the Plane

2006-12-17T19:12:00.000-09:00

Berner's Bay

2006-12-17T19:09:00.000-09:00

Johnny, Cosmos and I at Echo Cove

2006-12-17T19:01:00.000-09:00

The Cosmic Canine "A" Team

2006-12-11T19:58:00.000-09:00

Some of you know the Cosmic Canines personally so I thought I would tell you all what they are up to.

Basically they are divided into 2 teams. I have been training the A team for races which unfortunately have all been cancelled for lack of snow. We plan on racing in January sometime however we are not sure which race we will be running yet. A lot depends on trail conditions and other logistics, such as cost of fuel to get wherever (yes the high gas prices are affecting dog mushing too!) We do have a partial sponsor for our next race, who wishes to remain anonymous, he or she has graciously offered to pay the entry fee on our next race. So that is nice. One nice thing about the delay of being able to race is that some of the B team may be abwle to move up and race too.

Telesto

2006-12-11T19:56:00.000-09:00

Telesto

2006-12-11T19:54:00.000-09:00

Telesto: Yes the old man is still hanging in there. He is 8 years old going on 2. This truly one of the amazing dogs I have ever run. He is a wonderful leader. He is still fast enough to pull the team up a notch. He has a great attitude, never gets tired, and doesn’t mind showing the younger dogs the ropes. He has done every single race mile I have ever done, and I think he still be going for a few more.

King

2006-12-11T19:53:00.000-09:00

King

2006-12-11T19:52:00.000-09:00

King: A 5 year old leader I bought from Andrew Lesh (2nd in the Yukon Quest in 2001) for $1500. He has proven to be worth the price. He isn’t the fastest leader but he is my “Steady Freddie.” Nice fast trot.

Leo

2006-12-11T19:51:00.000-09:00

Leo

2006-12-11T19:49:00.000-09:00

Leo: My 2 year old stud. He wasn’t to keen on leading for tours this summer, but like his father is a serious leader. He has the fastest trot in the team, but is still young so he is still getting his head together. He and King have a little bit of “issues” as that Leo is scared of King and won’t run lead next to him. But Leo sure gets the team cookin’ when he is paired with someone else

Gemini

2006-12-11T19:48:00.000-09:00

Gemini

2006-12-11T19:45:00.000-09:00

Gemini: Leo’s sister. She is equally fast, but a little less experienced in lead than Leo. She did not do tours with us this summer so she started off a little behind, however you could never tell. She seems to have a never-ending endurance.

Ursa

2006-12-11T19:44:00.000-09:00

Ursa: My little surprise leader. Last spring she helped train the pups in lead but I never really considered her a main leader until this fall when I put her up front just to check it out. She is my speed demon. She loves to push the team faster and faster

Eclipse

2006-12-11T19:43:00.000-09:00

Eclipse

2006-12-11T19:42:00.000-09:00

Eclipse: She is the only yearling that made it into the A team. She already leads and is a speedy focused little girl. You can see her transformation from a scrawny pup to a buff little dog.

Comet on the left or "Haw"

2006-12-11T19:39:00.000-09:00

Comet

2006-12-11T19:37:00.000-09:00

Comet: The other old man that is still going strong. He is the oldest dog in the yard (9) and still is the first to howl the team into motivation. He is a big and powerful a dog that is an asset climbing hills. And still earns his nickname “the vacuum” the way he sucks down his food in seconds.

Taurus

2006-12-11T19:36:00.000-09:00

Taurus

2006-12-11T19:33:00.000-09:00

Taurus: The 3rd in the Leo – Gemini litter. He looks a lot like another Comet and is strong and focused like him too. He makes a nice team dog and a nice wheel dog.

Spock

2006-12-11T19:32:00.000-09:00

Spock

2006-12-11T19:31:00.000-09:00

Spock: My crazy ¼ Saluki Hound is hanging in there! He actually has a nice trot and I swear sometime he is single-handedly pulling us up the hills himself. He is a hound still though so he has to wear a coat when the temp drops

Bellatrix

2006-12-11T19:30:00.000-09:00

Vega

2006-12-11T19:29:00.000-09:00

Vega

2006-12-11T19:28:00.000-09:00

Bellatrix and Vega

2006-12-11T19:27:00.000-09:00

Bellatrix and Vega: My wild sisters are still pumping up the team with their cheerleading and no nonsense work ethic. The have great attitudes and have been running wheel a lot lately even though they are both leaders. They are 6 and slowing down a little so the are better back in the team a little. But I’m deep into a race I can depend on them to keep everybody moving

Alcor

2006-12-11T19:24:00.000-09:00

Alcor: Actually made the cut, I’m glad I didn’t give him away when I was going to. He is a fast trotter and a hard work. Unfortunately he hurt his shoulder because of the poor trail conditions. But with a little time off and physical therapy I’m sure he will be roight back in there.

Bear

2006-12-11T19:23:00.000-09:00

Bear

2006-12-11T19:20:00.000-09:00

Bear: A 3 year old male I am trying out from Ray Redington. He ran in a 2nd place junior Iditarod team last year. He has a beautiful fast trot but is a little unfocused.

Looking for a retirement home:Ester

2006-12-09T15:29:00.000-09:00

Spock sporting his cold weather gear

2006-12-09T14:46:00.000-09:00

Camp Two Rivers

2006-12-09T14:22:00.000-09:00

It been a while

2006-12-09T14:10:00.000-09:00

Hello everyone!

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. We’ve been very busy, and getting everything arranged to operate a “home kennel office” with no electricity has been a project. But thanks to modern technology, a little organization, and a little time I should have everything set up again to post regularly.

Its hard to believe that at our dog camp in Juneau, high up on the mountain we have all the amenities, running water, electricity, super fast wireless internet service, while here in the “suburbs” of Fairbanks, I have none of these luxuries.

Though we had really not wanted to come back to Two Rivers, about 25 miles Northeast of Fairbanks, it does have many advantages.

First of all, FRIENDS. I have such a nice core of friends here in Two Rivers who are always ready to give a helping hand or just hang out and have fun. I have set up our winter camp, which may be temporary depending on the weather, at my dear friend Kris Krestensen’s property. Kris is about 70, a former musher himself (he ran the Quest in 1986 under the name John Two Rivers), a former merchant marine, a native Norwegian, speaks 7 languages fluently, and a devourer of books. Needless to say he is not only a kind man but an interesting one. He is living at his “girlfriend’s” house and graciously offered his place for us, where we are able to “stay until we die.” Though the place isn’t much to look at, a small lot littered with Kris’s left behind junk, a couple of junkie broke down trailers, and a dead Toyota pick up, if I just keep my line of vision towards the dog yard I can pretend that none of that stuff exists. Plus it is right smack dab in the middle of Rick Swenson’s, Ray Redington’s, Bruce Milne’s, and about 5 or more other musher’s yards, all of whom were Grandfathered in, so not a word will be said any of the neighbor’s, whom for the most part used to be mushers themselves, about dogs barking. We can sit at home and say, “Ray must have gone to town tonight, he’s feeding awful late.” Or “Rick sure is getting on the trail early today.” It’s great! If I feel like running my dogs at 11 at night, because the full moon is lighting up the landscape and the northern lights are dancing, I can, and I have. Not a word will be spoken by anyone. Jim, my partner who came up with me from Juneau, says, “I don’t think that people insulate their houses for the cold so much as for the noise.”

Like I said though, we don’t have running water, which is the case for most of Two Rivers, but Jason and Susan (the owner’s of the 9 other dogs that I ran tours with this summer), have let us fill up our 5 gallon buckets for dog water daily so long as it is during the day, for they are not as fortunate to live in the “musher friendly” neighborhood, and are regularly being hassled by their neighbors about dogs barking. It has become quite nasty there too. Lawyers have been called, dogs have been poisoned, and gossip has been spread. Ironically, we are a little over a mile away, as the raven flies, so you can hear all the dogs in our neighborhood anyways. Hey people its Two Rivers! Dog mushing capital of the world, if you don’t like dogs, live somewhere else! If we don’t make it over to their house before dusk, which isn’t hard in December, in the interior, because the sun sets at 3:30, we can get water at the Laundromat for 25 cents for 6 gallons. This is also where we take showers, unless we drive out to Chena Hot Springs, just 25 miles down the road.

The other nice thing here in Two Rivers is the nice trail system. There are hundreds of miles of trails, on all kinds of varied terrain. You can travel on flat and fast trails, or climb some hills, or jump on the river when it freezes. Dogs learn good trail manners, passing other teams, running past loose dogs, crossing roads, running past moose. Now if only it would snow some more on all of those trails. It has been a hard early training season. We got about 6 inches of snow in late October, and have only got one inch since. Most of the mushers around are still running dogs on 4 wheelers. Let me tell you training dogs on a four wheeler is nice because of the control you have of the dogs but it is BORING and COLD. Ask any musher, there is nothing colder than sitting on a 4 wheeler for a couple hours. Top it off with the fact that it was colder than 20 below for 3 weeks straight in November, I have had it with this never ending fall training. I used my old sled for a while but I broke the runner so it was back to the ATV. We started getting into the bigger miles, 30 and 40 milers, and my brand new PrairieBilt Sled arrived that my Dad bought me, so now we are back on the sled with small teams, fingers crossed, and a daily snow dance ritual every night before bed. Wow! What a nice ride even over our bumpy trails. Thanks Dad! We just find trails to travel on until the mushers that are still on ATV’s come and pound them rock hard again, and then go find some more. It’s a divided issue. Those mushers on the 4 wheelers eye us with scrutiny and jealousy as we pass. I know they are mentally evaluating weather or not they too should put and end to their cold throttle thumbs and wind burned knees. I would say 40% of the mushers are on sleds and are questioned often by the other 60% during chance meetings at the local general store, “how it is going?” It is warmer now, which is nice; it has been over 0 for a week now. And the full moon and the meteor shower. It has been nice even without the foot of snow we need.

Finally what nice about living out here is how convenient it is to be a dog musher in Fairbanks. This really is the dog mushing capital of the world. There is 4 feed stores all geared for mushers, and if I don’t feel like driving into town I can have dog food, straw, meat, whatever, delivered to my doorstep. Many of us here in Two Rivers try to see how long we can go without driving to town. I figured out that if I plan my groceries right, I could stay out here all winter! Except I like to watch football, and the new owner of Two Rivers Lodge is trying to do away with his bar crowd, so I have to go all the way into town or all the way out to Angel Creek Lodge (out by the Hot Springs) to watch the game. We haven’t been venturing in lately though because we have been very focused on training up the dogs.

Our first 2 races have been cancelled due to lack of snow, but our main focus is the Yukon Quest 2008. Every race and training run we do this year is just in preparation for the Quest next year. I have a nice group of 13 dogs that are in my “A” team. Unfortunately, hard trails mean injuries for dogs. I have only had one major one in this A team, but I have been taking a lot of preventative measures to keep the team together. The dogs are inspected carefully after every run. If I know they have been traveling fast on hard packed trails, or cruising down hills I massage the dog’s feet, wrists, and shoulders with a Diluted Rosemary oil mix after the run. The bigger dogs really pound on their wrist so I wrap them with wrist wraps directly after a run, sometimes icing them too. We have had only one serious injury, poor Alcor hurt his shoulder, so he will have to take some time off for a while. Jim has been training another group of dogs that are too young or old for the A team or new comers in the yard that are behind in miles. Next year, many of these dogs will be moving up to the A team.

We have 6, 4 month old pups that are terrorizing the kennel. Which go on jogging runs with me or bike runs with Jim.

We do have a few retired dogs that I wish I had more time for. Saturn has to live inside now because he can no longer handle the cold. Lyra has to come inside also if it is really cold out. Ester has a permanent injury so she can’t pull a sled anymore, and Misty is just old. All of these dogs would make excellent pets if anyone is interested in helping out these dogs in their golden years, contact me at coyotecosmic@yahoo.com These are all my buddies for a long time, we’ve been on a lot of adventures together, so they can only go to the best homes, they deserve it!

Well I’m off to get my chores done in the yard, so I can get on the trail and be back in time to go out to the Hot Springs tonight. This month’s Two River’s Dog Mushers Association meeting is being held out there, oh darn! And if you have any unwanted snow down there in Texas and Oklahoma, or wherever, send it our way!

No words can describe this

2006-07-20T21:08:00.000-08:00