Twenty-nine year old Michael Baker was born in Denver, Colorado and about the time he turned twenty, he relocated to Boise, Idaho. His first experience with sled dogs came during the summer of 2009 when he worked on the Mendenhall Glacier as a dog handler for Gold Rush Dog Tours/Alaska Icefield Expeditions. Michael told the Iditarod Insider crew during a recent interview, “I applied for two jobs that summer. One was with the Northstar Burough Land Fill and the other was with the Icefield Company as a dog handler.” As I’d learned about the Iditarod Trail when I was young and became interested in running sled dogs through that, it was an easy decision as to which job to take.”
Baker met veteran Iditarod musher, Matt Failor while working on the glacier. In 2014, Michael joined the 17th Dog Team. Now, three years later, Failor considers Baker to be his right hand man saying, “He’s a tremendous help, a top-notch dog handler and musher and I’m very happy he joined the team. I couldn’t do this without him.”
The 17th Dog duo of Baker and Failor are going to be taking puppy teams to Nome in 2017. There will be a few older experienced dogs in the mix but the yearlings will far out number the veteran canines. Baker is really looking forward to the 1,000-mile camping trip and teaching the yearlings the sport of racing in the Iditarod. Both mushers have a deep bond established with their young charges as they’ve nurtured and trained them since birth.
Michael is dedicating his rookie run to Nome to his son Siris. He wants his son to see that through hard work and determination, dreams can come true. Beyond Iditarod, Baker has his sights set on returning to the lower 48 to be closer to his son and eventually establishing his own dog kennel with hopes that mushing will become his way of life.
Baker’s race history includes the Knik 200, the Copper Basin 300, the Northern lights 300, the Denali Double and the Aurora 50/50. He likes spending time outdoors, fishing, hiking and running dogs. His hobbies include cooking, baking, woodworking and music.
