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Heidi Sloan 2018 Teacher on the Trail
Paws Along the Trail with Dog Stories Marcelle Fressineau was mushing down the trail yesterday when a wood bison meandered in front of her dogs. Her lead dogs were spooked and ran back toward her. She wasn’t sure if the bison was aggressive, so she ran up to the bison, waving and yelling. It got …
Paws Along the Trail with Drop Bags Weeks before the start of the Iditarod, mushers are busily planning and packing drop bags. A maximum of three 50 pound bags are flown out to each checkpoint. Mushers have marked the bags with the checkpoint name and their names. These have been stored here in Nikolai and …
Paws Along the Trail with some Math Try to solve the math questions throughout this article! The Iditarod Restart began on Willow Lake which is frozen over. Denali, the tallest mountain in North America, rose in splendor to the clear, blue sky. Musher trucks and trailors drove onto the ice, parking parallel to one another. …
Paws Along the Trail, Riding With the Team What an exciting day! The streets of Anchorage, Alaska, were filled with graded snow, dog trucks, sleds, and hundreds of volunteers and onlookers. Those of us who had the privilege to be IditaRiders followed our maps to check in with our mushers. We were to ask them …
Paws Along the Trail with Workers The Iditarod is a dog-powered race, but beyond the dogs and mushers, there’s an army that makes it happen! For months, people have been ordering musher bibs, lining up race volunteers, preparing the trail by cutting saplings and moving logs, and running the auction where people can bid to …
Paws Along the Trail with a Dog Sled Sleds are being carefully packed and checked this week. Iditarod rules 15 and 16 concern mandatory gear to be carried in each musher’s sled. Sled bags line the sleds and close to waterproof the contents. These are unfastened at the checkpoints and mushers must be ready to …
Paws Along the Trail with the Countdown The Iditarod.com countdown shows we’re getting close to the first Saturday in March, the start! I have included a PDF of some Iditarod calendar date squares to use for the March calendar in your classrooms. You might also be interested in what is coming in the next few …
Paws Along the Trail with Working Dogs “When you give a dog a purpose, when you give a dog a meaning, he finds happiness in that.” Cesar Millan [WTOP 2017] I strolled into our public library and saw dog footprints leading to a door. They had to be followed. What met my eyes was a …
“You learn that you can, because you must.” Cim Smyth, Race Marshall The 2018 Junior Iditarod ended on Sunday afternoon with the eleven brave teens all finishing!
Paws Along the Junior Iditarod Trail Eleven junior mushers arrived at the Yentna Station checkpoint last night after a 75 mile run. Coming off the Yentna River, we could see their headlamps like beacons in a mass of darkness. The call, “Team!” was heard and the time keeper and race marshal were there to greet …