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Photo Scrapbook
Monday evening and two races were going on in Unalakleet. It’s an annual affair in Unalakleet, both the Iditarod and the cross country ski race. Ski Instructor, Nancy Persons, and the ski team host their ski race across the slough from the checkpoint. The children participate in ski school on Saturdays from the first snow …
Matt Failor, driving the Buser “B” team parked and went to work making them comfortable. The temperature was in the teens but add the sunshine and it felt much warmer. Matt provided his athletes with plenty of cool water, kibble and frozen snack sticks and well as straw for a recharging nap. He planned to …
DeeDee Jonrowe is parked next to one of the man-made berms in Unalakleet. She’s changing to a coast sled while the eleven dogs on her team enjoy a nap on straw. A huge shell is printed on Jonrowe’s sled bag signifying Shell Exploaration’s sponsorship. Then I spotted her booties. Hot pink with a shell imprint …
Take a close look at the eyes of these dog. You’ll see the iris is mostly blue but there is some brown pigment mixed with the blue. It’s not unusual for a dog to have one blue eye and one brown eye. Those dogs a referred to as “bi-colored.” When a single eye has both …
A short distance from the checkpoint is the hub for dropped dogs. Dogs dropped at smaller checkpoints are flown to this hub via bush plane. From here the dropped dogs are loaded onto a larger plane and flown to Anchorage. Currently there are about 130 canine athletes waiting to show their boarding pass for the …
Cindy Abbott booted her athletes chatting with every dog, offering praise and a little preview of the next part of the trail. Her reward was often a cool wet canine nose nudge and just as often, a big canine, too quick to dodge lick across the face. These dogs are affectionate and don’t mind showing …
It’s the harness that connects the dog power to the sled and there are a variety of harnesses out there. Mikhail Telpin uses a harness called the half harness. It’s really a musher, dog choice as to what harness is used. This style harness is good for preventing harness rub. It’s also sometimes used for …
Consider the dichotomy – following the mushers by Ion Earth GPS Tracker, assuming arrival is imminent then heading outside to greet a human traveling by dog team. On one hand it’s the newest and greatest technology on the other it’s a form of travel dating further back than the beginning of time in Alaska. Last …
James Volek had a speedy run from Nikolai to McGrath. His young dogs came in with smiles under their whiskers, curiosity in their eyes and tails held high. His puppies are happy. James will rest two hours longer than his run time and then go on to Takotna for his long rest. Volek told a …
A tall fellow was jogging with a handsome Siberian around the McGrath Checkpoint. It was Mike Ellis who was taking his 24-hour rest and having a little fun with his canine companions. Ellis looked good but his dog, Eliza looked great. Ellis has the fastest ever Siberian time for the Yukon Quest and hopes to …