Misha Wiljes in Anchorage

Misha Wiljes was born and raised in the Czech Republic. Prague, a beautiful and ancient city in the heart of Europe and also the capitol of the Czech Republic is her hometown. Misha attended trade school to become a graphic designer. She’s worked as a sign writer and as a painter for movie sets, TV advertisements and billboards.

Spending time hiking, backpacking and exploring with her dog birthed her desire to explore countries beyond her homeland. She’s traveled extensively in Australia and the Yukon Territory.

Misha decided to make Alaska her permanent home. She was naturalized in 2009 and now holds USA and Czech citizenship.

In the year Y2K, Misha began mushing. She learned about the dogs and the sport from handling job with Charlie Boulding, Vern Halter and Judy Currier. She completed several mid-distance races and decided to train for distance race. In 2012, She completed the Yukon Quest with a team made up of dogs from Bonnie Foster and Leslie Morrison.

Together, Misha, and her husband, Gerhard have built WW kennel in Willow, Alaska. Misha competes regularly is the Copper Basin 300 and the Northern Lights 300. Now she is happy to be taking her own dogs the length of the Iditarod Trail to Nome.

To support her mushing habit, Misha works for the Willow Post Office. In her spare time, she likes fishing, sewing and travel.

Currently Misha is on her way from Galena to Huslia  Her run time from Ruby to Galena was 6 hour 52 minutes at 7.78 mph.  The distance between Ruby and Galena is fifty miles.