When looking into this dog’s eyes, the words from Joseph’s Amazing Technicolor Coat come to mind – I am handsome, I am smart, I am a walking work of art… The team dog sporting these gorgeous blue eyes helped bring Jeremiah Klejka to his first Junior Iditarod Championship. Having blue eyes myself, I’m quite biased toward eyes that match the color of the Alaskan sky on a clear crisp winter day.

Not only are sled dogs handsome and smart, we have a powerful sense of smell. At the junction where Conway Seavey and Marissa Osmar left the trail, Klejka’s team tried to follow their scent down the wrong trail. After all it was the scent they’d been following for miles and miles since Saturday morning. Jeremiah would not let his team stray but kept them on the trail that led to Willow. For the dogs, the scent was different here – dogs had been down the trail but not since yesterday. Thanks to their superior olfactory sense, the dogs knew they were in the lead and destined to be the 2011 Junior Iditarod Champions long before Jeremiah did.

Jeremiah thought it was strange that there were no tracks from sled runners on the trail. But then, the wind had created a ground blizzard. Even recent runner tracks could be covered. When Klejka came off the wooded trail onto the lake, a snowmachine driver cheered him on with congratulations. It wasn’t until he reached the finish line on the far side of the lake that Jeremiah realized the congratulations were offered for being the winner. The dogs had it figured out long before their driver.

Check tomorrow for another telephoto story. Remember, beauty isn’t in the guidebook and adventure not on the map – seek and you’ll find.

Born to Run,
Sanka