The Black Team rested at Circle for nearly five hours and Allen still had 13 team mates with him as he left the checkpoint at 2.31pm. He rested just under one hour more than Brent, who left at 1:34pm. The next leg of the journey is 70 miles mostly along Birch Creek. This stretch is notorious for cold and overflow yet today it is above 0F in the area with fresh snow. It remains to be seen what shape the trail is in.
Allen said the dogs are doing great. They had some difficulty finding the trail to Slaven’s as it was blown-in so his lead was cut a bit because of that. But, the dogs are moving nicely, eating really well and have great attitudes. He was looking forward to getting back on the trail, through the creek then over those last two hills.
Scotty, Allen’s son-in-law captured some incredible pics and video of the team arriving into Circle at sunrise!
Karolyn sent through these pics from the checkpoint. The first is the team as they arrived and the poster was drawn by one of the local art students and the dogs are modelled off Commando and Dutch. Nice job!
As teams head toward Birch Creek here’s my usual reminder/disclaimer about watching the tracker over this area. You can see from the screenshot from the tracker that it is very twisty. The tracker updates every five minutes or so and while the teams may have moved nicely along the trail, the “as the crow flies” measurement from the last tracker ping can be much shorter. It could looks like teams are going a bit slower than they actually are so don’t be alarmed.
Here’s a couple of pics from the truck overnight. There were a bunch of other crews there including Wild and Free, Squid Acres, Hans Gatt and some trail breakers and once the wind died down they all worked together to dig each other out and get back on the road. The handler convoy is special like that. Our mushers might be fiercely competitive but the crews help each other out regardless.
Next stop Central Corner!
A lot seems to have happened over the last 10 hours or so. Do NOT step away from the computer. Dogs looked awesome in that awesome video. Aliy’s video earlier looked incredible. It’s so nice to get these glimpses into the scenery and see the dogs (and mushers) doing what they love. Thanks so much for letting us be a part of it.
Go Allen Go!!! Maybe Brent will sleep through his alarm on this next section like another time!!!
Nice to see Allen sharing a bit of the trail breaking with Brent.
Five hours rest should do the Black team wonders.
Go Allen, Dutch, Chipper, Commando, Junior, Spark, Amber, Nomex, Clyde, Rodney, Bruno, Champ, Felix and Violet!!!!
We’re so proud of you!
Nice work handlers. 🙂
Thank you Dog Log contributors.
<3
My goodness….look at that Team! Loping…loping in! So proud of SPK! Amazing story of the overnight stranding on the Steese Highway! Wow….thanks for all the pictures….super exciting racing…Go Allen and the Black Team!
Cute picture of Chipper watching Allen. And look at all that snow! Nice teamwork handlers. Go Team Go!
Ditto to all that is posted so fa!!!
Getting up and down Eagle…then Rosebud…must be a killer, especially at the end of the race! This is the alternate year when the YQ runs in this direction making teams do the twin peaks at the end of a 1000 mile race!
GO BLACK TEAM!!! WOOF WOOF WOOF!!!
GO ALLEN!!! WOOF WOOF WOOF!!!
And an extra WOOF just for luck!!!
Thanks to Scotty for the incredible pictures of the team. Nice work from the students in the area–Thanks for
the poster. Black Team looks good and with the rest no doubt they will be wanting to race fast. The handlers
you have a tough job and many “Thanks” for all you do! Go Allen!!!!
Great pictures & video. Thanks so much.
Great job Allen & team , keep on mushing all the way to Fairbanks.
You know, I am not fond of that section at Eagle Summit that curves around with mountain with a drop off to the north. I am very glad you are safe and had companions to help with the road work – wherever it was that you encountered the drifting and blowing snow.
The dogs did look great coming in.
The video and pictures are great! The scenery is so beautiful out there. Allen and the dogs are moving along nicely and they definitely have a great chance of winning! Go Black Team!