YQ: Sunday Wrap-Up

Black Team

Allen and the Black Team have moved through Pelly Crossing checkpoint and start their long, unsupported journey to Dawson City. They left Pelly in first position but the teams are on different run/rest schedules and will likely leap-frog each other all the way to Dawson so don’t get too excited yet! There’s still 700 miles to go.

You can see from the video it is snowing in Pelly.

Earlier in the day, after leaving -50F Carmacks they travelled through to McCabe Creek Dog Drop. This is not an official checkpoint but teams may camp there with half a bale of straw provided if needed. They took a 3.5 hour rest there before continuing to Pelly. The Kruse family as always so hospitable to mushers and their handling crew and this year was no exception. Allen enjoyed hot soup with homemade bread followed by a nap in the wood stove-heated room. The dogs also ate well, evidently Allen put multiple meals into Spark’s dish and he would like it clean each time! Their 1000 mile metabolism is kicking in and they will eat everything!

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Because they took a substantial rest in McCabe they did not need to stop in Pelly, some 26 miles further down the trail. Allen did, however, need to spend time packing his sled to ensure he has supplies for the 200 miles to Dawson. While there is no access to drop bags until Dawson there are two hospitality/dog drop spots for mushers to visit – Stepping Stone – 35 miles from Pelly, and Scroggie Creek – 66 miles from Stepping Stone, with a further 95 miles to Dawson – a total of close to 200 miles. That means 200 miles worth of dog food, booties, contingency equipment, human food (although I am certain they will be fed well at Stepping Stone and Scroggie – if they choose to stop), straw for camping and fuel for the cooker, plus his other mandatory gear of sleeping bag, snow shoes and axe.

Allen stopped for about 25 minutes giving the dogs a micro-pause and time to pack his sled. He joked that he was looking forward to the lasagna at Stepping Stone so I guess that’s where he’s headed!

Also joining the team in Pelly was Champ! Allen is up to his full team heading into the hills. Evidently Champ was so excited to go he wouldn’t stop prancing once he was harnessed and bootied. Everyone got a kick out of him dancing around and squealing.

There are some very large hills between them and Dawson City including the Black Hills and King Solomon’s Dome – as shown on the elevation map on the GPS tracker. That’s some climbing and lots of miles to be done before we see them again.

Check out the trail notes on the Yukon Quest website here!

Red Team

Of course, the big news for the Red Team is they are the new 2019 Yukon Quest 200 champs. Read more here. The whole team is now sleeping, most in the truck except Aliy, Mismo and Lydia who are in a hotel room!

And Karolyn just sent this through – she and Scooby are sleeping in the truck tonight.