ID: Saturday Night in Kaltag

It’s 11:15pm. Feeling: Certain the team will enjoy their eight hour break. And me.

Aliy and her 13 mates arrived into Kaltag at 10:24pm this evening. They slogged down the river (it travels North but is actually ‘down’) from Eagle Island in 11 hours and 10 minutes – including a 1.5 hour break along the way (so, a run time of around 9 hours, 40 mins). The 1.5 hour micro-rest will have been refreshing for the dogs and Aliy. She would have given them several snacks and likely taken the chance to ring out some of her own clothing! We have no sense of what they are going through by watching the tracker – but by all accounts it sounds pretty miserable. The wind is blowing in Kaltag and temps are still warm. But, a miserable day mushing with your best mates is still better than most other ‘jobs’ I can think of.

Sparkie led the team in, in single lead, followed by Dutch and Driver in swing, QT and Five, Mismo and Jefe, Rodney and Bruno, Nomex and Amber with Violet and Decaf in wheel.

On the live feed I noticed the first thing Aliy did was give her team an omeprozole tablet. [As taken from a post I wrote during the Yukon Quest: Omeprozole is a optional medication that mushers give their dogs every 24 hours during a race to decrease the chance of developing gastric ulcers. This came about after studies by Dr Mike Davis and his team a number of years ago and since then we have been very religious about ensuring the dogs receive their doses at around the same time every day during the race. It can be complicated for a musher to give this medication on the trail as the dogs need to have not eaten for at least three hours and cannot eat for half hour after, but the pros certainly outweigh the only con.]

The vet team then did a thorough exam on each dog. We are so thankful that so many amazing vets volunteer their time to all of the dog races we are involved in. Without vets there is no race – thank you all. Aliy then put straw down so the dogs could settle immediately, some started to take their own booties off, impatient for her to get down the line to them. She dressed a few dogs in sleeping jackets but it is so warm out there they didn’t all need one – they looked quite content in the straw. Foot ointment was next, a soothing, antibiotic creme that is massaged between the pads. They will be loving that sensation after being on their feet for so many hours today. Mmmm a foot massage sounds just perfect to me right now also…

Even though where the camera was situated for the live feed made it sound extraordinarily windy it seems the dogs are actually quite sheltered – from my view the straw wasn’t blowing around and jackets weren’t flapping so they will rest easy.

Aliy’s checkpoint routine for an eight hour stop will be focussed on rest with a couple of big meals, the first after an hour or two then the other a couple of hours before leaving. Aliy will get a good chunk of sleep herself and she will feel immediately better for it. Its been a long day on the river and the thought of getting her dogs settled in straw and herself settled in her sleeping bag will have been sooo inviting for the last few hours.

The earliest the team can leave on the portage trail to Unalakleet is in eight hours, which would normally be 6:24am but, because we switch to daylight savings time tonight and we spring forward (just like the dogs – ha! get it?) her exit time will be 7:24am (Alaska time) and it will look like she stayed one hour too long. Don’t be alarmed.

It’s amazing to me that I can be sitting on Mismo’s couch in Two Rivers watching over the team in Kaltag. As much as it soothes me to watch them sleeping I’m switching off now for a while. My refresh finger needs a break.