2019 Aliy Cam: Episodes 15 and 16

Here is a map of a portion of western Alaska. You can see the village of Kaltag, which is still inland, and the layout of the first three Iditarod Checkpoints along the ocean: Unalakleet, Shaktoolik and Koyuk. The route from Unalakleet to Shaktoolik is predominantly over land, heading due north along the seashore. The route from Shaktoolik to Koyuk first crosses the peninsula to the north and then crosses the (hopefully) frozen ocean directly towards Koyuk.

Episode 15 is taken about 15 miles outside of Unalakleet. This is the first video taken along the Western Coast of Alaska.

I wisecrack about the forests along the coast because there aren’t many. Trees start to become few and far between as we near the ocean. Planting the annual Nome Forest is a joke in January when the Nome residents bring their used Christmas trees out onto the frozen ocean in front of the town and “plant them” in the sea ice.

In this video we are traveling along the Unalakleet River to the east of the village. I comment how this frozen river is lacking some of its ice as well. It was certainly a warm race.

There is a quick glimpse of Jessie Holmes’ dog team in front of mine in the video. You can see his red orange parka as his team climbs up the river bank.

Episode 16 is coming into the Koyuk Checkpoint. The village looms large in the video but the dogs perspective is quite different than ours so they don’t see it. While I am talking the dogs do notice two snow machines driving out in the distance. They are in front of the team, driving perpendicular to our route but the dogs can easily pick up their movement across the ice. To my dogs, the presence of snow machines means humans are near by and they get excited. That’s why I get worried about them speeding up and “hurting” themselves in the deep snow blown trail. We had a steady and slow jog for over 8 hours across from Shaktoolik and we didn’t need to get any silly injuries from speeding up just at the finish of a long run.

This particular run from Shaktoolik to Koyuk was a a big challenge. It often is. This year we had strong winds at the start, then snow drifts obliterating much of the trail and even a hail storm. We also came upon two unusual circumstances that can plant doubt and confusion in a dog team’s and a musher’s psyche. The first was when we trotted past Nic Petit’s dog sled. It was parked just outside the door to the shelter cabin beyond Shaktoolik. We didn’t see or hear Nic or any of his dogs. There was absolutely no commotion in the area. It was very disturbing. Race rules dictate that dogs still entered in the race can not go indoors for any reason. So I knew then that Nic and his team were out of the race. Until then, most people were expecting him to win. The next sighting was several hours later in the middle of the frozen ocean. Mitch Seavey was sitting in the leeward, protected space next to his parked dog sled. I could make out his dogs underneath the snow drifts that poked up in front of his sled. To say I was surprised is an understatement. I stopped my team and wasn’t sure what to say. I had to say something so I asked him, “Do you think this is halfway?” He said “Yes.” He didn’t seem to be in any kind of trouble and he even asked me if I wanted to camp with him. I declined but told him that Jessie Holmes was right behind me and he should see him soon.

Strangely, I had no worries during that stretch of trail despite the obstacles. I had complete confidence in my team and myself. I had Mismo back in lead. I even played games with my dogs. I often have conversations with them while we are mushing. I told them that I really wanted to see a seal. I had heard that several years ago Jeff King saw a seal pop out of an ice hole in the frozen ocean. I was quite jealous. So, whenever there was a big wind gust and we got blown off course or couldn’t find the marked trail, I would ask my dogs “Are you following a seal? Did you guys find one?”. I joked with them for almost nine hours about tracking down a seal. We never saw one, but we sure looked.

The team composition is down two dogs from our last video. Driver woke up from his nap in Unalakleet and had a swollen front leg. It’s ironic that unexplainable and weird issues pop up just when I start thinking that a specific dog is doing great. Driver was having a fantastic race and I had even moved him up to run in single swing, directly behind the leaders before arriving in Unalakleet. Amber is the other missing teammate. Her wrist was sore and although she was more than willing to continue, it was best that she stay in Shaktoolik with the Vet Team. Her wrist bothered her for two weeks after the race. I think that she must have sprained it while running in the challenging conditions on the Yukon River.