SPK Dog Log

I have carried a hand held video camera on the race for years now. Honestly, I don’t always think “Gez, this is gorgeous… I need to take a video!” But, I really did try to capture some amazing portions of the Iditarod Trail this year.
There are 13 videos in the ID: AliyCam 2016 Series.
This is the last video of the series.

Welcome to the Western Coast of Alaska!
It is often very obvious, that we have arrived on the coast. That’s due to: ice and wind.
The ice. The trail transverses many, many miles of ice: ice on the ocean, ice on lagoons, as well as the occasional icy lake or icy river. Sometimes it’s rough, sometimes it’s smooth… but always ice. Sometimes, I can’t tell one icy water body from another. Especially when the it is semi-covered in snow and the dark of night limits my visibility. But, since I’ve run this route for years, I can usually guess where we are.
The wind. It’s unpredictable. You never know when it’s going to pick up and blow like the Dickens. Thankfully, the trail markers in this area are drilled into the trail, so that they will hopefully withstand most of the brutal coastal storms.

The trail into Shaktoolik is like no other section on the race. For 15 mies south of village, the trail is on a frozen lagoon that runs parallel to the Bering Sea. There is a very thin strip of land that is a barrier between the lagoon and the ocean. There are occasionally trees and bushes on the thin land mass.

This year, we traveled on the lagoon for just under 2 hours. There were many sections of complete glare ice and the team couldn’t keep their traction. It was the ultimate challenge when a 20 mph wind gust would hit us from the side, blow us across the ice, to the southwest, towards the sea. But, we would inevitably plow into the tiny strip of land protecting us from the sea. Thank you very much! How hard we hit the and mass would depend on the strength of the wind gust. We would gain control when we regained traction on the land. Then we could continue in the general direction of Shaktoolik, slowly making our way back to the marked trail.
Just another day on the Western Coast of Alaska.

I took this video on a section of the lagoon that was snow covered. YAY! So you will see no crashes. You can see the thin piece of land to the left of us. And you can feel the power of the wind gusts every so often. I do remember noticing the wind picking up in force as we neared the village. I also knew that my plan was to not stay in Shaktoolik but to head out onto the frozen ocean directly into that increasing wind.

I have carried a hand held video camera on the race for years now. Honestly, I don’t always think “Gez, this is gorgeous… I need to take a video!” But, I really did try to capture some amazing portions of the Iditarod Trail this year.
There are 13 videos in the ID: AliyCam 2016 Series.

I look forward to the Blueberry Hills because it really grabs me with the realization that we have crossed the entire state of Alaska by dog team. It’s the first time that I can see the Bering Sea from my sled runners. That’s a far distance from the downtown streets of Anchorage. Thus, this spot is often a ‘Holy Cow’ moment.

This spot is also special because I stopped here – on the highest hill – in the year 2002. Back then, I left a small memento of a deceased friend who had introduced me to long distance racing. So every year since then, I speak to him when we mush by. I usually tell him how it’s going: great, good, poor, so/so, etc. Over the years, I have told him a lot of different things!

I have carried a hand held video camera on the race for years now. Honestly, I don’t always think “Gez, this is gorgeous… I need to take a video!” But, I really did try to capture some amazing portions of the Iditarod Trail this year.
There are 13 videos in the ID: AliyCam 2016 Series.

I thought that I had lost my video camera back at my camp spot. I only found it right before the sunset faded.

The team was not 100% enthusiastic here. You might notice a few dogs taking a little “down time” from pulling. If I would have videoed myself… you might have seen the same thing. I was acting enthusiastic for the good of the team, but I wasn’t ‘feeling it’.

I came to realize for the latter part of this race, that this team worked that way. Not everyone was excited all the time. Often times, one or two dogs would slack or even the musher. Overall, there was no real standout and no real disappointment. But, I didn’t want to send any of these dogs home and I had decided that I didn’t want to go home either. I was very pleased that we were all simply “trying our best”.

I have carried a hand held video camera on the race for years now. Honestly, I don’t always think “Gez, this is gorgeous… I need to take a video!” But, I really did try to capture some amazing portions of the Iditarod Trail this year.
There are 13 videos in the ID: AliyCam 2016 Series.

We had some really unique camp spots this year on the race. This section of trail, which is a historic trade route between Katag and Unalakleet, is one of the most spectacular portions of trail in the race. That’s mostly because of the intense Indian and Eskimo trade history, but as you watch the scenery, you won’t complain about that either. Camping right at the summit of the portage trail was pretty breathtaking. We could see mountains along the entire 360 degree horizon of our camp spot. There was a tiny group of six sapling trees that tried to block our view but only managed to add to the grandeur. My overall goal for this camp spot was to try and camp in and around beauty, uplift my spirits and of course, bond with the team. Schmoe was unsettled during most of this camp. He has always been one of my most emotional dogs, so that didn’t surprise me. We had been through some rough events together about 12 hours prior to stopping here.

I have carried a hand held video camera on the race for years now. Honestly, I don’t always think “Gez, this is gorgeous… I need to take a video!” But, I really did try to capture some amazing portions of the Iditarod Trail this year.
There are 13 videos in the ID: AliyCam 2016 Series.

This video is short but really, really neat. I could only start recording after the light of the day made it’s way to the camera lens. I wish I could have videoed in the dark because that was impressive.

We made our way through Ruby and down onto the Yukon River. We were the second team on the trail at this point until we passed Brent Sass – camped just outside the village. From here, to Galena, the trail hadn’t been traveled by another Iditarod dog team. We were the first. This is good (a winning team by definition is the first on the trail) and this is bad (the trail is not always an obvious route to follow).

The trail was not obvious and there were few signs of previous snowmachine travel. It was on a sheet of slippery Yukon River glare ice. The ice was covered with an inch of fresh snow. So, as we started down river, the dogs (and I) assumed that we would have traction. Nope!

The trail markers were either drilled into the ice or water had come up and frozen around their bases. As well, this section of river hadn’t frozen well and there were many open water holes. One had claimed the life of a man traveling by snowmachine earlier in the winter. So, following the marked trail was paramount.

We were on most of this section of trail in the dark. We weaved this way and that with the team actually showing some fearful energy as they slipped and I hollered directions. It was a bit unnerving.

So, I dropped my chains under my runners (my brake did little to slow the team) and we stopped. I told everyone to just relax. I decided to put Mismo in single lead. He was really shining right then and he didn’t seem too concerned about slipping and sliding on the ice. For the next hour, he obediently trotted down the trail, watching and listening as I scouted for the reflective trail markers with my headlight and then and “Geed” and “Hawed” him directions. He’s no dummy, so he started to pick up on the visual clues and would steer the team toward the reflectors before I would command him. I have to admit there were a few “Haws” that he was convinced should have been “Gees”. In the end, not only did we get safely down the trail but we laid down an excellent track for all the other 80 plus Iditarod teams to follow.

Mismo says “You’re welcome.”

I have carried a hand held video camera on the race for years now. Honestly, I don’t always think “Gez, this is gorgeous… I need to take a video!” But, I really did try to capture some amazing portions of the Iditarod Trail this year.
There are 13 videos in the ID: AliyCam 2016 Series.

We all have moments out there when our minds drift this way, or that. Here I am pondering the absolute lack of humanity in this part of Alaska. I don’t know if “rural” is the correct terminology but that’s what came out.
The amazing fact about this area of Alaska is that many years ago — when travel across our great state was more challenging than it is now — there were actually more people and more towns in this area. One hundred years ago, life was harder, but it didn’t matter to the men and women who mined gold and lived in and around Poorman or set up tents or cabins along many of the creeks the Iditarod Trail crosses today.
Pretty amazing to think about.

I have carried a hand held video camera on the race for years now. Honestly, I don’t always think “Gez, this is gorgeous… I need to take a video!” But, I really did try to capture some amazing portions of the Iditarod Trail this year.
There are 13 videos in the ID: AliyCam 2016 Series.

This is a rough ride and you might get dizzy from all the pounding. I guess this goes to show you that not all of the 1,000 mile route is smooth and straight. The fact that there is little snow cover is not surprising. This section of the trail is in Interior Alaska and, after training in Two Rivers all winter, we knew the Interior snow conditions were sparse. While certainly enough to mush a dog team, the snow is not enough to cushion my sled (bang! bang!) or cover all of the vegatation and tussocks.

I have carried a hand held video camera on the race for years now. Honestly, I don’t always think “Gez, this is gorgeous… I need to take a video!” But, I really did try to capture some amazing portions of the Iditarod Trail this year.
There are 13 videos in the ID: AliyCam 2016 Series.

Yippee. I don’t often get a video of the gorge because we go through it during the night. But, the fast paced trail enabled me to get footage just before sunset Monday night. It is a little dark, but entertaining all the same. Notice the tremendous effort that the volunteers have put into building ice bridges and routing the trail around the enormous holes in the sometimes not frozen river bed. The team zigs and zags with enthusiasm. The dogs enjoy this kind of trail even though they might look over at the open raging river and “Gulp” now and then. (Maybe that was me?)

In the end of the video, the team pops out on the Tatina River. As this happens, I don’t know if you can understand me. I am saying “Alright. Alright. Alright. Yow! One piece. One Piece. And I got it on video. Where are we going now?” This pretty much sums up my astonishment of making it through the gorge in one piece.