SPK Dog Log

It’s 12.30am Wednesday AK time

Allen and his 14 team mates have just pulled into Eagle checkpoint at 12:15am. The official run time says 37 hours, 30 minutes from Circle, including the two rests they took on the trail – roughly 6.5 hours in Slaven’s and about 5 hours at Trout Creek.

The weather has warmed considerably at -12F in Eagle currently. Brent and Cody reported wind, blown in trails and trail breaking, making it a bit of a slog through from Trout Creek. On arrival Allen said “it’s hard to tell where to go, the trail has been blown over. So you see a marker, you can kind of guess where the trail was. If you don’t guess right, you fall through into the deep snow of the wind drift.”

Every team has a mandatory FOUR hour stop in Eagle and sounds like they will all thoroughly enjoy the rest. (Thanks Becky for pointing out the mandatory rest here was actually four hours and not six as previously written)

Eagle village is very remote so the volunteers and vets fly in and join the locals in supporting the teams. Handlers aren’t able to assist teams there. In other checkpoints the handler crews clean up the camp spots when their teams leave, and gather up all the returned gear such as booties, dog jackets and all other reusable equipment. In Eagle the mushers need to post a return bag home through the USPS, while volunteers clear the camp spots.

While Allen and his team were travelling to Eagle and Karolyn and her team were finishing the YQ300, Aliy and Bridgett (and their mystery guest) were travelling through to Dawson. They were able to send through a few pics from a late lunch break at Braeburn Lodge. Braeburn is the final checkpoint in the Quest so they will retrace their steps in a few days time. At Braeburn they chatted with owners Steve and Lee and petted Silver, Blue, Fuzz, and Obie. They were their ‘Welcome to the Yukon’ crew.

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Bridgett said they saw lynx, moose, wild horses, and coyote on the trip over. Yes, I did say ‘wild horses’. There is a herd of horses that live around the Takhini area and it’s always such a treat to see them as, in my experience they are pretty elusive. I feel like that is a good omen.

Aliy and Bridgett have arrived into Dawson and will get a good night sleep tonight before getting up early to set up dog camp. Hollywood (the dog truck) was packed to the gunnels with equipment for camp including the biggest tarpaulin I’ve ever seen, a set of wooden 2x4s and meters of rope to build a frame, and extra straw bales to make the dogs a warm and comfy spot for 36 hours. A number of drop bags were sent over to Dawson before the race that included three 40lb bags of kibble, beef, poultry skins, salmon and BLT (beef, liver, tripe) snacks plus bags of fat balls, lovingly handmade in advance using an ice cream scoop. They also have an arctic oven tent with them complete with a log burner, cot and sleeping bag for whichever handler is stationed over at camp. We don’t leave the dogs alone while they are in Dawson so we need to make camp comfortable for dogs and humans.

They are sure to send through some pics tomorrow.

Got wifi? The crew do!

We have some pics and video through from John and Lisa and other friends at the checkpoint.

Karolyn is really happy to be finished! Their official arrival time was 2:40pm. Quite rightly she is feeling good about it all but delighted to not still be on Birch Creek. I think she will be dreaming about it for days to come!

Her brother Johnny was volunteering at the checkpoint and was able to officially check her in. A lovely family moment.

Karolyn said of that final Birch Creek leg: I kept thinking we were near the end of the creek and started singing to the dogs “this is the trail that never ends, we’re never getting off this creek my friends” and then we passed a particular camping spot I remembered from the way out where the musher had taken their axe to the driftwood around it to build an actual real fire and I was like “oh my god, we’re here!”

We’ll get more stories and details from Karolyn in the next few days. She will get a good sleep tonight and then will start reflecting on her race. She said she was already working on her dog-by-dog wrap up in her head to share with you.

Lisa said she accidentally hit ‘slow motion’ when filming the team’s arrival but it’s pretty cool to see it that way.

You’ll see little Bronze hitched a lift to the finish line in the sled. Karolyn said she was just simply tired. She worked really hard but needed to do the last few miles in the bag. The vets checked her over and gave her an all clear, only prescribing some sleep.

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CONGRATULATIONS to Karolyn, Mismo, Junior, Kodiak, Sanka, Peach, Cloud, Gold, Bronze, Cayenne, Iron, Faff and Champ! We’re so proud of you all!

Karolyn and her team reached the finish line in Central at around 3pm in, I think, 9th position (official time and position TBC).

Aliy sent through a voice message as she and Bridgett stopped in Haines Junction for a coffee and quick tracker check.

Who’s the mystery guest with them in the truck to Dawson? Have a guess below in the comments.

I captured a couple of significant screen shots for posterity. The first when the team finally got to leave Birch Creek and I could almost hear Karolyn’s sign of relief all the way from NZ! The second screen shot is from just now as they finished the race.

After a final mandatory gear check by officials Karolyn can sign into the checkpoint and be officially finished. The crew will then take the dogs immediately to the truck, give them a hearty meal and as many beef, poultry skin and fat snacks as they will eat. The will be entirely stripped of their booties, leggings, jackets and harnesses for a good rub down and foot massage. Then they will get into their individual boxes in the truck and sleep for a few hours. It won’t be long until they are ready to go again!

Karolyn will also have a change of clothing, a meal at the famous Central Corner and a jolly good sit-down. Maybe she might even get a foot massage also? Good on you Karolyn!

It will be a while before we hear from the crew there. Will update you when we can.

Black Team

Allen and his 14-strong crew are at Trout Creek Hospitality Stop, enjoying a rest and some great food. Currently Michelle and Cody are still there with him and Brent has just recently left. Ryne and Torsten will join them there soon.

Its 8.15am in Alaska.

Almost simultaneously at 2am-ish Allen and his team, and Karolyn and her team left Slaven’s and Circle respectively. I was flicking between trackers and saw both trackers come awake at around the same time. The trackers go to sleep when they haven’t been moved in a while and they grey-out. If they sense movement they switch themselves back on and just a shake of a sled while mushers are packing can do it. Once they awoke I obsessively switched between super zoomed-in screens for another half hour to see who would leave first.

Black Team

Allen rested his team about 6.5 hours at Slaven’s and they are currently making their way towards Trout Creek. At the time of writing they are about 23 miles from the hospitality stop and running in 4th position.

Red and Black Team

At 2.05am Karolyn left Circle checkpoint ready for the slog back along Birch Creek to the finish.

As the handler crew were starting clean-up of the campspot the checkpoint volunteers told them she was coming back! Very quickly into the run Karolyn noticed Faff had a head-bob caused by a bit of a limp on her left front. Karolyn’s main goal for the race is to ensure it is a positive experience for all the dogs, particularly the youngsters, so with that in mind Karolyn turned the team around and came back to leave Faff with the handler crew.

It’s a big deal to turn a team around and return, so well done Karolyn for recognising something was wrong so quickly. It’s would have been a long way for Faff to ride in the sled bag had she carried on.

So, they effectively left the checkpoint twice!

At the time of writing the team is resting about 36 miles from the finish. It will be daylight there soon which always has a positive effect when you are sleep deprived.

Armchair Musher Andy Pace has written about his experience on Birch Creek. It’s a great read.

Congratulations to Dave Turner and Jeremy Traska who had a close race for the win. After 300 miles there was only 18 minutes between them in the end.

It’s 12.30am Tuesday in Alaska.

Firstly – here’s an audio wrap up from Aliy about the happenings of today.

Black Team

Right now four teams have stopped at Slaven’s Roadhouse and are enjoying the hospitality. If you haven’t yet – check out their Facebook page. As it is not an official checkpoint we don’t have arrival times but a replay of the tracker shows Michelle arrived first with Brent next and Cody and Allen look to have been switching 3rd and 4th positions for the whole leg. Whether that is an actual reflection of what happened or just tracker update anomalies but Cody left after Allen and arrived ahead so overall was quicker.

These four mushers know each other well and will be enjoying the competition.

The next leg towards Trout Creek and then onto Eagle is around 90 miles in total. After leaving the Roadhouse the team will pop back down onto the Yukon River and follow it all the way to Eagle, criss-crossing the river and portaging over some braided areas as they go. Once in Eagle all teams have a mandatory six hour stop.

I can’t update you much on the Black Team for a while, I’ll just be watching the tracker like y’all.

Red and Black Team

Karolyn and her team are rocking it! They arrived into Circle at 8:25pm and will stay around five hours before embarking on their final leg – back down Birch Creek to Central. Ryan reported that although she was “more than ready to be off that river” she pretty happy right now she’s definitely got spirits up. She and the dogs will sleep hard and fast.

Circle City was full to brimming and parking spots for dog teams and sleeping mushers were scarce. The lovely volunteers were very kind and made sure our team found a good spot to rest.

Karolyn will get up around 1.5 hours before leaving time so she can feed the dogs and grab a bite to eat herself. Then she’ll repack her sled, ensuring all her mandatory gear is still in there (cold weather sleeping bag, hand ax, snowshoes, vet book, a cooker and fuel for said cooker plus food and booties for the dogs). She will then dress the dogs with fresh booties and leggings if needed, and refit their coats that can get skew-whiff while they sleep. Once all that is done she will pull the hook and leave the last checkpoint for one more run before the finish.

Lisa sent through a couple of quick videos of the team from earlier in the race – arriving into Mile 101 and leaving Central. Her line up arriving to 101 was Mismo and Junior in lead, Sanka and Kodiak in swing, Cloud running on her own, Peach and Gold, Bronze and Faff, and Cayenne and Iron in wheel.

Leaving Central Karolyn shuffled the team a little with Mismo and Junior still in lead, Sanka and Kodi in swing then it looks like she’s moved Peach up with Cloud, Gold and Faff, Bronze on her own with Cayenne and Iron in wheel. It can liven things up a bit in the team to change positions as suddenly the dogs have someone different to run with. It can change the dynamic of the team.

As there is no internet at Central we won’t get pics through of their finish until the crew are back at the kennel but we’ll catch up and wrap up as soon as we can. Keep an eye on the Yukon Quest Facebook page where they are publishing fantastic pics from their visual content team.

GO TEAM!

Handler Crews

Ryan, John and Lisa are in Circle with Karolyn. They’ll get them onto the trail safely before cleaning up the camp spot and driving back down to Central. Padee is now back in Fairbanks, hopefully catching up with some sleep, especially after the extra few hours on the trip home (as Aliy mentioned in the voice catch-up)

Right about now, Aliy and Bridgett will have left the kennel and are making their way to Dawson. Aliy and Wendy packed the truck with all the equipment to build dog camp while Bridgett checked in with her family. They won’t see their mama for a few days so it’s important to check in. Both got some overdue sleep. By dog team this leg is 300 miles. By dog truck this leg is over 900 miles. See that lovely 9 hour, 7 minute route on the map below? Yeah, that road is closed in the winter so the handler crews drive nearly to Whitehorse, turn left up the Klondike Highway and keep going till they hit Dawson City.

Aliy and Bridgett should be at Fast Eddy’s in Tok right on time for breakfast! Perfect!

Once in Dawson they will set up dog camp before Allen and the team arrive. I’ll tell you all about dog camp later.

By the way – is it just me or do you all have a hundred tabs open in your browser? Two trackers, two current standings, two sets of rules, race map, distance map, trail notes…

It’s 3.30pm Alaska Time

Black Team

At 10:45am Allen and all 14 of his team mates left Circle City Checkpoint after resting over five hours. He left with brothers Commando and Dutch in lead, Chipper and Spark in swing, bros Jefe and Bruno, bros Five and Rodney, Scooby and Amber, Clyde and Perky with Decaf and Violet in wheel.

It was the last time the handler crew get to see the team until they arrive in Dawson a couple of days from now. The dog team will have 310 miles of trail to cover before the crew get to see them so there was a quick switcharoo of handlers at Circle. Aliy has been supporting Karolyn in her race but once she left Central, Ryan was able to scoot her up the road to ensure she saw Allen and the team before they left. It was important to both of them that she could see them.

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162 long lonely miles to go before Eagle Checkpoint however there are two welcome spots where mushers and teams can stop. About 60 miles from Circle is Slaven’s Roadhouse. Slaven’s is designated a ‘dog drop’ stop so it is not a supported checkpoint where supplies could be sent forwards, but there will be a vet crew there and dogs can be left with the vets if they are best not to continue with the race. The hospitality there is legendary. Another 50-odd miles on is Trout Creek – a ‘hospitality stop’, again with legendary hospitality and brownies. Expect teams to stop at one or the other – or both!

For this section of the race the Current Standings will not tell the story as only official checkpoint times are recorded. The tracker is the place to watch – as if you weren’t watching it obsessively already.

Read all about what mushers can expect in the trail notes here.

Red and Black Team

Birch Creek is where it’s at! Karolyn and her team rested for a couple of hours on the creek at mile 163 and are currently about 37 miles from Circle and the warm welcome that awaits them from the handler crew.

Evidently they have lots of photos and video so we will do a big catch-up post once they are all through.

Good morning! Its 8.00am Alaska time.

Black Team

At 5:27am Allen and his mates pulled in to Circle City checkpoint after spending 14 hours, 37 minutes between Central and Circle. This included an about four hour rest just before hitting Birch Creek. The temperatures have changed, with the handler crew reporting -15F with a little dusting of snow. Is it even the Yukon Quest without swings in temperature?

Allen’s current team line-up on arrival is Commando and Dutch in lead, Spark and Chipper in swing, Bruno and Jefe, Rodney and Five, Amber and Scooby, Clyde and Perky, Decaf and Violet in wheel.

Padee captured a bunch of pics and video as the team arrived.

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Allen and the team will be having a good sleep right now while the handlers watch over the team and try to catch more rest themselves.

Red and Black Team

Having pulled in just before midnight last night, Karolyn and team have hit the trail again towards Circle City. They left at 7.31am with 7.5 hours of rest under their harness ready for the 74 mile leg. YQ300 teams had a mandatory six hour stop at Central (plus differential).

Karolyn still has her 11 team mates with her.

I haven’t heard word through from her handler crew for a while but once they get to Circle and enjoy some internet I’m sure we will get plenty of pics and video through so I’ll be able update you then.

It’s 12:15am Monday AK time

Black Team

Right now Allen and his team mates are still negotiating Birch Creek and at time of writing they have about 35 miles till Circle. They will be pleased to get off the river and up onto land again.

His handler crew of Bridgett and Padee made it to Circle city while it was still daylight – it is recommended if possible to travel that stretch of road in daylight as it is twisty and winding and narrow. The local school opens up their gymnasium for visitors so they have been able to lay down, get an internet connection and have a bit of much needed rest. We know the mushers don’t get much sleep during the race but the handler crews also get very little so when they get the opportunity they take it!

Here is a series of short videos of the Black Team in and around Central earlier this afternoon.

Red and Black Team

Karolyn and her mates pulled into Central Checkpoint at three minutes before midnight tonight with a run time of 4 hours and 10 minutes. They will have all earned a good rest here and I expect they will stay a few hours. She and Luther Buhr seemed to travel not too far apart for much of this leg.

There’s quite a party there at the moment, albeit a very quiet one with dogs and mushers resting.

This is where practice of checkpoint routine really kicks in – when the musher is tired and can’t think straight, all their training and practice comes in to play. Drop bags, snack, straw, booties off, massage, blankets, leave them to rest while preparing their meal, repack sled, go inside, eat, sleep, wake up waaaaaay toooo soooon, feed dogs, pack sled, dress dogs, parka and mitts on, did I forget anything? Pull hook, go.

I mentioned in my last post how Birch Creek is a popular float river. Mark sent through some pics of a recent trip he did down the creek in the fall. How spectacular is that?!

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Hopefully by morning we will have some more detail through from the handler crews, will keep you posted!