SPK Dog Log

It’s 7pm Thursday

RED TEAM UPDATE

After moving through Ophir, the Red Team camped on the trail at mile 389 which was likely “Don’s Cabin” with a bunch of other teams. They stayed four hours in the “heat” of the day then continued towards the halfway point – Iditarod checkpoint.

There are a number of teams in front of them which can be good or bad for the trail – they are either breaking the trail and packing it down, or churning it up and making it worse. The interviews with incoming mushers will give us an idea of that.

They are currently 10 miles outside of Iditarod and moving at around 7 miles an hour.

BLACK TEAM UPDATE

Allen and 13 team mates left Takotna after their 24 hour break and are on the trail to Ophir, just 18 miles away. We are uncertain at this stage who he left with the vet team in Takotna but will let you know as soon as we find out. Thanks for your patience.

The Insider crew did a great interview with Allen about what it takes to run the youngsters in a 1000 miles race. Essentially: PATIENCE. It shows some great shots of the team and of him walking them around to stretch their legs.

We have looked over the video many times and have been able to narrow his missing dog down, going by who we can positively identify but unfortunately we still don’t know for certain as the pictures don’t show the entire team, and I just don’t want to speculate yet. Hang tight, we’ll figure it out soon.

If you haven’t already, check out the daily photos on the Iditarod website for pics by Jeff Schultz. You’ll see a great pic of Chena sleeping in McGrath and of Allen holding Spark and Dutch as Aliy prepares to leave Takotna.

Its 6am Thursday morning

RED TEAM UPDATE

Aliy and 15 team mates are back on the trail having completed their mandatory 24 hour stop. They have been through Ophir and now are heading towards the checkpoint of Iditarod. They left right on time at 3am and have the first of the two green ticks next to their name.

The trail to Ophir is on an old mining road and the Trail Notes say: “The first part is a 9-mile climb to the top of the divide between the Kuskokwim River drainage and that of the Innoko River, which flows into the Yukon. The rise is about 800 feet on easy grades. Then the road crosses the divide and runs downhill along Independence Creek for another 8 miles, then follows the south bank of the Innoko River for the last 15 miles into Ophir, with possibly a few overland shortcuts across bends.”

The run to Iditarod is a long 80 miles so we expect Aliy will camp her team at some point along the way. This graphic of Winter Safety Cabins shows a few options along the route (the yellow line) so she may choose to stop at one of these.

I took few screen shots from Insider video – it’s still not too late to subscribe!

Aliy sounded upbeat and ready to get back on the trail, as did Rodney who started barking to go.

The weather over night on the trail to Iditarod was windy and a bit snowy with the trail “blowing in” in sections which can make it difficult to even find the trail. There is more snow and wind in the forecast.

There’s a wonderful Insider video of Aliy and Mitch chatting about his sled and how he hauls dogs. The final comment from Aliy is that hauling dogs seems like a lot of work, “but then, it’s not easy to win”.

BLACK TEAM UPDATE

The Black Team continues to rest at Takotna. Allen will have been up tending to his team while Aliy prepared her team for exit, and he will be relieved to see her out safely.

We found an article on KTUU from McGrath that shows a few pics of the Black Team and quotes Allen talking about running the young team. It is a little tricky to tell from those pics who is missing from the line up and we are still waiting confirmation about who he left in Rohn. We’ll let you know as soon as we have something definite.

The Black Team can leave Takotna 6:49pm today.

Its 7pm Wednesday.

Aliy and her 15 team mates are now 15 hours into their 25 hour, 14 minute rest (24 hours plus time differential). They can leave Takotna no sooner than 3am tomorrow.

Allen and his 14 team mates pulled in to Takotna at 5:25pm this evening. We are presuming they will complete their 25 hours, 24 minute rest here also and, if that is the case, they can leave at 6.49pm tomorrow.

I can’t zoom in enough on the GPS to show you but if you hover over both teams you can see they are parked right next door to each other. In this screen shot the box behind Aliy is Allen.

During the 24 hours break our mushers will feed their teams three high calorie meals of high protein/fat kibble and meat and fat, plus plenty of meat snacks to nourish them for the 600 miles ahead. They will be walking them around at each feeding to stretch their legs and let them relieve themselves, and they’ll be tending to them physically, i.e. massaging shoulders, wrists and feet (and scratching ears!).

In both Aliy and Allen’s 24 hour checkpoint bags were dry fleece-lined sleeping jackets and fleece throws for the dogs. Although it is warm out it is likely they will use jackets or blankets anyway, firstly to keep the wet snow off them and secondly, when a dog is nice and warm when they sleep they are more likely to stretch their limbs out rather than curl up into a little ball trying to keep warm; exactly the same as us! It makes for a more relaxing and refreshing rest for them.

Takotna is a very musher friendly checkpoint in that there is always plenty of delicious food for them and good resting spots. We still try to include some favourite treats in their bags for them to enjoy. In Aliy’s we put some dried plantains, breakfast burritos and grilled cheese sandwiches, along with the usual moose lasagna / chicken pesto meals and energy bars (thanks Clare!) that are at every stop. In Allen’s we pack cheesy popcorn, burritos, walnuts and granola. His ‘normal’ checkpoint food includes the lasagna and pesto meals with the addition of meatballs, mixed nuts, oatmeal bars… lots and lots of oatmeal bars, and bacon. His metabolism, like our Quest dogs, has kicked into overdrive after running 1000 miles a few weeks ago, and he can eat more than you could imagine right now.

Both mushers will also be trying to catch as much sleep as they can in-between tending to their team.

It’s also an opportunity for us to take a break from obsessive tracker watching and get outside! I took Ginger for a walk with Barbara, Scruggs and Molly this afternoon and might get an early night. What are you all planning? (I mean, I’m presuming you don’t have any other teams to watch… right?)

If you are looking for something to do, check out the Iditarod Instagram page for some great pics.

RETURNED DOG UPDATE

Due to the weather out there (snow, wind, general yuckness) the planes bringing dogs back to Anchorage have been grounded for another day. We still do not have Felix and our other mate back from the trail but we will try again tomorrow. They will be well taken care of out there by the vet team and volunteers.

It’s 9am Wednesday morning

RED TEAM UPDATE

Aliy and her team mates pulled into Takotna early this morning at 1:46am. They took 2 hours 53 mins to cover the 18 miles from McGrath.

In the brief Insider interview she was asked what the challenges out there were: she replied there was “some water out there, slow trail, lazy Aliy” and that she is not functioning completely well right now. It must be frustrating for all the mushers at this point as they slog through mushy, punchy snow. Once Aliy gets some rest herself she will be feeling much better!

Aliy arrived into the checkpoint with Spark and Dutch in lead, Commando and Chipper in swing, Kodiak and Champ, Junior and Cayenne, Rodney and Five, Driver and Nomex, Clyde is running on his own with Violet and Scooby in wheel so you can see she has mixed things up a bit in the front end. We also see her sled is lit up with her green Head-lites collars, a safety feature she added after the 2016 Iditarod.

Currently they have been there for nearly seven hours, which indicates to us that she has probably opted to take her 24 hour rest there. A musher can “declare” their 24 hour stop but they can amend their plan and leave earlier than that if they decide to. Stopping here will also give them a great night-time exit time.

It is during the 24 hour break that mushers see our their start differential time. This is how the field gets back on even keel after the staggered start so don’t be alarmed when mushers don’t pull their hook at exactly 24 hours. Aliy will need to stay an extra 74 minutes i.e. they will rest 25 hours, 14 minutes.

BLACK TEAM UPDATE

The GPS tracker shows Allen and his team out of Nikolai after about six hours rest and are 10 miles out of McGrath right now.

The current standings are not updated as yet to confirm his exit time or how many team mates he has with him. In previous years it has not been mandatory for mushers to sign out of checkpoints in this race, and I presume that is the same this year, so it is possible the exit time is not recorded. We may need to wait to see his check-in information at McGrath before we see the number of dogs he has with him.

I captured this interesting screen shot from the tracker about 25 miles ago showing the lakes and ponds in the area they were travelling in before they hit the Kuskokwim River trail.

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Another thing that is different between the Iditarod and the Yukon Quest is that, because there are no handlers following the teams, the mushers can pack “return bags” for any non-perishable supplies they want returned, for example used booties, dog jackets, human clothing etc. You can see in this screen shot Aliy going through her resupply bags and putting used or un-needed equipment into her addressed return bags.