SPK Dog Log

Allen just left Carmacks with 14 team mates after resting six hours. He is pumped to get back on the trail and to “get this thing done”.

This break turned out to be longer than the previous run time which is fairly unheard of at this stage of the race. He has purposely been giving the team lots of rest, all race, so they get to the finish line happy and healthy. It also doesn’t hurt to try to keep their speeds up and keep something in the tank because that Smokin’ Ace and Squid are getting closer.

Allen said they will see a little bit of everything on this leg. Some river, some hills, lots of lakes. 15 miles of the trail is common with the final leg so he will take notice of markings and turn-offs.

Whitney from the Visual Content Team interviewed Allen before he left and, without trying to steal her thunder, I will tell you that he told her his biggest high of the race so far is that the dogs are eating everything. It is a big deal to see them eating all you give them as you know they are feeling good and they are well fuelled for the trail ahead. Compared to last year when the dogs got a bug and weren’t eating well, this year must be such a thrill and relief for him.

Their meal this evening was really watery to help hydrate the dogs in this ‘warmer’ weather. Bridgett was nearby and said she wished she had recorded the sound as they all lapped up the water as it was so loud.

As Allen was getting the team ready he had a few ‘foibles’ to deal with. Rodney and Five are both circlers so kept getting tangled around his legs as he was trying to booty them. He had to leave Dutch’s front booties off until the very last minute as he has a tendency of ripping them off for something fun to do, and as he left he brought the team to the exit chute and let them pee. The boys like to mark things so rather than try to get them moving and have to stop a few yards down the trail, he encouraged them to go before he left.

We’ve cleaned up the team’s camp spot and packed the truck so our work here is done. We’ll grab a few hours sleep here as Carmacks is another very handler friendly checkpoint and we can stretch out on the gymnasium floor plus get good food at the “Golden Harness Cafe”. Thanks to the team of volunteers here at Carmacks, you have all worked very hard to keep everything running throughout the day and night.

At 5:48pm Allen brought 14 team mates into Carmacks looking fantastic! The run over from McCabe was around 5.5 hours and they will stay here a while to top up the rest they took there.

I was able to make good use of the wifi that the Quest Logistics team sets up in each checkpoint to FaceTime with Aliy (who is back at the kennel completing the Iditarod food drop bags) as the team arrived. She saw them arrive and I walked up and down the line as Allen was checking in so she could see those 14 happy faces. Pixie Ingram from the PR team then helped me get the phone close amongst the crowd for Allen’s media interviews, so it was almost as good as being there.

All three of us helped park the team behind the community centre as it is can be a tricky manoeuvre to bring them into the yard and take them on a big U-turn so they are facing the correct direction when they leave. Allen bed them down and fed them plenty of snacks, they are still eating everything as their metabolism kicked into efficient 1000-mile mode about 500 miles ago.

The temperature here is climbing with Allen remarking, as he was going about his arrival routine, “man it’s warm here”. I believe it is about -20F and forecast to get warmer and warmer as they head south over the next couple of days.

Dinner for Allen was pulled pork with coleslaw and potato salad with a jug of water followed by a nap. He said the sleep in McCabe made a huge difference and this nap will add to that and make him feel great for the trail ahead.

The conversation around the table now includes the finish line. We talk about the plan for the the next couple of runs and now, that includes Whitehorse. We all know that ANYTHING can and does happen in the Yukon Quest so we are certainly still checking the tracker and doing calculations to see where Matt, Paige and the chasing bunch are.

The next 78 mile section from Carmacks to Braeburn in the past has been a “long run”. This run has taken Allen and his team as long as 12-14 hours. He is hoping and anticipating with the rest he has built up to shorten this run significantly.

They’re on a perfect run-rest schedule with the temperatures climbing as they will be running in the cool of the night. Man, what a difference 24 hours makes – we were talking about how to keep them warm and now we are talking about how to keep them cool.

The team will start their run on overland trails with a good base despite low snow conditions. They go across multiple lakes and there was no overflow noted by the trail breakers last time they were in the area. There has also been reports of multiple moose on the trail and in the willows; so our 14 furry friends and one human will need to keep their eyes peeled as to what is lurking beyond the trail.

What’s waiting in Braeburn? The teams have a mandatory eight hour rest there and the dogs will get a thorough exam from the vet team. It will also be important in this final rest to walk the dogs around a bit to warm up as they won’t have rested that long since Dawson. For Allen there will be burgers the size of dinner plates and for us – the famous Braeburn Cinnamon buns! I’ll be sure to get pictures.

It was lovely to spend so much time at McCabe Creek this morning and enjoy the hospitality from the Kruse family.

Around 6.10am the team trotted into McCabe and the dogs did not immediately flop down ready for a rest, they were still milling around watching what Allen was doing, ready to continue if he asked. As soon as he brought their bale of straw over, however, they knew that meant a stop and they were quick to make their nests amongst the straw and curl up together.

Allen himself was is good spirits but pleased to be at McCabe with the prospect of a good rest for the team and for him. He gave each dog poultry skin snacks, which they all ate enthusiastically, took booties off and prepared their meal for later. There is no resupply at McCabe so he had brought everything with him to sustain the team.

One thing I particularly love to watch is Allen working with the dogs. We all know those inherent “dog people” that unconsciously stroke a dogs head or scratch their ears? While Allen was taking booties off, even though he was cold and tired and his fingers were frozen, he was tenderly petting and speaking to each dog as he went. That is what drew me to this sport more than anything. The relationship between mushers and their dogs.

Allen then came inside, hung all his clothing and mitts up in front of the wood stove, had a big bowl of stew and lay down on the mattress at the back of the room. He was asleep within moments. It was a nice, quiet place to be with just a couple vets, officials and the family. Everyone enjoyed a sleep for a few hours and woke feeling human again.

Allen rested the team for six hours and they certainly enjoyed their sleep also, especially for a time they were right in the sunshine sheltered amongst the trees and out buildings. Although it is still pretty chilly in this part of the world it is no where near as frigid as Dawson so the dogs were able to stretch out a little and relax. The truck thermometer told us it was around -30F.

McCabe farm has a few horses (you may remember Aliy’s story about the horses from last year’s YQ300) and once it got light Spark had a good view of them through the trees from his sleeping spot. He decided that he needed to keep an eye on them as he likely couldn’t figure out what they were and why none of us were concerned about them. Kodiak is decidedly in love with Spark on this race so wanted to keep guard with him but he was still sleepy. It was really comical to watch Kodiak sitting up, leaning on Spark and nodding off every now and again.

We carry dog cards with us to give out to children we see along the way and the Kruse grandchildren were fascinated with our team. They asked a lot of really great questions and Bridgett told them about each dog. Driver was a favourite!

After their nap, the team ate every scrap of their hot breakfast before heading back down the trail at 12:10pm. We are pleased to see them travelling at good speeds along the Yukon towards Carmacks. As we drove past the river we were able to see the some of the jumbled ice the trail team alerted the mushers to. The bergs are not huge but there are a lot of them so it will be a challenge picking their way through the trail.

We expect to see them this evening and they will most likely stay here a while to rest.

Here are a few portraits from McCabe:

We have just seen Allen and 14 team mates pull into Pelly Crossing and go out the other side. The northern lights came out just as he arrived adding to the excitement.

Having had over five hours rest in Stepping Stone we fully expected he would go through this checkpoint. Allen stopped the team for around 20 minutes so he could go through his drop bags and get supplies for the trail ahead.

He took kibble, meat snacks and booties for the team and dry gloves for himself. He checked booties and jackets and tangles. Of course Rodney and Five got tangled as they waited because they are both ‘circlers’, so he had to sort that out before he left.

Allen said he had no worries about any dog, they were all still eating really well and we watched as they were barking and squeaking to go while he was busy. They were very alert and looking down the trail, ready to keep going.

As the first musher to Pelly Crossing, Allen was presented with these amazing wolf mitts from an elder of the Selkirk First Nation people, made by local artist Don Trudeau.

They truly are beautiful and he will treasure them.

There is a story behind them and, as I understand it, this wolf was killed in self defence.

We are thankful to the Selkirk First Nation for welcoming the Quest onto their lands. We appreciate your hospitality.

While we were waiting for the team to come in, Bridgett and I had a fascinating conversation with Frida, a local woman who has volunteered for the Quest for a number of years. She told us about how her Grandfather WALKED over to Pelly Crossing from Fort Yukon, AK area when he was young and met and married her Grandmother. As we were trying to work out how long it would be before he was in by using the tracker and pen and paper, Frida worked it out by reeling off the names of the native fish camps he had to pass before getting here – she was more accurate than us.

From here it looks most likely they will run the approx 27 miles to McCabe Creek Dog Drop and have a long rest there. The recent trail report said lots of glare ice and beaver dams on the ponds north of McCabe but thankfully there was no open water (at the time of the report) – dry feet!!

McCabe Creek is a family farm run by the Kruse Family. They are great supporters of the race and very welcoming to dogs, mushers and handlers. We will head there now and enjoy their hospitality as we wait for the team. There is no cell coverage there so you won’t hear from us for a bit.

From McCabe, the next stop is Carmacks, around 50 miles away. This is where the trail rejoins the Yukon River. Although here is not much jumble ice, there has been little snow so the icebergs are sharp and hazardous. It is on this kind of trail where you want a really good gee-haw leader, i.e. you want a steering wheel in front of you. Allen has the luxury of a number of great gee-haws on the team. The trail then follows the bush trail to “Yukon Crossing” and evidently there are more willows so more bobbing and weaving! The rest of the trail is reportedly excellent.

I’ll update as soon as I can. Remember to keep an eye on the GPS tracker and Facebook page. There is also a Quest Flickr page that has many of the amazing images the visual content team have created.

Don’t be alarmed folks, Allen is not off the trail. This year the trail is going along the river and not over hilly land route as in previous years. I believe they are right where they’re supposed to be.

Right now the team is resting at Stepping Stone hospitality stop. By all accounts “hospitality” is an understatement here as it is “rated by Mush-elin”.

Check out the Stepping Stone Facebook page for some fantastic pics of the team arriving and settling in for a rest in the sun. Where they are resting looks like an island. It is a clear patch surrounded by trees up off the river where the sun is beaming through the trees. The dogs are basking in the sunshine, stretching out their muscles and smiling in their sleep.

There is a warm cabin for Allen to go into with lasagna, burritos and nice hot water for musher and dogs. It is often a difficult place for mushers to go by without being tempted to stop.

The run through the Black Hills took the team around 10 hours so we expect they will stay a while in Stepping Stone.

Next up for the team is the run into Pelly. Leaving Stepping Stone they will run 35 miles on the Pelly River. It will not be run on the hilly bush trail as in previous years because the river has frozen well this year – there is some jumbled ice but it is not significant and not expected to cause any difficulties to the team.

Once they arrive in Pelly they will have gone 210 miles since last contact with the road system and Allen’s first resupply point. It’s the first time since Dawson we will get to see those 15 faces, so we are excited to greet them later tonight.

The temperatures in Pelly are WARMING. The -40-50F that we have had for the last few days are subsiding and there is some heat to the sun at -20F.

Pelly Crossing is a welcoming checkpoint for mushers and handlers alike. It is based in the Selkirk Nation Link community centre and the “Questeraunt” will serve hot food and beverages. The hall, currently fairly empty, will soon fill up with handler teams, volunteers, vets, spectators and fans.

As we expect it to be dark by the time the team arrives I took a few pics in the daylight to show you what the checkpoint looks like.

In this panorama view you can see the straw bales to the left, in front is the parking area (likely over the berm you can see) then on the right is the checkpoint building and drop bags.

We’re going to make use of the facilities here and have some dinner, catch a nap and be ready for the team’s arrival later this evening. Refresh, refresh, refresh.

At this point in the race, pretty much what we know is what you know. We have no contact with the team and spend our time scrutinising the tracker and the analytics that come with it. Here’s what we have figured out…

Since we saw the team leave they climbed up over King Solomon’s Dome at a good speed, descended and camped at the Indian River at the base of the Dome for a couple of hours. I found a video from 2015 when Allen took a GoPro with him up the hill. They are travelling in the opposite direction in this video but it will give you an idea of the spectacular 360 degree views up there.

Allen took straw with him for the express purpose of camping there so the dogs will have enjoyed a warm nap after their hot meal. Allen said he didn’t expect he would even try to get his sleeping bag out, a two hour stop doesn’t really afford him much time to sleep but he would have rested a little, in-between tending to the dogs.  He took a couple of “real” seam-sealed meals with him to heat up in the dog-water. He took a chicken pesto for first camp and moose lasagna for second camp.

After their rest, they continued over the hills and pulled into Scroggie Creek Dog Drop between 11pm-12 midnight. Scroggie isn’t an official checkpoint so times in and out are not recorded so these are by our calculations looking at the tracker. To us, it looks like they stayed a good five hours there, which is great news. Allen was keen to keep the dogs rested and moving forward so this rest will have been amazing.

We have had official word that Allen left there with all 14 team mates, which is great news. Anyone he might have been worried about, even for anything minor, he wouldn’t have been keen to risk carrying them for 100 miles.

Allen’s going to be seeing a lot of interesting things along this trail. They are travelling near an active trapline and expect to see plenty of moose and wolves in the area. The trail breakers cautioned that along the Steward River trail is lots of willows and they are right at musher head height so to beware of being hit in the face along this area! There will be a lot of bobbing and weaving going on so we anticipate him having no trouble staying awake on this section. Another hazard along the Yukon Quest Trail!

Right now they are climbing the “endless” Black Hills so we will expect to see their speed varying. We are envisaging Chena, Champ and Nomex screaming in delight going up the hills which amps the rest of the team up to continue pushing.

Next stop for the team is likely to be Stepping Stone Hospitality Stop. Next stop for us is Pelly Crossing Checkpoint to continue watching the tracker. Once we leave Dawson we will have radio silence for a while so for that period you will know more than we do!

Thanks Dawson, it’s been amazing! Thank you to the team at the Downtown Hotel for taking good care of us and making us food at all hours of the day!