SPK Dog Log

It is time to wrap up the 2020 season and move on to the future. This is the final Aliy Cam of the 2020 Iditarod.

The finish line in Nome was glorious. There was no awards ceremony or celebration but I was honored to receive my Finish Packet from an incredibly dedicated group of Iditarod folks in Nome.

These Aliy Cams are a fun and interactive way I try to share my team’s experiences on the Iditarod Trail. In the 10 days, 7 hours, 28 minutes and 30 seconds that we traveled the trail I tried to capture the real images from the wilderness, the weather and the trail.

My dogs are the center of the videos. The race revolves around them. Their individual positioning in the team varies throughout the race. I moved them around depending upon their moods and energy. Their positioning also depended upon the trail and weather conditions or other random influences. The dogs on the team are: Amber, Bruno, Chevie, Cloud, Dutch, Decaf, Five, Jefe, Junior, Kodiak, QT, Rodney, Spark, and Violet. If you watch closely, you’ll get to know their gaits or their ear “bobs” or their little quirks.

This video is a few short clips from the final three miles of the 2020 Iditarod. At the beginning, we are still on the sea ice which parallels Front Street. I pan the camera to my right and you can see spectators following us in their vehicles. When I pan quickly to the left onto the sea ice, you can make out piles of ice chunks that heave up and down when the sea moves during the season. It is easy to forget that we are traveling on ice and that it is constantly shifting and moving under us. 

The second part of the video has us climbing the rock seawall to Front Street and onto the finish. I joke that the seawall is: “The last big hill” on the race. I guess it is! It’s great fun to have spectators standing on top of the wall cheering us into Nome. Then we had to zigzag between a few cars before we finally got onto Front Street.

The Front Street police car escort on the final mile is truly special. I cannot describe the sinking sensation in my belly as we make our way to the finish line after 1,000 mile together. (It’s a double feeling: Yay we’re done = Oh no we’re done.) Dutch and Spark helped me to focus when they decided to skip the finish line ceremonies and go to the left. They knew exactly where their next bed, massage and meal were located. So they decided to skip the arch ceremony and stay left where they knew their next beds and meal were located. Come on guys… please! Then in all the excitement Jefe got tangled with a very nice woman who tried to help the team navigate the finish line chute. Shocking, eh? Jefe tangled after 1,000 miles. (By the way, that’s him with the bright green collar rubber necking this way and that during these final miles.) The team composition was: Spark and Dutch in lead, then Jefe by himself, followed by QT and Decaf, then Five and Rodney, then Junior and Cloud, with Violet and Amber in the rear.

There is a significant storm bearing down on us at this point. You can see the beginnings of its effects on the trail (or lack of trail). Increased snowfall and wind always make finding the trail challenging. You might hear my command “Look for it.” I started using this command with my retrievers when neither the dog or myself know where their toy or bone was located. This command gives a dog the idea that there is actually “something” to find (a toy or duck or the Iditarod Trail) in the area and that they need to use their senses to find it. They might look back at me (both retrievers and huskies) but if I don’t give them a direct command (hand signals or “gee/haw”) then they know that they will need to meander around a little and find it. You will see both retrievers and huskies put their noses down to the ground and search for it. More often than not, they find it. Of course, a musher has to have confidence, patience and realize that sometimes their dogs have greater skills then they do in certain situations.  

I know that you can hear me talking in this video – I hear it too – but… yea… I don’t really know what I’m saying either. I do know that I am darn excited to be just outside of Nome and about to finish the race, again. I’m probably thinking out loud about the 1,000 miles behind us and reflecting. I’m not quite crying but, I am rather emotional. No matter how many times I finish the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, the utter dedication and team work between myself and my dogs is what fuels our race. It’s not fame, glory, race placement, money… all that nonsense will come and go on a whim. But the dedication and bond that exists between me and my dogs. That is a treasure. And the confidence that my dogs have in me has made me the person that I am today.

So… that’s it. That was the season 2019-2020. Onto the future!

The race took my dogs and I over 10 days to complete. In total, I recorded only one hour of video. So these Aliy Cams are only a tiny segment of that experience. I also did not video during the most challenging trail or the worst blizzard conditions. I was too busy clinging my handlebars or navigating hazards. I also never recorded a video when I felt like it would intrude in our personal space.

Here is a map so that you can follow along.

These Aliy Cams are a fun and interactive way I try to share my team’s experiences on the Iditarod Trail. In the 10 days, 7 hours, 28 minutes and 30 seconds that we traveled the trail I tried to capture the real images from the wilderness, the weather and the trail.

My dogs are the center of the videos. The race revolves around them. Their individual positioning in the team varies throughout the race. I moved them around depending upon their moods and energy. Their positioning also depended upon the trail and weather conditions or other random influences. The dogs on the team are: Amber, Bruno, Chevie, Cloud, Dutch, Decaf, Five, Jefe, Junior, Kodiak, QT, Rodney, Spark, and Violet. If you watch closely, you’ll get to know their gaits or their ear “bobs” or their little quirks.

These are the last two videos before the Finish video. Here we are traveling on the trail that connect villages on the Western Coast of Alaska. We spent time Shaltoolik, Koyuk, Elim and White Mountain before finally reaching Nome. People in these villages are supportive and enthusiastic. They truly understand the perils of traveling through this amazing land. The kids literally fuel me with their energy and attitudes. Thank goodness, because I certainly need to refuel at this point in the race. Thanks kids!

In Episode 18: Climb for a View we are obviously in the thick of climbing. The team composition is is QT and Dutch in lead, followed by Junior by herself, followed by Decaf and Cloud, followed by Rodney and Five, followed by Spark and Jefe and Violet and Amber are together in the rear.

There are quite a few mountains in the final miles of the race. As I reread that sentence, perhaps I could add the phrase “seem to be”. Because, let’s face it, the final 200 miles of the Iditarod are both mentally and physically difficult simply because they are the final 200 miles! If the trail was pancake flat, it might seem like we are climbing Everest. So… let’s just say…there seem to be quite a few climbs toward the end of the race. Many are difficult. In this episode we are climbing Little McKinley which is just past the village of Elim. 

In Episode 19: Blizzard in the End is just that. I talked to Allen on the phone while I was in the White Mountain Checkpoint and he told me that we needed to hurry up because a big storm was coming. Well… it arrived when we weren’t quite to Nome. We were able to navigate pretty well despite the wind and snow.

Four teams came across the finish line in Nome after me and within 20 hours of my team’s finish. The blizzard kept all remaining race teams from finishing for the next 2 and 1/2 days. The race basically came to a stand still. I even heard people say: “these were the toughest blizzard conditions” the race has experienced in years. Now… while I agree that quite a few mushers were caught in horrendous weather conditions, even bad enough to get excavated by helicopter, for me, personally, I doubt that I will ever experience the blizzard conditions that I did during the end of the 2014 race. At least… I sure hope not!

Here is a extra special video. I really enjoyed seeing it. It is obviously not an Aliy Cam video. Some amazing folks, who live in Nome, took this video of my team mushing across the final 10 miles to Nome and captured our finish. Pretty neat, huh? Needless to say, I was excited to see people out in the storm! Did you catch the moving “High 5”? Seeing these snowmachiners out in the storm was very uplifting for the dogs and myself.

The team composition in this video is Spark and Dutch in lead, followed by Jefe by himself, followed by Decaf and QT, followed by Rodney and Five, followed by Cloud and Junior and Violet and Amber are together in the rear. I love seeing them as they wags their tails and greet people in Nome! I think my tail was wagging too.

The race took my dogs and I over 10 days to complete. In total, I recorded only one hour of video. So these Aliy Cams are only a tiny segment of that experience. I also did not video during the most challenging trail or the worst blizzard conditions. I was too busy clinging my handlebars or navigating hazards. I also never recorded a video when I felt like it would intrude in our personal space.

Here is a map so that you can follow along.

These Aliy Cams are a fun and interactive way I try to share my team’s experiences on the Iditarod Trail. In the 10 days, 7 hours, 28 minutes and 30 seconds that we traveled the trail I tried to capture the real images from the wilderness, the weather and the trail.

My dogs are the center of the videos. The race revolves around them. Their individual positioning in the team varies throughout the race. I moved them around depending upon their moods and energy. Their positioning also depended upon the trail and weather conditions or other random influences. The dogs on the team are: Amber, Bruno, Chevie, Cloud, Dutch, Decaf, Five, Jefe, Junior, Kodiak, QT, Rodney, Spark, and Violet. If you watch closely, you’ll get to know their gaits or their ear “bobs” or their little quirks.

These videos are taken on the Western Coast of Alaska between Shaktoolik and Golovin.

In Episode 16: Gorgeous Afternoon we have left the Shaktoolik checkpoint and are heading over to Koyuk. This section of the Iditarod Trail predominately skirts the edge the frozen ocean. As you watch the video, you can tell that we are heading north due to the vision of the sun, as it sits above the horizon, off to our left and by the amazingly long shadow of a dog team that the sun creates. Some of the sights along the trail are simply spectacular. I am fortunate to have captured this moment.

The team composition is Q.T. and Dutch in lead, followed by Junior by herself, followed by Decaf and Cloud, followed by Rodney and Five, followed by Jefe and Spark and Violet and Amber are together in the rear.

Episode 17: Storm Progression. The final few days of the Iditarod were punctuated by one storm after another. Here is the video progression of one of them. 

At 11 in the morning on March 17th, the skies looked somewhat friendly and there is little wind. An hour and a half later the ground winds increase as does the beginning of a white out. Throughout that day, we traveled many miles with little, to no visibility. I never even saw the obvious geographic trail “markers” that I’ve known from traveling the trail for 20 years – like the cabins and boats in Moses Point or the VOR station (with a brightly lit beacon). Then later that day, we found ourselves grinding through an even tougher blizzard situation. This was a semi white out ground blizzard with wind. 

The team composition at the start of the video is Q.T. and Dutch in lead, followed by Junior by herself, followed by Decaf and Cloud, followed by Rodney and Five, followed by Jefe and Spark and Violet and Amber are together in the rear. I make a change in the second clip and you might notice that I switch the positions of Decaf and Junior. When we get into the most challenging storm (towards the video end) I move Junior back up to the second position. She was a primary leader on this team and she was working hard to find the trail. During this storm when the dogs had to look for the trail, I actually talked to Junior as much as I talked to both of my lead dogs: Q.T. and Dutch.

Storms on the western coast can come and go quickly. I heard from the mushers who were traveling near me during this storm: Jeff (who was an hour ahead) didn’t run into blizzard conditions but, Kelly (who was a half hour ahead) ran into the storm that we did. Once again… I wished that we were just a little bit faster. Ha! 

The race took my dogs and I over 10 days to complete. In total, I recorded only one hour of video. So these Aliy Cams are only a tiny segment of that experience. I also did not video during the most challenging trail or the worst blizzard conditions. I was too busy clinging my handlebars or navigating hazards. I also never recorded a video when I felt like it would intrude in our personal space.

Here is a map so that you can follow along.