Other news at Stinkypup is Decker’s radial subluxation. On Monday June 21st, Decker got beat up during a puppy party. Greg wasn’t around, so it was just me who pulled one dog off & hooked them up, pulled another dog off & hooked them up, and so on. I’m not sure who started the fight, but many snouts were involved, including Monkey, Pumpkin, Capella, Spike, Chester, Rocket, Ahab, Zeus, Nikki and Roo. All ten dogs were pulling and jumping and tugging on poor little Decker. Dog fights suck.

After I got everyone back on their chains I fed them, and then tended to Decker’s wounds. She had a couple of puncture wounds, which I shaved and cleaned. When Greg came home he helped me tend to the rest of her wounds. She had a long laceration on her back leg and bleeding puncture wound near her left armpit. We cleaned her up, gave her Rimadyl, Tramodol & Cephlex and put her in the pen. We’ve seen a lot worse, but were keeping an eye on her. She didn’t eat much on Tues. Wed. she ate a little and her wrist began to swell. We put ice on her wrist, which helped the swelling a lot. On Thurs. her entire arm began to swell. We iced it and the swelling went down, but she wasn’t getting better.

On Fri. we brought her to the emergency vet, who thought she just had a bad infection. She gave us Clavamox (a stronger antibiotic). Although the swelling went down, we now noticed she wasn’t bearing any weight on her leg and her wrist was floppy. She was breathing hard (a sign of pain in dogs), but I thought she was just too hot.

On Tues. we brought her to Dr. Flemme at Mt. McKinley animal hospital. Flemme is an expert in canine orthopaedics. He diagnosed her with lateral radial subluxation. He took e-xrays to confirm the problem. We left her at the vet and he was able to manually reduce the injury (meaning put the bones back where they were supposed to be without having to do surgery).

She needs to stay in a crate for 10 days and she’s quite uncomfortable. After that we’ll move her outside to the pen. I already told her she can move inside, but I think she prefers living outside with her sisters. She’s a shy girl.

Decker sporting a $200 cast.

Decker

So, that’s the current news from the StinkyPup ranch. Magic is adjusting to his cropped tail (I still need to take some pics), and of course, we all desperately miss Sam.

Luke also went for a vet visit today. The vet wasn’t sure if he has a torn muscle or if it could be having back problems. Instead of doing ex-rays right away, the vet prescribed Methocarbanol (500mg every 8 hours). Methocarbanol is a muscle relaxant. Luke’s back thighs are very muscular and super tight.

Higgs and Luke added incredible strength to our “A” team. They are both big dogs (70lbs), who usually run in wheel and carry the team. With Rocket & Decker (a great leader) on bed rest due to a shoulder or wrist injuries, and Asa off the “A” team because he doesn’t like to run without his brother and he doesn’t like to run with Greg, we are left with Nikki, Chevy, Ahab, Capella, Zeus, Spike (who has harness rub on her chest), and Roo (who can’t run more than 100 miles). Soooo, my secret plan to run the Chatanika 200 and possibly the Quest 300 isn’t looking good this year.

Scott and I did recon the day before on the snow machine, to confirm the trail was in, and check out snow conditions. We were doing a 20-mile trip, from a parking area at Mile 42 on the Steese Highway. The trail was in, and had been used a few times within the past week. Snow was sufficient, and the cabin was nice and had plenty of tie-out room for dogs. (The Bureau of Land Management web site hadn’t been updated since December 16, when the trail had not yet been assessed by BLM staff.)

Scott contributed two of his dogs, Nike and Panda (short for Pandemonium) so that we could either have one team of 10, or two teams of 5. Ilana wanted to take Chester, so decided to ski in with Chester as a ski-jor dog. We got to the trailhead around 10:45 Monday morning (as the sun was rising), and Ilana started skiing a few minutes afterward. I left about an hour later, and Scott and Maureen left an hour after that (it takes awhile to get dogs bootied and harnessed, and the snow machine’s sled packed, but we had guessed I would be the slower team). This trail is uphill for about 7 miles — not often steep, and sometimes flat or slightly down, but mostly uphill. Ilana made excellent progress, and had gone almost 10 miles by the time I caught up with her, an hour after I started.

Trail conditions were good. Ilana needed to keep Chester close, so that he didn’t get caught in a trap. Trapping is legal on this federal land, as long as there is signage indicating there is trapping going on (there was). It’s legal on state land, which was the first 7 miles of the trail, without any signage. We saw, and smelled, multiple traps which were often just a few bandwidths off the trail. Yech.

Skiing was challenging for Ilana, and she got blisters early on. I passed Ilana, then Scott passed me. A little while later, Maureen passed me, too. I arrived in camp around 3:00 pm, a little more than 3 hours after starting. Scott and Maureen were there for about 1/2 hour before me, and, surprise! Ilana arrived within another hour. We bedded the dogs in straw, snacked then fed them, and gave them a little rubdown.

The cabin, like others in the White Mountains, requires a free advance reservation. It was snug, with sleeping room for 6 (or more, including a loft). It came with a dual-fuel Coleman lantern, a propane stove, and a wood-burning barrel stove. We stoked the stove and got comfy for the evening. As often happens with winter camping, we were all starting to fall asleep over our dinners by 6:30 pm, but rallied and had a game of Cribbage and some conversation. Still, we settled down by 9:30 or so. Scott had some barkers, so it was tough to snooze soundly all the night through.

I fed the stove before bed, so the cabin stayed reasonably warm all night. Probably close to 50F at dinnertime, then barely below freezing overnight (we left some water out, and it did not ice over). People started getting up by 9:00 am, and after a leisurely morning we were on the trail by 11:30 am. I was the lead team again, and was not passed. I made it back to the parking area by 2:00 pm, about 1/2 hour faster than the trip in. There were fewer Asa shenanigans on the way out (though there were some).

One of the nicest parts, in both directions, was watching the incredibly long sunset, with the moon rising. The sun was setting to the SSW, and the moon was rising almost directly opposite, to the NNE. The moon is nearly full, which means (by definition) that it’s opposite the sun. But from the hilltops, with really long twilight and dawn, we got an unparalleled view of this celestial display. The weather was perfect: clear, with lows around -12F and highs on the hilltops of maybe +15F. We encountered just a couple of people on the trail, who appeared to be workers doing some trail maintenance. The cabin logbook, though, showed that the cabin had been in constant use for the past few weeks.

For the trip home, I took Chester with me. He free-ran for the first 4-5 miles, where we hadn’t seen signs of trapping. After that, I put him on an extensible leash, and kept him close to the sled. Ilana rode in the snow machine with Maureen. They arrived just a few minutes after me, and Scott got there 1/2 hour later. We packed up, and drove home. All the dogs seem to be happy, healthy, tired, hungry and uninjured. Tracey, our dog sitter, had taken care of the home gang. Tomorrow, we’ll be back on the trails of Two Rivers.

But Decker has a sprained wrist, and has been off training for over two weeks. We’ll ease her in again next week. She’s a champion lead dog, and seems rather depressed to not be running.

Simba got pulled off the “A” team last season, due to a persistent shoulder injury. So, we eased him in this year, and included lots of stretching and massage. But no luck: the injury is still there.

Roo is good for training, but only pulls for 20 miles or so. After that, she can keep up, but doesn’t work. Definitely more of a sprint dog.

I was worried about Asa (he’s getting older, and had a persistent resistance to running with me, last year), but he and brother Higgs are still pulling strong and true.

The most recent loss is Luke. We are not sure what’s going on, but he did poorly on Saturday, then on Sunday simply wouldn’t pull (he was getting tugged by his neckline). He is sort of limpy, and sort of looks constipated, and we are not sure what’s up. We’ll let him keep resting for a few more days before visiting the vet (we have not had a week without at least two vet trips in 5 or 6 weeks!).

So the current “A” team (in the typical pairs we run them in):

Chevy, Nicki
Ahab, Rocket (who I’m not that sure about…he seems to overheat)
Capella, Zeus
Higgs, Asa
Roo (good spunkiness, but limited miles)
Spike (used to run with Luke)

We might get Phanty trained up. He’s only a yearling, and really doesn’t have much of a clue about anything, but seems to have potential. Also, I hope Decker will get back into training again. Bottom line is that today, we have 10 “A” team dogs, and maybe three others (Decker, Phanty, Luke) who might get back onto the “A” team.

The next day (March 21) we got up late, and eventually left camp at around 1pm. We were following the trail that had  started at the park headquarters. Since this year was such a big snow year, the bad section of overflow and glare ice (around 1 mile after park headquarters), wasn’t bad at all. Soon the trail petered out and we were following a ski trail. The snow was very deep, so I put on my snow shoes and broke trail, then ran back and mushed with my snow shoes still on. Repeat process.

Unfortunately, the ski trail we were following let us to the park road and the road had just been plowed. It snowed a little bit the night before, so the road had some snow cover on it. We cruised down the road to the Savage River camp site. We stopped to set up camp (around 4:00pm), and it took us a long time to melt snow and take care of dogs– but at least this time we were able to do chores in the daylight. We kept Sam and Bruno, with the rest of the dogs, on tie-outs and let Chester and Storm free. Storm was very needy.

After a night of endless whining from Bruno, we woke up at around 9am and began morning chores. After chores, we scouted a possible route back to headquarters that would have led us through Jenny Creek. There was a lot of open water on the creek, as well as no-snow spots, and we didn’t see a definitive trail, so we decided to head back the same way we came out. We saw HUGE wolf tracks and tons of fresh wolf scat; HUGE bunny tracks; and a big fat bird that was waiting for us to leave camp.

We probably left camp around 2pm and were quite bummed to see that the road had been plowed again– and this time it was plowed to the asphalt. We mushed for around 1/4 mile on the road (Yuk) and eventually got back to sections of the road that had some snow. We found the turn off for the ski trail, and with a little maneuvering got the teams to make the turn. The rest of the mush home was uneventful.

Dogs

We brought 21 pulling dogs and one fun dog (Chester).

Days 1 & 2

Ilana

1. Nikki / Chevy (no one wants to run next to Chevy because he nips at his running mate)
2. Ahab / Decker
3. Rattles / Simba
4. Asa / Higgs
5. Peetie / Red

Greg

1. Frankie / Storm
2. Dutchess / Rocket
3. Sam / Bruno
4. Roo
5. Monkey / Pumpkin
6. Luke /Spike

Day 3

Ilana

1. Nikki/ Chevy
2. Frankie / Dutchess
3. Sam / Bruno
4. Monkey / Pumpkin
5. Asa / Higgs

Greg

1. Decker/ Storm
2. Ahab/ Rocket
3. Rattles / Simba
4. Roo
5. Peetie / Red
6. Luke /Spike

Trip Planning
Since I was traumatized by Spot being killed, Greg was in charge of packing and trip planning. I don’t know the exact amounts of what he brought– but it was a lot of food. For dog food he brought two 40lb bags of kibble, a block of turkey skins, Champagne race meat, energy pack, 42 pieces of big fish, some left over snacks from the Serum run (which Peetie, Sam, Bruno, and Chester stole from my sled) and some fat. We came back with most of the turkey, race meat, energy back, and 30lbs of kibble).

Gear

• Our Mountain Hardware winter tent is great, however our 20+F sleeping bags really aren’t appropriate for -20F.
• Once again we had stove problems. Greg purchased a pump for our MSR stove, but there are two separate pumps for the Whisper Lite and the DragonFly, so the pump he bought didn’t work with the stove we brought. We also had issues with our Colman stove.  Note to self: bring fire starter paste!

Throughout the nine days of the trip we were plagued with obstacles. Below is a run-down of the days and some of the challenges we encountered.

Day 0 (Sat. Feb. 21, 2009): One of our experienced snow machiners, traveling from Nome to Nenana, never made it to the start of the Serum Run in Nenana. His machine broke down near Kaltag and a search plane was sent to look for him. He was found and was flown to Unakleet where he is waiting for a snow machine part. Once his machine is fixed he’ll meet us on the trail.

Day 1 (Sun. Feb 22, 2009 : Nenana to Old Minto : 28 miles): Mushers and snow machiners are scheduled to leave at 10:00am when the train from Fairbanks arrives in Nenana and hands us the serum. The train is late. I’m not sure what time the train actually arrived, but my guess is that we left Nenana around 11:30am.

• Travel by dog team from Nenana to Old Minto took a long time due to lots of snow on the trail and because it was warm day with temperatures between 20-25 above. The snow was “punchy,” meaning that a trail hadn’t been broken out and the dogs waded through deep snow.
• When the StinkyPups arrived at Old Minto, the scene was somewhat disorganized. Veterans of the Serum Run had a clue to what should happen, but the newbie machiners and mushers didn’t know what to do regarding where and how to hook up dogs, get water, and get settled.
• The StinkyPups ran well, but they didn’t want to eat a full dinner. They ate huge pieces of Salmon and snacks and nibbled on kibble.
• Jack, one of Von’s dogs, pulled a tendon in his back leg and rode in the sled for much of today.
• Heather and I slept in our tent. Kudos to Heather for setting up the tent herself as I was involved in a talking circle about stroke with the residents of Old Minto.
• Some of the Serum Run group unintentionally drank untreated water from the river.
• Some of  machiners had a difficult day due to stuff falling off their cargo sleds and getting stuck in deep snow.

Day 2 (Mon. Feb 23, 2009 : Old Minto to Beaver Point Lodge : 29 miles): The trail from Old Minto to Beaver Point Lodge was great! Erin had mentioned that mushers would love this section of trail, but machiners may it find difficult.

• The trail had lots of fun twists and turns.  Several mushers got “stumped” as we headed around a tight corner, encountered a bad turn, a tree stump and a bridge. As the StinkyPups rounded the turn, we heard Val yell out to us not to continue forward. I stopped the team and Val’s sled was turned on her side. After Val got her team moving, my break was caught on a tree stump. As I was lifting the sled up, Rob came around the corner and I yelled out for him to stop.  I unstumped myself and continued on.  Rob didn’t have any problems making the turn and crossing the bridge.
• In the evening we found out that on a previous Serum Run, Erin hit her head on a tree while maneuvering this turn.
• Beaver Point Lodge was a wonderful place to stay! The new owners, Marty and Miles  treated us with tremendous hospitality, as did the old owners Patricia and Greg. Kudos to Marty for cooking delicious vegan meals.
• Cap’s snow machine broke down 7 miles from Old Minto. Chris and Greg (former Beaver Point Lodge owner)  head back to fetch the machine; they are unable to retrieve it. They arrive back at Beaver Point Lodge around 1:30am.

Day 3 (Tues. Feb 24, 2009 : Beaver Point Lodge to Manley : 32 miles): Another great day for dog teams and a frustrating day for machiners. Dog teams left around a half hour after two snow machiners acting as trail breaks. Many teams had a hilarious start with dogs knocking over handlers and trying to run every which way on the huge lake that the Lodge sits on.

• Soon after departing, I ran into Drs. Brian and Jerry. Jerry’s machine broke down (although I didn’t know it at the time). They helped me get my dogs passed them and on we went. The trail was marked with HUGE tripods.
• The StinkyPups had a great day and traveled well. Val told me about the same trick Scott uses, which is to throw them a handful of kibble and give them straw after they eat. This method seemed to work okay, however they still pooh-poohed their soaked kibble and preferred to eat soaked salmon and snacks.
• Greg drove up from Fairbanks to Manley and the all of the StinkyPups were super glad to see him!
• The evening was a little disorganized. Our 8pm meeting didn’t happen until 9:15pm. At the meeting we learned that Jerry’s machine broke down and Cap was thinking of purchasing a machine from someone in Manley. At the meeting it was suggested that the mushers move on ahead and the machiners catch up with the mushers, but this idea did not go over well with most of the group– they did not want to split up the group.  The trip leaders decide that it will be best for us to wait another day in Manley while Cap looks into purchasing a machine and Jerry gets his machine fixed.

Day 4 (Wed. Feb 25, 2009 : Layover in Manley): Many of us enjoyed the day in Manley. Some went to the hot springs, others did laundry, and others enjoyed the flush toilets at the wash-o-teria. The folks in Manley were quite generous in bringing food and allowing us to take over the school gym. We had a small career day with the 10 students of the Manley school, and we each introduced ourselves and told the kids what we did. Some of us met with the kids individually and talked to them about our careers. I spoke with a young lady about climbing, and showed her several important knots (figure eight and figure eight follow-through, bowline, and the fisherman’s knot).

• Greg took off in the morning after career day. He took Jack, Von’s dog, with him.
• Brad, Heather’s hubby, saved the day by driving up from Fairbanks to Manley and delivering a part for Jerry’s machine. He was crazy enough to drive back to Fairbanks that night– the road had overflow, snow, and a storm was coming in.
• Through the rumor mill, we unofficially hear that our contact in White Mountain had a fatal house fire, where four members of the household died.
• Several group members are feeling ill and have diarrhea.

Day 5 (Thurs. Feb 26, 2009 : Manley to Tanana: 59 miles): Today was an extremely long day. The StinkyPups left Manley at 11:40am. It took us around 8-9 hours to run 59 miles. The first 18 miles of the trail had been plowed down to dirt, so it was hard on the dogs’ feet, but we made good time. There were some great rolling hills– which the StinkyPups love.

• Before I left, one of Don’s lead dogs dropped to the ground. It was traumatic to watch. All of a sudden I saw a dog go down and someone doing CPR and rescue breathing. The next thing I saw was Dr. Jerry holding the dog– it was alive!! The scene was very scary, and thankfully the dog was okay. What happened was a tug line or neck line had strangled the dog and it dropped due to asphyxiation. Since the dog was okay, Don put the dog back in lead around 20 miles into the run.
• The trail was marked with the same tripods we encountered on our way to Manley. This was a good thing because it was snowing quite a bit and very windy on Fish Lake. Fish Lake was a huge lake that continued on and on and on. The dogs worked well and hard as they slogged through the snow, and our speed was about 6.5 mph. They enjoyed big chunks of Salmon and turkey skins for snacks.
• Roo was getting tired at the end of the run, and I put her in a sled bag for the last 15 miles.
• Paul Erhardt met us out on the trail (just about the time I put Roo in the sled bag) and told us he was going to be our guide from Tanana to Ruby.

Day 6  (Fri. Feb 27, 2009 : Tanana: Layover): While packing up in the morning, Erin stopped by to ask how I felt about staying in Tanana an extra day. The trail from Tanana to Ruby has been covered over and the snow is incredibly deep.  By staying and extra day, the dogs would run two 60+ mile days instead of running 42, 45, 35, and 50 mile days. I said that I’d prefer to keep to the original schedule, but would do what the group wanted.

• The group is called together for a meeting and it’s determined that we will layover in Tanana. Serum Run organizers hire Paul and some other guys from town to put in a trail from Tanana to Ruby. The theory is that the trail will set overnight and we’ll have a good trail to ride on tomorrow.
• Later in the day, it begins to snow.
• Paul and the guys come back from their run. They didn’t make it to Ruby, but made it to Mason Slough, just passed Bone Yard Cabin– around 46 miles from Tanana.
• It continues to snow, covering up the trail they just put in.

Day 7  (Sat. Feb 28, 2009 : Mushers and Machiners split up): While packing up in the morning we’re told that we need to have a group meeting. It’s already 9:30am. The organizers tell us about the poor trail conditions– that the trail Paul put in has been covered up and that we’re supposed to get more storms. We are presented with four options:

• Option 1 is to fly the dogs from Tanana to Ruby and have the snow machiners drive 120 miles in one day to catch up with us . The theory is that the two 60+ mile runs will be quite difficult on the dogs due to soft snow. Dogs running in such conditions could get shoulder injuries.
• Option 2 is to due short runs on the river. This option was prefaced with the possibility of dogs running out of food and having to camp on the river for three nights in cold temperatures.
• Option 3 is to wait another day or two, but this would put us way behind schedule. We are told that if we’re behind by several days, we’ll have an impossible time leaving Nome because Iditarod will be ending while we’re in Nome. We may have to wait two weeks to fly out of Nome.
• Option 4 is to mush back to Manley and possibly fly from Manley to Unakleet.

The decision is left for the mushers to decide. The mushers meet and a decision was made to fly the dogs to Ruby and have the machiners meet up with us.  My first preference was option #2, but I agreed with option #1 because my pups  were tired and I thought that by flying them, they’d get a nice break.

• By the end of the afternoon, six of the eight dog teams and mushers flew from Tanana to Ruby. Two teams stayed in Tanana because there were no more flights going out that day.
• When we arrived in Ruby, Billy and Francis met us at the airstrip and helped get our dogs down to the Ruby community center. It was quite windy. There was no straw for the dogs.
• I sent Roo home with Chris, the pilot from Wright Air. She flew from Ruby to Fairbanks.
• Group members continue to get sick.

Day 8  (Sun. Mar 1, 2009 : Ruby to Galena : 58 miles): A beautiful day for mushing on the Yukon River. The trail is soft, but mushable. It took the StinkyPups around 10-11 hours to mush the 58 miles.

• Six dog teams and their respective mushers (Kathy, Val, Ilana, Margaret, Von, Don) pack up and get ready to leave Ruby and mush to Galena.
• Trip organizers hire Billy and a couple of other locals to act as trail break and trail sweep.
• To get down the windy hill in Ruby, individual dog teams are hooked to snow machines and escorted down the streets of Ruby to the river.
• The plan for the rest of the trip is unknown. We know that:
  • Erin and Rob plan on flying to Galena with their dogs;
  • During an attempt to snow machine from Tanana to Ruby, one of the snow machiners had chest pains and was medivaced out of Tanana.
  • Snow machiners are still having a difficult time in the deep snow.
  • The goal for the six mushers and dog teams in Ruby is to make it to Galena by the end of the day.
• Trail sweeps take off, leave the group, and head on to Galena.

Day 9  (Mon. Mar 2, 2009 : The Trip Ends): Mushers meet at 9:30am to discuss our options. The musher coordinator tells us that the snow machiners are having a difficult time, and that:

• One of the machiners was med-evaced out of Tanana due to chest pain.
• The trail hasn’t improved and more storms on on the way.
• That the machiners a have tried to leave Tanana three times.
• The machiners have low morale.
• That Heather, my snow machine partner, will probably not continue on.
• That the Kaltag portage section of the trail has deep snow and no trail.

After the group is presented with the information above, we’re asked to make a decision on whether or not we want to proceed.  Before everyone has a say in the matter, Kent calls and the next thing we know, the trip is off. Apparently, a local from Tanana had headed off to Ruby via snow machine and “never made it.” A search party was sent out for him. This bit of information seemed to be the deciding factors in the trip leaders calling off the trip.

Day 10  (Tues. Mar 3, 2009 : StinkyPups fly Home): Greg flew from Fairbanks to Galena on a group charter flight (Wright Air). The gang helped me get the StinkyPups to the airport (only 1/4 mile away), and help to load the pups and sled onto the plane. Greg, the pups and I left Galena at around 1:00pm and arrived in Fairbanks a few hours later.

I visited Ilana and the crew in Manley, which was a nice trip to the end of the Elliott Highway. More news is on the Serum Run site, including a blog, message board (where you can send messages to your favorite musher: Ilana!), and GPS trackers to follow the expedition every day.

Storm and Simba stayed home, due to shoulder injuries limiting their multi-day endurance. That makes for a team of 10 dogs, plus Ilana and Heather. The dogs are all eating well and doing fine. They are: Decker, Chevy, Nicki, Roo, Higgs, Asa, Rocket, Ahab, Luke and Storm. Weather is fine, and the trail has been good so far.

Heather’s snow machine is ready, and will haul a huge sled with lots of gear. Ilana’s dog sled will also have days of booties, first aid (for dogs, people, and the sled), food, dog jackets, and more. It’s a major expedition, and both challenging and fun.

The route is 50 miles one way, then a 4-hour layover at Angel Creek (mile 57 Chena Hot Springs Road), then the same route in reverse. From the starting point at the Pleasant Valley store (mile 22 CHSR), we headed west to trails that Ilana and I use quite a lot, for a loop around the Jenny M. hill, then back east through the extensive (and confusing!) Two Rivers trail system. From there, a road crossing at mile 27 puts us on the winter trail (the Yukon Quest trail), paralleling CHSR all the way to Angel Creek. So, about 30 miles from the road crossing to Angel Creek, and about 20 miles in the Two Rivers trail system.

Temperatures were as high as 10 degrees or so above zero during midday, but mostly were -5 to zero until the return trip, when temps dropped to -15 or so. Very nice weather for mushing. I saw some northern lights on the return trip, though they were faint. This was the shortest day of the year, and in fact I had great views of the sun barely climbing above the horizon (around 11am) and then setting (before 3:00 pm). There was one incredible photo moment when I was heading directly south, with another musher ahead of me, into the midday sun — with the sun barely above the horizon. Too bad I didn’t have a camera.

Overall, I finished #25 out of 27 mushers who completed the race (two mushers scratched during the race, and there was another field of 5 mushers who did a one-way 50 mile race instead). I was quite pleased with my team, and happy with my times: about 5h 25m for the first leg, then about 6h for the second leg. This is a steady pace of 8-10 mph, which is the speed we’ve been training the dogs to run. It was a field of mushing luminaries, including Jodi Bailey, Lance Mackey, Ally Zirkle, and many other competitive mushers. Also some less competitive ones like the StinkyPups. A good time was had by all.

The snow was great — we had some fresh snow that was packed, but not too hard. There was literally zero overflow (open/flowing liquid water), which was a first for my use of the trail to Angel Creek. There was a little open water in the slough (where I took my bath earlier in the year), but the trail bypassed it.

My mush was free of incidents, but I did get to help another musher who lost his team (his main line broke, so his team ran off without him and his sled). The trail was exceptionally well marked.

The team lineup on the way to Angel Creek: Dekker & Chevy in lead, Ahab & Storm, Higgs & Rattles, Rocket, Luke & Spike, and Nikki & Roo.
On the way back: Dekker & Chevy in lead, Nikki & Roo, Rattles & Ahab, Rocket, Luke & Spike, Higgs & Storm.

Dekker & Chevy are very steady leaders. The only dogs who had trouble on the way back were Spike (who seems to be the new Pumpkin: she likes to lollygag, and doesn’t really pull much after she’s tired), and Rattles, whose missing toe seems to be bothering him. Rattles is probably not going to be continuing with hard training for the SerumRun. Back home, Storm was limping a bit, but this isn’t unusual and she did well during the run. We’ll try to find out what’s bothering her over future days.

My last note on this is the incredible amount of time we take to put on booties. Before the race, Ilana and I started to put booties on dogs 40 minutes before my targeted start time, and didn’t finish all 11 dogs before I needed to start. Mid-race in Angel Creek, I allotted 30 minutes for the job, and ended up leaving 10 minutes after my earliest start time, to finish the job. This is for booties on 5 or 6 of our 11 dogs, not all 11. Back home, we only have a few dogs who always get booties (because they have sensitive feet, or get ice balls), while most don’t regularly get booties. So when we try to give booties to more dogs, it’s slow: they don’t cooperate as well, and it’s just a lot of work. This is something we’ll get better/faster with, over time.