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Rookies Journey
January 6, 2006
“The thrill of being a dog driver is pretending to be in charge”
– Martin Buser
Boredom has never been an issue in my life and the last week and
a half has been no exception. I threw my back out over Christmas.
Would you believe I just slept wrong and it caught up with me? So
Lexi Hill and Bonnie Foster ran the dogs for me the 27th. It was
supposed to be a simple run, but it got a little more exciting than
we had planned and the drive bow (handlebar) on my sled broke. The
good news is that it happened during training rather than during
Iditarod. We took the sled back to Art Church, who built it. Art
said that it never should have broken there and fixed it for free.
I have a back up sled, but I took it apart to work on the drive
bow and haven’t had time to get it back together again. All
is well that ends well, but I lost about a day taking everything
off the sled, taking it to Art, getting it back, and putting everything
back on.
Thursday I had the sled back and was feeling better. I ran two teams
20 miles each and then again 30 miles on Friday. Sunday Lexi and
I planned a trip from Knik Lake to Yentna Station and back, about
120 miles, in preparation for the Knik 200 this weekend. After staying
up late to welcome in the New Year I was an hour late getting out
of the house, but our schedule was flexible and it really didn’t
matter.
We got to Knik Lake (and bar) about 1pm. The lake was glare ice
with two to three inches of loose snow on top. You could walk on
it if you were careful. We tied the sleds to the back of the trailer
to hold the dogs as we hooked them up, then we chopped a small hole
in the top of the ice to hold the snowhook we use to hold the front
of the team. Well trained teams don’t need this, but Lycos
is the only leader I have that will reliably hold the team out and
he was still out recovering from the injuries he received during
the Sheep Mountain race (boy do I miss him). When we left the truck
the dogs had to maneuver across the lake to the far side to catch
the outgoing trail. Some of that area was just glare ice. I was
proud of the way the dogs just worked their way across. Nobody balked
at running on the ice, they just did it. Lexi had Bass and Dash
in lead; I was running Platinum and Keiko. This is good training
for them.
As we left the lake, the next two or three miles of the trail was
very icy with a thin layer of snow that had been scraped down to
the ice in places. Then the snow increased and the rest of the trail
was great. For those that haven’t been out here this whole
area from Willow south through Big Lake all the way to Cook Inlet
is crisscrossed with snowmachine trails. There are cabins with trails
to them, traplines with trails, and major snowmachine highways,
and just trails made by guys going somewhere different. In the Knik
to Big Lake area most of these trails are not marked or on the map.
There are no government agencies that maintain these trails; it
is mostly done by the people that use them. For the races, the race
trail is marked with “lath” (wooden stakes about 1”
wide by 1/8” think by 3 feet long painted at the top to see
in daylight with reflectors to see them at night). But we were out
before the anyone had marked the trails. Lexi and I carry FRS (family
radio service) radios for communication. This had proved useful
before, but really helped during this run.
Lexi and I had been here before and
kind of knew the trail to Flathorn Lake. Once you get there it’s
a pretty straight shot to the Susitna River. But the turn from the
Susitna River onto the Yentna River is tricky, particularly in the
dark. There is a large island in the Susitna (one of many) just
off the mouth of the Yentna and it’s easy to miss the turn
in the daylight, let alone by headlamp. Coming back it’s even
trickier. The Lower Susitna Drainage Assoc (LSDA) stakes the trail
from Willow to the Susitna to Yentna coming downstream on the Susitna
from the north. More than one traveler has followed the north bank
of the Yentna River too long, and he has found himself going upstream
on the Susitna when he wanted to go downstream. At night you might
not even know that you have done it. Add the typical cloud cover
and maybe a snow shower and you are not always sure which direction
you are going.
Sled
with broken runner. Taken
at home after splint removed. |
Night fell as Lexi and I hit Flathorn
Lake and by the time we got to the Susitna River it was very dark.
We hugged the east bank of the river and found a trail that looked
like it went to the Yentna River. As we turned onto the trail my left
runner felt funny, almost like trying to balance on a ball. I stopped
to look and the runner had broken behind the last stanchion (vertical
brace) and was being held together by the plastic shoe that we slide
on. I had some hose clamps that I carried in my sled repair kit for
just such a problem, but expected to cut an alder branch for a splint.
In the river there were not very many trees to work with, and there
was no trail to the shore. Lexi and I discussed the matter and decided
to press on for up to 1 hour hoping to get to Luce’s several
miles before Yentna to camp and patch the sled.
Broken runner
with splint showing
hose clamps and metal bars from Luce's |
It was an interesting hour. I was afraid
that if I balanced on the broken runner I might break the plastic
shoe and have nothing to work with when we stopped. If you’ve
seen the Captain Morgan rum commercials where they stand with one
leg raised, that was me. There is a short vertical stanchion (where
the runner broke) and I alternately balanced my left foot on the top
of that and stood with both feet on the right runner. Of course either
on unbalanced the sled an it pulled to the right into the softer snow.
Keiko got tired of leading like this so I moved Balu into lead with
Platinum. Lexi was now traveling much faster and took the lead. Luce’s
has a large well lit sign on the river bank that is a landmark traveling
up and down the river. Lexi found a fork in the trail and took the
one towards the bank, but couldn’t see the sign. When she got
to the bank this was Luce’s, but all the lights were off and
everything was closed. Lexi found a camping spot on the river where
we could set the snowhooks and bedded her team down. I joined her
about 10 minutes later and we fed the dogs and fired up the cooker
to melt snow for water. It was about 8:45 pm.
Broken runner
showing wrench
used as splint on the inside of the runner. |
We had just started working on my sled
when all the lights came on. Mr. Luce had had a party at his lodge
for New Years Eve and then some early birds out snowmaching stopped
by about 7 am. He said he was just about beat but would help as he
could. He found some metal bar that I used as a splint on one side
of the break. I had a long wrench that I used on the other side. Then,
when my hose clamps didn’t fit he sold me a package of hose
clamps. I got a hamburger and coke for dinner and Lexi and I went
back to finish patching the sled. We finished about midnight. We had
intended to give the dogs 6 hours of rest to simulate race conditions,
but decided we needed 4 hours of sleep. At 4am we got up (neither
of us slept well – something I need to work on for Iditarod)
to a clearing sky and 15 degree weather. By 5:30 we were on the trail
(definitely dark) to see if we could find our way back.
Fixed sled back
from Art Church
and ready to race in the Knik 200 |
This isn’t as bad as it sounds.
We could see the lights from Anchorage reflected on the clouds so
we knew which way was east. If we kept going east the worst that could
happen was we would hit the Parks Highway and have to beg a ride back
to Knik to get the truck. So we might take longer than we hopped,
and be embarrassed, but that was the worst. I found the turn off the
main trail that went downstream on the Susitna, but the dogs didn’t
want to take the turn. While I was working on that Lexi’s team
went down the Yentna. Now a prime rule is that you might get lost,
but you always stay together so I followed her downstream. We both
knew where we were going, but I had seen another trail across the
island to the Susitna last year. We found that and were on our way.
The next trick was to find the trail off the Su to Flathorn Lake.
The main trail here followed the west bank of the Su, while Flathorn
was east. During the daylight the snowmachiners can see where they
are going and create their own trail, so it wasn’t like a well
marked trail junction in the woods. I found one that looked right
and as we crossed the river all the minor trails converged on it.
As we came up the bank of the Susitna there was a sign that said Big
Lake this way. We had come up the Iron Dog Trail to Big Lake instead
of the Iditarod Trail to Flathorn Lake. They are only ½ mile
or so apart here, but Lexi and I had been on this trail before and
figured we would just take the first main trail south to the Iditarod
trail, no problem.
After a while the trail forked and the Iron Dog trail went further
north, but a marked trail went straight so we took that. It turned
out to be the Crawford trail (sparsely marked further down) that we
had never heard of, but it was going in about the right direction
so off we went. The good news is that the sun was coming up and we
could see more than just what our headlight beams revealed. This country
is mostly flat, but there are some glacier drumlins and moraines (higher
ground) with streams cutting between them. Some of these climbs and
drops can be quite steep. Most of the trails go around the steep parts,
but the Crawford trail looked like an old seismic line that went straight
as an arrow. None of the climbs were over 20 feet high, but some were
steeper than anything I’d driven on before. I clearly remember
going over the first one and as I stepped on the brake to keep from
hitting the wheel dogs, it just pushed me further out from the hillside.
Wow! What a drop! Later we had to climb one of these and I got a good
look at it. It wasn’t vertical, but I swear if I leaned forward
a little I could touch the trail in front of my face. Just before
the top the snow had been scraped off down to the ice. The dogs charged
up the hill (man was I proud of them) until the sled hit the bottom
of the hill. The leaders were nearly on top, but the swing dogs were
on the icy patch and could hardly stand up. I called to the leaders
and they pulled the swing dogs up. Then the four of them pulled up
the team dogs and the six pulled up the two wheel dogs and the sled.
Now that’s a dog team!
We finally found a cross trail going south and left the Crawford trail.
I missed the Crawford Trail. It was pretty with some exciting parts
and really kind of fun. The cross trail ended at another main trail
that should have been the Iditarod trail, but just didn’t feel
right. So we took the next major trail going south. There was a small
creek (about 4 inches deep and 18 inches wide) at the bottom of a
5 foot deep gully that we had to cross. At this point Balu was tired
so I had Platinum and Dijon in lead. Platinum, as good as he is, does
not like water. Dijon tried to jump across but Platinum balked and
we tangled in the water. Got everyone untangled and after 30 minutes
found a sign on a foot bridge over My Creek. We got out the map and
had come way to far south. So it was 30 minutes back and we had to
cross the little creek again. Another tangle. Lexi said that Mocha
was even more afraid than Platinum and got the gangline completely
wrapped around her neck. This is potentially very serious, but Lexi
got her untangled and we continued on. The trail we had been on did
turn out to be the Iditarod trail (See the Gilligan’s Dog Team
story on the web site for another adventure in this same area) and
the rest of the run was uneventful.
We got home and I called Art Church (again). He put two new runners
on the sled for less than I could have purchased them locally. He
said that he really likes repeat business and I told him he should
give me a frequent fixer discount ;-). I got the sled back Wednesday.
There are plastic brackets that hold the bed of the sled to the stanchions
that Art told me last October should be replaced every two to three
years. I was supposed to run dogs yesterday (Thursday), but decided
with the luck I’ve been having I’d better get those brackets
replaced. They are just strips of UHMW (ultra-high molecular weight)
plastic with holes drilled (one size fits all). It sounded like a
simple project, but took most of the day. That combined with two trips
to Willow and putting drop bags together for the race has pretty much
filled my week.
So for the Knik 200, the dogs that are not going are
7 of 9 (no longer on the race team) Dijon (getting much better, but
still recovering from a bad case of hookworms in early December) Java
(having problems eating that we are working on) Worf (just can’t
keep up with the team right now – I still hope he will come
back) Quark (not motivated to race at this time) Lycos (still recovering
from the injury at Sheep Mountain)
And either Mocha or Rom. I was going to leave Mocha behind because
she is so young, but Rom didn’t eat well this morning. There
is a bug in the kennel and if he has caught it Mocha will take his
place. I’ll decide for sure tonight.
There is only one checkpoint (Skwentna) on the Knik 200 so I’m
not sure how much fans will be able to follow the race, but the web
site is http://www.knik200.com/
or www.dogsled.com.
I am going to run a very conservative race (actually a training run
in a race environment). This is the first part of the trail the dogs
will see in Iditarod and I want to set a good pattern for that race.
I hope to run to Skwentna in about 10 hours and will add a 4 hour
rest somewhere between Flathorn Lake and Yentna station. If I start
towards the back of the pack (about noon) that puts me into Skwentna
about 2am Sunday morning. We will do the mandatory 6 hour rest and
leave Skwentna about 8 am Sunday. I hope to run back to Knik in 11
hours with either a 2 or 4 hour rest between Yentna and Flathorn Lake.
That should put me into Knik between 9 and 11 PM Sunday night. The
banquet is 7 PM Sunday, so that is definitely a “back of the
pack” plan. Now we will see if the dogs agree.
Keep ‘em Northbound
Eric
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