A Rookies Journey
December 10, 2005

We had an interesting adventure this week. Monday I had two teams to run by myself and just couldn’t get into gear. I can tell how tired I am by how much I procrastinate doing my chores, and I was pretty tired. So what should have been a couple of mid-day runs turned into an evening run and a night run. Now I really like running at night and Monday night was particularly pleasant. The big storm we’ve had all week was just moving in and temperatures had warmed up from 0 to 10 degrees. We had clouds and light snow. You would be amazed at how much light there is under those conditions. The lights from Anchorage (almost 15 miles away) reflected off the clouds and snow and lit the trail enough that I could run without my headlamp. There wasn’t enough light to tell what color the dogs were, but you could clearly see all 10 dogs in the team. It really makes you feel part of the night to run like that. The headlamp separates you from the night, without it you are part of the night.

So about 30 minutes into the run, when the dogs had settled down I turn off my headlamp. I’m really enjoying the feeling of running at night and see a large rock or brush mostly covered in snow just off the side of the trail ahead of the dogs. As my lead dogs go past they disturb this thing and it starts to get up! ½ second later and 8 feet closer my swing dogs go past and this thing looks for all the world like a 300 lb black bear that was sleeping facing the trail and is now getting up on his hind feet. ½ second later and 8 feet closer the first team dogs go past and I think it doesn’t make any sense for a black bear to be out this time of year, they should be hibernating. What ever it is it is still getting up! ½ second later and 8 feet closer the second set of team dogs go past and I am thinking the only thing that big that should be sleeping by the trail is a moose, but it just doesn’t look like a moose. What ever it is it is still getting up! ½ second later and 8 feet closer, my wheel dogs go past. I holler “Hey” about an octave higher than normal trying to startle the beast that is getting ready to pounce on me and get the dogs moving faster. My heart is in my throat as the sled gets to the beast and I see that it is only a snow covered spruce tree. Evidently the snow had weighed the tree down so it leaned towards the trail and as the lead dogs went past they brushed off enough snow that it started to straighten up. The further it straightened the more snow fell off and the less weight it bore the more it stood up. Simple enough, but for a few seconds I had a ride any amusement park would be proud of.
What a difference a week makes. We entered the week a little behind in training for the Sheep Mountain 150 next weekend and only managed to get two runs on the dogs this week. We had been enjoying nice, if a little thin, snow and 0 degrees and it warmed up to 45 degrees and has rained off and on for three days now. Most of the snow is gone and the trails are icy. We had intended to go to Sheep Mountain Lodge and run the race trail Friday, but Wednesday night the wind blew the shed door shut on two fingers of my left hand. Unfortunately I couldn’t seem to remember very much of the English language at that point and kept repeating the same few words with greater and greater volume. Darn I wish I hadn’t done that. Nothing is broken, but I am somewhat bruised and battered.

The Sheep Mountain trails are pretty good climbs and descents on soft snow where you need a good grip. In the interests of having me healthy for next week’s race, we changed plans to run back to back 50’s (a six hour rest in between) at Beach Lake Friday and Saturday. Then Thursday I caught the Anchorage crude (or maybe I spend too much time at the keyboard and I caught a computer virus ;-). Either way I was not fit company for either man or beast, and was unable to run the dogs. So plan number 3 – we would run 50 miles Saturday and another 50 miles on Sunday. Lexi checked out the trails Friday night with her small 4 dog team and said they were ok. I am feeling better and we had a plan. Then it froze last night, warmed up and rained on top of it. The races this weekend are cancelled and the trail system is marginal at best and bad enough to hurt dogs at worst. So plan number 4. I just made reservations at Sheep Mountain Lodge for Sunday and Monday night. I will drive up early Sunday morning and run the dogs Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.

This becomes a numbers game. Zack Steer (who owns the lodge and is putting on the race) says that the trail is ok for 12 to 14 dogs. Things happen when you are driving dogs – a dog gets tangled in the lines, a snap or line breaks, whatever – and you need to stop and take care of it. The dogs just want to run and will not willingly wait for you. So you set a “parking brake”. We use snow hooks – somewhat along the principle of a boat anchor. They are curved hooks that tie to the gangline and we set them in the snow (I always use two) on each side of the sled when we stop. They are designed to dig in deeper as the team pulls harder. So Zack is saying that the snow is good enough to hold 12 to 14 dogs with two hooks. Thin snow and the hooks can’t set right. Fresh snow and they just pull through the snow. Right now I’ve got 17 healthy dogs that I’m training. To many for a single team under these conditions. This weekend Lexi had off and was going to run the second team with me but she has to work (actually go to Seattle) next week, so it’s up to me. The trick I’ll use is to break the team into three teams A, B, and C of 5, 6, and 6 dogs respectively. Then on Sunday I’ll run the dogs on A and B in a single team for 60 miles. On Monday it will be the dogs in B and C, and on Tuesday I’ll run the dogs in C and A. That way every dog gets two runs and one day off and I never run more than 12 dogs at a time.

To explain how I got to 17 healthy dogs. Tussock has never been on the race team. I’m keeping him for a friend, but he works hard and balanced things nicely while we were going slow on the 4-wheeler. Now he has a growth on his foot that needs to come off so he is out. 7 of 9 hasn’t finished a race for two years. She is 8 years old and while the spirit is still very willing, she has a sore left wrist. I will probably loan her to Bonnie Foster to run with her recreational team this year and retire her to the house in the spring. Poor Dijon came off last Friday’s run a little sore, but it was our first 50 mile run and I didn’t think too much of it. By Saturday night he was bouncing around like usual. Then after Monday’s 20 mile run he got up the next morning and was so sore he had trouble moving his rear legs. Stu Nelson (Iditarod chief vet) was coming by Tuesday and I asked Stu to look at him. Stu thinks it is just muscle soreness, but that it is severe enough it could mean Dijon could be a candidate for sled dog myopothy during the race. That is the main cause of dogs deaths in the first 400 miles and I will have to watch him closely during training and check his blood work before he can go on Iditarod. We ran a stool sample and he also has roundworms and hookworms (rare in Alaska). I understand the hookworm really take a dog down and could be responsible for everything we are seeing. So we will keep our fingers crossed. Dijon is young, but is a good solid honest dog and I would really miss him.

Mocha continues to entertain me. She insisted on sleeping outside on the snow during the 0 degree cold snap we had. I got her the more open house and put fresh straw in it and she drug the straw out and still slept outside. But in the 45 degree rainy weather she is sleeping in her dog house. So now I know what it takes to get her in the house. She is real young and immature, but there is a tough solid little dog growing up in there, I just need to coax her out.

Eric, Karen, and Ignacio