80 Miles In The White Mountains

Jana, Robert, the race team, and I just spent two days in the White mountains traveling 80 miles through some beautiful territory. Robert and Jana traveled via snow mobile and I ran the 9 dog team consisting of Adidas, BP, Pip, Rapid, Chupa, Swamper, Molly, Summit, and Chaos.

Robert and Jana traveled well ahead of me and the dogs, we saw them very little while traveling which made for a quieter trip for the dogs and I. The weather was perfect, it snowed off and on, and the temperature stayed between -10 and +20, not to cold or warm. The trail was a bit wet on the way out to the cabin, we went through a lot of slushy over flow which made keeping relatively dry booties on the dogs a chore. On the way home the next day, parts of the trail were still a little wet, but most of the water on the trail had frozen over night. The longest "wet" stretch was maybe 1/2 a mile of alternating glare ice, slush and water right before the cabin. The dogs all ran through it with out a problem, they hardly seemed to notice it at all to be honest, they were just happy to be out there doing what they love to do.

We ran 40 miles into a BLM cabin in windy gap on Saturday and then  40 miles back out to the truck on Sunday. They dogs enjoyed nice beds of straw at the cabin and we enjoyed the cabin, and we enjoyed the simplicity of drying out wet dog booties, harness, gloves, socks and other gear near a wood stove, not to mention the good company and awesome view. Some of the thinner coated dogs also received coats to help block the wind during the night. We had a pretty constant light breeze for most of the night, a star filled sky and faint aurora over head. It was a wonderful trip and I can't wait to do it again.

Below are some photos of our trip, I hope you enjoy them.

Annette's Burger Run 2012

We had an awesome race on Saturday finishing in 4th place with a run time of 2 hours 56 minutes and 40 seconds including the time it took me to harness up the team and take off which was about 10 minutes. The race was 32 miles long and the weather was beautiful, sunny and hot with temps ranging in the high 20's and 30's which is a little warm for the dogs so we had frequent short stops so the dogs could bite snow. I also stopped part way through the race to take my dogs booties off since they got really wet while crossing some over flow and also because it's easier for the dogs to stay cooler on hot days if they aren't wearing any booties.

A total of  11 teams participated in this mass start race where all your handler could do was hold your leaders and team out strait while you harnessed and hooked the dogs into the team your self. Only one team got away from their musher at the start but were quickly recovered and went on to finish 3rd. I imagine from a spectators view point mass start races are more entertaining than races where mushers leave 2 minutes apart.

Below are a few photos of my team taken by photographer Jan DeNapoli at the finish line of the race.

Race Results: 
1st - Jessica Hendrick 2h25:06.
 2nd - Joel Switzer 2h35:25.
 3rd - Abby Brooks 2h44:50. 
4th - Amanda Gecas 2h56:40. 
5th - Brendan Wolff 3h01:56. 
6th - Nicolay Ettyne 3h09:30. 
7th - Robert Ramirez 3h13:43. 
8th - Suzan Amundsen 3h17:26. 
9th - Melissa Rouge 3h23:22.
10th - Jimmy Lebling 3h36:27. 
11th - John Dixon 3h56:40.
Congratulations to all the mushers and their dogs. And also a huge thank you to all the handlers and race volunteers, no race would happen with out you guys.

Warmer Weather

The weather has finally warmed up a bit here at the kennel. Over the past week we've been enjoying -5f to +10f weather with afternoon highs of +20f the past two days. The dogs and I have been hitting the trail as much as possible.

We will be running a race in Two Rivers Alaska this Saturday called Annette's Burger Run it is a 30 mile fun race from Pleasant Valley store to the Angel Creek lodge. It is a mass start race meaning teams take off as they are ready instead of at timed intervals usually 2 minutes apart which makes for a fun chaotic beginning. Run times are timed, but you aren't awarded based on run times, you are awarded for things such as worst dressed musher, or prettiest team, or brightest sled bag or what ever the race judge decides, all entrants get a prize of some sort, and a hamburger at the finish line. This will be my third year running this race, we love this race, it's always a lot of fun and gives the dogs great race experience with out all the pressure of a highly competitive event.You can go to http://www.trdma.org/hamburger.htm for more information and to read the race rules.

My team excitedly awaiting departure for todays run.

Harness Training Puppies

I am beginning to wonder if we are ever going to get a break from the extreme cold, temperatures are staying between -30 and -50f with most days being about -40f. I have taken advantage of the warmer -30 days to take the race team out on longer runs, and then on the colder days I have been trying to catch up on my sewing and other projects I have going. I spent part of our very short daylight hours yesterday and today harness training puppies. When harness training puppies the idea is to keep everything fun, not scary, and also to prevent them from chewing on things like their harness. I have been taking teams of 3 puppies and 4-5 adult dogs out at a time. The adults job is to set a good example, pull most of the weight so the pups don't have to, and of course keep the team moving in the right direction. This group of puppies is by far the easiest I have ever trained, they catch on quickly, haven't even tried chewing on anything, and just want to run and pull. I have been taking them on runs about 3 miles long and they come back wagging their tails still wanting more which is exactly what I want to see. I am looking forward to having these pups on my race team next year.
Below are a few pictures of a couple of the pups learning the ropes.

Tramp (L) and Charley (R) being really good and patiently
waiting to start the run. Their sister Jana looks on from her spot in
the dog yard, she ran with the team on the previous day.

Drift (7.5 month old pup) with Summit (an almost 2 year old adult)

Charley and tramp in wheel with drift on the left in front
of them about a mile into the run. 

Matrix during a quick break during yesterdays run, refusing to look at
me so that I can take her picture. I honestly think this dog knows what a camera
is, she will refuse to look at just about any camera but will look at you all you want if you
aren't holding one. 

A cold start to the new year

So far 2012 has been cold, with temperatures ranging from in the -40's on colder days to the -20's on warmer days. The cold weather hasn't slowed us down to much though, we've still been getting out with the dogs. Going on runs up to 36 miles and we've even started getting some of our pups into harness for the first time and going on 2.5 mile runs with them. It is a lot of fun watching pups grow up and become part of the team. They change so much in their first year of life it's amazing. They go from being blind, deaf , and unable to walk at birth to amazing athletes at just over a year old who can run 50-100 miles in a day.

Everything takes longer when its cold out, you have to put more gear on before going out side, let the truck run longer to warm up before driving anywhere, and last but not least put booties, coats and fox tails on all of the dogs before a run. The only thing that happens quickly when its this cold out is things freezing. At -40 a cup of boiling water will turn to steam instantly when thrown into the air. -40 is also cold enough to freeze bubbles before they can pop.

This is my friend Jana, she went on a 20 mile dog run
with me on Monday, and about 8 miles from home tipped
her sled over and fell in some overflow while crossing spinach
creek.  we were able to get some dry clothes on her but she had a
mostly damp cold ride home. It was -20 when we started the run and
-30 when we got home about 2.5 hours later.
The photo below is of Jana's pants after we got back to the cabin
She had so much ice on them she could hardly bend her legs and had to
stand in front of the heater for a very long time just to thaw them out
enough to get them off. Due to good cold weather gear and only a 8 mile
run to get home she managed to escape the incident with little to no frost bite.

Here Rogue shows of her fancy coat that is designed to
keep her belly and inner thighs warm and protected from the wind
while running as these are some of the areas more prone to frostbite
on female dogs. Swamper the tall handsome guy next to her is wearing
a fox tail to help protect the sheath of his penis from getting frostbitten
while running in cold temperatures. I sew Velcro to both ends of the
fox tails so that I can quickly attach them to their harnesses while gearing
up the team. 

White Mountains Christmas

My husband Robert and I spent Christmas Eve and morning in the white mountains this year with most of our dogs. We left the dog truck at about 5pm on christmas eve and mushed the dogs out about 16 miles to the moose creek cabin where we spent the night, it was a very hilly run so every one got a good work out including us mushers who ran up most of the hills behind the dogs. I got my christmas present early this year so that I could use it on the trip, I got a Piko headlamp made by Lupine from Robert. It is an awesome gift and one I will put to very good use, it has 750 lumens of light so compared to the other head lamp I was using which only had 120 lumens it's a bit like turning on the sun. I really appreciated this head lamp on the run out to the cabin since it was all done in the dark.

For this trip we split the race team in half I took 5 dogs and Robert took 6, and then we had two if our 7 month old pups (Jana&Drummer) running loose with the team. They spent most of their time running up in front of the team playing with each other. They did both of the 16 mile runs like they were nothing and didn't even look tired after day number two. I think I have the makings of an awesome race team on my hands with this litter.

We did the run back to the truck on christmas morning and then finished off our day by having a delicious dinner with our friends at Dome Creek Kennel.

My team consisting of: BP (lead) Rapid and Rogue (Swing)
Summit and Chaos (wheel) and Drummer and Jana ( running
loose up front)

BP sleeping in his straw next to the cabin to help block the wind. We had a very
windy night with temperatures ranging from -20F to 0F the
dogs handled it just fine. The star and aurora viewing
were absolutely fantastic.

Getting ready to leave the cabin in the morning.
Roberts team consisted of: Pip and Adidas (lead) Swamper and
Chupa (swing) Sierra and Molly (wheel)

Robert petting Chupa after the run.

Solstice 100

I realize that this post is a few days over due and I would like to start by apologizing for that, it has been a crazy hectic week. This past weekend the team and I ran our first 100 mile race and had a blast and learned a lot. This was a very fun and relaxed race consisting of two 50 mile runs with a 4 hour lay over between them, the perfect way to start my racing career. I have wanted to race with my sled dogs ever since I was 5 years old and I finally got too, and now I am hooked! It was everything I thought it would be and then some.
The team did beautifully, I am so proud of them. They did the 100 miles in 11 hours and 46 minutes coming in 9th place out of 12 teams. Not to bad for our first long race. Previously the longest race we'd run was the Hamburger run which is about 30 miles long. We crossed the finish line at 3:08 am sunday morning with a happy team of 9 dogs. We started the race at about 11 am  saturday with 10 dogs. I dropped Chupa at the half way check point because her feet were a little sore because of a few splits in the skin between her toes, she didn't let it slow her down though and came into the check point with a tight tug line and wagging tail, but it was in her  best interest in the long run to have her wait with the handlers with the dog truck for the rest of the team to run the last 50 miles with out her.
The trail was absolutely fantastic! it was hard packed and all the over flow was dry on the way out. On the way back some of the over flow spots were a little wet but not enough to be of any concern. 10 minutes after leaving the check point on the second half of the race my wheel dogs went for a little swim in the Chena River after a musher ahead of us broke the ice out accidentally on one of the river crossings. It wasn't a big deal, I stopped the team and they were able to easily climb out. I dried them off the best I could and then put dog coats on them for a few hours. Further down the trail it got to warm and I had to remove their coats to keep them from over heating.  It was -10 f when we got to the check point and +20 f  when we finished the race, a little warm for the dogs which contributed to a slightly longer run on the second half of the race. We did the first 50 miles in 5 hours and 17 minutes and the second one in 6 hours and 29 minutes.
The photo at the top of this post is of my team at about the 20 mile mark on the first stretch of the race, it was taken by Carol Falcetta. You can see some of her other photos of the race by going to this link http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150419239047064.356662.673387063&typ e=3
And you can go to this link for the official race times and to see how other mushers placed http://www.trdma.org/solstice100.htm

With only 4 hours of day light on race day this was my
view for most of the race. This was taken during the second half of the
 race. Note the coats I put on the wheel dogs Sierra
and Chaos after they fell through the hole in the ice.