Will the Real Sled Dog Please Stand Up?

Posted on July 1, 2013July 1, 2013 by Dusty Roads

After our “wild” ride on the 4-wheeled dog sled, we were invited into the musher’s camp to learn about the dogs, the equipment and the Iditarod.

I have to confess, I don’t remember the musher’s name but he said he had won the Iditarod and another big race several times. He told us great stories about his experiences. One that stands out is a story of crossing the sea ice on one race during a blizzard. He couldn’t see anything and thought they were going in the wrong direction. They went on for hours when suddenly the marker came into view through the blowing snow. The lead dogs had guided him and the team safely to the marker. The moral of the story… have good lead dogs and trust them!

His dogs and most of the dogs used for racing are not the purebred huskies and malamutes we see in the movies.

There are some but according to our speaker they don’t have the stamina for the endurance races.

He breeds all of his own dogs. They are chosen for size, strength and stamina, speed and endurance so most of his dogs are mongrels.

A few of the most common sled dogs that almost everyone has heard about and the ones most likely to have made it into the movies are the Alaskan Husky, Alaskan Malamute, and Siberian Husky.

The Alaskan Husky is actually a mongrel bred specifically for its performance as a sled dog. They weigh between 40 and 75 pounds and may have dense or sleek fur.

Alaska Malamutes are large, strong freight-type dogs. They weigh between 80 and 120 pounds and have round faces with soft features. These dogs are known for their broad chests, thick coats, and tough feet. Speed has little to no value for these dogs – instead, the emphasis is on pulling strength.

Siberian Huskies are smaller than the similar-appearing Malamute. The Siberian Husky pulls more, pound for pound, than a malamute, but cannot pull as long. They weigh between 40 and 60 pounds, and have been selectively bred for both appearance and pulling ability.

There are even more breeds that have been developed including one that was developed not in Alaska but in New Hampshire! I guess the bottom line is that a sled dog can be any dog regardless of heritage, that has the strength and spirit to pull a sled.

When asked why there were signs not to pet the adult dogs he said they are working dogs, not pets and in their excitement to get ready to run, they could accidently bite a stranger. No one wants anyone to get hurt. I guess these aren’t “dog whisperer” type dogs. 🙂

Puppies and Mush

Posted on June 30, 2013June 30, 2013 by Dusty Roads

We stepped off the bus to pandemonium! Barking, squirming dogs everywhere it seemed but they were actually under control…sort of. You see this wild eyed, happy, manic look on the face of the dog on this card…yup we were surrounded by dogs with the same expression. The handlers, excuse me , “Mushers” said the dogs just love to run. They get excited when they hear a car or bus come down the road because they know they will be hitched up and off to do their favorite thing.

While the mushers wrangled the adults into the harness we were led to another pen to see the “puppies”. Now I use the word puppies loosely because I was expecting little balls of fluff. Even when they said they were 11 weeks old I wasn’t prepared for how big they were. Before I knew what was happening or even got close enough for a look a 25 lb. bundle of energy was plopped into my arms. I heard someone say this little girl is Emma and then they were gone. What a cutie.

Sandy had another similar sized pup in her arms.

It took all of my concentration to be sure mine didn’t wiggle out of my arms and get away. I’m sure it happens sometimes with these energetic balls of fur but I didn’t want it to be on my watch! Eventually one of the employees asked me if I’d had my turn on the dog sled ride. When I said no, he told me to go get on but made no move to relieve me of Emma.

After I asked about 3 times what he wanted me to do with the puppy it seemed to get through to him. With an “Oh! Yeah.” He scooped Emma up and pointed me toward a really strange contraption.

This monster had a sturdy metal frame, rubber tires and 3 bench seats that had been rescued from some old junk cars. It even had a roof and a front windshield of scratched Plexiglas. It looked awful heavy for a bunch of dogs to pull.

I grabbed the front seat. In spite of the scratches I wanted to be up front where I could see what our dogs were doing. Our young lady Alaskan was our musher and hopped on the back just as if this were one of the light weight dog sleds. With just a word the dogs were off with us right behind. They got us going pretty fast too until one of the dogs decided he wanted a break for some snow from the snow bank. That brought the whole line to a halt while he broke formation for his little snack.

Lady Musher got down and untangled the traces and got them all lined back up. Before she had time to even get back on the rig our little trouble maker was rolling in the dirt and getting everyone tangled up again. Back to the mess our intrepid musher went and, in her words, had a little talk with him.

This time when he was straighten out he stayed in line and we were on our way again.

We went around one last corner and there was the camp where we started. It was a short ride but it was fun.

The dogs in the front are the lead dogs and he ones in the rear are the steering dogs. They are the strongest dogs on the team. They get you out of that snow bank if you get stuck. Even through the Plexiglas window it was easy to see they were having fun and so was I! 🙂

Trapping and Living off The Land

Posted on June 29, 2013June 29, 2013 by Dusty Roads

On Comet, On Cupid..no that’s not right. I thought I heard them say on Fatso! Well not exactly “on”. They were Mushers and they were talking to the lead sled dogs, one of which was named “Fatso”, and they didn’t have to be encouraged to run!

But as usual I am getting ahead of myself. We didn’t go straight to the dogs. First we were taken to a rustic camp where we were served some kind of skillet bread that was considered a snack like we think of potato chips. It wasn’t bad but it was dry. We washed it down with hot chocolate.

A young man gave us a hesitant presentation about trapping. He had a variety of pelts hanging on the wall. He also had a variety of traps that he spoke briefly about. After the presentation we could go to the wall and feel the various pelts. I spoke to the young man after his presentation. I thought he might be a native Alaskan but he said no, he was just up there for a cultural exchange from the lower 48. He’s only been there about a week which was why he was so hesitant in his presentation.

After we’d had a chance to compare the pelts we headed back to the bus. The young man went with us and a young woman who was as gregarious as he was quiet. She was a senior in high school and not shy at all. She is not only a native Alaskan but one of the “First People” and very proud of her heritage. She explained about the system where land or territories in Alaska are controlled by Alaska Native Regional Corporations. There are 13 different corporations, one for each of the recognized tribes. There is no such thing as a reservation in Alaska. It sounds like the Alaskan Natives fared far better than those tribes on the lower 48.

As she talked she also kept her eyes open for wildlife and she could spot it. We passed several small herds of caribou on our way to the sled dogs.

We heard them before we saw them, but as the bus bumped down a rutted dirt road we saw dogs happily bouncing around and barking like crazy! What a racket! But where was the snow? We’d been surrounded by snow all day but now it had magically disappeared. Oh there were some snow banks but mostly we were looking a dirt trails.

This was going to be interesting.

Time for a little TLV (Tour, Lunch. Visitor Center)

Posted on June 28, 2013June 28, 2013 by Dusty Roads

So far the tour had been ok. I had hoped we’d see more animals. We’d scoured the mountainsides for Dall Sheep but there weren’t any around. No bears either even at a distance.

We did see a couple more moose and then some caribou.

The guide finally addressed the issue of gulls in the middle of Alaska.

They are called Mew Gulls. And according to him they migrate here to nest. They usually build their nests in trees or even on the ground as long as they are near water. Each time I/we saw them there was a river or pond nearby.

We even got back to the lodge in time for lunch.

Thinking we might be able to save a couple of dollars (or a few pennies) we went to the Base Camp restaurant next to the King Salmon. Turns out they are really the same restaurant just different names. I didn’t quite get the logic there. They share the kitchen, the menu is the same and so are the prices.

Both Sandy and I ordered the fish and chips. It was so good. Not cheap (or inexpensive) but worth every penny.

Then we wandered through the souvenir shops before heading to the shuttle for a trip to the Visitor Center.

After all, I had to get my National Parks Passport Stamped because who knows when I’ll ever get back to Denali again.

The Visitor Center was awesome. There was a small museum nearby that we never even got to go to because the displays in the Center were so good. I got my passport stamped and then we explored the exhibits.

We saw more animals in the Visitor Center displays than we’d seen the whole trip. There were dioramas of Moose

and bear

and wolves.

The Dall sheep looked magnificent.

The Golden eagle was caught in the act of snatching it’s dinner.

The conservation message was clear. Even the smallest things can make a big difference even tipping the balance of nature. I couldn’t help but think of the endangered Piping Plovers back home.

The Athabaskans, the First People, understood this and still respect the delicate balance of man and nature today.

Finally one of my favorite posters…Dogs Don’t Run Out of Gas…I loved that and it was a reminder that we needed to catch the shuttle back because we were going dog sledding this evening.

Natural History Tour into Denali

Posted on June 27, 2013June 27, 2013 by Dusty Roads

As we’d been told our tour was on an old school bus style bus. Remember those windows that you could open from the top by squeezing the release mechanism ? The window would then open 1/2 way so the top of the window was open but not the bottom. Sort of like a double hung window for a bus. Well that’s the kind of windows we had. To take pictures you had to balance on the seat to get the window open and then either lean back (Still standing…sort of) or lean over the seat in front of you to get a shot with no window glass or frame in the way.

The bench seats had been replaced but that was the only change and it might have been easier to take pictures from the bench seats than the captain style. Each row of seats was placed so the frame of the window was right in the way.

Sandy and I settled in and I took the inside by the window. We’d been told that the bus would stop for wildlife and if it was safe, let us out to take pictures. In all the brochures you see the bus on the side of the road with the occupants standing outside watching the wildlife. We were about to discover that “art” and life were very different.

Once everyone was on our driver made a strange announcement. He said if we were on the tour to see wildlife then we were on the wrong bus. As far as I knew from chatting with the others on the tour, we all wanted to see wildlife. No one got off so I thought he must be kidding.

He took a head count and we were on our way. Everyone’s eyes were peeled hoping to see animals. And we did begin spotting some. First up were moose.

We spotted a couple making their way through the snow. One of them had a radio collar and she seemed to be struggling.

At first we were all concerned until someone suggested that she might be about to give birth and that was why she was having trouble getting through the snow when the other moose was fine. I hope that was the case. It made everyone feel better anyway.

We stopped at a rest area where 2 rangers gave a short presentation about the history of the area.

One of them had a really vintage looking uniform and with his beard he was a ranger “poster boy”.

We also got another chance to see Denali (Mt. McKinley) who was again cooperating with us.

The “rest rooms ” were quite state of the art too.

As we stopped at the ranger check point that was as far as cars could go we saw a little Alaskan ground squirrel. He stuck around for quite a few minutes so we all had a chance to get pictures. He’s a cute little fella, isn’t he.

I also spotted a grouse, in fact several, but they blended in with the brush and were so quick to hide that I didn’t get a picture . The bus was moving and if I’d yelled stop they would have been out of sight before he could hit the brakes.

There were more sea gulls flying around. Seemed strange so far from the sea. But it was time to turn around and head back to the lodge.