January 28, 2007

ay 3 of the sled dog event. This was Elena's big day. I was not sure if she would hug me or curse me at the end of the day. We trucked the dogs for a little stretch as there is not a good established trail (yet) to the next section of trailhead. 

We get there, I turn Elena loose on her own to get her ganglines all hooked up and out, her dogs out of the truck and harnessed up. (But I was keeping an eye on her.) We got the dogs all ready at the same time and headed up the hill.  None of the dogs wanted to work, they were all messing around like pups who had no idea what we were supposed to be doing. After switching a few dogs around, we were again on our way. 

Picture above: See the trail that goes up the hill? We climbed over 900 feet this day. I am #12, Elena is #11.

This was the only time I was in the lead. The rest of the time, Elena and her team lead the way (plus I could keep an eye on her since this was the second time ever she had run sled dogs). We had one bridge crossing and it made it easier having a partner to work with. One team gets parked, and the musher helps the first team over, than that team gets parked and then the second team gets over the bridge. This bridge is about four feet wide. 

Picture above: One of the better bridge crossings as it is not so narrow and not too far above the water. 

We did have a slight problem out on the trail. Elena's sled broke. Both of her runners broke off right at the rear stanchion. They were made from a single piece of wood and not laminated like most runners are. We slowed the pace, gave me an extra dog, so I was now running 5 and she was running 3, to slow her down as she had no real control over the sled. See the broken runner on the right side?

We did come across an accident and it could have been very serious and why I prefer sleddogs. We were the first people to find him and he had been stuck under his snowmobile for an hour and a half until he got himself dug out. See the snowmobile? It is completely upside down. He was very lucky. We offered him a lift and he said just to send back 3-4 guys as the machine was wrapped around a tree and in a hole. I think he had to have been out there for 3-4 more hours as they waited for the teams to come in. The trail is that narrow. We barely got past him with our two teams and he was 3/4 of the way off the trail.

Picture Above: A snowmobiler who will live yet another day.

Picture below: Coming into the second to last town. Elena in front and me behind.

Then the "Dash"... which is the race part. Elena opted to run it with Amy, even though her sled is broken. She figured she may as well wreck it the rest of the way. Amy was her official mail carrier.

I decided to run the dog truck down and take pictures from time to time along the roadway which somewhat follows the "Dash", as "Kid" (below) decided to run the race this year. He came in 6th and won a very nice prize. He now wants to build a sled and get sled dogs. Oh My! Elena is already making plans for her new sled and getting some Alaskan Malamutes.

Picture Above: "Kid" running a team of four in the "Dash" race

This is another blurb from Elena:

Hi Everyone,

Here is another entry from my wonderful "Great Northern Adventure." I did the last day of the sled dog event on Sunday, January 28th in. We started out pretty early in the morning around 7:30 am. It was freakin' cold! A police officer stopped by and chatted with us and said it was -15 C. That is like 5 F I think! My nostril hairs were freezing and I had to pee but didn't want to take off any of my clothes or ski bibs. I thought I would wait till later on the trail after I warmed up!

Got the dogs harnessed and off we went. Immediately got into trouble as "Tasha" and "Scout" did not like being next to each other in the front. Moved "Soda" to the front, so it was girls next to each other, and the boys in the back. While this was going on, the farm doggie "Sirius" who is humongous and a big goofball got majorly tangled in his lines. Every time I tried to untangle him, my two lead dogs would turn around and follow me back to the sled. "Tasha" refused to "tighten up." If it weren't for two young guys hanging out at the trail head who came up and helped me hold my sled and dogs while I got everybody untangled and settled, I would still be at the trail head right now!

The trail was beautiful, and if I don't get around to thanking the Trail boss, the Maverick's, and all the other snowmobilers and trail groomer's via snail mail: "Thank you so much!!!" I am a novice and this was my first trip out. But even I recognized how nice the trail was in terms of compaction and no trees or branches in the way. Those people really work hard and do it all on a voluntary basis. Great job and thanks again!

And yes, both my runner did break. I wondered all along that they might, but when they held up fine on the river trail for the 11 mile "death march" expedition a couple days before the event, I thought they were ok. They were not laminated, too short in the back, the mortise holes were a touch to large, (and so am I). I basically walked the last 6 miles of the trail. But once we got off the trail and onto the road, I decided "so be it" and to ride my sled into the ground and split it right down the middle if I had to. My sled held together just fine, even though I had no "lean" control or steering from the back end and I basically was standing on limp spaghetti noodles and had to lean over my very high handlebar to have any control. I even decided go ahead and took a passenger and did the 6 mile Dash. My sled did just fine! Anyways, I am gonna fix it, and make another. Thanks to all those who took interest, and don't worry, the "FOR SALE" sign will be back on the new and improved sled at next year's event.

One last word of thanks: Tenzi, you are a wonderful mentor, hostess, and a true friend. I really appreciate all the experience I got with harnessing, dropping, and feeding dogs. Thanks for all the time and knowledge you have given me. See you hopefully in April, and definitely in August!!!

(By the way, I never did stop to pee. I was working so hard and sweating so much! My body must have reabsorbed all the extra fluids, and I didn't go to the bathroom until we got back to Tenzi's place around 7pm.)

Elena aka NewlyAwakened

...And with that dear readers... you will not have to hear about any sled dog events until this time next year.