Hi everybody!!
Sorry it’s taken so long to get our first post from the Yukon
up, but it’s been that kind of month. I’ll try to fill you in on
the high points-
A month ago we were finishing packing and spending the weekend
at the Northern New England Sleddog Trade Fair in New Hampshire.
We brought along our sleds to show for our sled builder and
sponsor, Husky Creek Sleds. We got to meet Lance Mackey and
spend some really fun time talking with him. We got my new
sledbag that Amy Dugan had just finished for us. It’s a real
beauty and will definitely be making the trip for the Quest in
February. Most importantly, we got a great send-off from all our
super friends in the sleddog world in New England. Some of the
goodbyes were downright sad as we’ll really be missing our dear
friends, but we left with a wonderful feeling of support and
encouragement from the folks who share our passion of mushing.
I’m sure a good many of them wished they were coming with us. My
Aunt Sandy, Uncle Leon and their youngest son Ryan also
surprised us by showing up at the trade fair. They set the whole
idea of sleddogs in my head at a pretty young age with their
Siberian husky Micah, and a trip to Leon’s sister’s home to
visit her sprintdog kennel. I was about 8 years old (I’m
guessing) and it made an impression that has changed my life. It
was great to see them as we set off on an adventure they are
somewhat responsible for…
Our last night in NH was spent at home with some longtime
friends who live near us in Rumney. We had pizza by the campfire
while we listened to the Pats kicking butt on the radio. Our
friends mean a whole lot to us and we’ll really miss them this
winter. Thanks guys, we love ya and can’t wait to share a
campfire again in the spring. Tuesday morning came all too early
as we finished with loading the truck, closing the house, and
hit the road with everything we think we’ll need for 6 months in
the Yukon and Alaska with our 27 dogs. It’s a little daunting,
but here we go. We couldn’t have done it without all the help we
got and I need to pay special thanks to Mitch, Kevin, Gerry,
Phil and Sandra, the Pugas, and Bob and Rhonda.
The trip out the driveway proved my worst fear of the truck and
trailer being helplessly overloaded. We were heavy! The first
day was set up to be an easy one and we only went as far as my
Mom’s in NY on day one, Sue’s birthday, October 2nd. Maybe we
were just getting better at goodbyes or maybe it was Mom’s great
strength and faith in us that made for a comfortable “see ya
soon,” with Mom Wednesday morning. We had another pretty easy
day just going to my Uncle Doug’s place in western NY, where we
had a nice visit with Doug, Jeanette, Ian, and Carol and Barb.
The strength of the love of family is a wonderful thing!! After
enduring a very hot and therefore stressful day in the truck we
got to Sue’s Uncle Bob’s and Aunt Pam’s mid afternoon on
Thursday. We had another great stay there although we couldn’t
box the dogs that night because of the heat and became quite a
spectacle in the suburban neighborhood. Many thanks to Bob, Pam,
and Gina for sharing their home, and lawn, with us.
After several nights staying with family, we left Illinois with
no real plans for the rest of the trip except to get to Moe and
Jere’s safely. We drove some pretty long days and stayed in
Grand Forks, then Saskatoon, and by Sunday we were in Dawson
Creek at Mile Zero of the Alaska Highway. Monday, we crossed the
Canadian Rockies with snow on the hills and the road and pulled
in to the Northern Rockies Lodge at Muncho Lake, British
Columbia after a great day of viewing the beautiful mountains
and tons of wildlife including sheep, caribou, eagle, bison,
deer, and coyote. Uncle Bob and Aunt Pam know the owner of this
lodge and had arranged for us to stay there. We had a totally
relaxing night and really enjoyed this beautiful place. Tuesday,
our 8th day on the road, we finished the drive of roughly 4000
miles from home to Annie Lake Road, about 25 miles south of
Whitehorse, Yukon. This will be our base for the winter at the
home of our good friends Moe, Jere, Finn and Maible. They
welcomed us with open arms and we started making this place OUR
temporary home.
The first week saw us clearing our dogyard, building 26 dog
houses (Zirkle sleeps in the cabin and didn’t get a doghouse),
getting straw for the dogs, trying to order dogfood and meat
supplement, cutting firewood, going to town to get food and
supplies, and generally settling in. The dogs took a solid week
to get comfortable and we are probably taking a little longer!
Acclimating to staying in Canada, living without electricity or
running water, the remoteness, and the very high prices for all
goods and services is taking us a little time, but we’re getting
it. We’ve been making weekly trips to town to shop, do laundry,
and go swimming at the Canada Games Center in Whitehorse. With
the US dollar doing so poorly and gas prices so high, we picked
a pretty tough time to visit Canada. We did get in to town for a
Yukon Quest party shortly after we got here and had the chance
to meet some of the other mushers who will be running this year
and/or have run the race in the past. It was pretty cool to have
Yukon Quest icon Frank Turner come up to me and say “Your Mike
from NH, right?” He offered any help he could give as we prepare
for the race and I hope to get up to visit with him and see his
kennel sometime soon. We also met a local outdoor sports writer
and photographer who has already been out to the kennel to
interview us and take some pictures for a forthcoming article in
the local paper, The Whitehorse Star.
And now for the important news, about the dogs... We have a
couple of injuries to report and I’ll get the bad news out of
the way first. Kobuk hurt his back somehow on the road trip up
here. We don’t know just what happened, but he’s not going to be
in harness any time soon. We’re glad he’s not hurting anymore,
but he’s still not quite right and we fear he may not run in
harness again. He’s awfully sad as we leave every morning with
training teams. On one of our first runs here, Curly either
broke or seriously bruised a toe and hasn’t run since. He’s
finally back to putting weight on it and the swelling is gone,
but it will take a big effort on his part to catch back up with
the team once we start running him again.
|
Curly |
Kobuk |
As for the rest of the dogs, they are doing
great!! Our training distances have been increasing steadily
since we got here. This week we’ll do a 30-mile loop up in to
the mountains. Jere and I checked the trail the other day on
atv’s and it’s going to be a pretty fun run with a big climb and
lots of snow up at the higher elevations. We could see groups of
sheep up high and caribou and wolf tracks on the trail. I’m
really looking forward to starting the longer runs with the dogs
and getting out into this huge country. So far, Stump, Maple and
Squiggle have been doing most of the leading but always bringing
along a puppy or less experienced leader. Only a few dogs
haven’t run lead since we’ve been here. We’re training 23 dogs
right now. (The Quest starts with 14.) The strength and
confidence of the dogs is already growing with each new
experience. When everything else seems tough and foreign, we
just go run the dogs and get back to what we know. Our first big
race will be the Sheep Mt. 150 in Alaska in mid-December. Sue
may do a few local weekend races that start here in late
November. Until then, we’ll be training the dogs (and ourselves)
to be as ready as we can be to race to our full potential.
Thanks to you all who have helped us get here or sent us luck
and good wishes. We feel the love and thank you for it!!
More soon. Take care.
All our best- Mike, Sue and Tsuga Siberians.
Here’s our winter contact info:
Email- same, but we’ll only be able to check every week or so.
Address- c/o Jeremie Matrishon Box 11284 Whitehorse, Yukon,
Canada Y1A 6N5
Phone- 867 668 7834
