For those following the dogs, I retired Jewels a month ago. He has some arthritis in his wrists. He managed fine until we got to 50 mile runs but then they started to bother him. He retrained to be a house dog with Lexi Hill, and is now in tryout stage at another home. I understand that after three days my shy, quiet, British Butler of a dog is sleeping on the bed. :-)
Strider has not been able to get into shape. I was hauling him in a crate on the 4-wheeler for part of almost every run. When we switched to the sled he finally did some 50 mile runs, a back-to-back pair of 50’s with 4 hours rest in between (he was asleep in his box in the truck before I finished loading the other dogs), and 60 miles out of 70. Then he wore out at 20 miles and again at 30 miles. I demoted him and he is now living with Leslie and Matt Gillis. I don’t think anyone is sure if this is permanent or just for the rest of the season.
That leaves me with 16 dogs to train for Iditarod. Keiko is a real question mark, but is hanging in there so far. We will have to see. Pepper seems to have turned the corner and be making the team, but I’m having trouble keeping weight on him. Sisco is recovering from a sore wrist, and Basil a sore shoulder.
Keep thinking good thoughts our way and this just might come together ;-).
Keep 'em Northbound
Eric
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Major Meltdown
The weather has been a topic of conversation since the earliest days of mankind. I can picture Og and Ug sitting in a cave “Some weather, huh? Cold! Build fire.”
Ten thousand years ago grandpa would be sitting around the campfire wrapped tight in his skins:“Cold! This is nothing. When I was your age I was so cold the words froze coming out of your mouth. You had to carry them to the person you were talking to and they would hold them over the fire to thaw them out so they could hear them. One year it got so cold the fire froze and we couldn’t talk for months. When it warmed up in the spring, the fire thawed and burned down half the forest.”
Well now it’s my turn. :-) Our house is 300 feet above Eagle River on the side on the mountains. Cold air is denser than warm settles in the low spots. On a cold day in we can easily be 20 degrees warmer town (and the trails where we train). Combine that with the warming trend in recent years (a few years back Anchorage went over 400 days without breaking zero) and we seldom see sub-zero temperatures at the house. December 30 that changed. The thermometer dropped, bounced around -15, and we didn’t see zero again for 10 days.
The GinGin 200 mile sled dog race (Dec 27th) ran in Paxson, AK. Stories came back about sub-zero temperatures with 50 mph winds blowing across ice covered pavement (the race follows the Denali Hwy to McLaren lodge), then it got cold. Minus 50! Stories of wind, cold, frostbite, and bent / broken sleds came back. The old fun meter bottomed out. A week later the Knik 200 left the Knik bar (in Knik, AK) for Skwentna, AK. Minus 30 at the start. Passing Yentna roadhouse it was -50 at the lodge up on the bank, probably 10 degrees colder on the river. January 9th the Daily News ran a story about a photo of a thermometer in Tok, AK reading -80 (the official temperature was -58 – in the mayor’s office J ) http://www.adn.com/newsreader/story/647951.html . January 10th the Copper Basin 300 started at Wolverine lodge on Lake Louise in -50 degree weather. We were having a good old fashioned Alaskan winter. But not everyone appreciated it. Be careful what you pray for.
Saturday the 10th the high was +1 in Eagle River and we welcomed zero like a long lost friend. Sunday the high was +6, Monday +20, just about normal, and the low was only +5. Tuesday night I was running the team 50 miles on 2 inches of fresh snow and all was well with the world. Then it started to snow, turned to sleet, to freezing rain, and finally to rain… When I got home about mid-night the Chinook winds picked up and all heck broke loose. We get a thaw like this every January – little did I know this would be one for the books.
The Daily News tells it well http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/anchorage/story/654637.html, http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/653547.html, http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/656019.html, and http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/656003.html.
The foot and a half of snow we had on the roof is gone, and grass is visible in the yard. Friday the 16th we got ¾ of an inch of rain on the remaining snow. With the frozen ground the water had to run off. We had water backed up against the garage door. There was a river coming underneath the door to the drain in the floor. I tried to take it down with the shop vacuum and sent Marti out to buy a sump pump. She said they were selling like hotcakes and she got the next to last. An hour later we had moved over 500 gallons, but finally caught up with the storm. Saturday morning we got a break, but Saturday evening the next storm in line caught us. Luckily (or not) most of the snow had melted from the first and we only had the wind and rain to deal with.
This isn’t just Anchorage, the better part of the state has been affected. The Kuskoquim 300 in Bethel was postponed two days. The Klondike 300 out of Big Lake has been postponed a week (and may be cancelled). The Tustamena 200 on the Kenai is postponed a week. The Eagle River Classic is postponed indefinitely. The trails statewide took a major hit. Our local trails have been closed until they freeze to minimize damage while they are thawed. There is little snow in the forecast.
The word from Skwentna is that a creek upriver opened and the Skwentna River in Skwentna has water over the ice from bank to bank. The Yentna and Susitna Rivers have overflow due to the added weight of all the rain. Trails in Willow are soft to icy. The lakes in Eagle River have standing water over the ice. Statewide mushers are evaluating their options. Every day you miss training reduces the dogs conditioning. But training on icy trails risks injuries to you and the dogs. They have good snow at Paxson (a 7 hour drive) and Eureka lodge on the Glenn Hwy (a 3 hour drive), but Lake Louise (in between) is bad. Those with handlers (to care for the dogs left behind) and money to rent a place to stay can chase snow, everyone else copes the best they can.
In 2003 conditions were so bad there was no way to cross the Alaska Range and Iditarod moved the restart to Fairbanks. Hmmm…
Keep ‘em Northbound
Eric
Ten thousand years ago grandpa would be sitting around the campfire wrapped tight in his skins:“Cold! This is nothing. When I was your age I was so cold the words froze coming out of your mouth. You had to carry them to the person you were talking to and they would hold them over the fire to thaw them out so they could hear them. One year it got so cold the fire froze and we couldn’t talk for months. When it warmed up in the spring, the fire thawed and burned down half the forest.”
Well now it’s my turn. :-) Our house is 300 feet above Eagle River on the side on the mountains. Cold air is denser than warm settles in the low spots. On a cold day in we can easily be 20 degrees warmer town (and the trails where we train). Combine that with the warming trend in recent years (a few years back Anchorage went over 400 days without breaking zero) and we seldom see sub-zero temperatures at the house. December 30 that changed. The thermometer dropped, bounced around -15, and we didn’t see zero again for 10 days.
The GinGin 200 mile sled dog race (Dec 27th) ran in Paxson, AK. Stories came back about sub-zero temperatures with 50 mph winds blowing across ice covered pavement (the race follows the Denali Hwy to McLaren lodge), then it got cold. Minus 50! Stories of wind, cold, frostbite, and bent / broken sleds came back. The old fun meter bottomed out. A week later the Knik 200 left the Knik bar (in Knik, AK) for Skwentna, AK. Minus 30 at the start. Passing Yentna roadhouse it was -50 at the lodge up on the bank, probably 10 degrees colder on the river. January 9th the Daily News ran a story about a photo of a thermometer in Tok, AK reading -80 (the official temperature was -58 – in the mayor’s office J ) http://www.adn.com/newsreader/story/647951.html . January 10th the Copper Basin 300 started at Wolverine lodge on Lake Louise in -50 degree weather. We were having a good old fashioned Alaskan winter. But not everyone appreciated it. Be careful what you pray for.
Saturday the 10th the high was +1 in Eagle River and we welcomed zero like a long lost friend. Sunday the high was +6, Monday +20, just about normal, and the low was only +5. Tuesday night I was running the team 50 miles on 2 inches of fresh snow and all was well with the world. Then it started to snow, turned to sleet, to freezing rain, and finally to rain… When I got home about mid-night the Chinook winds picked up and all heck broke loose. We get a thaw like this every January – little did I know this would be one for the books.
The Daily News tells it well http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/anchorage/story/654637.html, http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/653547.html, http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/656019.html, and http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/656003.html.
The foot and a half of snow we had on the roof is gone, and grass is visible in the yard. Friday the 16th we got ¾ of an inch of rain on the remaining snow. With the frozen ground the water had to run off. We had water backed up against the garage door. There was a river coming underneath the door to the drain in the floor. I tried to take it down with the shop vacuum and sent Marti out to buy a sump pump. She said they were selling like hotcakes and she got the next to last. An hour later we had moved over 500 gallons, but finally caught up with the storm. Saturday morning we got a break, but Saturday evening the next storm in line caught us. Luckily (or not) most of the snow had melted from the first and we only had the wind and rain to deal with.
This isn’t just Anchorage, the better part of the state has been affected. The Kuskoquim 300 in Bethel was postponed two days. The Klondike 300 out of Big Lake has been postponed a week (and may be cancelled). The Tustamena 200 on the Kenai is postponed a week. The Eagle River Classic is postponed indefinitely. The trails statewide took a major hit. Our local trails have been closed until they freeze to minimize damage while they are thawed. There is little snow in the forecast.
The word from Skwentna is that a creek upriver opened and the Skwentna River in Skwentna has water over the ice from bank to bank. The Yentna and Susitna Rivers have overflow due to the added weight of all the rain. Trails in Willow are soft to icy. The lakes in Eagle River have standing water over the ice. Statewide mushers are evaluating their options. Every day you miss training reduces the dogs conditioning. But training on icy trails risks injuries to you and the dogs. They have good snow at Paxson (a 7 hour drive) and Eureka lodge on the Glenn Hwy (a 3 hour drive), but Lake Louise (in between) is bad. Those with handlers (to care for the dogs left behind) and money to rent a place to stay can chase snow, everyone else copes the best they can.
In 2003 conditions were so bad there was no way to cross the Alaska Range and Iditarod moved the restart to Fairbanks. Hmmm…
Keep ‘em Northbound
Eric
Monday, January 19, 2009
Connections
I’ve been meaning to update this for some time, but things get a little hectic around here this time of year. Barnum and Bailey interviewed me for ringmaster, but compared to this, the job was so quiet and peaceful I fell asleep :-)
January 1st my brother, who writes the Biking In LA blog, wrote a blog post about chasing dreams and mentioned my being a particle physicist. Tona Kunz, a writer for Fermi Labs "Symmetery" magazine was searching the web for Particle Physics news and found my brothers blog post. She likes to show that Physicist can have real lives so she featured me in the "Symmetry Breaking" blog. The Anchorage Daily News caught her post and referenced it in their "Alaska Newsreader" section about 1/3 of the way down. They also brought up the reference for the story from last March where I broke my leg running the 2007 Iditarod. I told my brother that he inspired a post on a particle physics blog and he had to talk about that. All is all it was a lot of fun - I hope you enjoy reading it. It just shows that you never know where something will lead :-)
I promise in the next post I'll tell you about the major meltdown we are having here (weather, not mental :-)
Keep 'em Northbound
Eric
January 1st my brother, who writes the Biking In LA blog, wrote a blog post about chasing dreams and mentioned my being a particle physicist. Tona Kunz, a writer for Fermi Labs "Symmetery" magazine was searching the web for Particle Physics news and found my brothers blog post. She likes to show that Physicist can have real lives so she featured me in the "Symmetry Breaking" blog. The Anchorage Daily News caught her post and referenced it in their "Alaska Newsreader" section about 1/3 of the way down. They also brought up the reference for the story from last March where I broke my leg running the 2007 Iditarod. I told my brother that he inspired a post on a particle physics blog and he had to talk about that. All is all it was a lot of fun - I hope you enjoy reading it. It just shows that you never know where something will lead :-)
I promise in the next post I'll tell you about the major meltdown we are having here (weather, not mental :-)
Keep 'em Northbound
Eric
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Unguided Missiles
Martin Buser said that one of the nice things about running dogs is that you can pretend you are in control. With the holiday season we have missed a couple of runs. Combine that with below zero for a week (the dogs really love to run at -10) and the dogs are pumped. Our club has outgoing and incoming trails so we don’t have head-to-head passes during races. Normally I park lined up with the outgoing trail, but last night there was a gentle breeze carrying exhaust from a running truck in that direction. No problem, I just moved to the other side.
I’ve got Rosemary and Ginger in lead and when I pull the hook they have a bad case of the “I’ve got to run”s and take off like their tails were on fire. I call “gee” to the outgoing trail. Heads flicker right, but they run straight to the incoming side. Platinum tries to go right from behind swing, but is quickly over ruled and goes along as a matter of survival. I’m on the brake for all I’m worth, but the dogs don’t even notice. “Whoa!” “Whoa, you mangy curs!” I might as well be telling the earth to move over under their feet. They charge on with great glee, running the trail backwards. Not really a problem, unless you meet some poor novice. Imagine cruising the trail with your 6 dog team, minding your own business when a 16 dog freight train comes at you head on at a dead run…
Three miles down the trail there is a cross over that I use – luckily the dogs listen this time and take the turn. Now we are running the normal direction, but control is a fragile illusion. I ride the drag the entire 20 miles. Going up the steep hills it almost works. This is a fun ride, but if it was the Iditarod start we would have burned energy we would really want when we got to the coast.
But it is way too convenient having the Beach Lake Trails in my backyard (well almost – it’s only 5 miles away). This is a nice trail system, but a little short for long runs (only 25 miles at best) and after 15 years you start naming the trees. It isn’t too bad until Fred the birch at the 6 mile turn asks to say “hi” to Steve the Spruce up at 8 mile. At some point you have got to travel and see new stuff.
The Willow community maintains a multi-use trail system that the Iditarod uses for the restart (http://www.willowdogmushers.com/files/West_Gateway_Trails.pdf). It is a marvelous way to get to the Susitna River and from there to the Yentna. Great for long trips. The Willow restart is at the red dot in the upper right. Follow the trail across Willow Lake, through the swamp, down Long Lake to Crystal Lake across the road to Vera Lake to the Willow Swamp Trail, around to Corral Hill Trail and down to the Susitna for the restart route. On Crystal Lake there is another red circle, which is a parking lot for snow machines and dog teams to access the trails. About 3 weeks ago I took as 12 dog team to check out the trails – magnificent! The best early season snow we’ve had for a long time. Monday I loaded all 16 dogs; put Lycos in lead (he hadn’t run here since last year) with Dash who had run Saturday. There is a back door out of the parking lot to Crystal Lake, but the angle is wrong for a 16 dog team so I just run down the road and hang a right where the trail crosses it. There isn’t much traffic and little risk.
I’m stuffing the snub line in the sled bag when Dash tries to turn right, Lycos looks at the plowed road and insists we go straight, my belated “gee” notwithstanding. Now what!?! There is no way to stop – my brake just bounces off the hard frozen plowed dirt road. I see a right turn and take it hoping to either find a loop back or a trail to the Swamp Loop. Luckily a car came by with a nice understanding driver who helped me turn the team around (actually he stood on the brake while turned the team, untangled them, and prayed they didn’t take him to Nome instead of me). I love living in Alaska! The driver was very great, but can you imagine what he thought?
A week later I’m back for more. It is snowing and I can’t seem to get here for a daylight start. Ok, the short days and the 1 ½ hour drive helps, but even so… Lycos is in lead again, takes the gee onto Vera Lake just fine, and off we go. In the snow I can’t really see the trail and trust his instincts to find it in the failing light. Next thing I know there are houses just off to my right. The trail goes down the middle of the lake, not the shore, so I haw Lycos over. We find a trail and off he goes.
Wait a minute, this doesn’t look quite right. I’m puzzling over the narrow trail through the trees when a road crossing comes up. Wrong trail! Turn the 16 dog team around, praying the snow hook holds. Undo the tangle and pray some more as the untangled dogs slam their harnesses frustration at sitting so long this early in the run. Once more we avoid disaster, run back to the lake, find the desired trail, and proceed into the storm. Wow! So much for Lycos good sense of direction and trail memory – I’ll remember that for Iditarod.
Keep ‘em Northbound
Eric
I’ve got Rosemary and Ginger in lead and when I pull the hook they have a bad case of the “I’ve got to run”s and take off like their tails were on fire. I call “gee” to the outgoing trail. Heads flicker right, but they run straight to the incoming side. Platinum tries to go right from behind swing, but is quickly over ruled and goes along as a matter of survival. I’m on the brake for all I’m worth, but the dogs don’t even notice. “Whoa!” “Whoa, you mangy curs!” I might as well be telling the earth to move over under their feet. They charge on with great glee, running the trail backwards. Not really a problem, unless you meet some poor novice. Imagine cruising the trail with your 6 dog team, minding your own business when a 16 dog freight train comes at you head on at a dead run…
Three miles down the trail there is a cross over that I use – luckily the dogs listen this time and take the turn. Now we are running the normal direction, but control is a fragile illusion. I ride the drag the entire 20 miles. Going up the steep hills it almost works. This is a fun ride, but if it was the Iditarod start we would have burned energy we would really want when we got to the coast.
But it is way too convenient having the Beach Lake Trails in my backyard (well almost – it’s only 5 miles away). This is a nice trail system, but a little short for long runs (only 25 miles at best) and after 15 years you start naming the trees. It isn’t too bad until Fred the birch at the 6 mile turn asks to say “hi” to Steve the Spruce up at 8 mile. At some point you have got to travel and see new stuff.
The Willow community maintains a multi-use trail system that the Iditarod uses for the restart (http://www.willowdogmushers.com/files/West_Gateway_Trails.pdf). It is a marvelous way to get to the Susitna River and from there to the Yentna. Great for long trips. The Willow restart is at the red dot in the upper right. Follow the trail across Willow Lake, through the swamp, down Long Lake to Crystal Lake across the road to Vera Lake to the Willow Swamp Trail, around to Corral Hill Trail and down to the Susitna for the restart route. On Crystal Lake there is another red circle, which is a parking lot for snow machines and dog teams to access the trails. About 3 weeks ago I took as 12 dog team to check out the trails – magnificent! The best early season snow we’ve had for a long time. Monday I loaded all 16 dogs; put Lycos in lead (he hadn’t run here since last year) with Dash who had run Saturday. There is a back door out of the parking lot to Crystal Lake, but the angle is wrong for a 16 dog team so I just run down the road and hang a right where the trail crosses it. There isn’t much traffic and little risk.
I’m stuffing the snub line in the sled bag when Dash tries to turn right, Lycos looks at the plowed road and insists we go straight, my belated “gee” notwithstanding. Now what!?! There is no way to stop – my brake just bounces off the hard frozen plowed dirt road. I see a right turn and take it hoping to either find a loop back or a trail to the Swamp Loop. Luckily a car came by with a nice understanding driver who helped me turn the team around (actually he stood on the brake while turned the team, untangled them, and prayed they didn’t take him to Nome instead of me). I love living in Alaska! The driver was very great, but can you imagine what he thought?
A week later I’m back for more. It is snowing and I can’t seem to get here for a daylight start. Ok, the short days and the 1 ½ hour drive helps, but even so… Lycos is in lead again, takes the gee onto Vera Lake just fine, and off we go. In the snow I can’t really see the trail and trust his instincts to find it in the failing light. Next thing I know there are houses just off to my right. The trail goes down the middle of the lake, not the shore, so I haw Lycos over. We find a trail and off he goes.
Wait a minute, this doesn’t look quite right. I’m puzzling over the narrow trail through the trees when a road crossing comes up. Wrong trail! Turn the 16 dog team around, praying the snow hook holds. Undo the tangle and pray some more as the untangled dogs slam their harnesses frustration at sitting so long this early in the run. Once more we avoid disaster, run back to the lake, find the desired trail, and proceed into the storm. Wow! So much for Lycos good sense of direction and trail memory – I’ll remember that for Iditarod.
Keep ‘em Northbound
Eric
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