Summer with the Dalton Highway Gang

It has been awhile since our last update. The pups have been named after places on the Dalton Highway or the "Haul Road" as many folks call it. This is the highway that goes from Fairbanks all the way to the Arctic Ocean and oil fields at Prudhoe Bay. It is also the road that we make a pilgrimage on each spring to run dogs on the north side of the Brooks Range and hunt for caribou. So we have the two girls, Kanuti, after the Kanuti River and Atigun, after Atigun Pass, River and Gorge. The boys are Wiseman, for the old mining town, Coldfoot for the truck stop that Dick Mackey started and the start of the old dogsled race the "coldfoot classic" and Galbraith, for Galbraith Lake where we head out from for our mushing/hunting expeditions.

Pups from left to right, Galbraith, Atigun, Kanuti, Wiseman, Coldfoot.

The video shows their energy level when they aren't sleeping. This is the fun time with the pups as we get to take them out for walks and see what they are made of. They seem tough for 14 lb animals and they sure talk the talk and walk the walk. We'll see what they are made mid winter when they get harness broke. These photos show how they take out aggression in the house.. thanks for the puppy toys Su Su!

The pups have graduated from the whelping kennel to the bigger free run pen that attaches to our deck.. They are loving the exploring the large pen with all its trees and vegetation. Momma Lucy is just a visitor now and then and the pups are hanging with some of the other dogs in the pen and learning their place in the squid acres hierarchy.

One more month at least until temperatures will be cool enough to start training with the 4 wheeler.. The dogs are ready and we can't wait to get ready for another season of running dogs. We would like to thank Chef Billy for helping us feed our dogs with fabulous beef stew that makes their summer meals more interesting than dry kibble. Tune in soon for more... Stumpy is pregnant and will be having a litter around memorial day.. check back for fall puppy fun!

pups and pens

Hi Folks, the big news is that Lucy finally popped.. she had her pups! 5 Healthy little bundles of fun. 3 boys and 2 girls. Lucy is super whooped after that and enjoying some rest in the house.
The other dogs are enjoying their new pen. we got the first of two free run pens finished and the dogs have all had their chance to run and pee on all the trees. They are super excited to have this space. Our plan is to rotate dogs through in groups so they can all play and burn some summer time steam. We are working on another large pen and the doggie wheel.. stay tuned for doggie wheel video footage.

Ursa got some r and r after her spay surgery. Thanks Natalie for the sweet bed. this dog is actually huge... the dog bed is even huger..:)

Dog Days of Summer

Things are pretty chill around here as far the dogs go. The days are getting very long and pretty warm. That means that the dogs lay around all day in the sun and get crazy all night when it is cooler. Above Lead Dog Windsor enjoys a rub down in the house... Below, Solo likes the cold tile.

Stout enjoys talking on the phone... We have some big projects for the dog right now. The Squid Acres Dog Park is in construction. We are working on making some large pens so they can run around more and get more exercise and play with each other. We also are working on making a large dog wheel, so they can get in and blow off some steam if they like.. kinda like a doggy gym. These large hamster wheels are used by a lot of top mushers to allow dogs to run at their own pace in the off season. We'll post videos of it when it is up and running.

The month of spring mushing is over.. summer is here.

Well folks Spring came and went quickly this year and provided us with an amazing month of mushing and camping. In the end of March, Cody's dad Sterling came to visit. He got a taste of what our winter was like when on the second day we put him on a sled with his own team and we headed out to Minto Flats for an overnight. We camped out in the flats and then took down our training camp that we had used all winter for race training. Dad can be seen to the left with his 6 dog team. We did about 50 miles in those 2 days. Previous dog experience was about 2 miles with 4 dogs about 2 years ago.. cowboy to musher.. overnight.

We then headed to the White Mountains for a 3 day trip staying at the Colorado Creek Cabin. We took the entire kennel except Stout, who was recuperating from a shoulder injury. Dad ran the same six dog team, Paige Ran the pups and I ran all the rest with the freight sled full of goodies for our time at the cabin. We had a great stay filled with hikes, firewood cutting, good food and drinks and games.

The next day after returning from the whites we had a goofy little event to celebrate our anniversary known as the Old Ridge Retro Rondy where folks dressed up in retro winter clothes and brought their dogs out for a short fun race. What a blast.

The last chapter in our spring of mushing was our annual trip to the north slope of the Brooks Range to test ourselves and dogs in some real wilderness and to find caribou to fill the freezer.

We spent an amazing week exploring areas of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and Gates of the Arctic National Preserve. There is nothing quite like a day of watching your team in awe as they break trail through shoulder deep snow for miles, nothing like gliding along a river with dall sheep on the cliffs above, nothing like paralelling a lone wolf for several miles on the open tundra and then hearing the entire valley go off with howls and nothing like the feeling of providing for the family with fresh caribou meat...This is what we live for.. spending time in the wilderness living with our dogs...... can't wait until next fall when we can do it all again.

Thanks for watching during the 2009 - 2010 mushing season. Stay tuned this summer for the arrival of our new team member puppies from Stumpy and Lucy.

Dinner Guests the Old Alaskan Way!

The great thing about living in the Fairbanks area is that there are trails virtually everywhere. We often run the dogs to local bars and other peoples houses for visits. Last night our friends Nita and Josh came by with a 10 dog team for dinner. One of the pups that we raised "Chaos" is now part of their team and looking like she fits right in. It is only about 12 miles or so by dogsled, but at least 45 by car... an hour drive or an hour dogsled ride... dogsled is an easy choice. here is a video of them leaving after dinner.

the aftermath

Sunday was a day for the athletes to relax. The dogs were filtered though the house in groups of 4 -5 at at time to get massages and get the complete checkup for injuries. A few stiff puppies, but everyone seemed happy to roll around togeher in the warm house. I looked worse than the dogs as you can see...

Pictures from the checkpoints

The race went great. thanks to all the volunteers that made this possible. The trail was marked perfectly, the businesses running checkpoints were super helpful and the mushers were happy and fun to compete with. thanks to all involved!

Our race went something like this.... we'll see if I can remember the details.

We started on Friday from the Chatanika Lodge on the Steese Highway at 12:24 pm. From there we wound around the Cleary summit area, home to the Aurora Skiland, "the farthest north ski area". The team had to climb over severeal major hills and domes here in the 2000 eleveation range, with the sun beating down on us, it was a bit slow, but the views were amazing. We ran for about 55 miles which was the halfway point to the first checkpoint and then stopped at sunset for a 4 hour rest. The dogs ate well and got a nap. At this point we were in almost last place as we started back there. at 10 pm I pulled the hook and with the cool night temps approaching -25 F we flew towards angel creek. Along the way passed 7 - 8 teams camping. We pulled into the Pleasant Valley Store Checkpoint around 4 am and I was a little frozen and very tired. The dogs were taken care of and bedded down and I headed into the store stock room for a one hour nap... its amazing that one hour can change a tired grumpy man into one that is ready to race again.

Cody after a one hour nap and getting ready to head out for the next leg. Trying to remember what I need from my drop bags? Any snickers in there?

The next run was also slow in the heat of day, but spectacular views of the Chena River Valley. We rolled into Angel Creek around 3 pm and stayed for our 3 hour layover

Several teams all rolled into Angel Creek within in an hour of each other and we all had either 3 or 4 hours of mandatory time to stay there. It was clear that whomever left first would probably get to the finish in fifth place.... just forgot that one musher had done all her time at the last checkpoint and ran straight through while I was in the bar eating a burger. When it was our time to check out, we pulled the hook and tried our best to catch that musher to get into the last payin position of fifth, instead we came in about a half hour behind at 12:01 am and got sixth.... which was awesome. the dogs did great once again and we are thrilled with their finish. The leaders of the race didn't camp on the first run and were about 6 hours ahead of me in the end. The difference between first and second place turned out to be just seconds. What fun!

Thanks to my devoted fans.. I won't embarass all two of you, you know who you were, for coming out and supporting team squid. I think they got more photos of the dogs actually moving, Paige was busy doing her job of handling and couldn't get any of those, so will post them later as they come in..