Monday June 16th Day #38 Thunder Bird falls

                             We hiked up to Thunder Bird Falls on Monday. 

         

           It was steep in places but we all made it including Aussie.

                               

                                He made friends along the way!

Tomorrow off to Martin Busers Kennel!

Tuesday- June 17th Day #39

Hard to believe we have been in the RV for 41 days! 

The state of Alaska is beautiful. I love having daylight until after midnight and then it is light enough to walk around outside without a flashlight until the sun is up until 4:00 am.

Today we visited The Happy Trails Kennel. (Video is on our You Tube Channel.) 

 It was so interesting meeting Martin Musher who has raced in 39 Iditarod races and won four times. I learned how hard it is to be a musher. It is demanding just preparing for this race never mind racing in it.

First you need to kennel you own dogs. Martin has 70 dogs and 5 puppies, all huskies. A lot of thinking goes into breeding two dogs so that you get the traits you need in a puppy. Martin said they keep records on each puppies development and personality traits.

                                             

                                           

You need to train all the dogs. Even in the warmer weather the dogs need to be active, so they have the dogs pull sleds on the dirt. They tether the younger dogs with an adult dogs. Chad (pictured above) is a musher and he will be racing in this year's Iditarod.

                                                         

The dog runs inside the wheel just like a gerbil does on its wheel. 

All the dogs have free run & play time and there is a pond for swimming. The dogs are hot when the temperature is in the 60's.

                                           

Martin said you need to know the strengths of all the dogs: Good in water? Good on slippery ice? A good leader for the team? 

While training they move the dogs to different positions. If a dog gets hurt during a race and drops out, the musher needs to move the dogs around. 

                                                         

Sue also raced in the Iditarod and went over all the supplies a musher needs for their team of 16 dogs. 

First each musher must decide how long they are going to race and where they will stop so the supplies can be dropped before the race begins. 

Most mushers run 6 hours on and 6 hours off (maximum is 8 hours). 

There is also a mandatory24 hour stop for everyone.

 The sled dogs need to be checked by a veterinarian at every stop.

• Each dog needs two pairs of booties every day (these protect the dog's paws and the used ones are sent  back to the kennel). 
• Leggings (keeps the huskies legs warm and free of ice)
• Harness padded all the way back
• T-shirt (protects from the harness rubbing on the dog's skin, snow can be packed under the shirt, or heat pack if injured)
• Lots of food (each dog needs 10,000 calories a day) A lot of science goes into the correct balance of protein and other nutrients in the food.
• Straw for the dogs to lay on 
• A pot is needed to melt snow to mix dog's food

The Iditarod race covers 1,000 miles from Anchorage to Nome over frozen lakes, mountains, snowy paths and through blizzards. The coldest race on record was -130 degrees wind chill.

                                  

(other pictures on video)

If a dog is injured during the race the musher must carry the dog in their sled to the next stop. (You have to run with at least 12 dogs or you are disqualified.)

Sue said you have to take care of your dog team first and be very systematic in order to get the respect of your dog team. You are their Alpha Dog. If they don't respect you, they won't run.

Sue said it happened to her once during a race. No matter what she did, the dogs would not race. Even moving the dogs into different positions and picking a new lead dog didn't help.

Sue said she learned a lot from that experience.

As you can tell. I loved learning all about this great race! I plan to try and watch it on the internet next march. We now know two guys who are racing- Chad and Riley!

                                             Now on to Anchorage tomorrow.

Sunday- Happy Fathers Day! June 15th Day # 37

 

We decided to go to the Independence Mine State Historical Park today. Cathy called and they said they were open but surprise! We drove up and there was 5 feet of snow. 

            

 The driveway was plowed and there was a female ranger shoveling the paths. 

 So we took some pictures of the part of the mine and town that we could see.

Visitor Center

                                        So we decided to try again on our trip home.