The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race begins every March and travels across Alaska for more than 1,100 miles. The musher we talked to, Bill Hall, has done the race for years, alternating with his wife. Now that she no longer does the race, he is free to do it each year. It is a huge commitment of time and money. He trains the dogs twice every day, and participating in the race itself takes thousands of dollars. I guess it gets into your blood.
The lady who gave us the ride to the tour was a friend of Bill’s and an interesting person. Back in the early 1960’s when she was a very little girl, her family moved from the States to Alaska to homestead. It was just wilderness then, and even now is pretty remote. They got 160 acres in return, and had to build a home and start a farm. Hard life, but she stayed and her mom still lives on the original site.
The lady who gave us the ride to the tour was a friend of Bill’s and an interesting person. Back in the early 1960’s when she was a very little girl, her family moved from the States to Alaska to homestead. It was just wilderness then, and even now is pretty remote. They got 160 acres in return, and had to build a home and start a farm. Hard life, but she stayed and her mom still lives on the original site.
It was really interesting learning about how Bill prepares for and conducts the race, and how he takes care of the dogs during this arduous event. Clearly he does not sleep much during the two weeks or so of the race. Here are some photos from seeing the beautiful sled dogs.
The Alaskan huskies wait eagerly to start pulling.
It was a warm day, and the dogs panted to cool themselves.
Bill Hall is fit and trim at age 65 or so, and ready to get back out on the Iditarod Trail this coming March.
How do you train huskies without snow? They seemed to adapt well to pulling this four-wheeler.
He gave the dogs a water break partway through their run, and they seemed to enjoy it.
When we arrived at his home, the dogs who had been left behind went nuts but eventually calmed down.
Some the Iditarod race numbers from Bill and his wife. Men and women compete equally, and there is only one winner. Susan Butcher, the first woman to win this race, died from leukemia in 2006.
That is just amazing what those people and the dogs do!!!
ReplyDeleteOn your visit, you saw how much these dogs love to pull and how they are cared for! It is too bad that Margery felt the need to share her agenda on your blog. I'd like to encourage you to remove Margery Glickman's comments from your blog.
ReplyDeleteHere is a resource that has factual information about the race. http://healthysleddogs.wordpress.com/
Margery and Ringo - thank you for the comments. Normally, my blog is only about my hikes, but I am branching out a bit because of my recent trip to Alaska, describing different experiences there that I had.
ReplyDeleteI have only rarely removed comments - if they are strictly a sales ad, like one posted for shoes a couple of times, or if they say anything obscene. So I am going to leave the comments up and you both have provided information / links that can be used to review information. I know I am interested in learning more. I have heard of dogs on occasion dying during the race. I would think and hope that most mushers would treat their dogs well - my impression was that the man we talked to and who demonstrated his dogs did. They seemed to have genuine affection for him. That being said, animal abuse world wide is a huge problem. Thanks again to both of you for your comments. Art