Wolverine
This will be a quick post since I have just finished cleaning straw in the minus 20 degree temperatures at Wolverine (see photo above of the team parked in the dog lot) and now must drive the 60 pr so miles to SOurdough to meet Cole there. Cole and the team came into Wolverine at just after 4 p.m. and everyone looked great. Her speed over this last 25 miles slowed slightly to around 8 miles per hours, but the team still seemed fresh after their cumulative 50 miles. COle was in so-so spirits. She said the trail was a mix of really nice, smooth sections, periodically punctuated with softer sections where the dogs would slow down and post-hole into the punchy snow.
More than the trail conditions it was another musher who had Cole feeling blue. As she tells it, another musher came up from behind and attempted to pass without calling trail, when she noticed his leaders starting to pull along her sled, she quickly stopped to let them get by cleanly, but apparently this mushers lead dog jumped under Cole’s gangline for a brief tangle. The musher got angry and groused at Cole. She was upset because she was not only trting to be polite to let the musher get by, but also it wasn’t her fault his leaders didn’t pass. More than that though, I think Cole was bummed out beucase we do this for fun, and it sucks to have someone be rude over something so trivial. Everyone on the trail is doing the best they can, but shit happens, you have to learn do deal with it.
She attempted to shake off the sour mood before it affected the dogs, so she shifted her focus to fixing her brake that came off in the first run. She remeber she had packed a few extra bolts in the bottom of one emergency bag, and she borrowed a wrench from anotherm musher and got the probelm fixed. Parking at Wolverine got a little hectic, which since it was on a huge lake, that doesn’t bode well for the next checkpoint where parking is ALWAYS bad. Everytime we’ve parked at SOurdough we’ve ended up on a 45 degree incline in the trees. It is sucky rest for the dogs and a pain for a weary musher. Time will tell what this year will hold there, but hopefully her and the team can get some solid time off their feet beucase they’re going to need it. The weather forecast for Paxson got even worse. NOw they are calling for around minus 45-50 with the combine temperatures and wind. So as usual, the Copper Basin 300 has gone and gotten all Copper Basiny on us. More to come tomorrow…
Cole making her sled repairs.