McGrath
After several hundred miles, Cole and the team pulled into Mcgrath today and they all looked great. Cole was in good spirits and the 16 dogs she had in harness continusouly pulled her hooks while she tried to check in and park. They had plenty of energy to keep on trucking, but Cole was sticking to her plan to rest for 24 hours in this very friendly village.
The temperatures was hovering at around minus 27 when she came in with a frosty face, and she quickly got the dogs bedded down on straw and fed. Stu Nelson, the head veterinarian for the race, was working this checkpoint and he personally and thoroughly examined every one of Cole’s dogs (See below of Waylon getting the once over). He said they looked great, which really made her proud.
With the clean bill of health, she will be leaving with all 16 dogs after her rest (see em all below), and she is currently one of only 10 people in the race who still have 16, butt will be interesting to see who leaves their 24-hour rest destination with 16. Hopefully, she can get all dogs to Nome beucase that would be a dream come true for her better even than winning I think.
After Cole’s chores, she finally filled me in on the last few days while she comsumed a gigantic free meal provided to the mushers by the residents of this village. She’s been using different dogs in lead, for different terrain and elements, based on the dog’s individual strengths. Out of Rainy Pass she said she got stuck in a huge blizzard that the front runners just missed. Traveling alone, since the next closest musher was 15 miles ahead, she said the team had to break trail in deep, deep snow for hours and Cyder was her go to dog for pulling through the powder.
Goliath (above- still looking perky and alert) has been leading the cold stretches, since he has such a thick coat and really seems to do his best work in the deep minuses. Penny of course has been a rock, but she said she has been trying to preserve her leadership skills for later in the race. Zoom, Arctic and Keno have also been making tremendous contributions. Kawlijah and Crumb have been consistently her two strongest dogs, but she said neither has wanted to lead in this race, which it a bit unsual for Crumb for sure. Several others dogs are also in heat, which is complicating their ability to lead, including Seeker, who seemed content to sleep under her “lucky cat” blanket this morning (see below).
As to the terrain, Cole said she was very surpised the the Happy River Steps and Dalzell Gorge weren’t any worse than some of the obstacles we routinely see in training, but she said the Farewell Burn was every bit as bad as it’s reputation. She said she pinballed off stumps and trees for hours, even snapping her bridle at one point, but thankfully she runs a back-up bridle. She also frostbit the tips of several fingers during the cold night on the river last night, but several mushers coming in seemed to also have this ailment. It was tough exposing hands to change the dogs booties without getting a little burned I guess.
March 11th, 2010 at 12:19 pm
You da man!!!! Oh Joseph it is so wonderful to hear all the news and see the pictures of the team… Awesome. We had been so worried about Penny. Happy to know that all is well. We are no once again glued to the GPS.
Susan