March 8, 2005

• I’ve got a story for you!

  A week ago, the owner of a closed-for-the-winter restaurant up north
  along the Dalton Highway got a call from an Alaska State Trooper. 
  The trooper had seen a bear crawling into a window of the guy’s
  restaurant.  There were some odd things about that.  For one
  thing, it’s a little early for bears to be out of hibernation up
  there.  Also, it was a big grizzly.  They don’t see many
  grizzlies up there in
  the interior, and the ones up there are mostly smaller than those in
  coastal areas.

  The trooper advised the restaurateur/tour operator to check it out, but
  to go well-armed and not go alone.  He said if they found a bear
  to shoot to kill and shoot until they knew it was dead.  I know
  that’s likely to appall or offend some animal lovers.  It sorta
  saddens and sickens me, as well.  But I’ve lived around here long
  enough to know that any bear, even a little one, is dangerous and
  grizzlies more than most.  Once, when I published the story of the
  bear Greyfox shot in our yard after it had chased me onto the porch the
  third day it had us beseiged there, someone suggested we should have
  called someone to dart it and relocate it.  The problem with that
  is that most of the biologists who do that sort of thing are in the
  lower 48 and the bears are a here-and-now hazard.

  The men who went to investigate found plenty of bear sign outside and
  inside the restaurant.  In one corner they found a nest made up of
  gift shop merchandise:  t-shirts, sweatshirts and fleece
  jackets.  Then, finding their way through the dark building by
  flashlight, they saw a pair of eyes looking back at them.

  Fairbanks News-Miner–Hibernating in Style

  ---

  
  I didn’t think it would be so difficult.

  The responses I’ve gotten so far to the first question in my trivia
  contest reminded me of exam time back in school.  Some of you
  guessed, some of you did some research, and some of you “cheated” by
  looking at other people’s answers and making guesses based on
  them.  maggie_mcfrenzie correctly counted 23 checkpoints in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.  wixer and lupa also came up with 23 as one of the answers each of them gave.

  As I thought about this, it seemed to make sense.  Marj, I know,
  is an ace web-searcher.  Gail is a data-wonk, an information freak
  like me, who collects dictionaries and probably encyclopedias as
  well.  Michelle lives with an Iditarod fan.  This would tend
  to give them an inside track compared to most people and even so, two
  out of the three of them weren’t quite sure of the correct count.

  After reading your responses, I understand the source of your
  confusion.  Mushers and most fans, and probably most of the dogs,
  recognize a difference between a checkpoint and the start in
  Anchorage, the restart in Wasilla or Willow, and the Eagle River or
  Tosier Track points where the phony non-race from the ceremonial start
  ends and the dogs are loaded back into their boxes for the ride out to
  the Valley.  Despite some gray areas like Knik, generally checkpoints start with Yentna and end at
  Safety.  There are some Alaskan school kids and plenty of big kids
  who can recite the whole list.   I’d be willing to bet money that
  Hobo Jim can recite ‘em 

  I’m a big kid.  The list just seems to roll poetically off the
  tongue:  Yentna, Skwenta, Finger Lake, Rainy Pass, Rohn…. 
  I tend to get a lump in my throat when I get near the end of the list,
  to Elim, Golovin, White Mountain, Safety — and then to Nome, not a
  checkpoint, but the Burled Arch, the finish line.  I’ve been
  getting that lump there for twenty years, ever since I heard Libby
  Riddles describe mushing through the dark on her way into Nome,
  listening to KNOM on her Walkman and hearing Hobo’s recording, I did, I did, I did the Iditarod Trail.  You could hear the lump in her throat as she talked about it, and I got it stuck in mine.

  Upon reflection, I also realized that giving out the questions one at a
  time would be awkward if the prize was to be given to the first person to answer them all correctly. 
  That would mean that on the second question I’d have only those three
  competitors, and after that it would be all over.   I’m expanding
  and/or amending the rules.  There will definitely be a prize for
  the first person to answer all questions correctly.  If no one
  answers them all correctly, there will be a prize for the one who gets
  the most correct answers.  In case of a tie, multiple prizes will
  be awarded.  I’m not even considering giving prizes to everyone
  who enters.  Just as in the race itself, this is a contest and you
  must be competitive to win.  But after I consult with Greyfox
  (these prizes are coming from his stock of merchandise) I’ll let you
  know just how many prizes there will be and what the criteria are to
  win one or more.  There will be a bonus prize for Marj for her first correct answer.  That much I know.

  This pin/badge/button thingie is what you’re competing for.  Here’s today’s question:

  (2) Which of the following items is/are not required for a musher to carry on the trail:

  –an axe
  –snowshoes
  –a gun
  –dog booties
  –dog food
  –water
  –Heet® gas line antifreeze

  ---

  Race Update:

  Yesterday’s trail was rough on both dogs and mushers because of the
  heat.  Along the section of trail where the teams were strung out,
  it was about 40 degrees F. That made the snow punchy.  When you
  walk around in punchy snow, you posthole.  Around most of the
  checkpoints, postholes were about knee-to-thigh-deep on adult
  humans.  It is cooler today, and the race leaders are farther
  north, so heat is no longer a problem.

  The leaders are through the Dalzell Gorge now, and I didn’t hear any
  reports of bison encounters.  For anyone who thinks bison are not
  “too aggressive” (whatever “too” means in that context), I’ll refer you
  to the rangers at Yellowstone National Park or Custer State Park in
  South Dakota, or to my neighbor Chuck Pratt who has a hair-raising
  bison encounter story.  In most circumstances moose aren’t “too”
  aggressive either, but being confronted by a barking dog can set one
  off, as I know only too well from recent experience.  Moose are a
  common trail hazard to the dog teams, bison a less common but no less
  dangerous one.

  Several mushers dropped off dogs at Skwentna, Finger Lake and Rainy
  Pass for illness or injury, but the vets reported fewer drop-offs than
  usual.  G.B.Jones, Jacques Philip, and Sonny Lindner became the
  first mushers to scratch from the race.  Jones said his problem
  was a lead dog who wouldn’t lead.  The team kept bunching up and
  he had to quit.  This illustrates what every musher will tell
  you:  it’s the dogs that call the shots out there.  Jones has
  finished two Iditarods and scratched once before.

  Blind rookie Rachael Scdoris and her visual interpreter Paul Ellering
  got into Rainy Pass shortly after 10 AM today and were still there at
  noon when I got the latest update.  Ellering ran the Iditarod in
  2000, placing 54th.  He had to drop one of his dogs
  yesterday.  Their average speed is about 5.1 MPH.  As of
  noon, they had managed to get ahead of three other teams.

  Robert Sorlie, who won in 2003, was first into
  Nicolai checkpoint this morning.  He still has all 16 of his dogs,
  and his average speed is 8.1 MPH.  31 other mushers, as of noon,
  were out of Rohn on the way to Nicolai.  Dee Dee Jonrowe (who, according to Greyfox,
  wrecked a sled this year because of a snowmobile parked on the trail)
  is in
  ninth place, and nine-and-a-half-fingered Martin Buser (who holds the
  speed record as only winner ever to finish in less than 9 days) in
  tenth.
  

  Update update:  Dee Dee
  got into Nicolai at 12:16, in third place.  Ramy Brooks was into
  Nicolai at 12:12 in second place.  Charie Boulding, who has said
  this will be his last Iditarod, was out of Rohn in 18th place at 5:50
  this morning.

  • 4:37 pm
  • 5 Comments