December 6, 2008
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Mushing Update
UPDATED
at bottom
Yesterday, Jeff King, who came in second to Lance Mackey after a hotly contested 2008 Iditarod, was fined $4,000 and ordered to pay $750 in restitution to the National Park Service, for killing a moose 600 feet inside the boundary of Denali National Park.
“With tears running down his face as he addressed Federal Magistrate Judge John D. Roberts near the end of the 4 1/2-hour sentencing hearing at the federal courthouse in Fairbanks, King described himself as ‘humbled and emotionally spent.’‘I’m ready for it to be over,’ the four-time Iditarod champ from Denali Park said, his voice cracking. “This has turned my life upside down and has caused me countless nights of sleepless worry. I am deeply embarrassed by it all.’”
Judge Roberts sided with the defense, against a prosecutor who claimed that King had lied about a problem with his GPS, and wanted to put Jeff in jail. King’s lawyer, Myron Angstman, said, “The only way you go to jail if you shoot a moose in Alaska is if you waste a substantial part of it or you are somehow commercially involved in profiting from that moose.” The judge ruled that, “shooting the moose inside the park boundary was a case of poor judgment, not blatant disregard.”
—–This year during the off-season here in Alaska, one of the smaller races, the Kuskokwim 300, has been getting more media attention than the Iditarod. The former race manager, Staci J. Gillilan, was fired by the race’s board of directors after it became known that she had failed to pay the state over $20,000 in taxes the organization owed on the income from pull-tab gaming they do for fundraising. Shortly after that, she was arrested for embezzlement of an estimated $13,000 to $15,000.
It was a setback for the race, and for a while there was some question whether the 2009 K-300 would be run or, if it did run, if the purse would be reduced. Fans and mushers pitched in with fundraisers, and at latest report all 3 Kusko races will run on schedule with full prize purses:
Kuskokwim 300 – Friday, January 16th, 2009 – $100,000
Bogus Creek 150 – Friday, January 16th, 2009 – $25,000
Akiak Dash – Saturday, January 17th, 2009 – $10,000Kusko 300 organizers are also planning the Holiday Classic, a 45-50 mile race, between Christmas and New Years.
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A stamp issued by the U.S. Postal Service, commemmorating the 50th anniversary of Alaska’s statehood, features a photo by Alaska Stock Images of Dee Dee Jonrowe and her team going through Rainy Pass.
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Jon Van Zyle‘s new 2009 Iditarod print, Ghost Rider is in stark and spooky contrast with most of his other work. One of my favorites among the Iditarod prints is “Catastrophe,” below, from 2006.
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January 25, 2009, the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon in Minnesota starts. Three weeks after that, the other great long-distance race (along with the Iditarod) Yukon Quest, the 1,000 mile international sled dog race, and the dog race that gets my personal prize for best website for its dog photos, starts February 14 in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada, and will end up in Fairbanks, Alaska, U.S.A., whenever the last team crosses the finish line.
But even before then, just next weekend, December 13-14, the Sheep Mountain 150, first mid-distance race of the season, will run from Sheep Mountain Lodge, out past Eureka Lodge and back to Sheep Mountain. The field there is limited to 50 teams, and those already signed up include Jeff King (4-time Iditarod champion), Aliy Zirkle (Yukon Quest champion), and Ken Anderson (2005 Sheep Mountain champion).
Finally, this announcement from dogsled.com:
The Wyedean Quest Stage Stop Sled Dog Race to be held in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire England UK on February 27 through March 1, 2009.It’s the first ever Wyedean Quest Stage Stop Sled Dog Race, a 4 stage, 3 day dryland sprint race. 2 night stages and 2 day stages.
UPDATE:
Because I love my readers, and for laughs, I suggest you download the audio of this week’s “AK” and hear what the loonies of Crab Bait Radio in Petersburg have to say about how it is ROUGHER IN ALASKA!
Comments (16)
My dad’s job as a kid was to care for the sled dogs. When we went to NY at the park we saw the Balto statue. One of my kids favorite stories.
I love that Ghost rider print. Awesome.
Being born in 1959, I grew up with teachers saying that Alaska was our newest state. I listened with wonder as they spoke of its beauty and mystery. The sled races have always been of interest to me since I went to one up in Bear Valley California when I was about nine years old. I thought the signs that said “Do not eat yellow snow” were very funny. The dogs were beautiful and their owners seemed to really love and care for them. There is always someone who can screw up the goodness in things, yet there are still those who want to race clean, care for their animals and enjoy the sport for what it was intended. Fun, thrills, and a bit of a prize at the end. Have a great weekend. Hope all is well in your corner. I lift my hot coffee in a toast to you in a true place of beauty where nature can thrive, sleep for the winter, and thrive again all on it’s own.
@Jaynebug - Your teachers disregarded Hawaii? “49″ is everywhere one looks in this state. The 49th star is ours. Somebody tacked an arbitrary “49″ onto the approximately 1,000-mile length of the Iditarod, and, until lasers and GPS made a precise measurement possible, onto the height of Mount McKinley.
Opps! I feel so stupid at this moment. My selective memory must be kicking in. Please forgive. Well I guess I gave you a laugh or a raised eyebrow. When I saw the 1959 on the stamp, my mind wandered from there. Yes Hawaii. What a contrast. Eeek on me.
@Jaynebug - Awww, I didn’t mean to embarrass you. In compensation, let me point out that I have updated today’s entry to include a link that will provide a few laughs, I promise.
@TastyAnonymity -
@ikwa - You probably missed my update, and it’s good for some laughs.
I doubt if Northern Exposure was filmed in Alaska for real, but I can’t help but think about that show when I read your blog. I liked the quirkiness of the characters, and I understand moose really do stroll the streets up there.
This morning, two buck deer walked through the backyard. It was snowing fine powder, and was a breathtaking sight…wishing I had my camera right at that moment.
@saturnnights - Northern Exposure was filmed in Washington. Their state flag, I’ve been told, appeared in shots of a public building. I never saw the show. Friends and neighbors who did see it declared it funny but not particularly “Alaskan” in flavor.
Moose often get their antlers tangled in kids’ swing sets, strings of xmas lights, and such, in Anchorage. One moose, in one summer twilit night, can consume and/or trample an entire backyard garden. They injure and kill people who get in their way. The only animal more feared in the city than the moose is the bear. Public attitudes used to lean toward pride and pleasure to be living so close to the wild. Recently they have shifted and there are now many people demanding that Fish and Game officers exterminate Anchorage’s wild animals.
This is not Anchorage. We say that Anchorage is a mere hour’s drive from Alaska. Here, about a hundred miles from the city, people who love the animals build houses with big windows overlooking meadows and muskegs, and take various measures to protect their lives, property and pets. People who fear the animals, if they are imprudent enough to move out here at all, kill anything that encroaches on their property.
Out here, a person who calls Fish and Game to complain about a wild animal menace is likely to hear, “Don’t you own a gun?” Since 1983, when we moved out here, my family has killed 2 moose that were directly and aggressively threatening us, I killed one squirrel that was tearing a hole in the roof, and Greyfox wounded a bear that had us beseiged in our house. Those are not happy memories. The happy ones involve sightings, from the safety of distance or behind glass, of wolves, fox, bears, caribou, wolverines, coyotes, birds, of course, and various rodents such as ermine and lemmings. There are no deer here. When the moose come into my yard to munch on willows, I hear their footsteps and the sounds of their breaking and chewing the trees, and I stay in the house until they move on.
@SuSu - Awesome!
I have seen wolves here in s/w Mich. Twice in the yard, and once almost hitting one with my car on the way to work. There are coyotes here in the yard at times too. Bear…not many sightings here I don’t think, and of course, no moose. I’ve seen a silver fox not far from here a few times in the early morning. Years ago, these parcels of 1 1/2 acre to 5 acre lots were only fields, and the houses were built in them. Now, trees that were planted in the yards over the years give more cover to the critters, and it’s not uncommon to see five or six deer, moving through the front yard, and racoons…unless the wolves show up again. I’m not a hunter…unless it’s with a camera. I do need a new morrel gun before next spring though. : )
Take care.
@saturnnights - The last time I saw deer was on my Big Field Trip with the kid. In ’93-’94, he took a year out of school and we traveled the West and Southwest. At Sky Ranch Lodge outside Sedona, AZ, every night deer and javelina came in between the motel units to drink from the artificial streams. When I first moved to Alaska, coyotes were newcomers here. They outnumber wolves now. Maybe someday we’ll have javelina, too.
@SuSu - Javelina?
It was interesting to find out that coyotes and wolves can breed and have producing offspring. I never would’ve known they were that closely related.
I love everything “stark and spooky”. Zyle’s image looks great.
@saturnnights - Coyote/wolf hybrids (though I hadn’t heard of this until you mentioned it) don’t surprise me. We have hybrids of both species with domestic dogs, and I think all are in the same genus, Canis, aren’t they? Years ago in Oregon, I had a wolf/Norwegian elkhound hybrid. He was splendid.
javelina
We have moose in Omak,wa and last year one was partying down town. It took Several crews of firefighters, state troopers and sherrif several hours to get it out of town. At one point in time it climbed on top of the local feed store. The back of the store is against a cliff and there was grass growing on the relatively flat roof which she thought was tasty. Until we moved here I had no idea how dangerous they were. They have lots of warning signs etc around here!!
Great blog to really give folks the idea that there is other places in AK than Anchorage and Fairbanks
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