In which we go to the dogs....

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This is my final catchup day with Fran. I'll probably do just one more post that's a "After-Fran Fairbanks" post, and that will be it... Hope you've enjoyed reading; I'm looking forward to writing about things as they happen again!
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We figured we could do one more thing at Denali before having to get back to Fairbanks. Happily, we both wanted to do the same thing, which was to visit the kennels and take the "Sled Dog" tour.

Tephra, one of the sled dogs at the Denali National Park sled dog kennels

Sled Dogs

After a good breakfast (I got up early to make French toast!), we just made it on to the sled dog shuttle bus. It's so great that they have these busses so you don't have to drive everywhere.

There were dogs everywhere! They each have a kennel with their name on it; they are chained up with about a 10-ft swivel chain so that they have a fair amount of room to move around, each in their own space. This is done by design: it's not a community kennel where they are all running around together. The handlers want them to work together as a team  — with the human being the "alpha" dog — and not to establish hierarch among themselves, which is what would happen if they were left to their own devices. This was interesting and somewhat unexpected.

There are rope dividers between each dog's space. We were instructed to remain behind the ropes, but we were told it was okay to call a dog over with any dog-enticing noises we could make. If a dog came over, we were welcome to pet it, scratch its belly, or hug it. It was pretty cute to see some children with dogs almost on their laps! Some of the dogs were less sociable; preferring to stay up on their kennels, or sleep, and everyone was pretty good about letting them alone.

Is there anything more adorable than a 2-week-old puppy?

There were some dogs who were behind fences; some were in heat, some were young and reliable with different people, some were just not "pettable."

There was even a litter of two-week-old puppies!

There were sled dog rangers and volunteers on hand to answer questions, but it soon was time for the presentation and demonstration.

The ranger who led this was a fine speaker. Her script was informative, being just slightly humorous; she had sparkling diction, speaking slowly and enunciating clearly so she was easy to understand; and she conveyed a perky enthusiasm that seemed genuine.

Some of the information we'd heard before, but some of it was new. One of the differences is that these dogs are not racing dogs, they are working dogs. So while they are Alaskan huskies, the same breed as we had seen at Trailbreaker kennels earlier in the week, they are bred not for speed, but for pulling and their work ethic.

Rupee, one of the sled dogs

The dogs bred at the kennels are part of a long history of dog mushing in Alaska and Denali National Park in particular. As non-motorized transport, dogs have helped the rangers patrol the park in the winter for almost 100 years (the park was founded in 1917). Today, they still perform routine patrols in the backcountry. They have helped bring in equipment, such as a ton of bridge parts to repair one of the road bridges; and take out trash, including the parts of a downed aircraft. They have to be strong, willing and dogged.

Litters are named by subject: so there was a "Volcano" litter (Tephra belonged to this litter), a "Knots" litter, and others. Find out more about the dogs in each of the recent litters.

Our ranger guide spoke about the different "team" positions: lead, swing, team and wheel dogs, and what it takes for a dog to hold those positions. At the park kennels, they often "mix it up" and switch dogs in and out of the different positions. She said it can be stressful to always be the lead dog, so a dog might only perform in this position for a 6-hour shift, and then is moved back to be a swing or team dog. (Personally, I think this also probably emphasizes the alpha-dog quality of the human musher who is calling the shots, although she did not say this.)

We got to pose on one of the traditional sleds

What traits does the Park Service look for in their sled dogs? First and foremost they have to be adapted to the winter climate, with a warm, downy undercoat that they shed in in the spring; broad paws with closely-spaced claws (almost webbed) so there's not a lot of space for ice to get in and give the sore feet), short ears so they don't get cold, and fluffy tails so they can curl it around to keep their noses warm when they sleep. Of course, they also look for the will to work, intelligence, and the ability to get along with a team.

She talked about the food that the dogs eat (a high-quality kibble); they eat twice as much during the winter when they are not "on vacation." She told us about their training: they get walked three times a day by volunteers during the summer, and they will start working out with them on roads using the training cart starting in the late summer. During the summer it's actually just too hot to work them with hard training.

Then they started bringing the dogs out for the demo. They almost half-carry the dogs, hoisting them by their harnesses so that they are walking on two legs. While this might look cruel, it's so that the handlers have better control over the dogs. The dogs love to pull so much, that they would have their handlers halfway to Fairbanks if they had all four feet on the ground!

The rest of the dogs that weren't chosen to go were barking and showing lots of excitement, racing up and down in the kennels and dancing on all four feet. The five happy dogs that got to go were wagging their tails and pulling and and jumping around until they were harnessed to the training cart. They only had five dogs: two leads, one swing, and two wheel dogs. More dogs would have been too much power for this short run.

But as soon as they got hitched into the traces, they were all business. They calmed down and waited for the signal to go! (If the movie below doesn't play, you might have more success with the YouTube version.)

It's just exciting to see how much joy these dogs have for their work. The humans seem to like it, too.

Last look

Mushrooms and mosses and low-bush cranberry.

We had a bit of time and it wasn't raining, so opted to take the hour-long walk back to the Visitor Center.

It was a pleasant enough walk. The recent rains had brought out mushrooms everywhere. There were flat pancake mushrooms; tiny mushrooms; red, white, brown, purple, pink, yellow and green mushrooms; spotted mushrooms and cupped mushrooms; fat mushrooms, delicate mushrooms, ruffled and fluted mushrooms.

It made me want to know more about mushrooms in general. The array of different kinds was staggering.

We were enjoying our walk, when we came around a bend, and there was a couple there standing in the middle of the trail, looking at something. They "shushed" us and waved us over.

They had espied a moose!

How they ever saw it is a mystery. I took and picture and have included it below. As a hint, the moose (a cow) is bedded down in the exact center of the photo. It was as close as I would like to be, and was actually glad there was so much forest between us. (The closest I've ever been to a moose was on a hiking trip back in 1976 in the Canadian Rockies where we came around a bend on a trail that was in the middle of some willows. We were probably all of 20 feet away. We stopped, abruptly, and fortunately the moose just ambled off the trail. It was a close call; I'm glad I lived to tell the tale.)

Find the hidden moose

Upon getting back, we had a late lunch, did a little shopping at the visitor center and also visited the science center, where I got my passbook stamped. (The larger National Parks, Historic Parks, Monuments, etc., seem to have more than one stamp, now: each visitor center within a park can have a different stamp! So Denali has one each at the Main, Toklat, Eilson, and Kantishna Visitor Centers; the Sled Dog Kennels, and the Murie Science Center. At this last center is a beautiful quilt there: a representation of a map of Denali National Park, plus furs you can pet and other educational displays. We were both sorry more people weren't there.

It was time to leave, with much regret.

Back to Fairbanks

I confess that the drive back to Fairbanks was something of an anticlimax. Fran was great and read the entries on the Milepost, so I learned a bit more about the country we were driving through. I hadn't realized it was a coal-producing region (Usibelli of the Usibelli Pavilion at the Fair was a successful coal miner). We drove through Healy, where a lot of the quilters were from, and swung by Nenana, which looks like it might be a fun town to visit. It's at the confluence of the Tenana and Nenana Rivers, and is one of the towns that conducts a state-wide "Ice Classic" — gambling on the exact minute of breakup. Breakup is determined by when a tripod set on the ice, and connected to a clock, is upset by the flowing river and trips the clock.

It's a Really Big Deal in Alaska, and after the long, cold, dark winter, I can totally understand the excitement.

Back in Fairbanks, we checked into the funky but sweet Ah Rose Bed and Breakfast. We had a spacious second-floor room with two twin beds and a full bed. And a cat. Which made both of us feel right at home.

Fran contacted Renée and Warren, and we made plans for dinner. We stopped by the hostel; it felt almost like going home! We chatted a bit, I was jealous that Renée and Cho had seen the Northern Lights the night before!! After some discussion about where to go for dinner, we took Warren's advice and went to the Thai place in downtown Fairbanks He's never steered us wrong. The portions were huge and tasty, and I had enough for another serving the next day (although I did find it odd that there was an extra charge for rice).

We went out afterward to a new craft beer joint. It was so new they didn't even have a sign on the street! Not liking beer at all, I didn't partake; Renée had hard cider. They had big TVs, so it was fun to watch the Olympics, which had just started a few days ago.

It was something of a bittersweet ending to a lovely time.

Fran had to get up early (4am!!) to catch a 6:30am flight; she wanted to try to take her luggage and check it beforehand so all she'd have to do in the morning was get on the plane, but after much research on Warren's part, and phone calls to Alaska Airlines, that was not going to be possible. So everything got packed up in the car.

I dropped her off at the airport while it was still dark. When I got back to the B&B, the proprietor was a little shaken to see me coming in the door. Apparently he thought that I was leaving with Fran! We got that straightened out, and I went back to bed for another couple hours of sleep.

I'll start the new day on a new post.