Stiles creek cabin trip, then holiday!

We are heading again to a holiday week which brings many changes to our Alaskan live. Since the many-times-mentioned and long-awaited Yukon Quest sled dog race started last Saturday, it's time for us volunteers to head to our checkpoint, Mile 101 and start our own YQ adventure.

Sadly this also means we have to say goodbye to our 4-legged friends that we had so much fun with during these past two months. We enjoyed a last wonderful trip with them this weekend by going to a Stiles creek cabin. Our crew involved 7 sled dogs, 1 beagle, 1 Finnish, 1 French and 1 American and two snowmachines. One more great trip to remember!

The trail to the cabin is pretty challenging, very steep with pretty sharp S-curves. Piia ran the dogs on the way to the cabin and luckily with an empty sled the big uphills weren't too bad. Just perfect amount of exercise for the dogs and the musher. Julien claims it's better for the dogs if Piia, being lighter, does the uphill parts. For him the truth is the uphills are just so much more fun with a snowmachine. Of course he pays the price carrying all the food the tired musher needs after all the running...

Dogs running

 Piia running

 

Nick with Cooper the Beagle

We got to the cabin safe and happy after a nice run with some nice landscape views. The cabin was nice and cozy, small enough to warm easily with a new stove but big enough for all our gear. We spent the evening playing cards, eating and sharing some hiking stories with Nick. Enjoyable indeed!

Nick and Julien and the game of Rummy

In the morning we fed the dogs and then had a long breakfast just chatting and waiting for the dogs to be ready to run again. It was Julien's turn to run the sled, and according to him it was the funniest run he ever had. It was a very challenging trail, since now you ran the yesterday's big uphills downward. There were couple of steep and hidden S-curves that took him by surprise and required good sled handling skills, and even with two feet on the brake he had a good speed. Well, with skills, or luck, he didn't fall even once, but enjoyed the fast and crazy downhills. Though, it seems falling was close... :)

Getting ready in the morning

Dogs running...          and Julien running...

Balance is the key!

We gave the dogs back yesterday, which was hard since we really enjoyed having them with us, it was an incredible experience to be able to have our own dogs in Alaska! The Escape Team will always have a special place in our minds!

Now, after lots of packing, baking and organizing stuff we are ready for the big departure. We will try to post one post per day while we will be there, just to share the ambiance and our experience. We are not sure to have internet though and we might be too busy but we will try our best.

Oh and on Wednesday it was Julien's birthday so we went to have dinner with Scott, Kerry, Nick and the girls. On the menu we had salty crepes and Karelian pies, and then cake. Julien got nice presents including chocolate, wine, pictures and bracelet handmade by Evie! And also happy birthday wishes accompanied by violin!

Freeezzzing

So we hit the record last Sunday, and not just any record, but the coldest temperature we have experienced -record! It was also the record for the coldest temperature for feeding the dogs, going to the outhouse and getting firewood. And the funniest thing is, putting on clothes to manage the cold weather takes way longer time than actually performing those activities. But then again, it's hard not to freeze your butt in -50 °C...

On the other hand, if you went too close to the walls, you might freeze your butt anyway...

We took Stella inside the cabin since she wasn't eating too well and was getting a bit skinny. Needless to say, she loved being outside! She just sniffed around, watched us doing fire or eating, or Julien doing some external battery adjustments (yes, inside hobbies). And you couldn't believe the sad expression in her face when it was time to go back to the dog yard. Yes, we spoiled one dog, guilty!

Although it's a long drive home after work, in cold weather you appreciate even more the fact that you live outside the city. Fairbanks is just one big emission bubble when temperature drops and cold air prevents all pollution from getting to the upper atmosphere. Not that is good there either, but the air quality is lousy in these conditions. The other phenomena is ice fog that occurs when temperature drops below 40 °C. And when you combine these things together, it is almost impossible to be outside and breath.

 You gotta stay warm while driving!

But still, it wouldn't be a full Alaskan experience without extreme weather conditions!

Oh and if someone is wondering what the heck happened to our pictures, it's because we bought a pocket camera as we are getting ready for the summer and the big hike. The quality is lousy, but sometimes it's just so much easier...

Two Rivers Solstice 100

This weekend we volunteered for the solstice 100, organized by Two Rivers dog musher association. The Solstice 100 is a race around Two Rivers, it's about 100 miles (or was supposed to be, but some problems on the trail made it a bit shorter) and starts from Pleasant Valley store. There is a 4-hour-layover after the first loop and then a second loop a bit shorter.

Piia helped with the paperwork and the bibs while Julien was on the parking lot where the teams were getting ready. About 10 teams took part in this race since many other mushers were at the Copper Basin 300.

It's pretty interesting to watch the mushers getting ready, you usually learn a lot just by watching. After the start, we went to a crossroad where Piia helped stoping the cars for the mushers and Julien took pictures. Then we went back to the checkpoint to check and learn how experienced musher deal with checkpoint chores.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Sunday we took advantage of the good trail conditions to do our first run behind the mountain which sit at the back of our backyard. The area is quite nice, full of hills and with low vegetation, the dogs, Piia and me enjoyed a lot!

During the beginning of the week the weather went crazy and we had some rain, then in the middle of the week we got -15C, no need to tell you that driving to town was quite an adventure!