Up Mt Mac and Back

Is there such a thing as the Church of Dog? 'Cause whenever Cool Dogs meet on Sunday the weather is perfect. The dogs loved it. We Reached for the Sky in a snappy minus thirty; no wind, golden sunshine, crisp air, fresh snow - every day should be like this.

At the entrance to Jackson Lake Peace Camp sunshine hiked down the hillside and turned the black spruce yellow. Thank you so much Kwanlin Dun for allowing us to enjoy our race on your land.

Quiet cut by the slice of sled runners, a snatch of verse, the occasional whistle warned of teams approaching Jackson Lake Road. Grinding gravel told of their departure. From Brian McDonald's more than one musher yelled out "whoa! WHOA!"

And because running times meant nothing mushers stopped on the trail to chat. Harvey van Patten packed carved ornaments up the trail for all the checkers and stopped to try on his Yukon Brewing tshirt at the top of Mt MacIntyre.

In fact, he pulled right off the trail and let a half dozen teams pass him. But the sun was out and the day would be short enough anyway. There was no rush. Harvey liked the fit of his shirt and picked up another to wear on the way. "I don't need any help with the team," was the last thing he told Mike before the six dog string shot off back way they came with Harvey and his sled on its side. Whoa, WHOA!

Crispin Studer ran dogs from each of his three lines - the goth dogs Banshee, Witch and Ghost, the bike line of Giant, Klein and Kona, and Becks from the beer line. Both he and Ed Hopkins blew past the checkpoint so fast I have no photos and by the time I got back to the finish line, they were already in.

Fred and Debby Last were packing up the freight pull as well. Five dogs competed in one minute heats. When Jonathan Lucas' Asha timed out against Debbie Last's dog, it looked like the Rendezvous veteran Sherpa would take it. But, in the final heat Asha pulled, to the last second, to shift the weight and squeak past Sherpa.

Behind the finish line Harvey introduced his six-dog team. They've chewed up so much trail their teeth are flat, but they danced through the trees like teenagers. "These dogs really know. They've pulled me out of whiteouts before." When they aren't pulling tricks at the checkpoints.

Our success belongs to the support of our sponsors Yukon Brewing, First Mate, and Air North, the Yukon's Airline. Join us for Oscar's Electric Race Day at 9:30 this Sunday, December 21 at Icy Waters.
posted by Jessica Simon