Aloha!!!
December 8, 2002
Seavey's
Iditarod Racing Team--Sterling, AK
By Tyrell Seavey
Aloha! I think that this year would have been a better year to take up surfing than run the Iditarod, but for us die-hard mushers that bothers us not. The good news is that we have found snow!! The bad news is that we are going to have to mobilize our entire racing operation and set up camp at Wolverine Lodge in order to take advantage of it.
Wolverine Lodge is located on a wilderness lake near Glennallen, Alaska. They have a little shy of 8 inches of snow on the ground in Glennallen, which is enough to use sleds on the frozen rivers and lakes, but not enough to use portages or over-land routes. We will be limited some by the light snow covering, but the lodge owner tells us they currently have over 60 miles of useable trail.
In order to maximize our time in Glennallen we are going to take just the core dogs from our three racing teams (Jim, Mitch, and I), and we are going to leave the extra dogs here with, Tom Ledwein, our newest handler. Tom hails from Minnesota. He has extensive experience as a wilderness fishing, camping and mushing guide. Tom has moved to Alaska in order to pursue his goal of someday running the Iditarod, and is working here at Seavey’s Iditarod Racing Team in order to learn as much as possible about running dogs.
Jim, Mitch, and I will all take our best 20 dogs. In addition we will bring 8 dogs in training for mid-distance races that Pete can run. Pete has never been on a mushing trip of this magnitude, and is undoubtedly the most excited of all of us. We are planning to leave our Sterling location on Wednesday the 11th and return a day or two before Christmas, so we have to pack enough food and equipment to be self-sufficient for nearly two weeks. We are already well on our way with the preparations. Pete has been working on cooking extra fish and carving some beaver carcasses, Jim has been rapidly preparing our dog truck and trailer for the big move, and I’ve been sorting through all the sleds, snowhooks, harnesses, and miscellaneous camping gear, and getting it all back into working order. We will keep you posted as the madness continues…
Reporting from Seavey’s Iditarod Racing Kennel,
Tyrell Seavey