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How Mushers Get Home After Finishing The Iditarod

Sarah · March 20, 2019 ·

After teams find themselves in Nome, Alaska celebrating their momentous achievement of finishing the Iditarod, they must then work on scheduling their own return trip. Generally, after arriving in Nome mushers are quick to make arrangements — if they haven’t done so already — for themselves and their dogs. Nothing feels quite as nice as your own bed for you and for your dogs!

What you don’t see from the live web feed after a dog team arrives under the burled arch in Nome, is where the teams go. The teams travel a few blocks further to a temporary dog lot that is set up during the race. This area is called the Nome Dog Lot. At the Nome dog lot, there is a dedicated crew of volunteers who stay with the dogs, in rotating shifts, 24/7 to help watch over the dogs when the mushers or their handlers can’t be there. That being said, care for the dogs themselves is done entirely by the mushers and their handlers.

When a musher and their team arrives at the dog lot, they are quickly directed by the volunteer crew as to where they will park their sled and unhook their team. Usually, a musher has a handler present in Nome who will help them with their team. The handler will have set up kennels for the dogs who have finished and will have also added straw to them so that the dogs will have a nice warm place to stay. The straw adds insulation to the kennels which serve, in part, as a windbreak. The handler will also bring a musher’s drop bags over. Experienced handlers will often have a hot meal waiting not only for the dogs but also for the musher!

Fidget relaxing after the finish of the 2018 Iditarod

All teams that arrive are inspected by a veterinarian as the musher and their help unharness the team and begin rubbing them down. If the musher has finished in the top 20 of Iditarod then the musher will have a panel of veterinarians over to inspect each dog. The musher will have to take each dog for a small walk in front of a committee who will carefully evaluate the gait of the dog. This is partially how the Leonhard Sepphala Humanitarian Award is given out. How a team finishes the race is almost as important as how the perform. A dog team should come into Nome looking strong and well hydrated. This evaluation is part of a larger evaluation of mushers and their care on the trail.

Most mushers feed their dogs several small snacks at the finish line consisting of fish or beef. Once the team is settled and the vet check is complete, they will get a nice big meal. Teams who have finished in the prize money for Iditarod must then wait for the Iditarod drug testing panel to come and collect urine from their dogs. This can be anywhere from the time a team finishes up until four hours after the team crosses the finish ilne. The reason the drug tester may take so long is that often the dog team needs to eat and drink before they are able to easily provide a urine sample. During this time a representative from the team must remain with the dog team.

At the earliest possible time available, a musher will make arrangements to fly their team out of Nome. Local freight carriers such as Northern Air Cargo and Alaska Airlines provide “back-haul” shipping out of Nome. Because so many supplies routinely have to go into the small town for it to survive, many planes go back empty.

Travis and Sarah at the Finish of the 2018 Iditarod

This is great news for mushers because ultimately, it means it is relatively inexpensive for the dogs to get shipped home. Alaska airlines charge a flat rate of $425 to ship up to sixteen dogs and a sled back. Northern Air Cargo charges by weight — if you have a smaller team that has finished, choosing Northern Air Cargo may be a better option. We’ve worked with both carriers in the past and have been very happy with how they have taken care of us and our dogs. Believe it or not, it’s cheaper to fly the dogs back than it is to fly the humans back!

Mushers generally stay in Nome until the finishing banquet. For top placing teams, this can be 4 or 5 days so many mushers elect to send their dogs home as soon as possible. This is done because the living arrangements in Nome are temporary. The dogs will recover better sleeping in their own dog house away from the distraction of dozens of other teams. Generally, a musher running the race has a crew of people back home willing and able to take care of their team. These people have generally been involved with the care of the team for the entirety of the training season. Until the dogs depart, mushers are constantly caring for their dogs, feeding them, rubbing them down, and taking them for walks so they can stretch out.

Any musher who has finished the race will receive $1049 check to help with these expenses. Generally, this is enough to cover flying the dogs, the dog sled, and any other equipment back as well as pay for the musher’s return flight. Many mushers joke that without this check, they’d have to mush back home!

Shipping Sled Dogs back from Nome after finishing the Iditarod — A worker at Northern Air Cargo helps wrap a pallet of airline kennels containing our sled dogs for safe transit out of Nome

The dogs are generally shipped home in airline kennels, one dog per kennel. The kennels are generally stacked on pallets and syran wrap is used outside the kennels to keep them to the pallets to help prevent the dogs from moving in flight. Generally, four dog crates are put on each pallet, two on the bottom and two on top before the syran wrap goes around the outside of the kennels. This is done in such a way as to not impact ventilation but to ensure that the kennels are properly secured to the pallet and to each other.

Our sled dogs are loaded up and ready to head home

The Finishing Banquet is a time for celebration. Special awards such as the Leonhard Seppala Humanitarian Award and other prizes, both those won along the trail and those voted on by judges and mushers, are handed out too. It is a fun event where mushers get to congratulate one another on finishing the race and enjoy the camaraderie of the mushing community.

The finishing banquet ends early in the evening. Most mushers, who have now been away from home for a minimum of 3 weeks, are eager to return home and hop on the earliest flight out of Nome which is directly after the banquet. Other mushers, stay for a few more days and continue to enjoy the post-Iditarod festivities.

Once home, most mushers and there dogs relax and start the planning process for next year’s race.

Scouting Our Glacier Dog Sledding Camp

Sarah · May 4, 2018 ·

It seems like just yesterday we were packing up dog camp and getting ready for fall training. Everything comes full circle and it seems another winter has slipped by. This year was an exciting year for us. Travis set his sights on a top 10 finish in Iditarod and we were stoked on his 9th place finish.

We didn’t take a vacation after Iditarod in hopes of getting a lot done in preparation for tours but mother nature has certainly made it difficult to do much of anything. Outside, it continues to be an awkward mixture of snow and rain. It’s wet and cold but not in a way that inspires you to want to do anything except for curl up on the couch and read a book or watch a movie.

Still, we slip on our extra tuffs and spend time outside splashing in puddles (which freeze over half the time) and playing with dogs.Thanks to Ray Redington, Travis and I have gotten addicted to the show, The Black List and have been binge watching episodes at night.

Travis, Dan, and Thomas scout camp locations for running our glacier dog sled tours. Photo by Sarah Stokey

We’ve accomplished a lot in a few short weeks. We did a major revamp of our dog lot. Last year the 8 acres of beautiful old growth forest next to us was cut down as new neighbors prepare to move in. We have been kept busy with trying to get a new fence built and making our own dog yard safer. We get a lot of wind where we are located and without the trees in the lot next door, we were afraid that some of the cottonwood trees in our yard might pose a hazard to our dogs. Controlled felling seemed like a much better option!

Now, we are working on projects to get our dog sledding camp ready for the 2018 season. It always seems like there is not enough time to do all we need to get done: build dog houses, paint old houses, groom the dogs, — We could go on and on — and then, somehow, before we know it the helicopter arrives in Seward and it’s time to go scout out the location for our dog camp.

A beautiful untouched landscape with incredible mountain views created us back at camp. Photo by Sarah Stokey — A beautiful untouched landscape with incredible mountain views greated us back at camp.

There’s something exciting about getting ready for the first helicopter ride. This will be our 6th summer operating tours on Godwin Glacier and we couldn’t be happier. It’s crazy to think that Travis and I took this tour operation over when we were 20 and 24 respectively. Each year, we continued to further develop our business.

Seward has such dramatic landscapes; it never ceases to be beautiful. Each year I look forward to the slow progression as time marches from one month to the next. For now, the peaks remain covered in snow. But in a few weeks time they will morph into verdant green mountain sides. By the end of summer, the last of the snow will have melted and brilliant blue pools of water will form above tree line.

The tours we offer, the lifestyle we allow people a small glimpse into, and the magnificent place we call home all make what we do so rewarding. Our tour program is integral to our success as a kennel. Not only does it help us fund this crazy dog-centric lifestyle, but it also helps our dogs stay in shape. We actually wrote a blog post awhile back detailing exactly how it helps us. Check it out: how our summer dog sled tours help us as a competitive racing kennel.

In the end, our scouting trip to Godwin Glacier was successful. We planted our windsock to mark the location of camp for when we go back in a few days time with the first of our sling loads. We will have a lot of gear to move to camp over the next two weeks. Our glacier dog sledding tours are scheduled to begin May 18 and our summer dog sled cart tours are scheduled to begin a little earlier, on May 15.

We can’t wait!

Turning Heads Kennel is Featured by The Seward Chamber!

Sarah · April 24, 2018 ·

One of the truly wonderful things about living in Seward is our incredible local community. All our human food in our Iditarod food drops for the last several years have been donated by local Seward restaurants and organized by our friends, the Walker family. Our dogs eat the best dog food out there too.

Nothing has been sweeter than coming back to Seward after Travis Beals’ 9th place Iditarod finish to such a supportive community. Everywhere we go, people beam with pride and congratulate Travis!

Imagine our delight, when the Seward Chamber of Commerce reached out to us to be a member highlight. It was a lot of fun sitting down with their questions about our business. Learn about how we got started in our business, our most important business advice, and all about our dog sled tours!

Make sure you check out our Turning Heads Kennel Member Spotlight!

The Role of Tourism in Racing the Iditarod

Sarah · April 18, 2018 ·

The role of Alaska Tourism in Racing the Iditarod — The Role of Tourism in Racing the Iditarod. Original Photo by Kalani Woodlock

It seems strange to think that a little over a month ago, we were in Nome completing a 1,000-mile journey with our dogs. While we work on organizing Travis’ stories from the trail we thought we’d write about the migratory lives that many in the mushing world live in order to fund this crazy lifestyle.

Dog sledding in Alaska is not a cheap sport to participate in and running Iditarod, makes dog sledding much more expensive. Racing a 1,000-mile endurance race requires lots of additional training which in turn requires the dogs to eat a lot more food and go through lots of booties. We go through approximately 6,000 booties over the course of a training season. Our dog food bill is more than our mortgage, utility payment, and truck payment combined! On the low end of the scale, mushers spender approximately $30,000 dollars to train and race a team capable of reaching the finish line in Nome. Lots more, if you plan on running competitively. Of course, regardless of what is said by animal right’s activists, the financials of racing Iditarod do not make sense. Teams finishing in the top 20 are, at best, breaking even. We participate in the Iditarod because we love traveling the trail with our dogs: nothing is more remarkable than going on a 1,000 mile journey with your best friends!

Although many mushers hope for large sponsorships to materialize to offset the heavy financial burden running an Iditarod kennel entails, the majority of Iditarod mushers and their handlers have to figure out how to finance the high cost of running dogs on their own. Many mushers look to Alaska’s booming tourism economy to make their winter dreams a reality. Alaska dog sledding tours help turn many mushers’ Iditarod dreams into realities.

Because the tourism industry allows mushers to continue to work with our dogs, it is heavily favorited by dog mushers. Mushers pursue dog sledding because they love to be around dogs and working in tourism allows this. Other popular occupations for Iditarod racers include construction as well as fishing which are also seasonal occupations here in Alaska.

For our kennel and our Iditarod ambitions, we rely on tourism. We operate two different dog sled tours out of our hometown of Seward, Alaska. At our kennel, we operate a dog sled tour that focuses on providing hands-on experiences to small groups of guests. Our goal is to share our passion for dog mushing and also to educate the public on dog sled racing and sled dog care. The tour includes a fun dog sled ride on a wheeled car through wooded trails where we perform a one-of-a-kind lead dog demonstration, showing off our dogs’ training and intelligence. We love this tour because it focuses on training new lead dogs and takes our guests “behind the scenes” to show how we use positive reinforcement to teach our sled dogs our dog mushing commands.

We also offer a dog sled tour up on Godwin glacier for those seeking a winter-like experience and wanting to experience Alaska dog sledding on snow in the summer. Guests take a helicopter ride up to Godwin glacier, mush for two miles, and enjoy the amazing scenery. It’s really incredible how you can go from a summer landscape to a winter landscape in just a short helicopter ride! Alaska’s beauty constantly amazes us and this tour has been described as “life-changing” and “the trip of a lifetime!” Our dogs certainly enjoy getting to go on a winter vacation and we frequently rotate the dogs between our kennel and our remote glacier camp.

Our tour operation gives us lots of freedom not only in how our tours are conducted but also in how our dogs are cared for. For us, our livelihood also allows us to work with our dogs day in and day out which has major training benefits. We believe our summer dog sled tours really help us as a competitive racing kennel as we can continue to work with dogs and train lead dogs, work on developing young talent, and building a cohesive team. Tourism is also a really great way to introduce people to our sport and teach visitors all about how we care for our sled dogs.

With this to look forward to after returning home from Nome, we slowly began packing up our Willow residence. It almost seemed like we couldn’t leave Willow quick enough — the snow in Willow was melting and after having been gone from Seward for over 6 months, we were ready to return home. So we began the long arduous process of moving.

The process has taken weeks and is slowly coming to an end with the final dogs arriving in Seward. We couldn’t be happier in returning home: our local community has supported us in every conceivable way — from throwing fundraisers, to recommending our tours, to even helping prepare our food drops.

We are excited for summer to begin and for the opportunities that await us. We look forward to meeting new friends and sharing our passion for mushing with our guests. In between, we will enjoy the sunshine, barbeques, gardening, and friends that only home can offer.

We are so grateful for all the support our kennel receives from visitors to Alaska. Thanks for helping turn our dream into a reality and allowing us to live this wonderful lifestyle with our dogs.

Bring on the summer! We can’t wait!

Travis Beals 2018 Iditarod Roster

Sarah · March 9, 2018 ·

I’m a little late to the ball game in posting our 2018 race roster. This year, Travis and I went at training and preparing his race team without the help of a handler. Between caring for a kennel of 55 dogs, living off-grid, running a few mid-distance races, and preparing for Iditarod, we haven’t had much time online. In fact, we’ve posted a lot fewer updates about our season this year than we would have liked, but we were so busy living life and running dogs that we didn’t have time to talk about the fun, marvelous adventures we’ve had this season. For that, our apologies!

Our theme this year whether on the trail or off the trail has been “work hard and let your success do the talking.”

This year’s line up is primarily veterans along with (2) two-year-olds.

Krum – Granger
Gremlin – Blue
Havoc – Mongoose
Dolly – Kip
Fidget – Wrangler*
Flo – Zeus
Check – Rowdy
Wanda* – Cash

Meeting Travis Beals’ 2018 Iditarod Team

Krum
Krum has graduated to the main racing leader this season. She’s a rock solid dog up front who is frisky, fun, and knows how to get the job done. She’s one of the younger dogs on the team at only 3.5 years old but she finished in the 2015 and 2016 Iditarod with Travis and ran to a 7th place Iditarod finish last year with Ray Redington. When Krum isn’t leading the team, she can often be found lounging on the couch inside. Krum is joined by her sisters Granger and Havoc on the team! I expect Krum and her sister Granger will lead a majority of the race!

Granger
Granger is a reliable lead dog alongside her sister Krum. Granger is a very affectionate dog. When she comes inside the house, she forgets her size and pretends that she’s a lap dog. She has her own designated spot on the couch and is perfectly content to come in after a run and sit there for hours — that is until she decides that she MUST lick your face right NOW. In the team, she’s a steady dog who works hard . She’s happiest paired with her sister Krum but is a very laid back dog and happy to run with anyone in the team.

Blue
Blue! She’s the young gun of the team at 2 years old. She’s done an impeccable job all season, finishing in every race she’s started without a problem. In fact, she’s so good she can be easy to overlook once she’s in the team because she is so smooth and steady. We expect big things from Blue in the years to come, for now, her primary goal is to get as far along in the race as possible, ideally the finish line. I expect if she has any issues, Travis will drop her immediately due to her age. Though she may be small, this little lady is fierce!

Gremlin
Gremlin is 6 years old and one of the smaller females on the team. She has raced and finished in every Iditarod with Travis. She’s a dependable little dog who works hard and knows how to get the job done. Gremlin loves belly rubs and the occasional stint indoors where she can visit with her sister, Goblin. She’s a funny little dog who is like the energizer bunny: she just keeps going and going. Gremlin typically runs in swing but can lead if called upon. I don’t expect her to do much leading but she gives a boost of confidence to the lead dogs when they know she’s right behind them.

Havoc
Havoc is a quirky, expressive dog who graduated from Sarah’s 2016 Iditarod team and believe me, she’s come a long way since then! Havoc wasn’t always a hard worker — she’d travel down the trail well enough but she didn’t pull. Not anymore! She’s learned how to work hard while still maintaining a fun, carefree attitude. Havoc stands out for her extremely expressive “Yoda” ears and her gentleness. This lovely lady is a real gem!

Mongoose
Mongoose or “Goose” has always been excited to run every day of this season. He’s put on strong performances in the 2016 and 2015 Iditarod. Now at 4 years old, he’s a dynamite force, a solid leader, and a dog capable of charging the team with an electric current of excitement! Goose is also a dog that constantly makes us laugh. He loves rubbing up against things. He also has a very goofy toothy aligator grin. He’s a little on the shy side and prefers to be around people he knows and works with routinely. At dog mushing events, he’s the dog whose feet you can see sticking out from under the trailer.

Dolly
A graduate off of Sarah’s 2016 Iditarod team, Dolly is a phenomenal leader and all around go-getter. She’s one of the most excitable dogs in the team. She’s 4 years old and has single led some of the tougher portions of the race thus far. She’s a fun dog but can be a total pain in the butt: she’s good and she knows it and can sometimes be a little ornery with her teammates. I expect Dolly will do big things for Travis on the coast. She’s always been a real stand out to me, though it’s taken time for Travis to come around to her and let her train with his team. I expect she will be the dog he didn’t know he needed on the coast!

Kip
Kip, like his brother Mongoose, has been ready for Iditarod all year. Each training run he greats with so much enthusiasm that even though he runs in the middle of the team, we often have to hook him up close to last. His excitement spreads quickly to the other dogs. More importantly, Kip is a steady worker who always gives his best. He’s a gentle soul and a rather agreeable dog so he often runs with Dolly as he can put up with her sassy attitude.

Fidget
Fidget is THE leading lady, the go-to girl. She has been there every step of the way for Travis in every Iditarod and is the leader he has always been able to count on. When the going gets rough, Fidget gets tough! This amazing lead dog will single lead through the nastiest conditions Alaska can offer and do it with an attitude that says BRING IT ON! This is one tough dog. She’s pretty well known in Iditarod circles because she is THAT good. Travis felt a pang of pride at vet checks when one of the guys on the insider crew asked: “Where’s Fidget? She’s my favorite dog on the race.”

Wrangler
Wrangler is the biggest dog on the 2018 Iditarod team and likely the most lively. This dog loves to show off his excitement by jumping. The only thing Wrangler enjoys more than running down the trail is the snack he gets when he arrives at the checkpoint. Though he’s a whopping 70+ lbs, Wrangler is a gentle giant. He loves giving hugs to people. He is a happy dog, a strong single leader, and is a great puller.

Flo
This hardworking girl is a dynamite up front. Headstrong and intelligent, this little leader isn’t afraid of single leading through a storm. She’s a competent dog who is enjoyable to be around and what she lacks in size she makes up for in heart. She’s led most of the training runs this season but is not the main race leader. Flo had a slight injury prior to the start of the Iditarod and given the tough trail conditions I wouldn’t be surprised if she had to get dropped sometime late in the race.

Zeus
At the dog truck, everyone always wants to know who Zeus is. He’s the supermodel of the dog team with beautiful black and grey fur and stunning glacier blue eyes. A real looker. If there’s a dog getting photographed on our team, it’s usually Zeus. He’s a spitfire in harness and knows how to get the team going. He’s a good dog up front and ran lead a lot this winter. He’s a hard pulling dog who sometimes overexerts himself in his desire to get down the trail. I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t see the finish line.

Check
Check is goofy. He’s a happy go lucky carefree dog. He reminds me of someone with headphones in, grooving to their own beat, walking down some city street. Check does his own thing with a smile on his face. He isn’t the hardest working dog in the team but he is the type of dog who will always find the finish line. Check will lead if he has too, but his carefree attitude and march-to-my-own-beat style don’t always make him a good fit up front.

Rowdy
Rowdy is, well, rowdy. Although he is one of the smaller males on the team, what he lacks in size he makes up for in sheer enthusiasm. At the end of a run, Rowdy will be the first dog on his feet saying “WHY ON EARTH HAVE WE STOPPED!” Rowdy will be the dose of pep to the team that they need when the trail gets long and tough.

Cash
Cash is a new addition from Wade Marr’s kennel. He ran last year with Wade, though he did not finish. Cash is a peculiar dog. He loves running but often isn’t as expressive as some of the other loudmouths on the team. He is, h0wever, gaining more and more confidence and trust in his teammates and Travis. Cash is 3 years old and we expect that he’ll be twice the dog he is this year, next year.

Wanda
Wanda is, admittedly, not the best dog on the team. What she lacks in skill, she makes up for because she’s sweet and because Travis enjoys her company. I expect that she will grow into a heck of a dog with age as she’s already done some leading this season.

Which Dogs Has Travis Dropped?

Dogs are dropped on Iditarod for a number of reasons if their musher feels they can’t continue on. If you’d like to learn about why mushers drop dogs, check out our blog post on dropping dogs. Dropping dogs is a part of practicing good dog care out on the race trail: we only want to take those teammates who want to go down the trail and are capable of safely doing so!

Wanda
Wanda is already back at the kennel. She has been prone to fits of diarrhea all year long while running. We’d thought we’d gotten a good handle on it through changes in feeding and dietary supplements, but apparently not. I know how disappointed Travis must have been in dropping her. Before he left, he knew there was a risk in taking her and thought that some of the dogs he was leaving at home were stronger candidates but “I really like her,” he said. “I enjoy having her on the team.” So he decided to take her after all running dogs is about, first and foremost, the dogs and having fun together!

Wrangler
The second dog he dropped was Wrangler. Wrangler is the biggest dog on the team weighing in at a whopping 72 lbs. His bigger build than his teammates, the fresh snow, and Travis’ starting position was the perfect alignment of bad trail conditions for a bigger dog like a Wrangler. Due to weather, he still, unfortunately, hasn’t made it home but it sounds like he made a late flight to Anchorage last night!