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This is part 2 of my Denali Highway Adventure with Wade Marrs. Read part 1 here.

Well, after a harrowing adventure with the truck and dog trailer, we finally made it back to the parking lot we were supposed to start at and began hooking up. We were greeted by a kind group of snow machiners who upon hearing our story offered us coffee and gave us breakfast burritos. 

On three hours of sleep we were a little slow to hook up. We had no drop chains so had to put the dogs directly in the team. To hold the leaders out before the dogs were hooked up I ended up having to use a Wade’s spare tire because my leader hook wouldn’t hold. We were going to run down the road which was still quite icy and we knew we’d have very little breaking available to us.

Eventually, we got everyone sorted, pulled hook and hit the trail. It was glorious. Given the weather report we had heard I made one last minute substitution: I took Boston, a proven leader in the difficult wind conditions we might face, and left Shark, who was one of the younger dogs with more experience.

 

Our first run was great. My team took a long time to settle in and we’d made the decision to camp early, about 30 miles in partially due to the wind drift conditions some snow machiners had warned us about and the need to get more water into our teams because of our later start.

The run itself was uneventful. Conditions were, on this stretch, better than expected and I was happy to see my team doing so well in the hills. This was our first real training run with  consistent, solid climbs. The dogs performance would have, however, never indicated this.

The country surrounding the Denali Highway is breathtaking. As we went down the trail the storms from the previous day started to break. The sky was this beautiful soft buttery yellow that echoed off the mountsides. It snowed intermittently and at times the wind howled in our faces.

But the dogs kept running and so we simply pulled our parkas tighter around us.

When we hit about 30 miles we stopped at a popular camping location for teams on the highway. We made camp got water and food into the dogs. Overhead the northern lights began to emerge and slowly scrawled across the night sky.

As we took off, I put a juice in my pocket.  I try hard to work on hydration out on the trail. It’s something I’m not good at so its something I’ve made a point to work on. Before we had left, the juice had spilt all over me and getting my base layers soaked. Plus, I smelled like strawberry banana. Gross. I debated changing but it was warm and my layers should keep me warm when wet. I had extra stuff if I needed it but decided this was a good oportunity to test whether or not they’d keep me warm when wet. I mostly stayed warm. But the thing that was really killing me was that I was itchy. The juice was sticky and not reacting with my skin. Try scratching an itch through 4 layers and see how far it gets you!

By the time our 4 hour camp was up, the dogs were more than ready and the northern lights were in their full glory. For the first part of our second run, it was honestly hard to focus on watching the dogs. Giant green and yellow swirls slowly wandered across the sky and from star to star. For a long time the constellation Orion was fully dressed in greens. He looked stunning.

At times, the swirls were punctuated by the more angular displays of lights. Straight lines that came and went and moved like a piano players fingers, up and down across the sky.

The dogs seemed to thrive on this run. They settled in immediately to a smooth trot, each falling in line behind the other in perfect unison. Unlike our previous run where the dogs were disjointed and moving individually, on this run they seemed to gel and moved as a single unit.

  
We went another 30 miles, stopping to camp about 5 miles before Alpine Creek Lodge. When we had called to tell them we were mushing in, they informed us that they were having a firework display for the new year. We didn’t want to put our dogs through that nor did we want to interrupt the show as we would have almost certainly arrived right at midnight. Instead, we camped and decided we would go past The lodge then turn around and mush back to it for a 35 mile run. Besides, we had the northern lights as our firework display!

We took off and by the time we were passing the lodge, Wade and I were both struggling with staying awake. I kept nodding on and off and found myself getting lost in obscure thoughts. The road was on a high ridge that dropped off suddenly on either side and in my sleep deprived state My anxiety over slipping off the edge was somewhat consuming. although technically possible, I had to to constantly remind myself how improbable it was. Then snap oh I’m supposed to be mushing! And I’d focus again on my dogs.

This was the first real wind blownt trail we encountered. The drifts were deep and, at one point, my tiny swing dog Pippa completely disappeared under the snow. But we kept on moving, the dogs swimming through snow climbing up hill after hill.

For a long time, I wondered if we would ever reach the turn around. It seemed like we were just continuing to climb up and up through drift after drift. Progress was slow but it was progress.

Eventually, we made the turn around and mushing back to the lodge, now it seemed mostly down hill, was far faster.

We got in around 6am, fed our dogs, put jackets on them, and by 7:15 had gathered our things and brought them into a small wall tent. I was so grateful I’d bought a new sleeping pad. I threw it in the floor, took off my sleeping bag and climbed in and slept for 3 hours.

I woke up cold and hungry and walked up the the lodge. Claude and Jennifer had graciously prepared us an outstanding breakfast and we chit chatted with Kristin and Andy Pace from Hey Moose! Kennels.

Now we are gearing up for the 65 mile run back. The looming question we have is, will the truck work? I am thinking it will but again, what can go wrong will go wrong so I’m not holding my breath.

Either way, I’m sure Wade and I will figure it out. We can’t fix it from here though so we will have to wait and see.

Happy Trails, Sarah

This was the second post in a 3 part series. Click here for the final installment.

This past February, Travis, the dogs, and I were part of a television show: Extreme I Do’s for TLC. It wasn’t our first television gig, nor do I anticipate it to be our last. To date we’ve worked with the Travel Channel for their show Alaska Starts Here, with TLC for Extreme I Do’s and with a South Korean production company to make a few different commercials: one helping to promote the state of Alaska to South Korean travelers and another for a new winter product line of jackets and gear. We are vert experienced at working with our sled dogs in television.

Working with sled dogs in the entertainment industry is certainly one of the more interesting things that we do as a kennel. For one, most in the film and television industry have little to no experience with sled dogs. Working with sled dogs — whether for tv or film — can be a quite a challenge but at this point we’ve really fine tuned our process.

When working with film or television we first have to identify the purpose and type of content that is trying to be produced. Are the dogs the central focus of the show or are they a small piece? We’ve now had experience with both.

When we are the central element, as we were with Alaska Starts Here, we were given the freedom of developing our own shots and having the camera men work around us. We told them the different things the dogs were capable of and what type of camera angles we thought would be most appropriate to capture the best scenery and dog training — and the camera crew was more than happy to rely on our expertise. This, of course, is easy.

It becomes more challenging when the dogs are no longer the focal point of what is going on. When our dogs are more of a “periphery” element, we generally have little to no say in what goes on. Instead, we must decipher what it is the director wants and then figure out the best way to acheive what they want with our dogs. To do this not only requires an obedient dog team but it also requires having great lead dogs that allow us to do just about anything: whether we have one take to get it right or we have multiple takes. Reality television generally involves one and, on the rare occasion, two takes. Every other style is more flexible — generally camera men are particular about getting just the right angle or the perfect sound byte and sometimes this can mean running the dogs over and over again until people or their “characters” get their lines right. Inbetween takes, we have to work with our team to keep them quiet so that directions can be given to the cast and crew.

On Extreme I Do’s the dogs were not a central element to the overall story arc of the show. The dog team was simply an interesting way to add a truly Alaskan twist to a fun and unique destination wedding. Because of this, the dogs became more of a background element. The main goal of our filming that day was to capture quality dialogue amongst passengers as they rode the sled — expressing their excitement about the dogs, the wedding, and being in Alaska.

Additional considerations also have to be taken when filming such as getting the right permits and, if we are working on public trails, making every effort to keep those trails accessible to all. During the filming of Extreme I Do’s, Alaska was actually going through a “snow drought” and most of South Central Alaska did not have snow. Because of this, we were very limited on the trails we could use. In the end, the Girdwood Nordic Skiclub allowed us temporary use of their trails. They kindly asked us not to use all their trails, so we had to make a pretty sharp turn around for our dogs. This was made interesting by the somewhat icy trail and the fancy dresses everyone is in: crashing the sled certainly was never an option!

Having an obedient dog team is mandatory for doing film work. Great lead dogs and an experienced dog team are also a plus. Good leaders make doing challenging shots much easier and, because they are often very intelligent, are often able to pick up on what we, as mushers, are trying to accomplish.

Extreme I Do’s was aired by TLC. Look for reruns in the coming weeks. Alaska Starts Here was a production of the Travel Channel and has had reruns periodicaly throughout the year.

Ask us your questions about working with sled dogs on television on our facebook page: www.Facebook.com/TurningHeadsKennel