Spring

Phew! After a whirlwind of a month, the 2021-2022 winter season has drawn to a close. Excitement didn’t end with the Iditarod. The fun continued with two weeks of women’s retreats, a trip up to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Simon & Mandy’s wedding, and… baby Ike, Peep’s calf!

Ike was born just two days ago, and within 12 hours he was romping around the pen chasing his new herd mates. Incredible! We’re now impatiently waiting for Sappho to have her calf.

Immediately following Iditarod were the women’s retreats. The Women’s Retreats are some of my favorite trips. This is partially due to the beautiful scenery and spending two relaxing weeks with the dogs (and many favorite human friends who are also guides), but one of the biggest reasons that I love these trips is the women who participate. Many of the women are solo travelers, leaving their families to go to Alaska and try a completely new activity. Talk about a leap of faith! These trips are filled with women who aren’t afraid to step out of their comfort zone, or rather, maybe they are afraid but they do it anyway. There are so many incredible women- pilots, birders, ballroom dancers, ultra-marathoners, women who have summited Denali, dolphin trainers, mothers leaving their kids for the first time- but what is most inspirational is not necessarily their accomplishments, but the willingness to try something new. To take the step away from their routines, join a group of women they’ve never met, and embark on 7-days in the Alaska Range. Or as Beth would say “I didn’t know I could do that!” then immediately signing up for the new adventure. You get a bunch of ladies together who eagerly sign up to try something new, and you know it’s going to be a good time.

One fun story from the trips occurred during the first week. Moose have been very confrontational this winter due to the deep snow and challenging conditions. As a safety precaution, we had two guides (May Rose and Mollie) on snowmachines to travel in front and be a moose buffer. While the moose have been known to charge snowmachines, they especially hate dog teams, associating the dogs with wolves. Rather than running off the trail into the deep snow (where a wolf would have an advantage) the moose will hold their ground on the trail and run through a team if they feel too threatened. Sure enough, we encountered a particularly ornery moose the second day. Armed with an airhorn and firearms, May and Paige on snowmachines (Mollie was running Paige’s dog team) formed a buffer, gently encouraging a cow moose to not come our direction but instead take a trail off the main highway. Two snowmachiners came from the opposite direction, pinning the poor moose between our group and the arriving snowmachines. The moose turned and ran back towards us, but a warning blast from the airhorn and a warning shot in the air convinced the moose to keep her distance. The two snowmachiners who were traveling in the opposite direction motored off the highway and looped around the moose so that the moose was no longer sandwiched. She was still stressed and confused, so we waited for her to consider all her options and hopefully make the right decision. In the meantime, another family on snowmachines came up behind us. They passed our dog teams and pulled up next to May and Paige. Picture this, seven teams of five dogs. Two snowmachines staggered defensively at the front. May Rose, wearing a pink tutu and pink parka, a shotgun propped on her thigh as she eyed a grumpy moose. A grumpy moose, staring us down, trying to decide what it should do. The snowmachiner inquired about the situation and considered his options. His group didn’t have snowmachines that could easily go off trail (the snow was very deep), but they also admitted that they had no protection against moose either. Upon hearing this information, May, in her pink tutu and pink parka, shotgun propped on her thigh looks at the guy and goes- “you don’t have a gun?” I’d wager he’ll have that image stuck in his brain for years to come!

And not to worry, after a two hour standoff, the ornery moose found a good place to get off the Highway, and we had no more moose encounters the rest of our trips!

Shortly after the women’s retreats, we headed north to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. I know I just said the women’s retreats are some of my favorite trips, and well, so is our annual trip North! We saw caribou and ptarmigan galore, a wolf, eagles, two musk ox sparring, and even bear tracks! Kalyn harvested their first caribou. Smoky led us through extreme conditions and was a total rockstar. For the most part, we were spoiled in every way possible. It wasn’t until the very last night that the wind picked up, and we were awoken at 5:30 AM by our tent with four people and heavy woodstove being blown across the tundra. I guess that means it’s time to go! Good people, great dogs, breathtaking views- it was the PERFECT way to end the season.

Wakey wakey