YUKON QUEST START! dogs dogs dogs!

This is going to be a quick one but I want to pound it out or else I won't get it done.

The 1,000 Mile Yukon Quest sled dog race started in Whitehorse today. (I did a summer placement with the Quest when I was pregnant with Juni. Having just moved to the north I was new to all of this mushing stuff and had to learn fast so I could inform tourists who popped by the office and research and write a few issues of the newsletter. Scroll down through the newsletter link and look for the little piece I wrote about how Brent Sass trains in the summer and another piece about one of my favorite mushers Normand Casavant and how a few of his retired dogs are livin' the dream.

 Ok...here we go...the family...

A dog truck. Lots of barking and excitement. A few of Casavant's dogs are getting a back rub from his handler/ladyfriend Karin up by the fence.

Musher Brent Sass gets a kiss from all of his dogs before he takes off. Pretty much the more adorablah (rtm) thing ever. 

Some of my favorite dogs are in Dave Dalton's team. They are a gang of blue eyed beauts who spend the summer getting jacked by pulling fat toursits around on a glacier up in Alaska.

3 people have to hold the sled at the start because the dogs are rearing to go. These are more of Brent's dogs. The one on the far side looks like one of the "Silver's" puppies. The mushers start in 3 min intervals.

And here is team Wild and Free in action at the bridge where the convergence of the two rivers are just north of Whitehorse. 2 seconds after this I pocketed the cam and gave Brent a high-five and a dorky "you're awesome man." 


I have a bunch more photos and some vids but who knows if I will ever get around to posting them. I still have the photos I took of Marcelle and the Russian at the finish line last year. The race goes back and forth between Whitehorse and Fairbanks every year. Oh man this is pretty much the coolest sport ever. So much adventure and history and excitement. So many dogs! And it is my birthday today so oh my dog it was a good one! I hope they all stay safe on the trail, it can get sloppy out there climbing a bunch of mountains and crossing icy rivers and