Wk 03 Load. Unload. Check!
Date Posted: 3.5.2007
Location: 60º44'N 13º04'W
Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada
Weather Conditions: Sunny -8° F (-22°C)
Paul has been doing a lot of "checking" this past week. First, as he wrapped up packing the trailer, there was the load and check of every single item going on the Expedition. Then, traveling on the road to Alaska for the past eight days: morning, evening, and sometimes even afternoon, the Polar Huskies have been unloaded and then loaded again along with water pans, shovels, stake-out chains—everything secured and everyone all on board... Check!
Every night in a new state, territory, or province... Check! Dryden, Ontario; Regina Saskastewan; Onaway, Alberta; Fort St. John's, British Columbia; Muncho Lake... Well, almost every night in a new state. Muncho Lake is a spectacularly beautiful spot as one drives through the mountains closing in on Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory. There is a large gorgeous lodge there, but it is not a place we have ever stopped to stay overnight. With warnings of a storm moving in, Paul decided to play it safe, stop for the night, and just have a short day the following day to Whitehorse—maybe eight hours of driving. Being that it was -39 Fahrenheit (-39 C), it didn't seem like a snowstorm was really that likely. However, because the region certainly has treacherous terrain, the decision was made to stop. That turned out to be a good decision. Soon, the wind kicked in and the snow started falling and blowing. By the next morning, there was more than a foot of snow that had fallen and there were no plows in sight. Driving in clouds of white powder on the "short day" to Whitehorse ended up being thirteen hours of the most concentrated driving on the the Alaskan Highway Wilderness Road.
Headed by Paul, the crew driving the Polar Huskies, gear, and food more than 3,500 miles (5,633 km) to Anchorage, Alaska, includes Paul's father, Mike Pregont, and his good friend, Dan McGinnis. No newbies traveling with the Polar Huskies, Mike and Dan have taken part in the Expedition, rolling on the road almost every year. And as far as driving this particular distance, this is sort of an anniversary for Paul, since it is his tenth time driving back and forth from Minnesota to Alaska.
"Driving this route with Paul, I think, is a very special experience" says Mille. "We are talking about such vast distance in the 'middle of nowhere' and, yet, he actually seems to know every gas station and tricky bend along the way. Oh, and yes, he has a lot of stories—I think I have probably heard his favorite 'mud story' from Pink Mountain 10-15 times... back when the mud was so deep it swallowed the truck!" says Mille, with a grin. It has actually been barely nine months since Mille, Paul, and the Polar Huskies were heading south on these very same roads, returning from last year's Expedition. Which means that it has barely been nine months to pull together this year's Expedition to one of the most remote and isolated places on Earth!
By last Saturday, a few boxes of important items were still missing but, confident of their arrival, Paul began the process of loading the trailer. The finale of loading is a jubilant—but also very cumbersome—process. Each item going on the Expedition is placed in view and highlighted on the list. Once everything is accounted for, Paul goes over it all again one last time. Then it is finally loaded into the trailer, where Paul puts the final checkmark on his list. This "check, double-check, and triple-check" may seem a bit excessive, but, consider for a moment that every single item carried on the sled is with us for a very good reason; once on the trail, we cannot just run to the nearest store to pick up what might be missing. Having the right tool for a task can be a matter of survival as we travel across Arctic terrain in frigid temperatures—be it a chain functioning as a break to slow the speed of the sleds going down the mountainside, a proper star screwdriver to tighten the plastic on the runners of the sled if they shred and need be replaced, or a throw rope to rescue a team member that has fallen through the ice.
With last year's long drive, the engine of the dog truck growling as it snailed its way across the mountain ranges, and pulling the huge load fresh in his mind, Paul set out this past summer to try to lighten the load. To our great fortune, Paul was able to secure the support of Carlisle Trucking from Minnesota. Carlisle Trucking runs a truck every week from Minnesota to Anchorage, Alaska and, upon hearing about the mission of GoNorth! and the adventure learning expedition ahead, owner Harry MacDonalds decided that he could certainly take a load for us with him to Alaska. In November, Paul brought the two komatek sleds, 24 dog crates, the NASA box with the liquid nitrogen dewer used for gathering and shipping snow flakes from the field, the snow water equivalent tools, and the Honda generator to the Carlisle Trucking dock in Minneapolis. Within a few days, it made its way to Anchorage, Alaska, where it has been sitting since in their storage facility. That gave us a lot more space in the trailer and made the load a lot lighter—800–900 pounds (363–408 kg) lighter! "Considering the truck is pulling a load of almost 6,000 pounds (2,722 kg) now, that really does make a difference" says Aaron.
(left) An exciting week for adventure learning and GoNorth! at the University of Minnesota. In a campus building floor, signage is installed that talks about our programs! Join Aaron and Mille in this week's Weekly Chat on the topic of Arctic Exploration, Tuesday, March 6th at 12 PM CST.
With its twisty, needle-hair corners and steep mountainsides, it is a hard drive even without a full load. It can, at times, be quite the experience to drive with Paul in the mountains. Not because he would in any way ever drive recklessly, but being an old-world champion skier, Paul, to the rest of us mortals, can seem to enjoy rolling down that mountainside a little too much. That said, driving the mountains in the Yukon while carrying 23 Polar Huskies on the back of the truck, even Paul's knuckles get white. Still, the amazing sights make up for the hard driving. The Polar Huskies enjoy the ride as well; whenever they pass herds of animals—buffalo, moose, caribou and even a lynx—alongside the road, they would see and smell them, too!
(right) Bison in the ditch grazing alongside the Alaskan Highway. Seen any interesting animals around this week? Signs of Spring (or another season) in your area? Make sure to enter your phenology observations in Collaboration Zone 01: The Explore Zone.
Though not quite yet in Alaska, the high point of this week's travels was definitely pulling onto the wilds of the Alaskan Highway. This road really captures the imagination as it takes us through some of the most spectacularly beautiful country, scary steep mountains, and large frozen rivers. The hard-working spirit that went into making the road is amazing. A little more than 60 years ago, during the Second World War, 11,000 troops and 16,000 civilians built this 1,523-mile (2451 km) long road to Alaska with its 133 bridges and 8,000 culverts using "shovels and axes"—and all in just nine months! Mille's family was actually part of the grand rush. Born in Greenland, her grandfather's brother, Thorbjorn (or just "Bob"!) and his Danish wife, Elly, had traveled (by dogsled!) all over the Canadian North, with Thorbjorn being a biologist. Then they decided it was time to go gold digging! That didn't go so great but, instead, they settled a lodge on the very edge of the Yukon River while the Alaskan Higway was being built. Though no longer in the family, the lodge is still there and the team always make a point of stopping at what is actually now a national monument, the Cinnamon Mine, for a world-famous cinnamon bun (the like to fantastic stories runs in Mille's family...). Elly lived in Whitehorse up until just a few years ago, when she passed away at age 101. She loved when we would bring the Polar Huskies—especially Aksel—into her retirement home!
Whitehorse is the capitol of the Yukon Territory in Canada. With 23,000 people living in Whitehorse, it is not a big city. But after you have been driving miles and miles through vast wilderness, downtown Whitehorse seems to be a cultural mecca. Sitting on the banks of the Yukon River, it is a really cool place with lots of history and strong tradition. It never seems to fail that Whitehorse has a treat in store for us when we arrive. Last year it was when we arrived in the midst of the Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous Days, and this year ... let's just say it was buzzing again. First off, of course our crew secured—you guessed it—the last room available in town. But there was more than good reason for the crowding... thousands of young athletes had traveled to Whitehorse for the 2007 Canada Winter Games. The first-ever Canada Games held north of the 60th parallel began on February 23 and go on until March 10th. It has competitions in almost every sort of sport or game you can think of, and then some. Judo, curling, badminton, downhill skiing, synchronized swimming, skating, squash, and snow boarding may sound fairly familiar. But how about a one foot high kick, kneel jump, arm pull, knuckle hop, or toe hang!? These are traditional games of Arctic peoples and Paul is busy at work doing much necessary watching, checking it all out today!
But, by tomorrow, the Polar Huskies will be back on the road to cover the last 600 miles (966 km) to Anchorage, Alaska—the end of this year's road trip. From there, the Polar Huskies will fly to Nome, the western-most community of North America. Just 80 miles (129 km) across the Bering Strait from the Expedition's starting point in the larger community of Provideniya, in Chukotka, Russia. Good thing the Polar Huskies are great travelers! Aside from being out on the trail, there are actually few places a Polar Husky would rather be than in a dog box on the truck going somewhere with the gang.
This week's two Polar Husky Superstars have not always been easy to travel with, but they both earn their stars for being such good travelers this year!
The mother of Disko, Hershey, Sable, Ginger, Sami, Khan, Tucker, Domino, Buttra, Rubi, and Xena—Nazca—is an extremely intelligent lady. If she is in the team chasing another team< ahead, she does an excellent job as a lead dog. But when Mille puts her up to lead the team all alone out ahead in the front team, she gets a bit nervous with the pressures of wanting to do everything just right. With her super-sweet and loving nature, Nazca is, for some reason, also very shy with new people. She's also pretty much built like a racehorse—lean, long legs, and strong hind-quarters to kick up the speed into top gear; Nazca is the fastest dog in the Kennel. That all combined makes for Nazca being a brilliant escape artist. We have basically given up on ever keeping Nazca anywhere she does not want to be. Instead, she always walks loose! This works out when back at the Kennel, but it can be a bit of an issue when traveling on the road. In the past, she has accomplished some great escapes on us but, this year, it seems she has decided to stick around and enjoy the company. And she has also decided that she finally knows Dan well enough that he is safe to load and unload her—before which he is always greeted and, after which, followed by one of her gentle signature kisses!
This week's other Polar Husky Superstar, Xena, is a completely wild, crazy, hyper, can't-sit-still-always-wants-to-run-run-run Polar Husky. Also like her mother, she is very very sweet, but it can actually be kind of hard to hang out with her because she simply can't sit still for that long. Somewhere to jump, someone to play with, something to do! Xena is the smallest dog in the kennel and built quite different from her mother, but she is incredibly athletic. When harnessed in the team, she can literally stand in one spot and, in one leap, she will be on the other side of the dog she is running with. That makes for alot of jumping back and forth when Xena gets excited (which yes, is a lot!) and lots of tangled tug lines! Though it is hard to believe, Xena is actually just as shy with new people as her mother (and her brother, Buttra). But this year, she has likewise decided that Dan is A-OK and she, too, is turning into a superb traveler. All dogs ready to load? Check! Are we there yet?... Almost!
