View allAll Photos Tagged mush
A little girl on a traditional wooden dog sled at the Open North America Competition (ONAC) at the Alaska Dog Mushers Association track in Fairbanks, Alaska on March 16, 2024.
What a wonderful time I had greeting my neighbor and his team as he mushed by our cabin this afternoon in subzero temperatures. Dennis is a great guy, and stopped and let me schmooze with each of his little athletes before continuing on his training run.
Thanks Dennis - I needed a doggie fix. ;-)
The Alaska Dog Musher's Association was holding races today.
The pandemic has put a large crip in their operations.
Yukon Quest is a sled dog race that takes places every February. Mushers compete for the grand prize of $200 000. Usually this prize money is also suplemented by some amount of real gold (gold coins, or brick of gold etc.)
The race is 1000 miles long and has many international attendees.. It starts in Whitehorse, Yukon and finishes in Fairbanks, Alaska or vice versa. The direction of the race alternates each year. Mushers take 10 to 14 days to complete the race. High percentage of racers do not finish. Air rescues are not uncommon because of the remoteness of the area and extreme weather.
Other photos of dogs and mushers, both from me and from other photographers, can be seen at the The Yukon Quest pool.
This is the photo I entered for the 2012 Photography Contest hosted by Nora/Penny.
What do you guys think? I like long comments.
░░▒▓██████▓▒░░SAGED░░▒▓██████▓▒░░░
- ꜱᴀɢᴇᴅ. ᴍɪɴᴛ ᴛᴇᴇ. ꜰᴘ
ᴄʀᴏᴘᴘᴇᴅ ᴀɴᴅ ꜰᴜʟʟ ᴛᴇᴇ
ʟᴏᴛꜱ ᴏꜰ ᴅɪꜰꜰ ᴏᴘᴛɪᴏɴꜱ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰᴀᴛᴘᴀᴄᴋ
ɢᴇᴛ ᴛʜɪꜱ ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀɪɴꜱᴛᴏʀᴇ
One of the invasive weeds of North America. Eye catching due to it's pinkish color but a problem. Grows along every trail and abandoned lot.
at Happy, Alaska.
Flashback Friday.
ca. mid-late 1980s.
Mush was not really our dog, but he did live with us off and on for a while. We met while Chance was still a puppy and Mush's person at the time was my cabinmate. We shared a dry cabin, no phone, no electric and about a tenth of a mile off the one lane, pothole filled, dead end dirt road. Judy had rescued him from a remote town, Kotzebue, above the Arctic Circle. People often talk about rescuing dogs, but Mush and Judy’s story is unique and a very literal rescue.
Judy was living in “Kotz” doing, if I’m not mistaken, graduate work. I’m sure she had seen Mush before, but one day while he was harnessed and in team, she heard yelling; his owner pulled a gun and was about to shoot him dead. Evidently Mush was a fighter and was not receptive to being told what to do by this person. This method of training, shooting a dog in harness while his teammates look on was meant as a lesson to the other dogs that they better behave. Truly misguided and cruel – “training” through fear and intimidation. But things were different in the bush and some people could not afford to keep a dog that not only did not perform, but also harmed other dogs in the team.
Judy intervened, “don’t shoot that dog!” And the person reluctantly acquiesced, warned her about his behavior, and said, “get him the hell out of here.” (or something to that effect).
Judy returned to Fairbanks for University studies (where we met and became roommates), of course she loved that dog with all her heart, with all her being, and he no doubt loved her as well, realizing maybe not that she saved his life, but that she got him away from a bad person.
It was said that Mush was ½ wolf. I usually take such claims with a grain of salt, but with Mush I believed it. Huskies can be very aloof, and arguably most or all of them can be traced to some wolf heritage, but Mush was the most aloof dog that I have ever experienced. Also, he did not like men, any wonder. But he tolerated me and eventually we became as close as he would allow. Later Lenore came around and she fell for him and he preferred to live with her in her little cabin. He provided her security and comfort. But I jumped ahead a bit.
Judy and Mush moved in when Chance was still a young pup, he was not aggressive with the rambunctious puppy, but as a matter of training and demonstrating who was boss, he would sit with seemingly all his weight (he was big) on Chance the pup. Chance learned. In his time with me Mush was a strong freight dog, helping haul firewood locally and supplies out to my remote cabin site. I even named a stretch of trail after him, “Mush’s Misery,” as it was a long uphill slog and he would put his head down, lean into his harness and march ahead without complaint.
Later Mush disappeared and some weeks or months later I was surprised to see him at a friends cabin. This was not near where Lenore or I had lived. The friend was surprised that I knew him, as surprised as I was to find him living with her. She said he just appeared on her porch one day and stayed, as if he lived there. She was involved in a separation and felt alone and vulnerable too in that place. She was convinced that Mush sensed this, and intentionally appeared to protect her and provide comfort. They had not met before. I didn’t really feel like it was my choice, so he stayed. Eventually he disappeared from her too, and that’s all we know.
Bought a takeaway meal fish & chips + mush peas from the Creel at Porthmadog and taken to Borth y Gest to eat and it was very yummy too.
Special price £6.95 for the takeaway meal.
I often see my neighbor mushing along the trails that run for many miles near our cabin - and I can never resist the urge to take a few shots of him, and his team of twelve dogs. Yesterday was warm and sunny when my husband and I spotted Dennis and his team out for a long run. I clicked off a few shots, and gave him a big wave, as we passed him on our way back to our cabin. I thought this image might look interesting as a painting - so with a little digital manipulation - voila!
**BTW - The Iditarod Sled Dog Race starts next weekend. It can be followed on the internet if any of you are interested. This years race could have a lot of twists and turns to it, due to the unusual weather and the lack of snow. Lakes and rivers are soft, the route seems to be changing on a daily basis, and so it's anybody's race to win this year. I'm sure there will be a lot of new challenges that the mushers will have to overcome with sheer ingenuity. I wish them all the best of luck, and a safe run to Nome.