Indians Mushers and dogs

First Nation

We visited a Tlingit culture and heritage centre.
Food is a central part of their culture, and the land is an abundant provider. A saying amongst the Tlingit is that "when the tide goes out the table is set". Salmon was also a major food source. They used to restrict their movement upstream and herd them to accessible locations, and then spear the trapped fish. I feel ashamed when I realise that a culture that had managed their use of a renewable resource for 10,000 years had had to give in to another culture which destroyed the salmon harvest in most streams in 100 years.
We also learned of the heavy emphasis is placed upon family the five ‘clans’ [ see the totem poles ] and two moieties the Wolf and Raven. You are born to the moeties of your mother but must marry the other. Wealth and economic power are important indicators of status, but so is generosity and proper behavior, all signs of "good breeding" and ties to aristocracy.

Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race

The Yukon Quest Trail follows historic Gold Rush and mail delivery dogsledding routes from the turn of the 20th century. The mushers who start with 14 dogs and must finish with at least 6 guide them for a 1000 miles, across frozen rivers and lakes and over mountain summits in the heart of the Arctic winter through some of the most pristine wilderness remaining in North America.

Frank Turner, a Whitehorse musher a winner in 1995 and the only competitor in all 20 Quests owns the kennels we visited. In his late 50s he is coming to the end of his mushing career but in the film we saw how hard it was for him to resist the temptation to have another go at the race.
As a feat of endurance there is little to compare but we learned one interesting fact, they drug test the dogs and the vets can order any dog they consider to be unwell from the race but they do not test the mushers and the doctors can not force an ailing musher to withdraw.

Carol’s bit,

Today we went to a sled dog kennels, this is the first place that I would like to stay or come back to. I liked the write up that they gave on the kennels, and when we got there ,it was as it had said.
There were about 120 dogs and puppies. The tiny puppies were about 6 weeks old. All the old dogs are kept as pets and not put down when they have finished working. One litter a year is bred from different bitches, so that there is no in-breeding. There are no dogs for sale here, they are working dogs, and all have their place, and this is their permanent home. The dogs are hybrids not pure bred Malamutes ( the huskies with the black hood). These dogs are lighter and have single coats so that they don’t get too hot. In the very cold weather they will wear coats and boots. Quite a lot of them have wall eyes (blue) so they are related to the Husky and the whites are artic wolf line by their appearance. All dogs go back to the wolf, even a yorkie, these are not so far removed though.A lot of the racing is done at night which is better for the white dogs as they do not like hot sun ( originating from the Artic ) Charro is the same, he does not like the heat, but will lay in the snow happily.
14 dogs start the race as a team, and the musher must finish with at least six. If a dog cannot carry on racing, it will ride on the sled to the next checkpoint, where he is left in care. Both dogs and bitches are used in the race , and sort out their own placings, which can change if their preferences change. Some dogs like to lead, some follow, some don’t like the ice, so they run at the back. Dogs can provide the “push” whilst the bitches keep order and common sense. The handler has to know each dog and how they will perform. The true meaning of teamwork.
We were allowed to walk around and pet all of them, including the tiny pups.The puppies were being fed and had just learned to handle solid food. As usual they were in the food bowl instead of around it.



They were quite happy to be picked up and cuddled, there is nothing like the smell of puppies, absolute heaven. Their tiny little warm bodies and cold noses nuzzling up in your neck.
All of the dogs are friendly, some of the “ teenagers” haven’t learned any manners yet, and are still mouthing ,
I nearly had my sweater removed in play by a couple of them.
The kennel manager Manuela was from Germany, and had come to Canada as a finish carpenter. She is very handy at repairing the kennels, as anyone knows who has dogs, that if they don’t want to stay penned in, they will pull the kennel down.
Manuela is perfect for this job, she puts the dogs first and understands how the mind of each one of them works. To handle a dog properly there must be a mutual understanding and respect from both sides, to form a bond. These dogs will work with the mushers because they have that relationship.
She showed us a video on the dog race from Whitehorse to Fairbanks which is run every year. In 2010 she hopes to take part herself. At the moment staff wait along the route of the race and take care of the dogs as they come in to rest. They are checked by a vet, and the staff will feed and bed them down. They will even give them a massage if necessary. The mushers have to sort themselves out. Quite right too!! Without the dogs, there is no race.
We have been invited back to say goodbye on our way out, that’s going to be a long goodbye.

Two wheels on the Alaska Highway

It has finally stopped raining and we have seen the sun for two days in a row. We are reflecting on how we pull in to our site, level the RV with our hydraulic jacks and I pop outside for 30 seconds to plug us in to the electric supply. The table is set with snacks and the hot water for the shower is ready within a few minutes. We catch up on our emails if we have Wifi and plan tomorrow in comfort.
But for others it is harder, those intrepid souls travelling the Alaska Highway on two wheels. We are so lucky.





The soaked two wheelers make a beeline for the laundry and the shower block. Some will put everything in the dryers including tents and sleeping bags in an effort to at least start the night dry. Erecting a tent in the pouring rain must be one of the most miserable activities known to man or woman. Yes, we have seen at least 6 female cyclists
doggedly pedalling their way up hill and dale. Some are in matching lycra with state of the art everything and some look like tramps in baggy coats with everything in plastic bags. I have a suspicion that the baggy ones may be a little dryer at the end of the day.

However for matching outfits, the motorcyclists are the ones to look out for. Harleys
and Honda Goldwings mingle with big trailies and the occasional BMW. They travel in groups of two or three and many of these groups consist of 3 similar bikes with similar gear. In some cases similar is not close enough, they are clones. The best trio were riding identical Honda Goldwing Trikes and towing identical trailers. We were quite amazed to watch these trailers unfold to become a tiny 2 berth caravans
with awning. The trailers were spaced to allow the awnings to overlap an inch or two and there they had the communal picnic table and cooking gear. To our surprise all the cooking gear was electrically operated including the kettle and George Foreman grill. No boondocking in the wilderness for these guys and girls. Once camp was set the girls headed for the showers and at least one was clutching that essential of any long distance biker camping trip, the curling tong and set of heated rollers.

First Nation Gathering, Hot Springs and Wildlife [finally!]

First Nation Gathering

We were lucky to find a gathering of the local tribes at a local baseball field. The day was opened with some ceremonial drumming around an aromatic wood fire.
Carol thought it might have been sage and cedar. We were a little unsure if we would be welcome at an activity clearly aimed at tribes people and not tourists but they included a welcome to onlookers and said that taking pictures was OK. We wandered around the stalls and Carol soon made friends with a young local. No more that 3 months old this Yorkie mix had bundles of cute and was very adoptable however we resisted.






Each tribal member was involved in carving a part of an old growth cedar log called a spirit pole. This was being taken to all BC gatherings where everyone would have a chance to leave their chisel marks on something that would stand proud for years.

Liard River Hotsprings

We moved on to Liard River Hotsprings which is a mandatory stop on the Alaska Highway for travellers. After 2 days of more or less continuous heavy rain we woke to the same gray skies but it had finally turned the taps off. We headed up the boardwalk crossing the marsh filled with water spilling from the hot springs. This has given rise to a microclime allowing plants to grow larger and some exotics to gain a foothold. The warm marsh water even has a unique species of fish which has evolved to live in the warm water. As we approached the main pools we could see the air filled with mist rising from the hot waters and we also heard the squeals of excited kids playing in the first pool.
This drove us to climb another few minutes to the second pool which was deserted. We were soon enjoying the waters and I was able to swim out to the deeper part where the bubbles rising from the depth tickled my back. The water heated by it’s passage through limestone rocks contained dissolved minerals and seemed to have a beneficial effect on our skins as well as relieving aches from the cold damp weather. Unfortunately Charro could not go and his aches have to be relieved with some powerful painkillers. He is looking quite bright and although reluctant to walk in the rain, he is able to go further than before his operation.

BUFFALO AND BEARS

Finally, we saw some wild life as we drove on North from the hotsprings. The bear count is now 10, buffalo 9, caribou 1 and a flattened porcupine. The largest roadsigns we see relate to warnings about collisions with animals. We were to see why this happens so often. Of the ten bears seen so far,
five have crossed the road in front of us, one in particular being pretty lackadaisical about getting to the other side.
The road maintenance policies on the Alaska highway include verges which are at least a hundred feet wide and because of the frequent mowing are lush with fresh tender grass which is attractive to grazers like bears and buffalo.

Fort Nelson Westend RV Park

Caught up with our email in Fort Nelson then spent the night in the noisiest RV park we have experienced to date. There were unsilenced pick up trucks roaring in and out, a couple of the local youth spent the evening riding around on a mower with beers in their hands not mowing just riding around and several really LOUD 2 st M/Cs left and returned at max revs. The trucks ignored the sign to avoid using engine brakes and seemed to have some kind of horn competitiion going on. Mine is louder than yours. To cap it all some organised caravan of RVs decided to make an early start and every one of them dumped their rubbish and slammed the dumpster lid back down.

Signed Mr Grumpy

Barefooting up the Alaska Highway

BAREFOOTING Travel where the journey is as important as the destination

Friday June the 20th We are at Fort Nelson with 300 miles done and 1253 to go.
The sun is shining
and the living is easy. We spent last night at a little BC provincial park beside the river. Far enough away from the road to have perfect peace. As we are near the summer solstice it is noticeable that there is no longer a real night, just a couple of hours twilight from 11.00 to 1.00 then it starts getting brighter.

We are a little disappointed with the absence of wildlife. We have seen no deer, caribou or elk and our bear count still stands at three, all seen before we hit the Alaska Highway.

Charro is fine and managed quite a long walk this morning. This is relative to a couple of weeks ago when he was unable to manage 20 yards and that only with several stops.

We will look in at a First Nation celebration tomorrow here in Fort Nelson before barefooting North to the hot springs at Liard River.

UGH Just cleaned the windscreens. What a mess, we had the red ones, the green ones, the yellow ones and the most gross of all the purple ones with yellow bits. We had crunchy ones, runny ones and the crunchy runny yellow purple ones. We may have seen no macro wildlife on the highway so far but lots of micro life has met it's end on the front of the Trek.

Tuesday June 17th 2008 We are off up the Alaska Highway or ALCAN Highway tomorrow.

We are off up the Alaska Highway or ALCAN Highway tomorrow. We made the traditional visit to milepost zero in the heart of Dawson Creek. As we make our way north everything is measured by it's distance from this post.

The road was built during World War II and connects the Continental U.S. to Alaska through Canada. It runs from Dawson Creek, British Columbia to Delta Junction, Alaska, via Whitehorse, Yukon. Completed in 1943, it is 2,237 kilometres or 1,390 miles long. Built in only 8 months by10,607 U.S. soldiers through rugged, unmapped wilderness. It was heralded as a near impossible engineering feat. Many likened it to the building of the Panama Canal.
To begin with the road was only intended to be passable for “ all terrain vehicles” and was often just a bed of logs.
















WiFi may be hard to find for a week or two but we will update the blog when we can.

VANCOUVER TO DAWSON CREEK

We took the Sea to Sky highway visiting Whistler which still has sufficient snow to offer skiing and then Lillioot. We discovered that the rusty red pine trees we are seeing everywhere are caused by the Mountain Pine Beetle which kills the trees in a way that turns the needles red. The current outbreak of mountain pine beetles is ten times larger than previous outbreaks say Canadian forestry officials worried because the beetles will have a devastating impact on an ecosystem which may be ill-equipped naturally to deal with it.

CHARRO

We stopped off in Prince George on Friday the 13th to have Charro’s tongue looked at by a vet as we had noticed a lump which did not seem to be going down. The vet did not like the look of it and Carol made the hard decision to have it removed. As he is 14 + the vets did a full check up including blood work before going ahead the same day. We picked him up that evening and a wobbly old soldier he was. However by Monday he was much recovered and although still not eating much he is bright, alert and walking as much as he has been able to recently.

As he was better we pushed on to Dawson Creek the start of the Alaska Highway stopping briefly at Chetwynd the chain saw carving capital of the western world!










Mosquitoes

I looked up mosquitoes on Wikipedia and got this

“Both male and female mosquitoes are nectar feeders”

Well that is a lie. They are blood sucking little vampires and there is one h*** of a lot of them about because it has been a very wet spring.

OK I read a little further and found this

“but the female of many species is also capable of haematophagy
(drinking blood)”

This the first time since we arrived last September that we have been bitten. I got the DEET out and Carol is relying on a more natural defense, however both of us are scratching.
Even Charro is being attacked and has found his own defense strategy.












Bears

We are starting to see bears as we drive along. Three in total so far, this one ambled across the road in front of us spent a little while harvesting roadside goodies then climbed into the forest.






Huble Store

On the road to Dawson Creek we came across a pioneer homestead and storewhich was exploiting a short cut from one river system to another. The bit that struck me was that it had been bought to the attention of the western world by a black Jamaican, called John Robert Gisconne. Born in 1832 he arrived in California in 1858 and joined the gold rush to the Yukon. Keen to get there he asked a member of the first nation who showed him how to use an ancient Indian portage trail. John was a successful gold miner who managed to hang on to his money and died in 1907 a wealthy man.

LEAVING CIVILISATION BEHIND

We are noticing that it not quite as modern up in Northern British Columbia. Wshington and Oregon was full service at every petrol pump but in BC we are pumping our own gas. However it still came as a shock when in Tudyah Provincial Park we found that water was self service also.

CHICKENS CANADA BURL BLACK SQUIRRELS AND THE WEATHER

CHICKENS

We visited a garden centre in search of a particular type of unglazed pot and were surprised to find pet chickens wandering around everywhere. They were of different types and not all had the freedom of the centre. But the ones who did were very friendly and would follow you around and allow themselves to be petted. I felt like the Pied Piper at one point.













CANADA

We crossed over into Canada on June the 6th with no hassle. Well just a little, Carol has been dying to show some officious border defender Charro’s passport and guess what, they did not want to see it.

The first job was to buy a pay as you go phone sim. Carol also wanted to upgrade her phone to a quad band. The Apple IPhone was her choice. The interface seems pretty intuitive but Carol needed to download the 190 page manual to get some stuff done. It is a beautifully engineered item in terms of both it’s hardware and more importantly the software.

BURL

Our burl is a hard conglomerate of many dormant buds formed when the tree was damaged in some way. When it was removed from the parent tree it the dormant shoots somehow know it is time to grow Our chunk of California redwood has sprouted multiple shoots, one at least 6 inches long. We do not know how old the parent trunk was but it is likely to be at least 100 years old and could be 10 times older than that.

We have discovered that the typical buyer of a redwood burl places it in water, watches the shoots grow, then disposes of it after the shoots die from lack of nutrients. So we will need to find a suitable site to plant it. Possibly in a RV park.

BLACK SQUIRRELS
We took the old boy for a walk in the woods in Vancouver and were surprised to see lots of black squirrels. They are a right stroppy lot fighting for territory, mates and food. I found out that they are displacing the greys in some areas. Carol says it’s because they’ve got better nuts.













WEATHER
Unlike England which has just had a heat wave Vancouver is dismal, wet cold and windy. It is way below normal, so cold that the Olympic qualifying triathalon was cancelled partly as entrants were getting into hypothermia on the swim even though they were wearing wet suits and there have been snow warnings on the passes north.

Dog Show in Sequim - Port Townsend - more shady ladies and a time capsule

This charming town full of very desirable Victorian wooden houses has an interesting past. It was situated at the entrance to Puget sound at the end of the Juan de Fuca channel and was the point at which the winds became fickle. So steam tugs would be used at the start and end of voyages to get the sailing ships to Seattle. This meant that Port Townsend was the first Port of Call for inbound shipping. As a smaller crew could handle the ship under tow, seamen would be paid of here. This meant that Port Townsend was full of establishments with attractions designed to separate the seaman from his money as fast as possible. The local museum has a whole section dealing with saloons and the ladies that serviced the seamen.

The local businessmen after separating the seamen from their money would then kidnap them and sell them to outgoing ships which would be looking for crew after being towed out to this spot where the winds were reliable. These ships were often headed for China and the port of Shanghai. [ This was the origin of the verb to shanghai someone. ] The most surprising fact of all was that it was legal to do this in Port Townsend.

In 1890 Port Townsend was growing at a fantastic pace. Houses, docks and businesses were being thrown up all along the seafront but three years later the bubble burst. Instead of the influx of new residents about a third of the population left. What was left settled down to a period of decline which continued to the 1980s. During these years no one wanted to buy property here so things were left untouched. This has meant that the town is a time capsule. Many shop facades unchanged and some houses unmodernized. We visited the best example, the Rothschild house which had been little changed from the 1890s.




In the 1970s the hippies found Port Townsend and a slightly quirky culture developed here helped by Washington State making the local abandoned fort a state park and tourist attraction. We had a look around the fort and were reminded that the USA had only had one attack in the 100 years prior to 9/11 when a Japanese sub shelled Oregon during WW2. Fort Warden must have been a very sought after posting esp for the officers. Their quarters were beautifully situated and officers with family would have one or more servants. There was stabling, boat houses and a baseball diamond. Best of all they got to play with some BIG GUNS. [ No pink Barbie 22s rifles here ]. One newspaper from 1904 reported that Officer xxx had made 5 direct hits out of 6 at long range. Neglecting to mention the other 40+ soldiers involved in firing the gun.

Carol’s bit

We went to an AKC ( American Kennel club ) dog agility competition this afternoon.
This type of competition involves dogs going round an assault course, guided by their handlers. The object is to get a clear round as fast as possible. The dogs can pick up faults by knocking down the jump bars, missing a challenge, jumping off the “A” frame to soon, so that they miss the line at the bottom, and not stopping for a pause
at the bottom. The dogs invent a few of their own as well, such as wandering off to meet their doggy friends, making up the route as they go, and peeing up the weave poles.
The handlers are a show themselves. A respirator might have been a good idea, some of the handlers were on their last legs, or grossly overweight and were in dire need of oxygen by the last jump, and they don’t even have to go over them.
Some dogs are naturally better at this than others. Boarder collies go like the clappers, and make good time. Problem is at that speed they can overshoot the obstacle or end up with torn ligaments, they tend to go because they are taught to,without thinking to much about it. Some of the little ones are like lightening, they don’t have the weight to carry and build up a good momentum. There were several Papillons that did very well. The Cogi’s however did not, they are not built for this, their backs are too long and they are to heavy, they don’t have much speed.
The one Retreiver that was entered had other ideas all together and decided to adopt the “go slow,
there’s something more interesting over there attitude”
Most of the handlers were women, which is usually the case as their ability to use different tones of voice tend to make them better handlers than men. Having said that one of the best handlers was a man. He had several dogs of different sizes including two Afghans, he obviously didn’t mind making a fool of himself and proceeded to wind his dogs up before their turn ( gets the dog’s adrenalin going ) by playing with them and using all sorts of voices. He got the fastest time and a clear round.
The comp. goes on for the weekend, so we won’t see the winner, but I must say I’d like to see them up against a British team, I know who my money would be on.
It was a good day, and the dogs enjoyed themselves, they are less competitive than their handlers are.







I am writing this as we wait for the ferry to Whidby Island. We are planning to cross the border to Canada on Friday 6th June with a German Shepherd dog show to look forward to on Saturday.

Charro’s bit

I think they are lying to me. I mean everyone knows it is warm in the USA. I saw those bikinis a few weeks ago. I am not in the USA I am back in Britain, or somewhere else cold and wet.
We went to dog show and the boss was wrapped up in a jacket and rug. She is even putting my winter coat on me for walks and we need the rain coat.



Anyway I have found a really good way of keeping my walks nice and short so I can get back to my nice warm bed. I just limp. I limp a lot, with both back and front legs! They look all worried and turn back ASAP.

John’s bit.

I think Charro has learned to pull the old soldier trick. But to pull it off he must remember to limp on the way back as well. Silly old sod is almost trotting!