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I have been inside all day, nursing a cold and cough. I was beginning to get sick on Thursday, but ignored it since I had committed to help at the Halfway check-point for the Eagle Cap Extreme dog sled race and nothing short of hospitalization would have kept me from it.

This race happens each January and is one of the highlights of my year. I bundled up well and temperatures were mild (in the mid-20s), not the bone-chilling low single digits that we experienced last year. I think that I am not the worse for going…or so I want to believe! I don’t see myself dog-sled racing in this lifetime, but I can at least taste a little of it in this way.

There are 100 and 200 mile races in this event, and the longer race is a qualifier for the Iditarod. There were only four competitors doing the 200 mile race this year, and they began arriving at the Halfway midpoint in the early morning hours Friday. The going was rougher this year and the course a little longer on the outbound loop, and so only one team arrived in the dark. Seeing the bobbing headlamp of the musher and the all but silent approach of the team is thrilling….no picture could capture that, but I did take some sunrise photos:

As each team came in, we checked their required list of supplies, marked down their official time of arrival, and led the team to a resting place. There was an obligatory 6 hour lay-over….dogs and mushers spent the time sleeping and eating and rehydrating. Bedding was provided for the dogs and tents were available for the mushers.

Three of the four teams of dogs were wearing booties to protect their feet. And after they settled into their places at the rest area, the mushers put leg braces on the dogs and treated all their feet with a drying healing salve.

The musher who came in first ultimately won the race…finishing 10 hours ahead of all the others. I watched as he put down bedding for his dogs (who went almost immediately to sleep) and then got out his sleeping bag, and lay down to sleep with his team as the sky lightened:

After the dogs on this team had slept awhile, they were ready to eat! All eyes were on their musher encouraging him with not so subtle woofs to hurry, hurry, hurry with the foodbowls!

Some were tired enough to eat lying down, but most were on their feet and scrapping for their food.

My mind’s eye is still filled with sleeping dogs…

Seeing these sweet hard-running dogs made comfortable, and so carefully looked after by their mushers was a beautiful experience.

My shift was over at 8:00, but I stayed until all the teams had come in and scribed for the vet as he carefully went over each dog. It was such a thrill that I never felt cold, never felt sick, never felt tired.