Excelsior Creek
Finally at about 4 hours and 30 minutes into the run I could see the first water
crossing. I had envisioned driving the team fast enough up to the water crossing
that they would have no choice but to plow right across and I'd be high and dry,
riding the runners across the creek. It didn't exactly work that way. Goldie and
Dale were in lead and it turns out Goldie has a strong aversion to water (as most
sled dogs do) and she ran full stride up to the bank and as soon as she saw the
water turned on a dime and dragged Dale and the rest of the team on a 90 degree
left turn paralleling the bank. So much for the triumphant cruise across the creek.
I stopped the team and set the hook and switched Goldie out of lead and put Monty
up next to Dale, thinking that Monty might not mind the water as much and even
if he did, once I got him across he was a big enough dog that the rest of them
would have a hard time pulling him back. So I lined them out again and made sure
there weren't any tangles, went back to my sled to pull the hooks and put them
away and then went back to Monty and Dale and started walking them across the
creek. The creek was maybe a team's length wide (30-40 ft) and only about 8-10
inches deep, but the dogs were definitely not too excited about the crossing.
By the time I got to the other bank, most of the dogs were in the creek and I
kept calling them up, "Let's go! Let's go! Hut! Hut! Hut!" and they
trudged through the water with the riderless sled following behind. I stood on
the bank as the sled dropped in the creek and was pulled up on my side. I grabbed
the handlebar as it went by and we continued just a few meters down the trail.
All in all it was an effortless crossing and the dogs did as well as could be
expected.
Once on the other bank, I pulled all the now frozen booties off of the dogs' feet
and stowed them in the front of my sled. The cloth booties would shred the dogs'
feet if I had left them on after they had gotten wet and frozen. I imagine it
would be similar to running through the snow with just frozen stiff socks on your
bare feet -counterproductive to say the least.
As I promised them, I pulled out the cooler and rewarded the dogs for their efforts
by feeding them the soaked kibble and again they didn't have the slightest problem
eating everything I put down in front of them. I also took a snack break and drank
a few bottles of juice and ate an energy bar which I had stowed close to my chest
and under many layers of clothes so that it stayed somewhat chewable. I needed
the energy both to stay warm and also because I knew the biggest climb of the
race was in front of us and I wanted to be able to help the dogs out as much as
I could.
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