June 22, 2024
We got up around 7 and headed to get breakfast at Karsten’s. We both had breakfast sandwiches. We sat at the bar to eat because the tables were for people who got the buffet. After eating, we headed to the main lodge and got ready for Husky Homestead round 2.
Hunter showed up for us at 9:30. There was a couple in the car that was going to be flown to the back country of Denali. We got dropped off first.
Husky Homestead was beyond amazing! Upon arrival, they checked our names on their list and handed us each an eight week old puppy to snuggle. Mine was Cleo and Tammy’s was Ginsburg (the six female pups were named after powerful women). The pups whined and yipped. Tammy’s was very active.
We moved to a seating area and were given an overview of the dogs in the yard. Each had its own little house and was chained to a rock. They could just reach their neighbors to play. Every house had the dog’s name over the door. They hitched up a team of dogs to a 500 pound ATV (which had to be anchored down to prevent the dogs from pulling it before they were ready). All the dogs in the yard started yipping and barking like the puppies had because they wanted to run. The dogs pulled the ATV around a loop and onto a treadmill. They anchored the ATV and let the dogs run on the treadmill for 5-10 minutes. Then the dogs ran down another path and came back soon dripping wet from plunging into an ice cold pond to cool down. When the dog team was out of sight, all the other dogs calmed down.
Next we moved to an indoor area and Amanda Otto (an Iditarod competitor) showed us a dogsled and talked to us about competing in the Iditarod. It was fascinating! She had a great sense of humor and taught us so much. The sled weighs 50 pounds empty and 150 pounds loaded. Jeff King, the 4-time Iditarod champion who owns Husky Homestead, invented a new version of the dogsled that saves over 24 hours of the ten day Iditarod race! We got to see the gear that mushers wear. Amanda told us that the dogs can run 12 hours of a 24 hour period so she usually breaks it up into 6 hour chunks (run six hours, rest six hours, repeat). When she gets to a checkpoint, it takes her 4.5 of her 6 hour rest to care for the dogs. She has to melt snow for them to drink and break their frozen meat into chunks. She takes off the dogs’ booties and massages all their feet. She said she usually stays outside the whole race (where it may be 43 degrees below zero) because it takes two long to walk to the inside place and take off her gear.
Jeff King came and talked to us. He is a character. We got to ask questions. He has written several books about dogsledding. Tammy and I bought the children’s book for our schools. Jeff King autographed them and took a picture of us with them.
We went back outside and took pictures of the puppies in their pen until it was time to go. Jeff brought out two 10 day old puppies for us to see (not touch). So cute!
A different driver picked us up and brought us back. We went back to our room and quickly made peanut butter sandwiches and headed back to the main lodge to catch the national park shuttle. We started riding the bus to the visitor center to catch the shuttle to the dog sled demonstration. However, the weather was so beautiful that we decided to hike first in case the weather changed. We rode to Horseshoe Lake and got off with multiple other people. We followed them to the trail and made them our hiking buddies (safety in numbers in case of bears). We hiked down to the lake. On the way, we passed by the Nenana River. The lake was pretty and we saw lots of trees that were chewed by beavers.
We got back in one hour (it was supposed to take two) and realized that we had missed a mile loop beyond what we did. Whoops! I guess that’s what happens when you follow people. We rode the bus to the visitor center and walked around and saw the displays. We headed out early and waited for the bus to the dog sled demonstration and ate a snack. When the bus came, we were just in line and we were told to go to the back of the bus. Once the bus was loaded, we drove to “headquarters” and unloaded.
We were there early and walked through the outdoor kennels and saw a few displays. Then we watched the 20 minute presentation. It was good, but not as great as Husky Homestead.
We went to the visitor center and watched the second half of a video about the sled dogs of Denali and then we stayed for the video about the seasons of Denali. After that we jumped back on a bus going to the Princess Lodge (next door to us) and headed back. We saw a moose on the way.
We checked the pizza place at the Princess, but it was expensive so we decided to go across the street to Prospector’s Pizza. I had cheese pizza and Tammy had pizza with reindeer and elk meatballs. After dinner we went back to our room and got packed up since we were leaving early the next morning.
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