Endless Mountains
Dogsled Race 2007
Standing outside in temperatures ranging from 3 to 23 degrees F (-16 to -5 C) was a great way to spend a Saturday in February. The lure of the best winter sport was undeniable fo me. This was my third year participating in the communications for the Kiwanis-sponsored dogsled races in Sullivan County, Pennsylvania and I hope it was not my last.

The big snow earlier in the week and the winter temperatures were a welcome sight to all involved. It had been an unusual winter, with December temperatures soaring as high as 72 degrees F (+22C). Last year the event had to be cancelled due to lack of snow. Everyone was raring to go. The original date for the race was in January, but there had been no snow. So they postponed it till February 17th. Unfortunately, the big snow earlier in the week had closed three major roads leading to Camp Brule, the starting point for the fifty and twenty-five mile races. Some of the teams had to cancel because of that, some because of the schedule change and one team had some sickness running through their dogs so they pulled out. The 16 teams originally registered for January dwindled down to only two, both of which were going to run the 25 mile race.

Vic and I left at 4 AM to get to our posts by 8:30 and we needed every minute of travel time. The three major highways that the State had closed two days earliere were STILL closed and we had to find an alternate route using secondary roads, some of which were not plowed very well. We reminisced about the last time we made this run and our car broke down in the middle of the State Park at 6:60 AM. It was an adventure, let me tell you! But this year, the ride was uneventful, thank God. We were assigned to two different spots, Vic at the second waypoint and us Terry, the fire police person and me) at the third which crossed Route 154. We had to move some snow onto the road since the county plows had done too good a job. But we discovered we didn't have a shovel. Being creative souls, Terry and I picked up snow boulders, threw them onto the road and stomped on them. It was fun!
Both the mushers thought they were going to do the 25-mile run, so we manned waypoints and checkpoints for that route only. The first to come by was John with his team of 8 dogs. They were raring to go, as you can see from the expressions of the dogs' faces. It was a joy to see them enjoying the run. A little past our waypoint, John decided to run the 50-mile route. That decision sent the radio people flying to man at least one of the 50-mile checkpoints in case the dogs or the musher would need something. Mike found his way to one of the points while we waited for MaryBeth to come by with her dogs.
MaryBeth lives in the next county to the west, and trains her dogs to stay off the road. That would prove to be her undoing as she got to our waypoint, crossing the road. The dogs had to make a slight right in order to making the slice in the snowbank where the trail continued. They thought she meant to make a right turn and go back into the shoveled driveway next door. They ended up stopping cold, the lwead dog not quite being able to figure out what to do. We finally lined the path on either side and they ran through, on our meager snow path. I guess it would have been better had we shoveled more snow onto the road. But, none the worse for wear, they continued on the path across the field marked by the pie plates on a stick.
Lost booties