#alaska dogs

[akdogdriver]

One of my old buddies from dog camp

Little Oak, two-time Iditarod veteran, still smirking

Hasn't aged a day 👍

#sleddog #iditarod dogs #working dogs #alaska #doggo #who's a good boy? #alaskanhusky #alaska dogs #sled dog

[snarkaeologist]

I follow sled dog racing because for two weeks a year you get time-delayed updates like "The front-runner had to punch a moose, no injuries reported" and then a little while later "Dallas Seavey had to kill the moose, but don't worry, we've dispatched state troopers to salvage the meat."

No other sport delivers storylines like this.

#iditarod #alaska #sled dogs

[marysmirages]

Northern Lights (2024)

Leonard Seppala's dog team, led by the dog Togo, carries anti-diphtheria serum across the frozen bay to disease-stricken town (Nome).

#sled dogs #dog team #marysmirages #painting #leonard seppala #alaska #husky #northern lights #balto #thegreatraceofmercy #dog #togo #gouache painting

[sea-salted-wolverine]

In honor of the moose/Iditarod rule 34 chaos post reaching 1000 notes and then Dallas Seavy winning the Iditarod here are all the unhinged stories and things I know about that race

They changed the rules and schedules so you can't do this anymore, but there was a subset of mushers who would race the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod back to back. That's a 1000-mile race followed by another 1000-mile race through some of the harshest terrain on earth in late winter. And the Yukon quest doesn't even finish where the Iditarod starts. To do this required putting dogs in a plane OR having another team of dogs waiting in anchorage and someone to deal with both teams of dogs.

The first woman to win the Iditarod was Libby Riddles in 1985.

Only to have her finish promptly blown out of the water by Susan Butcher who won the race in 86', 87', 88', and 90' while setting speed records the whole way.

Susan did race in 85' but she ran into a moose early and it killed two of her dogs and hurt the rest so she scratched. Dallas got lucky this year.

She was also the first person to mush a dog team up to the summit of Denali, the tallest mountain in North America. This is not what dog teams are intended to do, I don't know why she even wanted to, other than to prove it was possible. I don't think anyone has since.

The race now requires GPS trackers on all the racers and you would not believe the bitchfit everyone threw over those. Mushers can either hop between checkpoints or camp on the trail and it may surprise you to learn that these are the kind of people who have secret camp spots in the woods that they don't want anyone to know about. So now, everyone has acquiesced to the tracker requirement but you must have an account on the race website if you want to see them.

The race has 2 paths that alternate even and odd years with different checkpoints but every year includes a section of race that crosses the sea ice, approximately 50 miles from Shaktoolik to Koyuk. so forget landmarks. point the sled north and hope you're going the right way.

the race is in honor of the 1925 Serum Run and the diphtheria outbreak, but the trail itself is the old freight route which is almost twice the length. also, it's a freight route for hauling freight which means the the racers are going at more or less lightspeed as compared to the intended use.

the most effective way to avoid frostbite on your face is a fur hood and duct tape on your cheeks and nose. Cold-related injuries are rare but far from unheard of. The average number of toes and fingertips among mushers is lower than that of the general population.

The finish line is a massive burled arch in the middle of main street in Nome. There is not a lot going on in Nome at any given time and this time of year is the exception. Every racer who finishes the race gets the same reception, which is everyone in town crowding into the finish chute to cheer them on and the city fire siren going off. The last racer in gets the Red Lantern Award which means that they finished dead last but didn't scratch.

the 2020 race had started and was fully underway when the pandemic lockdowns came into place. as far as social distancing goes, you really can't do much better than being isolated 100 miles into the middle of frozen nowhere but the checkpoints are itty bitty villages with no medical infrastructure and the finish was reportedly terrifying because instead of a crowd to cheer at the burled arch, it was just the siren going off in a ghost town.

there is no way I can tell this story that doesn't sound like I'm making it up as I go. The sign says no sniveling and they fucking mean it.

no really, click that link. here's the YouTube vid (non-graphic, after-the-fact interviews)

#from the far north #wolverine warbles #iditarod #dog mushing #alaska

[vikzarts]

Winter with Angie, 2008.

#this was inspired by someone saying what if Mark and Peter lived in Alaska with their retired snow dogs #so yk I had to draw it #my art #hoffstrahm #coffinshipping #mark hoffman #peter strahm #saw #saw fanart #digital art #and yes their dog is named after marks sister :’) #it was peters idea

[aestum]

(by milliethegolden)

#vertical #landscape #animals #x #a #watsf #curators on tumblr #milliethegolden #alaska #dog #camping #golden retriever

[charminglyantiquated]

So, I’m seriously looking into getting into tall ship sailing (waiting on follow-up from an interview rn) and I’m wondering for getting into it more long-term -

what do people do after sailing tall ships? Like, it’s a pretty physical job, and I’d assume there’s a point where your joints just can’t keep up with it.

Are there other jobs in the industry that people move to? I’m not really keen on the idea of moving up in the ship’s hierarchy- admin and being someone’s boss both aren’t really my thing. Do people retrain in completely different careers? Go back to whatever they were doing before they started sailing?

Anyway, I know your sample size might not be super large so I’d appreciate anything. Thanks a bunch!

This is hard to answer directly - on the one hand sailing tall ships is such a niche industry that there are limited pathways for straightforward advancement. But on the other hand, it overlaps with such a large number of other industries, and requires such a jack of all trades skillset - tourism, carpentry, history and preservation, hospitality, marine electronics, etc. etc. etc. - that there's a lot of ways forward for what I guess I'd call lateral advancement: moving to another job which uses most of the same skills. So there's no one answer, but if it helps, here's some things my tall ship deckhand friends have ended up doing, after no longer deckhanding tallships:

Get a captain's license and keep sailing. Captains often have it a bit easier physically (balanced out by the mental stress lol), and are paid better. Owning your own boat is optional; plenty of companies hire captains by the season to sail the boat, while the management of the company is dealt with by the actual owners. (This is what I did! I don't have the sail-hauling arms I did as a deckhand, but my knees and bank account are both in better shape).

Bosun, first mate, engineer, some other specialized non-captain crew member, usually involves licensing or other education that's useful down the road if you switch to an adjacent career

Racing yachts

Captain for hire on private vessels

Outward bound guide, other wilderness education programs

Harbor cruises, lobster tour guides, and other motor-powered tourist boats, both as captain and as crew - you have the patter and the safety skills but you don't want to deal with the hassle of sails

Water taxis, ferries and other passenger vessels

Lobstering, fishing, aquaculture, tugboats, other non-tourist waterfront industries

Marine surveyor, marine electrician, other specialized technician

Working in a shipyard - good fit for all the fit-out skills of sanding, painting, varnishing, covering and uncovering the boat

Cruise ship hostess

Train conductor (the passion for the early 1900s carried over well)

Working at a a museum focused on local maritime history

Tour guide for local buses, walking tours, etc

Boatbuilder (IYRS, Wooden Boat School)

Teaching the captain's license courses (nota bene: there were obviously some other steps between deckhand and teacher, notably ten years of being a captain in between. But this is what they settled into when they decided sailing was too physically taxing, so I want to include it).

Carpentry, house painting

Designing and selling custom made van-homes (apart from the technical skills, living on board a ship helps familiarize making use of every square inch of space)

Sailmaker

Of course there's other friends who went on to try something completely new and unrelated - I think because so many of the people who start sailing tall ships are here for something completely new in the first place, that's not an intimidating prospect so much as an exciting one. But many of them did make use of tall ship skills even when moving on from tall ships, so I hope the above list is helpful in giving a broad sense of what can follow!

#schooner bum life #i am probably forgetting some tbh #for fun. some unrelated post-sailing jobs: #artist #dog mushing in alaska #cheese making #sword maker #chocolatier #orchestra conductor #model #looking at that i think there's probably also something to be said for the confidence it takes #to pursue something you find interesting #even if it means starting from scratch #the same leap of faith that gets you on a tall ship can take you somewhere else

[number1omorifan]

Midwest emo has a choke hold on me I’m starting to romanticize minnesota

#midwest #midwest emo #music #emo #emo music #minnesota #i listened to mom jeans once now I’m stuck #mom jeans #modern baseball #panucci's pizza #american football band #slaughter beach dog #the front bottoms #camping in Alaska #how many tags do i need

[funbearer]

#dog #dogs #doggo #doggos #flat tire #Alaska

[tonichelleak]

Dallas Seavey at the Ceremonial Start and ReStart of Iditarod 52. Dallas. Seavey. The kid that believed he was on a trajectory for an Olympic career and not a dog mushing one. Oh, sure, he was like many others of his generation who not only grew up in the presence of many great mushers - all the while helping his dad build a successful racing kennel - but one who watched Iron Will and tried to recreate many of the scenes from the movie... but as he often told tourists - he had no desire to make it his life like his dad had.

Then injuries sidelined his Olympic wrestling dream (was on his way to making the 2008 USA team) so he came home and continued helping his dad build monster teams.

After a while running the puppy team just wasn't enough. Puppy teams are competitive and if you know Dallas even a little bit you know the dude is extremely competitive.

He studied like he was working on a Masters Degree. No one knows the science and stats of the race more than Dallas. Guarantee it.

He won his first title in 2012, then again in 2014, 2015, 2016... took a break after his second place finish in 2017 (we won't rehash the whys) and came back in 2021 to win it again (granted the shorter "Gold Loop Trail" - thanks Covid - but he battled the Rainy Pass Pony Mafia so it still is a huge accomplishment). His '21 race meant he tied for most wins, sharing that record with the legendary Rick Swenson. Swenson was one of Dallas's childhood heroes... and Dallas had broken or tied just about every record Rick had.

This year, Dallas won number six. He is the winningest Iditarod Champion.

It wasn't easy. In November he and two of his handlers took teams out on a training run. His handler running many of Dallas's top dogs was hit by a snow machine. Dogs were killed, some injured with career ending, life altering injuries. The mushers were physically all fine, but mentally... mentally it took a while to feel "normal" on the runners.

Dallas borrowed dogs from his dad to make a competitive Iditarod team, it wasn't ideal - but he'd done it before. The Ceremonial Start and ReStart seemed to go on without an issue. Crowds cheered the musher on and he quickly slipped into the routine.

Monday of race week rolls around. Dallas' birthday. Early that morning an aggressive moose plowed into Dallas' team, the only thing for the musher to do was dispatch the moose. If you've followed the race you know what happened next. Dallas did not properly gut out the moose, one of his dogs was injured but it wasn't noticeable right away (dog is fine now), he was penelized for the improper dressing out of the moose. Dallas was not going to win.

Then things changed in the second half of the race. Teams who decided to try to outrun Dallas who was already dealing with time penalties pushed too hard, too long, too soon. Dallas caught up. And then Dallas did what Dallas does.

And now Dallas Seavey is the only six time champion in the history of the race.

That's a wild ride. (see what I did there? no, oh, well.... you can find out what I mean here.)

To view high quality photos, or purchase, click here.

For more see ReittersBlock.com

#dallas seavey #dallas freaking seavey #team seavey #i was team seavey before it was cool #he's still a booger #yeah I fangirled #proud of my friend okay #iditarod #iditarod 52 #iditarod 2024 #mushing #sports legend #goat #greatest of all time #legendary #legend #seavey #dog sports #dog photography #sport photography #winter sports #alaska sports #sled dogs #dog mushing #alaska #alaska life #iditarod photos #iditarod champion #champion #photography by antonia

[highways-are-liminal-spaces]

Yakutat, Alaska

Taken June 2023

#yakutat #alaska #southeast alaska #northern gothic #taxidermy #salmon #wolverines #dogs #my photos

[akdogdriver]

New grass

#my big boy #alaska #springtime #husky life #alaska dogs #happy doggo

[taavisplushies]

Look what just arrived!!! It’s a custom made plush!!! I commissioned the very talented SaskiaSketches to make this. Here is a link to their Instagram

Look at how cool the nose is!!!!! It’s very impressive!!!

The plushie is very soft and well made! There is also weight in the paws, back legs, and butt!! A super cool plushie <3

Saskia is very nice, and kept me updated too. I would 100% recommend commissioning them for your own custom plush!!

#alaska #plushies #plush #safeplush #dog #plushblr #ill do a proper introduction soon

[marysmirages]

Great Race of Mercy (Balto) 2023

The last part of the route in the Great Race of Mercy was covered by a dog sled led by Balto.

#balto #sled dogs #alaska #greatraceofmercy #dog #husky #dogteam #blizzard #winter storm #marysmirages #art

[guiltyidealist]

Togo (2019) gifs, courtesy of Movies in Short on YouTube

#guiltyedits #gifs #sled dogs #dogsledding #mushing #iditarod #alaska #diptheria #serum run #togo #togo 2019 #husky #malamute #seppala #stim stuff #my stim stuff #dogs #puppies #snow #winter #cold

[darkwood-sleddog]

Those familiar with this blog will be familiar with my various posts highlighting the Indigenous Iditarod dog musher, and first out trans woman to run the Iditarod, Apayauq. Those posts are still amongst my most popular and continually reblogged posts, they really seem to resonate with a lot of people.

During Apayauq's most recent Iditarod, where she came in last and took the Red Lantern, a documentary by Zeppelin Zeerip was made. I've been closely watching the documentary's success on the film festival market and not only has it recently won Best Indigenous Short at BENDFilm, but APAYAUQ has been nominated for an Academy Award!

This is huge news!

#dogblr #apayauq reitan #iditarod #academy awards #indigenous #alaska native #filmmaking #documentary film #dogsledding #sled dogs #Instagram