Participant story from the 2004 Mail Run

The Team: Tim, leader extraordinaire NORTH, hardworking twosome of BARKLEY
and HARLEY, princess DAKOTA and mastermind LIGHTNING (king of the minimal
energy approach)

The Handlers: Lee, baby Hunter, elder statesman TOTO and young pup FARGO

The Event: Quesnel Gold Rush Trail Sled Dog Mail Run

With a positive trail report two weeks before the race we committed
ourselves and faxed in our registration form. 3 days prior to departure the
updated trail report shows excellent sections mixed with icy sections due to
all the rain in Quesnel. We decide to go anyways and consider this an
"experience".

JANUARY 21st:
After rounding every one up off the couch we loaded up the camper and
trailer and headed off down the road to Quesnel BC. 13 hours, one flat
tire,3 stops to drop the dogs, and much rain later we pulled into the
Dinsdales' driveway outside Quesnel. Jeff & Margaret are the fabulous
organizers of the event and generous hosts that allowed us to park the
caravan in their driveway and even supplied power and morning showers!

JANUARY 22nd:
The rain turned to wet soggy snow overnight and we awoke to a fresh 6inches.
Everyone got harnessed up and headed out for a run on Jeff's trail with
Sylvie from Seattle who, along with her three Canadian Eskimo Dogs, were
also bunked down at Jeff's.
Challenge number one was making it from the truck, through the dog lot
filled with Jeff's 30 Canadian Eskimo Dogs, to the trail. We have worked on
our passing allot this year and managed (with a joint effort from both
musher and handler) to come through clean.

The Handlers were occupied with mundane tasks like diaper changing, dog
walking, food soaking and making friends with the 30 Eskimo Dogs.

Our afternoon was spent getting acquainted with Quesnel and purchasing all
the things we managed to leave at home (with the puppy and Hunter requiring
the same level of attention and supervision we discovered that our packing
logistics definitely were lacking for this trip).

We joined all the participants at a No-Host dinner that night at the Country
Haven Restaurant and heard lots of tales regarding the trail, the volunteers
and the Friday night camp out at Abhu Lake.

JANUARY 23rd:
The morning starts out with a ceremonial swearing in of all the mushers as
Honorary Canada Post Mail Carriers. The mushers are provided with
certificates and a bag of mail that they will carry along the trail through
to Wells.

We then head out to Umiti Pit to get ourselves loaded up and down the trail.

The Gold Rush Trail Sled Dog Mail Run appealed to us because it is an
"event" rather than a race and has a strong focus on safety. Although it is
a long distance to run and you are required to be self sufficient, you know
that there is a support snowmobile around to help you out of any trouble.
The trail runs 100 Km (60 miles) from Quesnel to Wells and then on to
Barkerville. The trail crew takes great care to ensure that the conditions
are optimum for the broad range of participants.

The rain had come back the afternoon of the 22nd and continued throughout
the night and into this morning. We had Tim all packed up with waterproof
food and clothes bags and a small cooler full of baited water (hot water
with kibble in it) to feed along the trail. Unfortunately (in hindsight) we
forgot to put the cooler in a garbage bag and the many bumps on the trail
helped the concoction to seep out and into other key items like the
CAMERA!!! (limited photos attached as the Camera actually died due to the
wet and cold).

The teams, of varying sizes from 3 canadian eskimo dogs, 4 dog assistance
team (2 labs and 2 golden retrievers) through to 10 dog alaskan teams, all
departed between 11 and 12 am. The first leg is 24 miles long and the
quickest teams did it in just under 3 hours. Our speedsters pulled in at 4
hours 50 minutes and we were quite pleased. This was our longest run ever
and just finishing it was a success. Tim arrived pleased with both himself
and the team.

Everyone camped at Abhu Lake that night and had quite allot of fun. The race
organizers set up a big communal tent and campfire and after individual
dinners, everyone congregated there to sing songs and tell tales. Although
we missed it, it seems that this year was the debut of the "Abhu Angels" -
Quesnels' version of the Skwetna Fairies, of the Iditarod.

JANUARY 24th:

The temperature dropped significantly overnight and we awoke to a
chilly -15c. Many of the snaps had frozen shut making for one extra step to
getting organized. Teams departed as early as 8am once the sun came up. We
departed at about 8:45 and discovered that it had snowed about 6inches as we
headed further east towards Wells.

Day two the trail travels 31 miles to the small town of Wells. It covers
lots of different terrain climbing hard scrabble mtn an elevation gain of
400m  and provides beautiful vistas when you aren't staring down at your
team.

One musher, training for a large race in March, actually left Umiti pit that
morning with 12 alaskans and managed to pass most of us during the run to
Wells. It was an impressive sight.

We pulled into Wells at 3:45pm, completing this section in 7 hours. The
simple goal of finishing was reached and Tim was definitely smiling when
they pulled into the parking lot. Amazingly enough, the dogs had not dropped
dead on the trail but were happy to see the truck.

While the mushers were busy running their 31 miles, the Handlers had to
backtrack to 35km of logging road and then head 90km towards Wells. While
the weather for the mushers was ideal, life on the road was not. It took us
approximately 4 hours to cover less than 150km and we got to Wells after the
first musher had arrived!

This event is held in conjunction with the Wells Winter Carnival so while
waiting for the teams to come into Wells, the handlers were entertained by
lots of great community activities.

The culmination of the day was the mushers banquet that night. It was held
in the renewed Wells Community Hall - a historic building that had been
renovated and acted as a great location. Dinner was catered by a local
restaurant and was fabulous - a true steal for $15.00! Dinner was followed
up with awards, prizes and a silent auction.

JANUARY 25th:

Day three most arrived with a brisk -18c and very windy. Really glad we had
remembered to plug the truck in!

Most folks were preparing to run the Barkerville Dash, a short fun race to a
neighboring community as part of the winter carnival. We had to head home
due to commitments on monday but look forward to participating next year.

The 13 hour drive home was chilly and exhausting after all of the activity
of the weekend. The dogs were well rested but it was pleasing to see that
they could have run on the 3rd day if we had chosen to stay. They were happy
to get back to their spots on the couch and watch us unpack!