Crow Village damage report

Lisa and David were able to catch a ride to Crow Village on May 13 to inspect the damage from the flood up close. The pictures taken have been added to the flood album which you can view at this link. As speculated before from various aerial recognizance reports, the support structure for the deck has given way, and the little house has moved off it's foundation into the woods. It appears that the support stilts for the big house have been tweaked. Look for an update from Lisa or David here shortly.

update: As suspected, the pilings for the big house were tweaked, however it shouldn't be too difficult to straighten those out. The water did not enter the big house, but came within inches of doing so. The insulation beneath the house is completely soaked and will need to be replaced. That is not a fun job. The damage to the deck was caused by ice flowing into it, however it is all repairable. The little house is mostly still intact except for the one window that is cracked. We may decide to re-set it right where it sits. There was evidence of much turbulence in the smoke house, however, it seems to be surprisingly intact.

A couple of items known to be missing are the washer, and the wooden swing. Also, the seat from the outhouse is missing, so that gives a good indication regarding the depth of the water there. There is still reading material available in that edifice, however it is soaked.

Kalskag report

Kalskag is 23 miles down river from Crow Village. The river issues there are possibly backing up to Crow Village. Here is the report from morning of May 7 on the Alaska River Forecast website:

The two ice jams between Aniak and Kalskag both released
this afternoon. The jam at the Kusko split (RM 167)
released and sent some of the ice down the Old River. This
surge likely helped push out the lower end of the Old River
so now it is freely flowing. The remainder of the ice went
down the main channel towards Kalskag. This run pushed down
the remaining ice sheets to Kalskag. The bottom end of the
jam below Lower Kalskag did peel off when the Old River blew
out. However the jam still holds and now backs up large
pans and sheets to a couple miles above Upper Kalskag.
About three miles of chunk ice is then stacked up behind the
pans/sheets to about 5 miles above Upper Kalskag. Water
levels have risen in Kalskag since the initial issuance of
the flood warning. The road between the airport and Lower
Kalskag is impassable with water levels encircling the
foundation of the old school that burned down. Flood waters
also cross the road between the airport and Upper Kalskag.
Minor flooding so far for Kalskag. On the detailed Kusko
maps, the back edge of the packed ice is right at 1st
Slough. This slough is taking much of the flow of the main
channel and bypassing Kalskag into the Old River...acting as
a little relief valve. The Birch Crossing jam also
released with a decent ice run heading downstream. During
our flight it had reached the split between the Old River
and main Kalskag channel. It looked like the ice run would
split down both channels. Earl just gave a late evening
report and it sounded like much of the ice run went down the
Old River after we left. Nonetheless, there is still a lot
of water above Kalskag so their flood levels may rise
overnight before the jam releases below Lower Kalskag.

Crow Village impacted by flood

On the evening of May 5th, Rob Kinkade of Aniak Air Guides provide the first aerial view of the flood impact at Crow Village. The photographs show a high level of water in the village reaching the floor structure of the main building and steamhouse, inundating the out building, moving the small building, and some structural damage to the smoke house. It will likely be a week before an on site inspection can confirm extent of damage. Thankfully the decision was made to vacate prior to breakup. There are initial indications that remittance from state agencies will be forthcoming, however, we will be looking for volunteers to assist with the certain manual effort involved in remediation activities this summer. Look for an announcement on that in this blog on a later date.

Kuskokwim breakup causing flooding

This year's breakup of the Kuskokwim river is causing havok. The picture is of the ice reaching the top of the Dike in Aniak directly outside the "Driftnet", and anybody who has carried a cooler full of salmon up that dike will attest that this is significant. Some water has passed over the dike, and the latest report is that the level is starting to slowly drop, however that situation can improve or deteriate at any time. Over the weekend there was flooding and evacuation at Red Devel and Napaimute which are upstream from Aniak. More available at this link.

Crow Village Iditarod Awards

The Iditarod Trail Committee handed out 11 awards plus a Dodge pickup this year. This has inspired us to hand out a few awards of our own. The winners can collect their prizes in person at Crow Village Alaska during the subsistence fishing season this summer.

Second Best Blog

We had to take our blog out of the running to give everyone else a chance. This year's award goes to Jon Little. Jon has run the Iditarod 5 times and since 2004 he has done a terrific job following the race from the trail providing us insights, interviews, and pictures as a spokesperson for Cabellas. When Cabellas yanked the funding for his work this year, Jon continued bloggin' from his kennel in Kasilof not missing a beat.

Best Kennel Blog

This was a tossup between Gwen Holdmann of Ken Anderson's Windy Creek Kennel and Evy Gebhardt holding down the fort at Aspen Hollow Lodging while Paul worked his way up the trail. Both provided insights into their husband's strategy, stories about the trail and past races, and added information about the four legged athletes participating. Any time we are provided more information about the dogs, we are impressed. We gave the nod to Evy, since she answered our email.

Best Insider Video

The runaway winner was the footage of Jesse Royer as her team was charging directly into the wind heading towards the shelter cabin on the Norton Bay as Royer was energetically double poling the whole time. We think this footage played a key role in her lead dog Kuling winning the golden harness as it clearly demonstrated Kuling's enthusiasm being in solo lead under those conditions, and the amazement of the Insider team regarding the lead dog's capability. Did Jesse really double pole all the way from Shaktoolik to Koyuk?

Best Smile

Lance Mackey's lead dog Larry once again looked to be in his element as he flashed his turd-eating grin under the Burled Arch wearing the winning team's lead dog flower necklace for the third straight year. This time he shared the spotlight with the youngster Maple, but he seemed even more content knowing that the future of the Mackey team is in good hands.

Best Newcomer

When the stuff hit the fan on the coast, and all the teams were contemplating what to do, the first creature brave enough to step out on the Norton Sea was Lance Mackey's newest star Maple. Mackey sometimes says she is a 2 year old, and sometimes says she is a 3 year old, but if she hadn't led the way on the what Mackey described as the toughest run he has ever done, the race would have had a different winner.

Best Interview

Jim Keller's interview of Lance Mackey before the race wins this award. You can see the unshakable confidence of a man who knows he has a super team to take him on a historic journey.

Best Message Board

BSSD's message board has the most enthusiastic fans an event can ever hope for. When they mentioned our blog, that sealed the deal.

Best Webcam

BSSD picks up another award for their movable camera at the Unalakleet checkpoint. We wish the finishline camera could be this good.

Hunt puts out the Iditarod Lantern

After years of working as an Iditarod Veterinarian during the race, Timothy Hunt became interested in actually running the race himself. Tim was born in Michigan and lived in Detroit where he attended Michigan State and received his Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine. In 1993 Tim moved to Marquette, part of the unique Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He wanted to live in Marquette because he felt “I wanted to live where I vacationed”. At the same time Tim moved he began mushing.

As a rookie, Tim expectations were not to win but to accomplish a goal he set out for himself. We are not sure, but it is hard to imagine that goal to be the “Red Lantern” award. Although the Red Lantern award is generally not a goal of a musher, it is never-the-less a very prestigious award. This is an award which exemplifies the spirit and history of dog mushing in Alaska.

During the early days of western contact in Alaska During the days of Alaska sled dog freighting and mail carrying, dog drivers relied on a series of roadhouses between their village destinations. Since these mushers ventured out in all types of weather they decided to use a "flight plan." Word was relay ed ahead that a musher and team were on the trail, and a kerosene lamp was lit and hung outside the roadhouse. It not only helped the dog driver find his destination at night, but more importantly, it signified that a team or teams were somewhere out on the trail. The lamp was not extinguished until the musher safely reached his destination.

Beginning in 1986, Chevron USA continued the tradition by hanging a "Red Lantern," as it is known today, on the burl arch in Nome. Each year the lantern is lit at the beginning of the race and hung on the finish line, not to be extinguished until the very last musher crosses the finish line. Once the musher crosses the line, (s)he then extinguishes the lantern, signifying the official end of the race. Thus, the last musher in a race is called the "Red Lantern" musher.

This year’s coveted Red Lantern goes to Timothy Hunt. He crossed under Nome’s famous burled arches at 4:06:22 am, 3/24/09. Tim finished in 52nd place (67 mushers began the race). After the ceremony under the Burled Arch concluded, the 2009 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race ended with the traditional gesture of blowing out the Widow’s Lamp, signifying that all mushers and their teams were safely off the Iditarod Trail. After the breath taking winds that stalled and delayed the finish of this year’s race, I am sure Timothy’s family of wife Mary, stepson Tom and daughter in law Emily, were very happy to see him finish, Red Lantern and all.

Kuling wins Iditarod Harness

Kuling, the amazing lead dog for Fairbanks musher Jessie Royer was the winner of this years Lolley Medley Golden Harness award in the 2009 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog race. Kuling is a 9 year old who has now completed 7 Iditarod races start to finish for Royer.

The Golden Harness Award was originally presented by the late Lolly Medley, one of two women to run the second Iditarod in 1974. The Wasilla musher was also a gifted harness maker, and she convinced the Iditarod Trail Committee in 1979 to begin awarding a Lolly Medley Golden Harness award to be presented to the most outstanding lead dog in the race as voted on by the mushers themselves. Kuling lead Royer's team to an 8th place finish, a feat she also accomplished in 2005 leading Royers team to an 8th place finish in that race as well. In both instances, it was the leg across the windswept Norton Bay between Shaktoolik and Koyuk where Kuling was at her best. This year, Royer completed the 58 mile leg into a fierce headwind with Kuling in solo lead and Royer double poling the whole way in 6 hours and 9 minutes, besting even Lance Mackey's time of more then 7 hours over the same leg. That performance helped propel Royer from 10th place into 4th place.

In a race where the outcome was defined by a strong wind on the coast, the top dog out of 1072 would be one that could handle those conditions. Perhaps the mushers voting on this award were impressed by the amazing Insider video showing Kuling happily loping in the lead just prior to the shelter cabin on the Norton Bay. Fittingly, Kuling gets her name from the Swedish word for strong wind.

Son of Sonny ROTY

Chad Lindner, the 30 year old son of veteran musher Sonny Lindner, earned ROTY honors finishing 30^th in the 2009 Iditarod.  Chad reported that this was a one-time only gig for him. Chad was born in Fairbanks, but went outside to attend Reed College in Portland for political science degreee and to his father’s native state of Michigan for law school.  His senior thesis at Reed College was entitled, “The Success of the Cuban American National Foundation in Lobbying for U.S. Foreign Policy: Interest Group Model or Interest Group Anomaly?”  Perhaps during his 12 days, four hours and 22 minutes along the trail he had further time to analyze the question. 

Chad will soon be shopping at Bloomingdale's instead of Big Ray's and trading in his Carhartts for Brooks Brothers when he begins life as a big city lawyer in Boston. It his rumored that his area of legal specialty will be transportation.