T-Shirt Design Contest

Update June 6, 2015:  DESIGN CONTEST FINALISTS -- What is your favorite image?

With all this Iditarod excitement, we decided it would be a great time to kick off our first attempt at a t-shirt design contest.  Here are the details:

... and the deadline is now April 15th  :)

"Whatever we accomplish belongs to our entire group, a tribute to our combined effort" Walt Disney

I want to take a minute to express my gratitude to all the people who have helped us get to this place:  qualified to run Iditarod 2016

We achieved this major step toward our goal thanks to a combined effort of many.  It is through this vital collaboration of efforts that our dreams are coming true.   Our sponsors, fans and supporters who have contributed mentorship, financial support, canine power, donations of dog food/people food/gear, personal talents, time and unwavering support of our dream, have made this milestone possible.

A heartfelt thank you for being an integral part of Team Bacon's Acres:  Spectrum Medical Billing Services, Kent Waite of Gotta Wanna Expeditions, Goal Zero, Katherine Updegraff (Sissyhead), Mom and Dad, Laurie Swales Parker, Ryan Redington and family, Jeff King and the Husky Homestead crew, Heather Resz and Julie Metcalf, Bill Cotter, Mary Duhoux, Susan Green and Terry Legg, Bonnie Brummett, Dogbooties.com, Eva and the Anchorage King family, Jen and Todd Rinaldi, Janet and the Johnson family, Mari Troshynski, Dwight and Heather, Lynn Rees and family, Geri Bartley-Shangin and family, Mary Helwig, Lisbet Skogen Norris, Val Jokela, Dean Osmar, Ann Newman, Aunt Suzanne and family, The Holman family, Cyndy Fritts, Norma Delia, Keegan, Stephen and Skwentna Sweeties, Markus Ingebretsen, Lisa Sewell and Rick Carlisle, Kristen and Ben Henney, Corinne Smyth and family, Hannah Langlie and family, Mary Anne and Nancy Bishop, Alyeska Therapy Center in Wasilla, Rusty and Pam Burlingame, Suvuth Chhin, Ali Martinez, Jen Camilli and Robbie Landmesser, Kim and the Welch family, Carrie Smith Gray and family,  Julie Kelly, Jeana and Jeff Spindle, Cindy Schaser, The Soverns, The Spiropoulos family, Maisie Dean and family, Holly Machuzak, Ken and Ingrid, Terry and Mike Morganson, Karen and Kent Williams, Kim and Bernadette, Greg Parvin, Sue Allen, Roger and Myra Phillips, Julie St. Louis, Melinda Cline and family, June Tagaki, Amy and the Spieth family, Larry Zarella, Leslie Thompson, The Klem family in Bethel, The Klejka family in Bethel, The folks at Alpine Creek Lodge, Pat Bouska, Kris Mechals.... all race officials, volunteers, checkpoint locations, vets and photographers... as well as my TRICKY

I apologize if I forgot anyone. All of your support and contributions are very important to us.

Three Weeks, Three Races and 900 Miles Later

Finally, a still and quiet evening...  a moment to relish in the fact that we DID IT!  We are finally qualified for Iditarod 2016!!  :) 

More than 10 years ago, the words "I want to run the Iditarod some day" escaped out of my mouth after an Eric Bibb concert.  I had just listened to the the song, THE CAPE.  It is a song about courage and following your dreams.  At that point, I truly had no idea what the words "I want to run the Iditarod" meant, as I had never even been on a dog sled.  I had house sat for a sled dog kennel, watched the Iditarod start and volunteered at the Skwentna Iditarod Checkpoint as a Sweetie.   Despite my lack of experience and knowledge about sled dogs, racing, or owning a kennel, there was a persistent tugging at my heart.   I tried to convince myself for many years that I did not need to run the Iditarod.   I didn't know much, but I knew if I decided to get into mushing my life would change dramatically.  In 2010, my choices began to lead me in that direction and slowly, over the past four years, that hazy dream started to evolve into reality.  And, the clarity of the immensity of the challenge of obtaining that dream began to emerge.

One of the best pieces of advice I received in the past few years was "get off the timeline".  I originally hoped to run Iditarod in 2014, and then in 2015, but weather cancelled 3/5 qualifying races I signed up for in 2013 and 2014.  It was discouraging and very disappointing after training as best we could September through December/January.  However, with the added years of practice, the team matured and my depth of knowledge and experience continued to grow. This season, I was determined to complete the two 300-mile races I still needed to qualify for Iditarod 2016.  Just in case one got cancelled, I decided to sign up for three.... 3x300 miles races in 3 weekends.  I never imagined all three would actually happen.  And, I'm not sure I intended to run all three, if they did happen.  However, they did happen, and we completed all three smiling and with tails wagging.  We are very grateful for the extra dog power from Husky Homestead and a lot of help from our biggest fans.

With a great deal of patience, perseverance, hard work and a deep love for the dogs, the next step toward our goal happened when our team was ready... and next year at this time, we'll be prepping drop bags for Iditarod 2016!!  

Here's a video my Sissyhead made of the final seconds before I completed my last qualifying race, the Northern Lights 300.  A very proud moment!!   http://youtu.be/RbtlgcpK5DM

THANK YOU FOR CHEERING US ON!!!! :)

Copper Basin Preparations

January 10th - Copper Basin 300 starting in GlennAllen, Alaska at 10 a.m.

(http://www.cb300.com/)

Today, Tricky and I will head to Anchorage to pick up part of my handling crew for the Copper Basin:  Laurie from New York!  HOORAY!  She will stay with us and handle for the Copper Basin, Kusko and Northern Lights.  We will be so spoiled!

Mari, our kennel handler, has been of immense assistance helping us get packed up for all the races.  We have been working on preparing drop bags which contain dog kibble, dog meat/fat (snacks), musher meals and snacks, extra gear, sorted and wrapped booties, fuel for the dog food cooker, hand/toe warmers, drinks, etc.   The ones for the Copper Basin are now loaded up in the dog truck.  That's a relief!  Dog coats, a new gangline, extra dry gear, extra sled plastic, etc is also prepped and ready.  

Tomorrow, we will do a final test run of the 12 dogs that I plan to run in the Copper Basin: Felon, Stormy, Eewa, June, Yama, Yoshi-No-Mi, Zumi, Taki and Mimi, as well as Suspect, Kroner and Norton from Husky Homestead.  

Kaze, Charlie, Roosevelt and Willow will be running with Mary Helwig of Bravo Kennel in the Copper Basin 300. Mary lived here at Bacon's Acres with her team last year, so my dogs know her team well.

Libby and Hunter have very minor injuries and will likely be joining us for the Northern Lights 300.  Rascal and Canyon have been training with the race team up to this point; however, I have decided it's in their best interest to stay home. 

On Friday morning, we will meet up with good friends of mine, Dwight and Heather (the rest of my CB300 handling crew) and drive to GlennAllen.  We will deliver our food drops, do our required vet check, attend a pre-race meeting and get organized for Saturday morning.

Wish us luck -- this is our first 300 mile race! 

A BIG month ahead!!

Heading to Alpine Creek Lodge.   Can you see the snow flying off Jeff's brake in front of my team?!  

This past Saturday night, we returned from our final major training run in preparation for our upcoming stint of 3 x 300 mile races this month.  

Because our trails in Big Lake were closed down due to warm weather and rain, we packed up for another adventure on the Denali Highway.  We met Jeff, 21 of his dogs and his handler, Kevin, who manned the jeep support.  

I brought 17 dogs (14 from Bacon's Acres and 3 from Husky Homestead) to help make my final decisions about which dogs will run with me for the Copper Basin 300.  It was a WILD start, as they were VERY excited... and there were 17 of them!  I had never run 17 dogs on a sled.  It's a lot of power!!  Despite the road looking like it was well snow-packed, it wasn't for the first couple miles.  Even though I was using my foot brake and my other foot on top of my snow hook on the road's surface (maybe not the best idea, but it's the best I could think of at the moment), we were a freight train moving full speed ahead.  After a few glitches, both teams continued on to make a safe arrival at Alpine Creek Lodge (http://alpinecreeklodge.com/) approximately 64 miles later.  It's always a warm welcome there... water for the dogs, tasty food and coffee for humans, cheerful greetings and a comfy bed.  The dogs get bedded down outside in piles of straw after they have their supper.  These "camp outs" have been great practice for my dogs in preparation for resting and eating during races, and helpful practice for me packing up my gear and caring for dogs outside our normal kennel routine.   

This time when we were at Alpine Creek Lodge, they was hosting the GinGin 200 checkpoint, so the dogs and I got more experience interacting with other teams as we will do during our races.  Also, we had many head on passes on our way back to the dog truck.  All went well, thankfully.

I felt the symbolism of the freight train was right on for what I'm stepping into this month:
January 10th - Copper Basin 300 starting in GlennAllen (http://www.cb300.com/)

January 16th - Kuskokwim 300 (http://www.k300.org/wordpress/)

January 23 - Northern Lights 300 (http://northernlights300.org/)

We should have trackers on for all three races.  Check out the websites and cheer us on!  We appreciate all your support!! :)

p.s. there are very few pictures from this trip because I was too focused on holding on, as well as keeping my fingers warm.  

Running under the full moon... simply beautiful!

These are the dogs that went on last weekend's training run.  I'm LOVING my new board Mari made me for my birthday!  :)  

The three dogs joining us from Husky Homestead ( http://www.huskyhomestead.com/ ) are Suspect, Norton and Kroner.

Summer update from Bacon's Acres'

A beautiful scene from a camping trip in the Norwegian mountains near Røros.

It's time for a late July update from all us here at Bacon's Acres' Kennel. We've had a warm summer so far here in Big Lake, the dog yard is nice and green and the dogs are stretching out in the warm summer weather. 

Our puppies are growing at a rapid pace, and they're now going on long walks several times a day. Running through high grass and climbing up big mountains. Learning to listen to commands, and wait (not so) patiently for the "go" command, before running out of the puppy pen. It's impossible not to be walking smiling from ear to ear when being with these puppies. I am so excited for the winter to come, and being able to start to harness breaking these amazing athletes. 

A sunny morning looking out towards the dog yard at Punch Bowl glacier.

I (Markus) have been busy sharing my love for the dogs with lots of lovely tourists this summer, working up on the Punch Bowl Glacier doing dog sled rides, and talking about the history of the sled dogs and Iditarod. It is always very giving to share this sport with new and interested people. Kristin has been puppy trainer number 1 this summer, doing an amazing job with our up and coming stars.

The rain is pouring down outside the window here at the kennel today. There's a small fire going in the wood stove, and hot coffee in my mug. Should be a good day to put together some dog houses in the barn. On a day like this, it's easy to look forward to some colder temps. Winter is coming and I am very excited about it. No better way to start the day than with a cup of coffee and look at some photos from past camping trips on the runners.

Our goal for the next winter is to have Kristin qualify for the Iditarod. To do that, she needs to finish 2 races of 300 miles. I am planning to focus on the puppies this winter, and hopefully be able to go on some camping trips in the spring with them. I believe there is no better way to train the dogs, and get a good connection with them.

Another old photo I dug out. This one is taken as I'm returning from a long training run in Norway, around Christmas time.

The Norwegian litter has names

A painting of the men at Eidsvoll in 1814.

The Dancer x Bomber litter was born on 17th of May, Norway's constitution day and 200 year anniversary of the constitution. Obviously these cute puppies would have a Norwegian theme. All the boys are named after men that were present at Eidsvoll in 1814, creating the constitution. With a lack of women present in 1814, we decided to name the one girl of the litter after Gro Harlem Bruntland. Gro was the first female prime minister of Norway, and served in 3 terms, she was the leader of AP (The Labour Party).

Read more about Gro here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gro_Harlem_Brundtland

Read more about the men at Eidsvoll in 1814 here: http://www.eidsvoll1814.no/default.aspx?aid=9061021

Frederik Wilhelm Bruenech

Fredrik

Gro Harlem Brundtland

Gro

Tallev Olsen Huvestad

Tallev

Hans Jacob Stabel

Stabel

Georg Sverdrup

Sverdrup

Andreas Michael Heiberg

Heiberg

Henrik Wedel Jarlsberg

Jarlsberg

Puppy love and kennel visitors

All of Norway celebrated the arrival of 7 healthy puppies from Dancer x Bomber on the 17th of May.

Our second litter of puppies have now arrived. The Dancer x Bomber puppies arrived on 17th of May, Norway's constitution day, so don't be surprised if all those puppies get Norwegian names. We got another litter of 7 healthy puppies, this time 6 males, and only 1 female. 

Kennel visitors

The dogs had a fun morning today, as we got a fun visit from Melinda and her kids. All the puppies got lots of love and snuggling, so much so that the big dogs got pretty jealous and demanded that we come into the big dog yard and give them some loving too. Enough said, enjoy the photos!

Puppies have arrived!

Waiting for puppies can sometimes be a very tedious business. Is she pregnant, or is she not pregnant? When will they come? How many? Will all be healthy, and what will they look like?

Momma Digger

Papa Felon

It was with much joy we could see Digger finally settling into her whelping house this Wednsday, ready to give us some beautiful little puppies. One by one they popped out, all looking like our house dog Tricky, black and white. He did get the evil eye for a little bit, but he was quick at defending himself saying that he has no balls anymore, so he's off the hook for that one. The actual father is Felon, our best lead dog, out of Berkeley and Solomon. Digger is Dean Osmar's best lead dog, and we will split this litter with Dean. We are super excited to watch these cuties grow up to be big and strong sled dogs!

In total we had 7, 3 males and 4 females. 6 black, and 1 grey.

We are still waiting on another litter, should be born any moment now. We will update as soon as they are born!

Video: Dogs in the swamp

A quick and rough cut of some video from today's dog walk in the swamp. All the snow is gone, and it's pretty wet out on the trail system. The dogs sure love to run around and splash in the water.

Nome week

Team Ralph on the way to the starting line in Willow.

As Iditarod 42 got close to it's end, I got on a plane and flew up to Nome. Jeff was expected to cross the finish line around midnight (if I remember correctly), so I went to town to get some pizza and wait for the champion to cross the finish line. As we eat our pizza, a rumour start spreading through the resturant. "Jeff King has stopped". Confusion is filling the room. Is the tracker not functioning? Is he just snacking the dogs? The wind too strong? As we check the gps tracker we can confirm, he has been stopped for a long time, and Alie Zirkle is still moving. Not long after a new word i spreading from table to table. "Alie Zirkle is stopped at Safety". Now this Iditarod finish is sure getting crazy! We watch the GPS as Dallas passes through Safety and takes lead of the race. Alie follows. I figure I have time for a quick nap. Not long after I get awoken by the fire siren that screams everytime a musher is aproaching the finish line. We jump on the atv and race down to front street. Dallas Seavey is Already across the finish line, congratulating his dogs on the good race. Just a minute later, we see a headlamp coming up from behind, Alie Zirkle finnishes just 2 minutes later to big cheers from the crowd.

Scouting for dogs

Team Ralph Johannessen at the cermonial start in Anchorage.

Team Ralph Johannessen flew me up to Nome, so I was up there to take care of his dogs. After every team crosses the finish line, they open up the back of the schute, and run em some hundred feet to behind the Iditarod HQ, where a dog lot is to be found. Long chains stretched out, with big containers fillew with straw and drop bags for all the teams. While being down there, I made sure to take a good look at all the different dogs. All finishers of one of the toughest Iditarod's yet. As we are planing 3 puppy litters for this spring, I was fully focused on getting a breeding female for one of those litters. What team looks the best? What dogs do i personally like the best? How did they look at the finish line coming in? Nome is definately a good place to buy dogs. Just right there in that dog lot, being able to look at hundred dogs at the same time, that just finished in the top 20 of Iditarod, and talk with all the different mushers. We are very excited for the tiny puppies coming this spring, it will be a bussy puppy summer here at Bacons Acres! 2 out of 3 planned litters is already bred, expect puppies early May.

The Finish line and burled arch in Nome.

Iditarod week at Bacon's Acres

In honor of our missing Sweetie Queens, Norma and Cyndy, we served lunch on the river Sunday afternoon.

Although we are not competing in this year's Iditarod, our lives are fully intertwined with race logistics, as well as watching in suspense as our friends work their way up the trail toward Nome. Kristin spent Saturday through Wednesday in Skwentna volunteering as a Skwentna Sweetie at the checkpoint (cleaning, cooking, waking up mushers, helping with drop dogs, etc). Starting Saturday, the Delia's cabin in Skwentna begins to fill up in anticipation of the mushers arrival: Darlings (river crew from the lower 48, vets, Iditarod Comms, media, etc).  Mushers arrive between about 9 pm Sunday night and 6 am Monday morning.  After cleaning and prepping the checkpoint for next year, everyone is gone by Tuesday at noon (unless they get snowed in like we did this year). Volunteering at a checkpoint definitely gives a glimpse into how much is involved in putting on a race like this.

While down on the river in Skwentna, Kristin enjoys the opportunity to quietly watch as the mushers pass through the checkpoint, some of them stopping to eat, care for their dogs and rest, while others grab what they need from their drop bags and continue on.   As mushers anticipated a rough, icy trail with little snow this year, it was interesting to see the adaptations many mushers had made to their sleds. 

Markus heads to Nome tomorrow to help Ralph Johannessen with his dogs after he finishes. 

Arriving to Skwentna

The checkpoint is on the riverbank on the right

Sweeties enjoying the sunshine

Salad for 75

A team arriving in Skwentna

Holding back a team

As the river was quite icy, some mushers had a hard time stopping their teams when they arrived.

Lisbet caring for her dogs

Joar's team parked in Skwentna

The morning after...

Iditarod obsessing from home

Enjoying the view

Dogs enjoying the view of the valley below.

After sending off Ralph Johannessen at the re-start of Iditarod 2014, I jumped back in the truck and headed for the Talkeetna Mountains. 

The clock showed 5.30 pm before I was ready to leave the truck. With the sled packed with reindeer skins, sleeping bag, straw, RedPaw, fish and cooker, we took off up into the mountains as the sun was starting to set. 

Running dogs in the mountains isn't a daily thing here in Alaska, as we usually run on swamps and rivers. As we got out of the trees, the most amazing 360 degree panoramic view appeared and I had to let out a big cheer, what an amazing view! 

We ended up camping on the other side of this lake. Setting the snow hook in one of the small trees for better grip.

The snow was pretty crusty after some warm weather and rain (!) in the area, so we didn't go too far. With June and Felon in lead we left the trails and went exploring around on different mountain tops before we settled for a beautiful camping spot near a lake. Dogs got fish and kibble for supper before we all settled down to enjoy a pipe and a wonderful show of northern lights and millions upon millions of bright stars. Truly magical!

Hope you can enjoy the pictures as much as we enjoyed the view!

Ikidarod 2014

We had a fabulous day on the park strip downtown Anchorage at Ikidarod. This event was a combined effort between High Country Kennels, Ikidarod and Kidability Physical Therapy, LLC.

This was our second annual Ikidarod Fur Rondy Fun Rides.  Ikidarod is an event where children with special needs get to go for a free dog sled ride. We do everything we can to give the kids a fun and safe experience with the dogs. For many kids, this is their first opportunity to be in a dog sled.  Just seeing the smiles on all their faces is thank you enough.

Bob Sexton and Christina Rose of High Country Kennels bring their dogs to provide the rides, and Kristin Bacon uses her experience as a pediatric physical therapist and musher to try to ensure the kids have a safe and enjoyable adventure. 

Thank you to everyone that showed up for the fun!

Video: Running in the sunshine

Bacon's Acres and Kristin in Alaska Magazine

This month's (March 2014) Alaska Magazine includes a 4 page article about Kristin's dream to run Iditarod. You can buy the magazine in Alaska, or buy it digitally on your Apple device here.

Video: Winter Joy 2014

Markus cut together a short video from mushing and skiing this winter. The mushing clips are from a February adventure in Big Lake. The warm weather had packed the snow rock hard, so we could go wherever we wanted, staying on top of the snow. The skiing is from our weekend in Hatcher Pass.

We got snow again!

After a long month of almost no snow in the Big Lake area, we finally got close to 5 inches of fresh powder yesterday. Dogs and humans alike are cheering! 

A new 300 mile qualifier?

As the Northern Lights 300 was cancelled in January due to lack of snow, we are in need of a new 300 miler this winter. Kristin still needs two 300 mile races to qualify after finishing her first qualifier this winter, the Knik 200. So far, there is no word that the Northern Lights 300 will be rescheduled....  but, we're keeping our fingers crossed.