Robert Forto

Serum Run

Serum Run Boot Camp: Yentna Station

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We arrived at Yentna Station at about 4:00 pm and started on our chores right away. I started up the cooker and began to melt snow. It took about 25 minutes to bring the water to a boil and prep the food–a mixture of raw meat, fat, and kibble. I then let it soak for about 30 minutes. I sat back and drank a Capri Sun and munched on “horse nuggets”.

The snow machiners and the rest of the teams were in by now and I fetched my bale of straw to bed down the dogs. I set the team out on a drop line and removed their harnesses so they would be more comfortable.

After feeding the dogs their ladle of gruel I went about checking all the dogs feet and give each one of the twelve dogs a quick once over looking for sore shoulders and legs. Everyone, including Marble, seemed to be A-Okay. 

By 5:30 all the mushers and snow machine guys were inside and figuring out where we were going to sleep for the evening. I opted for a room in the lodge while 10 people crammed into one of the cabins. The price was the same, 55 bucks, so you might as well be comfortable, right?

Dinner was served at 6:30. An excellent Thanksgiving-type feast of turkey, mashed potatoes, salad and veggies and finished up with extra gooey brownies and ice cream.

For the next several hours we all talked and told mushing stories while a few of the gang caught cat naps. A mushing check point is always respite with various people knocked out in chairs. We were no different. Joe was sleeping so soundly that Erin was able to mark up his nose with a Sharpie.

Later in the evening, Dan, the owner of Yentna Station, broke out his 12 string guitar and rocked the place! This is why I came to Alaska. For evenings just like this. You won’t often find this type of hospitality in the big city. Here we were 35 miles off the road system along the banks of the Yentna River in the middle of nowhere and it felt like home.

Yentna Station is ran by the Gabryszak family; Dan, Jean and their two kids. They are some of the nicest folks I have met in Alaska. Not only do they open up their home to various passer-by mushers and loads of snow machines racing down the river, it is also the first checkpoint on the Iditarod trail as well as several other races like the Knik 200, Northern Lights 300 and the Junior Iditarod.

By midnight most of us were retiring to our beds. I slept soundly and didn’t move a muscle until 6:45 the next morning, waking up to a symphony of the dog teams as the mushers began their morning rituals.

More to come!

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Serum Run Boot Camp 2012: Hot to Trot. Part 1

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If one phase can sum up the 2012 Serum Run Boot Camp it would have to be:

Too Hot to Trot

It was unseasonably warm this past weekend and it played havoc on our plans for the serum run boot camp. Well not really. We all had a great time. The organizers will be the first to tell you that an event like this prides itself on being very fluid in their plans.

Raegan and Piglet

We were and we made it work.

After submitting our applications way back around Christmas and being selected in mid-January, I was ready for this weekend, no matter what it entailed.

We had a great group of participants: six dog teams and seven snowmachiners. This small group of mostly veterans of past serum runs was the perfect mix for a weekend on the rivers of South Central, Alaska. Being a rookie I was looking forward to listening and learning from the folks that have done this before.

Running the River

I have run the river on several occasions but mostly just up to Yentna Station and back without much planning or preparation. This is the same route that we did this weekend but with a bit more logistics. I had no idea just how much gear it took to just run 35 miles.

It all started on Thursday evening with us packing and preparing for the weekend. I know I packed like a rookie in  terms of food and drink but I packed a little too light on things that mattered. I forgot my shovel and enough trash bags and I should have brought at least one extra snack for the dogs.

Friday evening we all met at Eagelquest Lodge in Willow and had a dinner or ham and potatoes, baked beans, rolls and M&M cookies. My wife, Michele and daughter, Nicole, came along to support me in this adventure. It was why we moved to Alaska for goodness sake.

After dinner we had a meeting about the next day’s event’s, the trail, and our itneniary before retiring to our cabins for the evening.

The little cabin slept 5 and I took one of the twin beds upstairs. We stayed up late talking and telling mushing stories. I slept well sans the blaring night light. We had a meeting at 8:30 back at the lodge so we had to be ready to go by 10 am.

On Saturday morning it was pretty warm. About 28 degrees or so when we dropped the dogs from the dog trucks and gave them a quick meal.

After a nice breakfast of cinnamon rolls and juice we decided that the first teams would be out at 11:00 and we headed out to pack our gear.

I was third to go out and the run from Eaglequest to Luce’s lodge was a bevy of passing and playing “tag” with Joe’s Screaming Huskies team. I finally pulled ahead after Joe stopped for a few minutes.

At about mile 20 I stopped to snack the dogs with fish and noticed that Marble, my six year old Siberian, refused to eat it. She laid down and started dipping snow. Being the thickest coated dog on the team I could tell she was hot. We rested for a few and trudged on the the sugary, sometimes very deep snow, on the Yentna River.

In this part of Alaska they have had at least five feet of snow and the river is virtually a highway for the people that live along the banks and the 100s of snow machines training and racing along the river a break neck speeds.

At Luce’s lodge Marble quit on me and didn’t want to have any part of this game any longer. I loaded her up in the sled bag and away we went. Our snow machines carry all of our gear as well as a dog crate to carry a dog should they become injured, sick or otherwise quit.

Marble, my co-pilot

Being so close to Yentna Station I didn’t see any snow machine support and rather than wait I decided to make Marble comfortable in the bag. I secured her with a neckline and left he flap open so she could stick her head out and enjoy the ride.

By the time I got going again I could see two other teams about 1/4 to 1/2 mile behind me so I knew if I had to stop again they would be there to help if I needed it.

The Serum Run and the boot camp is not a race. We are out there to help each other. That is the beauty of this type of an event.

We arrived at Yentna Station in 3 hours 40 minutes. Not bad in the warm weather and punchy conditions. I have done this run in as long as five hours so, not a bad run at all.

The “trail breaker” snow machines were already there and had already set up places for us to camp our dogs. Being first in I would be first out in the morning.

I immediately started my chores.

Dogs first in mushing. That’s just how we roll.

More to come…

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2010-11 Training Summary

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It was my first winter in Alaska and my first year as an Alaskan musher. I had no idea what to expect and I went into the winter full of optimism and eager to learn.

It had been quite a while since I was behind a set of runners and I knew I needed several miles before I got my “snow legs” back.

I arrived in Alaska on August 4, 2011 and within a couple weeks I had my first taste of Alaskan mushing and boy was it an experience. They do things a lot differently up here in Alaska.

[Rewind: Willow, Alaska: The Mushing Capital of the World]

Learning to drive a dog team in northern Minnesota and later in the mountains of Colorado with a rag-tag team of Siberians, years ago, this was my first time working with a team of Alaskan Huskies.

I had always been a bit biased towards the Alaskan Huskies, wanting to keep the romanticism and the roots of the Siberians firmly in my sights for my future teams. While I’ll always be partial towards this magnificent breed, I know that if I ever want to be competitive it will most likely be with a team on Alaskans.

Within a month of my arrival to this great State I began working with a couple whom quickly became friends and mentors. I learned so much from these guys over the past eight months and so thankful for the opportunity to run their dogs.

Trails

It is now the stuff of legend in the family how we bought a home in Alaska, pretty much sight unseen. We knew if we were ever going to attempt this crazy Iditarod thing that we had to come up to Alaska.

I have written extensively about my trials and tribulations here at the future home of Team Ineka and what is now known as Forto’s Fort.

I do know that the reason we are here is literally out my back door. Miles and miles of trails. You could literally run to Nome from here.

I spent a lot of time on these trails: Railroad, Stevens Lake, Lost Lady, Frying Pan Lake, The Swamp, The Powerline, and on, and on…

What an experience!

The infamous night run

My mushing season was almost over before it even began. It was the first weekend of December and we went on our first night run with the dogs. I was following the first team out and within a mile of the dog yard I slammed shoulder first into a tree and (I think) cracked my collar bone.

The next two hours was a one nightmare after another– a huge tangle, my useless right arm and my dog team wanting to chase their “friends” in front of them.

I took a couple days off and was determined to get back on the sled. It was probably a little premature but I did it anyway.

Read more about the collar-bone ride here

The river

On New Years Day we hit the Big Su River for the first time. I can honestly say that was one of the best times I have ever been on the runners of a dog sled. I learned so much on that 90 mile run to Yentna Station and back. I learned how to camp–the right way–how to run in the middle of the night with little to no sleep. I learned the power of a little bottle of 5-hour energy drink and just how awesome the stars look at 4 AM in the middle of nowhere.

Ipods at 30 below

It was 30 below zero and a week before my first race, the Don Bowers 200. We headed out to run 60 miles or so upRabbideaux Pass and back. It was the coldest weather I had been in Alaska and wanted not only to test myself and run the dogs but also test the 1000 bucks of clothing gear that I had to buy to do this crazy sport.

It all worked out great, except my iPod that froze up at -30 degrees within a couple miles from the truck. I ended up with a little bit of frost bite on my wedding ring finger, but other than that it was a great run.

Read more about the iPod run here

The race

On the last weekend of January the plan was to compete in the Don Bowers Memorial Race. It was supposed to be a 200 mile race but was cut down to 125 for poor trail conditions.

I started the race  hell-bent on finishing and the next 20 hours or so would change my outlook on mushing 180 degrees. I honestly can say, I became a musher on that run for many reasons. As they say, you have to cut your teeth at some point…

Read more about the Don Bowers run here

Our handler

Our first handler taught me a lesson really quickly. Well, not really. I have had employees for years at my dog training school. But this guy was not cut from the same cloth as you and me I guess you could say…

Most handlers that come to work for a dog sledding kennel will do it for little or no pay at all. Usually for room and board. Most of them are college kids coming up for a sense of adventure and to get involved in this crazy lifestyle. Many of these guys and gals work for a year or two with a kennel before venturing out on their own. Some of the great Iditarod mushers of today started just this way.

Anyway, the first guy that we brought on board was a guy that came up with a back-pack, a pocket knife and not much else.

All seemed like it was going well until one Saturday when all of us where out in the yard hooking up the teams. Our handler disappeared into the house to make a phone call. We didn’t pay much attention and after our run I looked around and mentioned that I think our handler split. The little apartment was tidy and all his gear was gone.

Within 24 hours this guy had hitch hiked to Anchorage, caught a plane to Oregon and was gone without so much as a good bye!

About three weeks later another guy came along. His name was Austin. A young guy from Indiana wanting to learn how to run sled dogs and had hopes of getting a job this summer in state parks near Denali.

Austin worked out great and he and I shared a lot of experiences on runs together. He is a great guy and I wish him well in his new job.

Austin, you rock, man!

The Serum Run

Our primary goal this season was to prepare the team for the Serum Run. The Serum Run is an 800 mile trek across the state of Alaska from Nenana to Nome. Our A-team of 12 dogs made the quest and did very well. While I wasn’t the musher behind the team, I am glad I was able to be a part of it all.

Read about the 2011 Serum Run here

The spring runs

Austin and I ran until we the last date we possibly could. Our last run was a memorable one. It was the second Monday in April.The highlights included a train and getting stuck waist deep in snow where it took almost two hours to get the dogs turned around (we forgot our snowshoes).

He and I hooked up my 10 month old pup, Reagan for the first time and she ran her first mile.

Also, this spring we filmed a cool video of me and my Iditarod dreams and another about feeding sled dogs.

Mileage

I kept meticulous track of my mileage of my training runs with the dogs using an app on my iPhone called Map My Ride. I did this for a couple reasons: First, to make sure I learned the trails and had a back up plan if I got lost and second, to make sure that the dogs and I reached our training goals.

As of the end of April, when our training season effectively ended: I ran 1489.02 miles in training and spent 107 hours, 29 minutes and 20 seconds on the runners of a dog sled. Think about that. That is quite a long time.

The future

While I still have my sights set on the Iditarod in the near future, I honestly am not in a hurry anymore. I have found extreme pleasure in just hooking up the dogs several times a week and taking them on a 25-50 mile run.

Next season I will run at least two qualifying races for the Iditarod and try to get in three. If I can run all of those races and not scratch (anything can happen), I will still enter the Iditarod and keep my goal. If not I will do it the following year.

For right now, I know I still have a lot to learn and I am still relatively young in this sport. There are many mushers that don’t run after this dream until they are firmly entrenched in middle age.

This summer my son, Tyler is coming up to work in the dog yard and have his first real job. I am sure that we will run a team or two on the summer trials before school starts and the first snow hits in October.

I will become a better musher, my son will become a man and we will test our limits in the last frontier.

All I know is that,

I will never forget my dreams…

Robert Forto | Team Ineka | Alaska Dog Works | Mushing Radio | Dog Works Radio | Denver Dog Works | Daily Post

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Robert Forto is a musher training for his first Iditarod under the Team Ineka banner and the host of the popular radio shows, Mush! You Huskies and Dog Works Radio Shows


Serum Run 2011: Sled dogs arrive home

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As the mushers and snow machiner’s crossed into Nome, some three weeks after the beginning of an epic journey that started in Alaska on a cold, wind-swept afternoon in Nenana, the home base support staff of this expedition sprang into action.

At about 6:30 PM my friend Paul–who flew to Nome to see his wife finish the expedition and give her a welcomed hug– texted me and said the dogs were loaded up and on their way. The flight should be in Anchorage no later than 8:45-9:00 PM.

Our handler, Austin and I, were already in Anchorage grabbing a bite to eat with our list of people picking up the dogs at the airport firmly in hand–and no sooner than we sat down the calls started to come in. It looked like we were the logistical point of contact.

We arrived, one dog truck and trailer, after another to Everts Air Cargo to await our furry friends. I spoke to the guy at the terminal at 8:50 and he said, “Those dogs aren’t going to be here till 11 at the earliest!”

The wait had begun!

At 11:00 pm or so one of the employees came out and announced: “They’re here! Come pick up your doggies!” and all of us scurried inside.

Being the first time I have done this, I was very impressed by the operation. At the meeting with all the mushers in Nenana before they left all of the teams were given a colored coded roll of flagging tape. We had black-red, red-white, pink-black, etc.

They started bringing the dogs in on the forklifts in big containers that look like dog boxes we use on our trucks. All of the doors had the tape firmly attached trough the holes, some with little noses sticking out.

As the forklift drivers zoomed around bringing in dog box after dog box and the 150 to 300 pound sleds for each musher, the handlers sprang into action after each load was weighed and recorded.

All told the cargo weighed more than 10,000 pounds.

Within minutes we had engulfed the parking lot with dogs too and fro. The handlers were taking the pups from the boxes to their trucks. Many of them giving the dogs a light snack and some much needed water.

I was surprised at how smoothly everything was going as it neared 1:00 AM. As most of the teams were loaded up and the sleds were secured on the tops of trucks and trailers, we were suddenly missing one dog. One of Margret Black’s Siberians could not be found.

We searched high and low in all of the boxes and asked all of the handlers if they had an extra dog. Frantic calls were made to Nome and it was assured all the dogs were on the plane.

All of us live pretty close and we are a tight knit group, so we figured that the Siberian Husky would show up at someone’s kennel when they got home. All of the dogs did have the corresponding color tape for each team on their collars as well. Some of the handlers didn’t know all of the dogs they were picking up personally so they may have had an extra dog without knowing it.

As I searched the dog boxes around the parking lot and as everyone was leaving, Austin was latching down three of the boxes to a trailer that the forklift guys had loaded up about 20 minutes earlier.

I heard a whimper and just assumed it was our dogs that we had just loaded into our truck. Then I heard it again. The missing dog had been found! We hurriedly un-did the straps and “rescued” him/her.

Just like a Siberian! Always the ones to get into trouble!

We loaded him up into the dog box, with his handler-person Scott and headed North to Willow.

We arrived at the dog yard at 3:00 AM and it looked like Scott and his truck arrived shortly before us at the neighbors next door.

I am sure we woke up every one within 2 miles with 30 or 40 dogs returning to their dog houses and the excited greetings from their “friends” that had stayed home.

But hey, this is Willow, the dog sledding capital of the world. Almost all of our neighbors are dog mushers and those few that aren’t–We’ll be done in a little while….

After getting all the dogs back to the familiar sights, sounds, and smells of their dog houses we began our feeding routine.

Austin and I decided it would be best to feed all of the dogs now instead of heading to bed ourselves just to wake up in a couple hours to do it in the morning. Besides, I am sure the Serum Run dogs were hungry. They had just came off a three week adventure on the trail for goodness sake.

All of the dogs looked remarkably well. They were happy to see us and gave us all “hugs.” I could also tell that the one of the puppy’s on the team had become a sled dog on this trip.

Jewel.

Jewel came back from this 700 mile quest and I hardly recognized her. It looked like she had been pumping iron at the gym. Her legs looked like they were twice the size as when she left, striated with muscles and super strong.

The mushers and snow machiner’s should start arriving back home Wednesday and in for a much needed rest before they head back to their “real” jobs and their chores in the dog yard.

The dogs–they are ready to pull again, and again, and again. That’s what they love to do.

As I laid my head on the pillow at 4:00 AM I was thankful to be a part of all of this and as I dozed off I thanked all of the handlers and support guys and gals that helped last night. I know they couldn’t hear me, but they know they are a part of the team too.

 

Robert Forto | Team Ineka | Alaska Dog Works | Mushing Radio | Dog Works Radio | Denver Dog Works | Daily Post

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Robert Forto is a musher training for his first Iditarod under the Team Ineka banner and the host of the popular radio shows, Mush! You Huskies and Dog Works Radio Shows

 

 

Iditarod 2011: Sled Dog Cuisine–Soup, Stew, or Gruel

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Mushers: What do you feed your dogs?

Listen to our Iditarod coverage daily on Mush! You Huskies. You can find us on iTunes (search Dog Works Radio) or click on Mushing Radio now.

Robert Forto | Team Ineka | Alaska Dog Works | Mushing Radio | Dog Works Radio | Denver Dog Works | Daily Post

___________________

Robert Forto is a musher training for his first Iditarod under the Team Ineka banner and the host of the popular radio shows, Mush! You Huskies and Dog Works Radio Shows