Miscellaneous

60.07 N by 149.26 W: Stokey’s Amazing Alaskan Adventures

I feel like I am sitting on the edge of something great. As if my feet are on the tip of some great canyon, the wind is blowing gently through my hair, and I’m looking down down down at something big and terrifying and horribly unknown…
Sarah Stokey’s Blog
http://www.wanderingwithmyheadintheclouds.blogspot.com
May, 2010

Little did Sarah Stokey ’06 know that within a month of writing this blog entry, she would be living in Alaska, and discovering one of the most beautiful places on earth.  Sarah is a dog musher and trainer at Ididaride, located in Seward, 120 miles south of Anchorage.  She was hired as a summer worker by Mitch Seavey, winner of the 2004 Iditarod and almost every other mid- to long-distance dogsled race. After a few weeks, Sarah was asked to stay on full time and live out her childhood dream of training dogs and living in the 49th state. 

The Seavey operation manages about 180 dogs in two locations, Seward and Sterling. Sarah’s work day includes working with young dogs, as well as marketing, managing social media, doing office work and leading summer tours. “I will even do construction if they need me to,” she said. “I hope to use this experience as a stepping stone to start my own business.” 

Sarah is constantly amazed by her new home in Seward, Alaska. Population 2,000, the town was named for William Seward, a member of Abraham Lincoln’s cabinet who negotiated Alaska’s sale from the Russians in 1867. Located at the foot of Mount Marathon and overlooking Resurrection Bay, Seward was once the start of the Iditarod Trail during the Alaska Gold Rush. Because of its coastal location, Seward receives a mix of about 80” of snow and 70” inches of rain during the year. 

When she can fit it in, Sarah also maintains her blog (http://www.sarahstokey.com) and works on her writing, another dream of hers. After visiting the nearby Harding Ice Field she likened it in her blog to a “big, white, fluffy dog. Like a Samoyed or maybe just one of the Alaskans we have in the yard all spread out with its gangly limbs reaching down.” 

She works with about 26 of the Alaskan huskies at Ididaride. Although they are working animals and are different from pets, she said there is a flow of admiration and respect between the dogs and their trainer. She gets to know the dogs so well she sees “high school” type personalities emerge. 

“There is always a personality shift in the dogs when they go from hanging out to working. They can be total goof balls. But put them on the towline and they’re all business.”  One of the things Sarah particularly enjoys is taking a “ragtag” team and watching them gain confidence. “I am always focused on the dogs. I love to watch them learn how to do their job. You can actually see how empowered they feel when they realize they’ve learned something.” 

While Sarah works with eight to twelve dogs at a time in a training situation, she also enjoys taking one or two out individually on short hikes. By the end of a two-mile walk, she said, “I’ll have taught a young dog how to respond to come and walk commands. They love their one-on-one time.”  One of the ways Sarah trains the dogs when there isn’t much snow is to attach the towlines to an ATV and put it in low gear. Sarah does this as well to conduct the 2.5 mile tours for the summer visitors. 

It usually goes well. However, twice her gangline cables have snapped and Sarah said the dogs just take off, leaving her and the guests stranded. “I had to chase the dogs and work to get them back together. The guests were fine and thought it was part of the tour!” 

Another time Sarah’s team was to cross a river with an ATV attached, but the vehicle stalled just shy of the water. Refusing to get their feet wet, the dogs balked and bunched together. Sarah had to untangle them and then lead them across herself. 

In all instances, Sarah’s number one rule is: Don’t Panic. “You have to show your dogs you’re in charge so that they will respond to your commands.” 

After the river incident, she added some new rules in her blog: “If you are going to train dogs in the fall, invest in a good, dependent four wheeler and look back and laugh. I cannot wait for winter and to use sleds!” 

Although Sarah is not actively training for the Iditarod at the moment, she wrote, “I still feel like I’m on the way there. I’m telling myself that 2013 is the year…who knows why. I’m crossing my fingers that I get to do some racing, no matter the distance. I know that regardless of what I do, it won’t be competitively…but the idea that one day I could actually compete with my own dogs is electrifying.” 

To follow Sarah’s adventures in Alaska, visit her web site and read her blog at www.sarahstokey.com.