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Man’s
best friend key to winter sport
Musher Ed Stielstra's first foray into the sport was as a member
of an organization concerned with cruelty to animals. With a skeptical
eye, the Michigan State grad helped a family friend train a sled dog
team in Ludington. From that ironic beginning some fifteen years ago,
Stielstra and his wife Tasha now train nearly a hundred dogs for distance
racing and run a successful sled dog guide business in McMillan called
Nature's Kennel-a business Tasha said supports their sled dog racing
habit.
"What Ed learned is it's a good thing for the dogs, not a cruel
sport," said Tasha, a former UP200 champion. "It's neat to
allow the dogs to do what they have a natural desire to do, what they've
been bred to do for thousands of years."
The Stielstras began raising and racing sled dogs twelve years ago in
Ludington and then later in Duluth where Tasha taught first grade and
Ed worked as a production supervisor. Five years back they quit their
jobs, moved to a remote forty-acre parcel in the U.P. where the snow
is more consistent and sled dogs became their full-time endeavor.
"It got to the point (in Duluth) where we never saw each other,"
Tasha said.
The decision to strike out on their own may have been scary financially,
but it also meant they'd have more time together, Tasha said.
This month, Nature's Kennel will race two teams in the UP200, the U.P.'s
signature sled dog event, and next month they'll send two teams to compete
in Alaska's Iditarod Sled Dog Challenge. Ed will lead one team and one
of the Stielstra's employees will race the other in both cases.
Sharon Nelson-Curtice and Pete Curtice took to the sport of mushing
a slightly different way. For their first official date, the two worked
as volunteers for the veterinarian check at the inaugural UP200 race
in 1990.
Sharon, who as a youth raised and trained guide dogs for the blind,
said she found the idea of mushing intriguing. She and Pete went on
to act as handlers for other mushers. A handler helps prepare the dogs
for racing at the start and drives gear and food to a race's various
checkpoints where they help the team feed and recover.
Graduating from handling, the Curtices started raising a six-dog racing
team and entered their first race in 1996. Their hobby-or, more appropriately,
their lifestyle-continued to grow to the point where they now run RidgeRunner
Kennel from their home in Rumely. They own twenty-seven dogs and, along
with their three homeschooled children ages thirteen, eleven and six,
are training nineteen of those dogs for racing.
They've also found competitive success. Sharon has twice won the Midnight
Run, a ninety-mile race that runs concurrent with the UP200. Pete has
won both the Midnight Run and UP200.
Jim and Jackie Winkowski who run Snowy Plains Kennel in Sands Township
got hooked on sled dogs also. They wanted to try to sport some years
back, so they leased a team from another musher. Leasing meant visiting
that kennel each day to feed, care for and train the dogs.
One year of that, Jim said, and they knew they wanted to do it on their
own, as much to be close to the dogs as to have control over their care.
The Winkowskis now own twenty-eight sled dogs, some retired from racing.
They've raced the Midnight Run in past years, but are moving more toward
recreational races such as the Jack Pine 30, guided trips and sled dog
educational activities. Jackie has written two children's books about
mushing, Miki's Challenge and Miki's Race, and they host programs through
the Marquette Community Schools.
All these mushers have succeeded in their own way through trial and
error and with help from other mushers. For example, Jim said they've
learned it's hard to get their dogs to drink during winter, so they
soak their dog food in water before feeding their charges as a way to
keep them hydrated. And he and his wife have learned a little dog psychology,
a necessary skill when figuring out which dogs run best together and
which dogs do better on the right side of a team versus the left.
"We have learned things on our own, but we've also learned from
other mushers," Tasha said. "The mushing community is a close-knit
community."
Sharon said advice from experienced mushers has been invaluable.
"We've always felt that if we wanted to achieve a certain level,
then we needed to talk to those people who have achieved that level,"
she said.
Several mushers have shared training ideas and dog care tips with them
including Canadian Keith Peppler who will serve as the head judge for
this month's UP200.
Mushing is not just about the racing either, she said, a sentiment echoed
by Stielstra and the Winkowskis.
"Being out on the trail with the dogs when they're doing something
they love to do so much, it's just hard to describe what it's like,"
Sharon said. "It's quiet and peaceful, but at the same time so
energizing sharing that bond that you have with them."
While the joy of running dogs is what hooks a musher, it's a lifestyle
that comes with a major commitment. Even with a smaller kennel, the
daily feeding and clean-up chores alone can take a couple hours a day.
And during the training season, from about August until winter's end,
the dogs need time pulling the sled regularly. Once temperatures rise
above fifty degrees, it's too warm for the dogs to train, Sharon said.
Then there are the vet bills and the food. Jim said their twenty-eight
dogs eat about twenty pounds of food a day and they don't feed the high
performance feed of the competitive racers. The Stielstra's dogs eat
about 100 pounds of beef and ninety pounds of dry dog food each day.
They buy food by the pallet, Tasha said.
Still, it's all worth it when you see the dogs doing what they love
to do, she said.
Archeological evidence suggests dogs have pulled sleds for humans as
far back as 4,000 years ago, according to the International Federation
of Sled Dog Sports. The first written account of sled dog racing is
the 1850 record of a recreational race from Winnipeg (Manitoba) to St.
Paul. It was a popular sport in the northeast during the early 1900s.
Since then, mushing has twice made an appearance as an Olympic demonstration
sport-in the 1932 Lake Placid and 1952 Oslo (Norway) Olympics.
This month, fans of sled dogs and racing will have plenty of opportunity
to watch the sport first hand with the twenty-seventh running of the
UP200 and the Midnight Run, both starting February 15 and the Jack Pine
30 that kicks off February 16.
-Matthew Williams
Sled dog racing steps front and center this month as mushers,
their dogs and spectators, all from across the country and Canada converge
on the central U.P. for a trio of races.
The headline event is the annual UP200, a 260-mile mid-distance race
roughly following the Lake Superior shoreline from Marquette to Grand
Marais and back. This will be the race's eighteenth running and it serves
as a qualifying event for the internationally known Iditarod Sled Dog
Challenge that takes place in March.
The UP200's highlight is the downtown Marquette start. According to
the Upper Peninsula Sled Dog Association, it draws upwards of 15,000
spectators to watch the twelve-dog teams begin their journey with a
dash through central downtown before heading out along the lakeshore.
The first racer takes off at about 7:00 p.m.
A popular place to watch the teams east of Marquette, before they get
too spread out, is the Lakenenland sculpture park on M-28, said Pat
Torreano, president of the UPSDA.
The mushers head south and east through Deerton and Wetmore and, depending
on weather conditions, should arrive at the Wetmore checkpoint soon
after midnight. They'll then head east to Grand Marais, where most use
a large portion of their mandatory sixteen-hour layover.
"The layover in Grand Marais on Saturday is an absolute blast,"
Torreano said. "The town puts everything into it."
The mushers return by the same track with a mandatory stop in Wetmore,
where they are required to use any remaining layover before finishing
in Marquette's lower harbor. The top finisher is expected to cross the
finish line sometime between 11:00 a.m. and noon, again depending on
trail conditions.
Also kicking off the evening of February 15 is the UP200's sibling event:
the Midnight Run. That race is a ninety-mile jaunt starting in Gwinn,
winding north up to and over Marquette Mountain and down the Carp River
valley. The teams cross under US-41 at the Carp River bridge and then
turn south to follow the UP200 track to Deerton. They have a mandatory
five-hour layover in Deerton.
Midnight Run competitors continue on through Munising to Wetmore, finishing
at Hiawatha Log Homes. The first racer starts in Gwinn at 6:00 p.m.
and the winner is expected to arrive around 9:00 or 10:00 a.m. Saturday.
Both races are limited to forty teams and both are filled, Torreano
said. There is a waiting list of teams for both events.
A third sled dog race, the sportsman's class Jack Pine 30, kicks off
one day later at 9:30 a.m. in Gwinn at Larry's Family Foods. It features
six-dog teams run by mostly recreational mushers. They race thirty miles
to Marquette finishing near Upfront and Company and the old ore dock.
The top teams should arrive around noon.
The total prize purse for the UP200 and Midnight Run is $34,000, with
$6,000 going to the UP200 winner and payouts down to fifteenth place
in both races.
About six to seven hundred volunteers help make the weekend happen,
Torreano said.
"It's a huge undertaking," she said. "It still amazes
me that we can pull it off."
For details or to volunteer, visit www.up200.org
-Matthew Williams
Notes
from the North Country
If you would seek a very pleasant sandstone cove, look about you close
to home. We call it the “Fern Grotto,” although the Michigan
Nature Association officially lists the site as “Twin Waterfall
Plant Preserve.” It is cleverly tucked away in a residential neighborhood
in Munising.
In this spectacular, deep cove you will find two waterfalls with at
least a forty-foot drop. Coursing down through the bottom of the box
canyon is a delightful wee stream that winds and tumbles down the incline.
The cove is densely wooded with conifers and mature hardwood trees;
one huge tree—a yellow birch—was a sapling when George Armstrong
Custer blundered into his fateful meeting with the Lakota and Cheyenne
in 1876. The walls of the canyon are composed of multicolored layers
of sandstone deposited eons ago by shallow seas covering the area. In
season, the cove offers an array of wildflowers and a particularly lush
growth of ferns.
It is a delightful place to visit in all seasons.
• Winter—This is our favorite time. The deep cove is
hushed and white with snow. The two waterfalls become thick ice columns
forty feet tall. The freezing and thawing creates wondrous shapes and
filigrees. See how many colors you can identify in the icefalls.
• Spring—Try to visit this spot in late April or early
May when the snow melt water surges over the waterfalls and fills the
cove with a stunning roar and clouds of mist. Look up when the sun reflects
off the deciduous trees and you will see the first pastel greening,
a promise of summer. From now through early June, look down for the
wildflowers—spring beauty, adder’s tongue, trillium, violets.
• Summer—On a warm day in July or August, descend to
the floor of the cove and feel the cool. It is green and shady, and
now is the season of the fern—lush growths, many emerging from
the crevices in the sandstone wall layers.
• Fall—This is the season of aroma and color. Leaves
on the ridgelines and along the floor of the cove abound in red, lemon
yellow and orange. With each step the musky herbal smell of newly-fallen
leaves drifts upward.
To find the Fern Grotto, go to the blinker light in downtown Munising.
With the Dogpatch Restaurant just off to your right and the Park Service/Forest
Service Visitor Center just ahead, proceed through the intersection
after stopping and you will be on H-58. Drive for about three miles,
past the paper mill. On the fairly steep hill, look for Nestor Street
and turn right. Go one block and look for a Michigan Nature Association
sign on your right. Park along the road. The upper path into the woods
begins right there. There also is a lower access point with sign and
stairs back along H-58.
Please be respectful of the site, don’t pick or disturb any plants
and approach with quiet so others also may enjoy their time in this
small wild place.
As you spend your time in the cove, send a thought of thanks to local
residents who have built steps, bridges and trails, and also to the
Michigan Nature Association (www.michigannature.org) which has preserved
8,500 acres of habitat for Michigan’s rare and endangered species....and
open land for the rest of us.
—Lon and Lynn Emerick
Editor’s Note: Comments are welcome by writing MM or e-mailing
marquettemonthly @chartermi.net
Lon and Lynn Emerick’s Upper Peninsula books: The Superior Peninsula,
Going Back to Central, Lumberjack—Inside and Era, Sharing the Journey,
You Wouldn’t Like it Here and You STILL Wouldn’t Like it Here
are available at area book and gift stores or by visiting their Web
site at www.northcountrypublishing.com
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