My Incredible Dog Sledding Experience In ALASKA - Mushing Thru The Snow Of Willow / Home Of Iditarod
Dog Sledding In Alaska
Transcript
0:03
welcome everyone Adam the woo here as
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the recording of This
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TG it is
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Friday November 8th
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2024 brisk cool crisp and wonderful out
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here at the moment I am wearing an
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appropriate Anchorage Alaska t-shirt I
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don't even know why I have sunglasses
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I'll put them in the rental car because
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I haven't been wearing them there's no
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need the sun is rising however I use
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that term Loosely because even though
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the sun is in the sky it's been so
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cloudy you haven't really been able to
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see it I am heading to Willow Alaska
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north of here north westish of here
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north of here about 70 7172 miles and
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I'm going to do something that I wanted
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to do my entire life if all goes well I
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will be sitting on the back of a dog
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sled a little bit later if the roads are
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good road conditions are good going up
1:00
there that's the closest to Anchorage
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that I could find an open dog sled in
1:08
Winter conditions early November look at
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the snow on the ground look at the
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ice so I'm heading to
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Willow join
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me I love this weather I don't love the
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ice but I love the coolness join me
1:25
shall you learned my lesson the first
1:27
few days I was here not to leave before
1:29
the the sun rises the sun rose about 30
1:32
minutes ago it's 9911 right now just to
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give the Sun a the daylight hours a
1:37
little temperature to burn off a little
1:39
ice and snow if possible sometimes it's
1:40
too cold to even burn any of it off it's
1:42
31 where I am right now and where I'm
1:44
going currently 30 my tour is at
1:48
noon and it's going to be 33° in
1:52
Willow get
1:54
going a lot of it's based on how
1:57
prominent the snow plows are so through
2:00
the snow plows are
2:01
really taken on the road here so really
2:04
no ice on this section of the road but
2:05
once they get onto the highway that
2:07
might be a different story that's the
2:10
that's probably the most Sun I've seen
2:12
in the last few days right there less
2:14
cloud cover today than in the past few
2:15
days a plane flying
2:21
over beautiful mountain ranges off in
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the
2:25
distance fueling up here self- pumping
2:27
gas nozzle as a
2:35
snowplowing esque type of vehicle goes
2:35
by heavy machinery
2:37
3.99 is the price of gas here fueling up
2:40
before heading to Willow just be better
2:42
be safe than sorry got another plane
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going by constant flow of these little
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small commuter planes I also got some
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coffee
2:53
here said it was brood and
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Anchorage
2:58
cheers heading to Willow
3:01
all our travel's been pretty good so far
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I made it up to Houston
3:12
Alaska little firework stand called
3:13
gorilla
3:14
fireworks as I'm treading lightly here
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on this very
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icy
3:20
section noticing this double decker bus
3:23
right
3:25
here July 4th 1776 USA 1 England zero
3:34
there's some trucks over there but I
3:34
don't think the fireworks stand is
3:47
open there's the inside of
3:47
it could see the little mechanism little
3:51
switches up there lower deck top deck
3:54
toggo switches
4:14
cool all right back to the car continue
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on think about another half
4:20
hour to the dog sled place I'm excited
4:23
about this it's a really big ice cream
4:25
cone here at Miller's market right here
4:28
in Houston also this is the post post
4:30
office as well see the post office sign
4:33
right up there so Miller's market is
4:35
also the Houston Alaska post
4:39
office fun fact all right drive down the
4:43
road a little bit more I'm now turning
4:45
into Willow here's the willow True Value
4:48
Hardware
4:59
Grocery little small community here the
4:59
Pepsi
5:00
sign Willow Creek service
6:10
big squirrel squirrel is about the same
6:10
size as Bigfoot over there an artistic
6:14
rendering of Bigfoot right there snow
6:19
covered the squirrel is want to give
6:22
someone a
6:30
hug you got this chair
6:30
you can sit in it but it's got a lot of
6:32
snow in it at the
6:33
moment snowy up in
6:51
Willow all right approaching this little
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snack bar here here's a relic of the P
6:53
there's a pay phone right there look at
6:56
that there's a pay phone and the
6:58
remnants of a video store right next to
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the liquor store look at that
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videos ah the old video rental days and
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pay phone
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days still relics of them here in Willow
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Alaska this is interesting this little
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two-story building right here States
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Willow
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jail I doubt that's the jail here in
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town but maybe it
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okay I'm hoping these are the correct
7:42
directions down this
7:59
driveway still have not seen a move in
7:59
the wild yet I don't know what's up with
8:01
that I keep seeing signs everywhere
8:04
saying that there are moose around I
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know the
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Bears right now should be
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hibernating the Moose should be
8:13
out Bountiful amount of
8:19
mooses feel like if I'm going to see him
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this would be the day to see it I mean
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I'm still going to be in Alaska for
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quite a while longer but
8:32
all right snow hook Adventure Guides of
8:32
Alaska again to where I was in Anchorage
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this was the closest that I could find
8:38
that had an open in wintry conditions
8:41
even though it is early November it's
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full on winter conditions here in Alaska
8:52
already guess they already got a nice
8:52
little fire going over
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section you know while I'm here I really
9:07
would
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like to drive one of those things oh my
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gosh that is awesome there's a dog right
9:23
there
9:23
hello
9:30
heyes for one of the seats um or you can
9:30
put them back in your all right I have
9:33
officially changed the boots which are
9:35
water resistant the boots I've been
9:36
wearing are water resistant they've been
9:38
doing pretty good but they said you
9:39
might want to put these on which are
9:42
gargantuan size
9:43
boots they're like way bigger than the
9:45
other ones I had on but they are
9:48
waterproof he said just in case cuz the
9:51
water from the snow will kick up onto my
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feet and he goes you don't want to get
9:56
you don't want to get the socks inside
9:57
your water resistant boots
10:00
here's the idid a rod
10:11
Trail looks like Anchorage is the
10:11
ceremonial start of it but the official
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restart is here in
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Willa
10:35
you guys exced are you freaking kidding
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me oh my
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Lord so you can fix it while you're out
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there uh you can definitely fix the wood
10:50
sleds while you're out there but may
10:52
take a little bit more of a macgyvering
10:54
to get it to where you need it okay um
10:57
so yeah a lot of mushers have kind of
10:59
switched over to this style of sled you
11:01
use this cooker to do that so you're
11:02
going to melt down snow um so you start
11:05
a fire in the in the pan here or uh use
11:08
heat heat acts like uh a wick and you
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can usually soak like most mushers will
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carry like cotton or extra like torn up
11:15
booties soak it in that heat put it in
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there and it'll actually burn for 4
11:19
hours without actually burning the booty
11:21
um which is pretty awesome um so then
11:23
you'll put your pot in there you'll put
11:25
your snow in there you'll heat that
11:26
water up till it's real hot and then you
11:29
usually you're carrying a little bit of
11:30
raw beef with you uh sometimes a little
11:32
bit of
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kibble a lot of these dogs run in the I
11:37
did Rod
11:44
race um as you can tell they are tied
11:44
out to their houses so um we do not
11:47
spend their lives tied up we do let them
11:49
off uh when I was here earlier today I
11:51
let off about 10 dogs that's about what
11:53
I can control when I'm by myself um but
11:57
yeah they definitely don't stay tied up
11:59
we let them off we know who they all are
12:01
the dogs I was telling you about to kind
12:03
of be mindful
12:05
around the one dog that's white with the
12:08
brown head over there he's probably the
12:10
worst directly across from him his
12:13
daughter
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okay the one that's kind of circling uh
12:18
white and gray head up there see him on
12:20
the orange house yeah that's the ones so
12:23
they look like him watch him okay they
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like to be little grab his Sony over
12:29
here he's not as bad he's kind of
12:31
growing out of it but every once in a
12:33
while if he really likes you he won't
12:34
let you leave we do have a few shy dogs
12:37
in the yard uh how to determine those
12:39
guys is they
12:41
will they will Circle their houses
12:43
really quickly okay so drummer who's on
12:46
his house kind of looks like a German
12:47
Shepherd right there that guy he's
12:49
really shy around new people so he'll
12:51
bark at you a lot or he'll Circle us
12:54
just give those guys some space okay
12:56
eight people here eight so we're going
12:58
to take out four sleds today okay so if
13:01
you guys want to kind of get into groups
13:03
of who you want to ride with that would
13:05
be awesome and then if
13:07
not so I'm going to have you two guys
13:09
pair up okay and then uh yeah actuallyy
13:14
she's got the blue hat on she's going to
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be in this shoot right here okay you
13:18
guys can kind of head over
13:21
there you guys are going to have you
13:23
guys with Jason he's going to be at the
13:25
top of that shoot up there and then I'm
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going to have you guys
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hey this will just slow you down so you
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can put both feet on it you can put one
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foot on it then this is your break but
13:51
your brake kind of gets caught up on the
13:52
drag M so you're going to want to try to
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kick that over you see what I mean so it
13:57
can be a little hard um
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so whenever I say drag put your foot on
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the drag if I ever say break put your
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foot on and then we have our smartest
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dogs up
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front strongest dogs in the back
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smartest dogs in the front smartest ones
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up front and then in the middle you have
14:11
your mid your mid tier dogs Okay so
14:14
we're taking six dogs out we're going to
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take six cuz the conditions are icy and
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so if you have too much power you won't
14:19
have control over the sled so when your
14:21
team's a little bit underpowered you
14:23
might have to do more work like I'll
14:24
have to run up the hills along slide or
14:26
alongside the sled the person in the
14:28
back might not have to help me like you
14:29
know like a scooter kind of kick
15:06
happening it looks like they're getting
15:06
ready to
15:21
go all right I'm taking the back first
15:21
I'm taking the front first I mean later
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I'm going to jump on the back I am
15:25
riding with switch off
15:29
and the guides in the
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guys go Blue cat
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what
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okay okay this is
16:11
happening sled is very light
16:51
no you're
16:51
good yeah you're good okay yeah I don't
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do
17:01
anything let's go guys sometimes I have
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a eight dogs this is a six dog
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guys oh my
17:16
gosh
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we I need to jump off no you're good if
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you want to get off and help
17:25
push G
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all right you guys ready for a hill a
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hill yeah here we
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go
17:52
hot
17:53
yeah
17:55
wow let's go guys
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he'll just go let's go guys what view no
18:06
bears thank
18:07
God I've had a couple bad runers with
18:10
Grizzlies when I do my summer job and
18:13
I'm pretty happy I don't have to run
18:14
into
18:39
they stop every few hundred yards to get
18:40
the dogs a break so it's not a constant
18:43
let's go
19:19
hill I think that's what you're supposed
19:19
to
19:42
coaster big Steep Hill here we go here
19:42
we
20:47
switch
20:48
off the dogs when they're pulling hard
20:51
you know the ropes only last for so long
20:53
so we go through these like clock you
20:57
know he's just like playing in the snow
20:59
over there
21:02
yeah go
21:17
guys I think people up here would drive
21:17
good on it CU they're from here but a
21:19
lot of people don't yeah the ice the ice
21:21
on the road is scary I love the I love
21:23
the snow and the cold weather yeah
21:44
huh how long of a path is this that
21:44
we're
21:44
doing what was that like how long of a
21:47
path is it that they're running today oh
21:49
we have like this whole trail system so
21:52
usually they'll go miles honestly ohow
22:05
wow a
22:07
coaster
22:10
wo go guys good job guys keep
22:15
going it's incredible how strong they
22:17
are you
22:18
know oh look how fast they're going oh
22:21
my
22:25
wo Je
22:32
is that a name you're calling it or a
22:32
command g g is uh right and Pa is left
22:35
and sometimes they don't listen to me
22:36
cuz I'm new so I haven't built up that
22:38
respect yet okay so like I don't know if
22:41
you remember but like literally 10
22:43
minutes ago we were at an intersection I
22:45
said ha but they went G and uh so G is
22:48
right uh yeah g is right but they're
22:50
just I mean dog can smell so well so
22:52
they'll just sniff out the other team so
22:55
I really don't even have to get comms
22:56
cuz they'll just follow
22:59
yeah they're just going forward they're
23:00
just like they just want to go they just
23:02
want to run yeah running on to train
23:05
them they usually take them on like 20 M
23:08
runs incredible but uh 10 is like the
23:12
best temperature for them to run it so
23:14
they're hot right now yeah cuz they're
23:16
like double coat and everything they're
23:17
breed for
23:26
this we're going to keep moving through
23:26
there they dog
23:33
guys so in case that there is a moose
23:36
what you guys need to do is get behind a
23:39
tree not saying there will be a moose
23:41
but if there is that's just your our
23:42
safety protocol get behind a tree moose
23:44
cannot stand like they can't see well
23:46
and they're pretty big so when you get
23:49
behind a tree they can't get you really
23:51
just find the closest tree yeah find the
23:53
closest thickest biggest tree I've
23:55
wedged myself in between two of those
23:56
split off trees before I've gotten
23:57
pretty high up
23:59
and then you're safe what do you need
24:01
what do you need to do oh you just get
24:03
behind a tree but we're getting out of
24:04
the swamp so we're pretty much
24:07
good oh he was the area where they are
24:10
uh yeah they they like the swamp areas
24:12
cuz it's easy walking let's go
24:58
yeah you okay oh yeah okay
24:58
you want to switch off no it's fine okay
25:00
you the back all
25:06
right I'm taking all the confidence in
25:06
you guys holding the brakes down ready
25:08
luk at let's go guys that was exciting
25:11
yeah it comes at you
25:22
guys uh can you give me a second again
25:22
he stand on that bridge they've been
25:24
working hard yeah
25:32
there you go you like that snow huh you
25:32
like that
25:42
snow the dogs they just they eat the
25:42
snow to get a little hydration all
25:54
right this is so cool they're just like
25:54
they have one motion it's like they just
25:55
want to go forward forward motion
25:58
blue stand
26:06
on doing all
26:06
right he's doing
26:15
good GL I wore these instead of my other
26:15
boots we're go right
26:17
over Ernest let's go
26:21
ready let's go guys let's
26:25
go when you say Ernest is that a dogs
26:28
yeah he's that one who just took up crap
26:30
okay and so yeah we've got in the back
26:32
we've got Fitz and Jack then we've got
26:35
the small whiter one and then we've got
26:38
uh Wilson next to her we' got cat and
26:41
Ernest up in lead Ernest and blue cat
26:44
yep okay and blue cat only works well
26:46
with other like male lead dogs and she's
26:49
a female so she won't do she won't lead
26:52
with another
26:53
female
26:55
H okay wean that LE that
26:59
or instant blue cat
27:11
lead cuz if they're going too fast they
27:11
can get out of control really easily
27:14
yeah it seems like they want to go
27:15
faster than they're going yeah there's
27:18
been a couple straightaways where they
27:19
just start going really
27:21
fast so the fact that you're hitting The
27:23
Brak is slowing them down yeah and it
27:25
well cuz we want them to be at a trot
27:27
like even right now they're going too
27:29
fast and so you got to think about how
27:31
that harness feels like on their
27:33
shoulders and they all need like if you
27:35
have your lead dogs charging ahead and
27:38
you have your wheel dogs trotting you
27:40
got g g okay go to the right
27:52
G Direction uh G will be yeah right uh
27:52
they're both the leaders yeah so then up
27:55
here I'm going to say G
27:58
again and then they'll go the other one
28:01
the other one's ha so it's just a
28:04
syllable thing right yeah it's just like
28:06
a like a more drawn out as the left yeah
28:09
let's go guys so this wow yeah let's go
28:15
guys this area we're going to
28:18
technal yeah we're just going to make
28:21
them go slow
28:23
okay so where does the term mush come
28:25
from oh that's just like the name of the
28:27
sport I think mush mush will make them
28:28
go okay let's go
28:32
guys mush mush yeah I had a guy on the
28:35
tour this morning that was just
28:36
screaming at the whole time oh gosh it
28:37
was great come on
28:39
guys mush and up here we have this
28:42
little steep little
28:44
divot if I'm remembering correctly so
28:46
it's good to slow them down cuz you
28:47
don't want him to just like bomb down it
28:49
you
28:56
know oh wow yeah oh
28:56
wow yeah
29:05
guys back it's making me
29:05
learn little Arch tree Arch right here
29:07
so this place is called Bear tree
29:10
because if you look to the trees on like
29:12
this big one coming up you can see claw
29:14
marks on it over here uh right up ahead
29:16
at like
29:18
1:00 you see those CLW marks up on that
29:22
tree right
29:24
there and then right there you can see
29:26
them right straight ahead those are air
29:28
cloth right here yeah up there oh yeah
29:31
wow holy cow they are incredible
29:34
climbers wow I can see them man and
29:37
they're so well adapted to this
29:40
environment almost
29:42
lost okay cool almost
29:52
lost so when the bears hibernate are
29:52
they over here hibernating yeah they do
29:56
are they like in this area hibernating
29:58
no they uh they tend to go they make
30:01
dens so they and hibernation isn't what
30:04
really what you think it is like they
30:05
still come out and about just not as
30:09
often but there's really not a lot of
30:11
bears in this area more moose and like
30:14
wolves and
30:15
coyotes go
31:44
Fu so this is actually like the perfect
31:44
case for them you know just have them
31:46
just running like a
31:57
bullet or did one of you whatever works
31:57
best but whoever I'm taking pictures of
31:59
on the sled I just need them to put two
32:01
feet on
32:02
the yeah just so the dogs don't fly oh
32:05
yeah yeah we don't want the dogs to run
32:06
look at frolicking around in the snow
32:08
over
32:14
there you see it over there like if you
32:14
look through there yeah see where it is
32:16
oh cool should be recording you want me
32:18
to like run up the line at
32:21
you okay
32:32
there you go awesome thank you no
32:32
worries
32:38
cool all
32:38
right I'll try the back probably won't
32:40
be able to I got to hold on with two
32:41
hands right yeah yeah okay that's I'll
32:44
put this away or you I don't know if you
32:46
can tuck it in your jacket or
32:48
something I'll just put it away when we
32:50
get moving
33:05
glad the sun's out though hasn't been
33:05
out for a few no it's brutal when the
33:07
sun's not out it's so cold you guys
33:11
ready
33:19
ready ready let's go
33:19
guys wow
33:26
yeah like getting hot that guy even took
33:29
off the top of his snowsuit he's working
33:42
back really like a little war right now
33:42
next week it's going to be like
33:44
an so I'm excited for
34:58
bridge we got dog points
34:58
what dog fights I what just happen there
35:01
sometimes you get really big
35:01
Personalities in the dog yard
35:04
and that was
35:13
amazing
35:13
f
35:23
it
35:23
wow
35:25
wow I take them over
35:29
absolutely seeies they Bor
36:31
to shut it uh I think we're just waiting
36:31
for that guy and then you could shut it
36:32
behind him
36:39
hello they've gotten so big look at what
36:41
I
36:42
made you guys can hold them if you'd
36:47
like and I'll let
36:58
so will these be trained to to race also
37:00
yep we keep all the dogs even the
37:01
retired sled dogs uh we always keep
37:13
hey how you
37:13
doing good
37:55
exciting pretty calm I know they've
37:55
calmed down so much
37:57
all right pretty awesome start heading
38:00
out now head back to
38:02
Anchorage to turn my rental car in
38:05
tonight and going elsewhere starting
38:08
tomorrow still in Alaska but going
38:10
elsewhere around Alaska all right I made
38:12
it back over to the airport now I'm not
38:14
flying out but I am dropping off my
38:16
rental car that I picked up here when I
38:19
arrived the beginning of this trip
38:21
turning the rental car in
38:30
and then I'm going to go take a r share
38:30
Uber to my
38:40
hotel I will be back at this airport in
38:40
a little over a week well about a week
38:41
give take a
38:47
day where I will be departing Alaska but
38:47
I am in Alaska for at least another week
38:52
give or take a
38:57
day and my rental car isn't what wasn't
38:57
even do back until
38:59
tomorrow but I figured it'd be easier to
39:01
drop it off
39:03
because I'm heading out in the morning
39:06
not
39:12
flying I just figured I'd drop it off
39:18
now I'm not sure if I'm going to get
39:18
when I get to my destination tomorrow if
39:20
I'll get another rental car or not I'm
39:23
playing it by
39:24
ear I'm still in Alaska another week
39:27
give or take a day this is a yelloweye
39:30
rockfish 37 lb 372 lb of yellowe
39:36
Rockfish it's a number two state record
39:38
it's not the number one's record it's
39:40
the number two how big is the number one
39:42
state record is it a bigger yelloweyed
39:46
Rockfish than 372
39:49
lb I don't
39:52
know I love
39:54
traveling just going with the flow
39:56
taking it day by day not knowing where
40:00
or what will happen throughout the
40:01
course of the
40:03
day just very
40:06
enjoyable something about it appeals to
40:11
me couple polar bears here too look at
40:29
this all right head to my
40:29
hotel all right went ahead and
40:32
ordered ride share going to pick me up
40:34
here at the departure gate
40:45
momentarily beautiful cool
40:45
crisp and
40:50
beautiful this has been a nice little
40:50
teaser weatherwise even though I was put
40:52
right on the cusp of freezing and high
40:55
20s low 30s
41:03
the second leg well the next
41:03
week of this trip is going to be way
41:12
colder started off cold and it's about
41:12
to get much colder I'm here for it
41:29
all right all checked into my hotel
41:29
pretty good view of Downtown
41:32
Anchorage was talking to the Uber driver
41:34
he was saying that three biggest cities
41:37
in Anchorage almost everyone lives in
41:39
like three or four cities and people
41:41
live on the outskirts
41:42
but he's saying Anchorage is the biggest
41:45
then
41:45
Fairbanks then
41:47
Juno and then Heist at another one but
41:50
the majority of
41:56
people live in just a few of the bigger
41:56
cities if you even want to call them
41:58
bigger cities and he was even saying
42:00
there's not even a million residents in
42:02
all the entire
42:04
state I'm not 100% sure if that's true
42:06
but that does make
42:12
sense look at the mountain range over
42:12
here so I'm going to walk down get a
42:13
bite to eat and then call it call it an
42:17
evening that's a good view over here
42:19
across the downtown
42:27
section lot of open space
42:27
in Alaska a lot of little tiny
42:31
communities as as opposed to bigger
42:34
bigger areas the place I went today was
42:36
a small
42:37
area where
42:39
Anchorage is one of the bigger places in
42:43
state all right go get some
42:46
food definitely chilly though Sun's
42:48
about to be setting definitely chilly
42:50
look at all this Frozen all right there
42:53
wasn't a whole lot of options within
42:54
walking distance but I did find a
42:57
Japanese dining at dining in sushi bar
43:00
which has some Ramen I think I might get
43:01
a big bowl of ramen a couple of sushi
43:03
rolls and some ramen I read off some
43:06
comments from yesterday's
43:08
video from the cold day in Anchorage at
43:11
the zoo video from yesterday Karen
43:14
Waldorf says Wolverines will eat your
43:16
face off that is
43:17
true it's first time I'd ever seen them
43:19
at that zoo
43:20
yesterday and Jane
43:24
thoro says in isn't there any anyone who
43:27
lives in Alaska that can tell Adam what
43:29
to do during these two weeks where you
43:31
can see mooses and maybe go for a dog
43:33
sled ride there has to be something to
43:35
us can do interesting thing today
43:38
thankfully I got to do a dog sled ride
43:41
Philip George says Adam zipper your coat
43:44
up and today I did oh yeah little
43:49
Philly Philadelphia Sushi action going
43:52
on here and some miso Ramen warm me up a
43:57
little
43:59
bit miso Robin and that's going to do it
44:02
for today and end with this carved out
44:06
bear hey didn't see a bear today while I
44:10
was on the dog sledding I didn't see a
44:13
moose too even though I heard there was
44:14
a rumor there was a moose around
44:16
nonetheless thanks for watching I'll see
44:18
you in the next video the
44:20
Vlog is over bonus
44:23
footage little nightscape here borage
44:28
check out the parking lot down
44:30
here lights are flickering