Traffic on the Trail

Two Rivers, Alaska has no lack of dog mushers. There are many dog teams out enjoying the trails. Some mushers wear their serious "game face" and are training for races whereas other teams are just out for fun. Whatever the intent of the musher we all share the trails.

I started thinking a lot about traffic on the trail when I came out of the kennel yesterday and in the first two minutes we passed a sprint team training with an ATV 4-Wheeler and a Siberian/Malamute team training with a sled. Both were generally good passes. Then I thought, people might not realize how dog team actually pass. So, here it is:

When one dog team passes another there is a general "protocol".

  1. When the teams are coming from opposite directions, it is best if both teams keep moving. That way the dogs don't have a chance to mess around or "visit".
  2. While passing, the dogs can share the trail, but the sled or ATV 4-Wheeler must try to get off to the side so as not to interfere with the dogs.
  3. When one team is faster than another and it comes up from behind, the slower team is expected to stop or at least slow down in order to let the faster team pass.
  4. Dogs are supposed to mind their manners. "Alligator" dogs are not looked on very highly in a community like Two Rivers where your prized Lead Dog is worth more than your neighbor's car.
Some training runs we will see no other dog teams but other times we will pass two or three. Some passes go well and some don't. Generally, you try to expect the unexpected - which is challenging.

Here is a video that I took just the other night. Allen, Meghan and I were all out on a similar training run but we had left the kennel at varying time intervals. I passed Allen twice and Meghan once and was able to get one good video. My camera doesn't always focus when there is a lack of light. (Sorry... there is generally a lack of light much of the time while training in winter at night.)