Finishing 3rd in the 2025 Iditarod with Paige Drobny (Alaska Stories Series)

10 time Iditarod finisher and 2025 3rd place finisher Paige Drobny returns to the podcast to share about what it’s like to prepare for and complete the famous Iditarod sled dog race.

Follow Paige in the 2026 Iditarod

Squid Acres Kennel (Paige’s kennel)

Susitna Adventure Lodge (Paige and Cody’s Place)

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Music credits:  Largo Montebello, by Domenico Mannelli, CC.

Transcript

 Welcome to the Alaska Uncovered Podcast with me, your host, Jennie Thwing Flaming, my occasional co-host and full-time husband, Jay, and I bring you accurate, helpful, and entertaining information about Alaska Travel and life in Alaska.





Before we start today's episode, just wanna let you know it's November. This is a great time to get your trip planned before the holidays. I'm telling you, there is a big post-holiday rush starting on like December 27th, to plan trips to Alaska. So get with me in the next couple weeks and let's get you going.

I've got my 30 minute planning sessions, I've got the Alaska Uncovered Planning Club on Patreon. I can even plan your whole trip for you. Get with me ASAP and let's get it rolling before the holidays come. Alright, enjoy the show.

Today my guest is Paige Drobny. And Paige finished third place in the Iditarod this year in 2025, and also was the first woman to finish this year. So that was pretty exciting. And Paige and Cody have been on the podcast before. So Paige, welcome back to Alaska Uncovered. Thanks for being here. Yeah.

Thanks for having me. Congratulations on your amazing finish. It was so fun to like follow along online while you were racing and yeah. Congratulations. Thank you so much. Yeah, it was a blast. Yeah, I bet it, it looked like. Definitely like type two fun. But we, we'll talk more about that. I think that's, I think that's how those things go.

Yes, yes. Definitely an adventure for sure. Okay, so listeners, Paige, , was on the podcast before about two years ago in December, , 2023, back in episode 39. She and Cody talked in depth about Susitna Adventure Lodge, which is their property where you can. Go and visit them, which is pretty cool. So we'll talk about that a little bit today, but if you want to know like more details about the lodge and the Denali Highway and that kind of thing, definitely go back and listen to that episode 'cause it was a really good one.

But today we're mostly talking about the Iditarod. So Paige, before we dive into that, could you just reintroduce yourself to everyone, because it has been a couple years since you were here. Maybe just tell us how you got to Alaska and how first, how you got to Alaska, and then a little bit about how you got into dog mushing.

Okay. Yeah. I first moved to Alaska in 2001. I'm a fisheries biologist. Prior to my current life, my one, one of my iterations of my life, I'm a fisheries biologist. Yes. And so I came up to Alaska in 2001 for a job, , doing fisheries work. And, , I left after that summer job and then, uh, tried living other places and it just didn't, Alaska just kept calling me.

So I came back in 2004. Haven't left since then. , Yeah, so I was doing fisheries work for a while. We moved to, Cody and I met in Seward, , and moved to Fairbanks to go to graduate school. And it was there that, we got into dog mushing, that sort of, a little bit of a way of life there. A lot of people have a, you know, small recreational dog team.

There's, I think that there's always the saying there's more dogs in Fairbanks than there are people. And that's probably true. I'm sure it is. Yeah. And so, and Cody's also a, a great builder, and um, loves taking on creative projects and, you know, all around town people were driving around with dog sleds on top of their cars.

And when we would go on cabin trips with friends, I would be like asking if I could feed their dogs and scoop their dogs poop. And they were like, yeah, sure, go for it. Okay, yeah, sure. Paige inside in the warm house while you're out there doing that. I'm like, great. This is awesome. So for Christmas, one year, Cody built me a dog sled and we had only two dogs at the time, a, a husky that didn't really pull in a lab.

I was like, what are we gonna do with this dog sled? And he was like, well, maybe we should get some more dogs. And so, yeah, here we are 20 years later with a whole bunch more dogs. Yes. How many dogs do you guys have right now? We have 38 dogs right now. Awesome. That's so cool. Yeah. I always tell people, what's the one place you can have lots of animal, lots of dogs, and not be considered a hoarder?

Yeah, right. Love it. And then when did you move? When did you buy Susitna Advent? Well, it was a, it was a different property. It had a different name right before you bought it. Yeah. So we bought it in 2019. It was called the Susitna Lodge at that point. Okay. It was, um, it was originally, the original building was built in the early sixties.

And then it had, um, be, you know, it was on the Denali Highway, which was the main RO road, the only road to the Denali National Park. The Parks Highway was not in at that point. Yep. And so it was a roadhouse essentially, um, for about 20. Five years. Um, it closed down in the mid eighties and then wasn't, revitalized since then until we bought it.

It remains, you know, a building enough storage for us and then we've built other buildings, um Yep. On the property. Yep. Cool. Love it. And then how long have you been there? When did you buy it? So we bought it in 2019. Okay. So yeah, we've just finished our sixth. We bought it in August, late August of 2019.

So a great time to start building right? Right before the pandemic. Oh yeah, man. And also the winter we started, we broke ground on the property like September 1st, 2019. So yes. And lived here all winter. So, it was a, it was an interesting first winter, I imagine it was. Oh man. Well, we'll talk more about how people can visit you towards the end, but, so let's talk a little bit about the Iditarod page.

And I would love to know like. So you finished third, which is like a huge deal. I'd love to know a little bit about what it's like. Like at what point in the race did you realize you were gonna have a very strong finish? Like did you know at the beginning or was it like on day six you were like. Oh, I'm in this.

Or like how, and then what was it like, 'cause I, I've heard that life on the trail is like a combination of competitive and collaborative. So I'm just curious what it was like when you were out there with different people who you finished just ahead of, or just behind a behind. I'd just love to hear about a little bit about what that's like.

Sure. Yeah. So, this year for Iditarod, I, I hadn't, or this past winter, I hadn't planned on racing. We've been racing dogs and a thousand mile races since,, 2012. , And I just, I turned 50 in February and I was like, I just kind of wanna do something different this year. See what, you know, see what a winter looks like.

Not tired and exhausted, , for months on end. And, um, yes and yes. See what else is out there. And, Cody still wanted to race. He did the, he did the copper basin, which was the middle of January. And, . He got second place in that race and I hadn't, you know, I had been there for hooking up the dogs and when they come back and putting them away and, you know, helping feeding them and, you know, making sure all their muscles and everything were happy and healthy.

And, but I had been skiing with some older dogs and younger dogs and, you know, just kind of adventuring in a different way. And he was, you know, we live 50 miles from where we can. Drive. And so as we were hooking up the dogs, he, he was like, well, maybe he's like, do you think maybe you wanna run them back and see what you think?

Like this is the best team I've ever run. And, you know, you maybe think about running, uh, if you wanna run a race. And, um, so, and it was like a day after they had just finished 300 miles and they finished in second place. We're just so phenomenal. I got to the lodge and he was already here 'cause he had taken a snow machine and was like a kid in a candy store.

He was like, what do you think? And I was like, yeah, they, they definitely deserve and should run, , you know, a thousand miles. And , so I signed up at the end of January, I think. Oh wow. Yeah. And so I only had a month, , really Yeah, a month to get ready for it. Drop bags were due like two weeks from the time when I signed up, and so Wow.

I immediately turned around and went back to Fairbanks to gather supplies and, yeah. A lot of things were out. Were out because of the time of the year. Yeah. Like booties, I couldn't, I couldn't buy booties from any of our suppliers and so I was buying them from, you know, other mushers and,, deedee genre happened to have like a, a, a bunch of booties left over from like her last races and so bought some from her.

Yeah, I was sort of bag borrowing and stealing supplies for drop bags in order to have enough stuff for the trail. Wow. And then, and then after we, . We turned everything in. Then they changed the route from starting in Anchorage to starting in Fairbanks. Yep. And, and then the trail was about 1200 miles instead of a thousand miles.

So then I had to find more stuff 'cause I was already just kind of scraping by with what I had on the trail. So I sent some more stuff out to,, checkpoints just before the race, which you're allowed to do through, but it's through normal male carriers instead of Yeah. The ID on trail. Yeah. So, yeah, it was a, it was pretty whirlwind, uh, signup process and getting ready for the race.

And, yeah, but so I knew right from, so I, I didn't sign up with the intent of just going to see the trail. Mm-hmm. Like, you know, and running my, taking my dogs on an adventure. I, you know, I've done that, for many years. Pass and, uh, yes. This was my 10th Iditarod, and I had, and, and I was signing up solely because this was an amazing team and I thought that they could win.

And I, and I just thought, I just need to hang on so that they can do their thing. Yeah. Oh, that's so cool. Yeah. So I didn't know this part of the story because I. Don't really pay attention until like the week before. Then I'm like, who? Who's, you know, do I know anybody? And then I'm like, oh, Paige.

That's awesome. So Cody had been racing this team through the winter, but he wasn't planning to do the Iditarod, correct? Yeah, so he, well he had just raced the Copper Basin, just one race. And at that point he was like, you know, he was like, this team is just phenomenal. . And so he did sign up for also the ska Quim 300, which ended up being, delayed because of weather conditions, snow conditions in Alaska.

And it was the first week of February. Yeah. And. And so he signed up for that one late Also, we, he was just gonna do the copper basin and then we were just gonna do trips out here at the lodge and, yeah, and just, and have a little bit more of a mellow winter. And then we course spun it. Spun it right back up again.

Yeah. I love that, that he was like, Hey, PA, I'm paraphrasing, but I feel like you're saying, he's like, Hey Paige, this team is awesome. Yeah. How about you take them really far? Yes. Yeah, he, he's had a couple, knee surgeries in the last couple years. Yeah. And so he, he's knows that he can, you know, his body is having a hard time to do, like, to do a thousand miles and so 300 miles he can do really well.

But he was like, I think you should, yeah, you should take them on Iditarod, so. Oh, that's so fun. Yeah. Okay, so then, so you were like, I can win with this team. Yeah. And then like, so what was that like throughout the. Was it about 12 days? Am I remembering that correctly? 10? Yeah, I think, I think we finished in 10 and a half days.

Okay. Yeah, so like, it's normally like an, it's normally like an eight and a half to nine day race for the top finishers and said this was significantly longer. Yeah. And it felt, felt that way. Yeah. And, and listeners, just in case you didn't catch this, so normally the. Race starts down in Willow, which is closer to Anchorage, but because the snow conditions were not great this winter, it was moved up to Fairbanks to start.

And so that's why Paige is talking about it being a different and longer trail than it normally is. Okay. So, alright, so tell me a little bit about those like 10 and a half days as far as like. Did you feel really confident the whole time? Did, were you ever like, I just wanna go home? Oh yes. There's all that.

Like how, I'm sure you were at some point, but like how, how was that flow of like feeling about it throughout the race? Yeah. I mean, it's always a, a rollercoaster ride. You know, we, especially, you know, anything you're doing over 10 and a half days, you question your sanity. Of course. I'm sure, especially in those conditions under those, yeah.

Under the sort of duress that we are in and the sleep deprivation that we get ourselves into. , And so yeah, roller coaster, but you know, you've, this is my 10th Iditarod and so, and I've also done a handful of Yukon Quest a thousand mile races. Yep. And so I have learned to ride out those, peaks and valleys a little bit better.

Yeah. Like a little bit better. Certainly you get all, all the, the whole range of emotions Yeah. On it could be within an hour as well. So yeah, I, um, so the beginning, yeah, I mean the, again, the dogs were just fantastic. I just kind of let them do their thing. Um mm-hmm.

For, the majority of the race I got, so the race went, , from Fairbanks to Nana to Tanana along the Yukon River, to Caltech, and then also continued down south on the Yukon River down to um, and v and Sha luck, and then came back up to Caltech. And so that's a new way of doing the Fairbank start that they had never done before.

Hmm. Which is what. Made the increase in miles this year. Yeah, that makes sense. So it was an out and back along 300 miles of a trail. Um mm-hmm. So we got to see other competitors passing them head on. Yeah. Again, is, doesn't really happen. Yeah. On a thousand mile race, you're generally not passing people head on.

Um, so it was like I, the dogs, , a lot of times when we, you know, when we put that many teams together on a trail, they can pick up little bugs. It's like putting a bunch of kindergartners together for 10 days, right? Yeah. Like, there's gonna be something that comes up. And my dogs did get a little bit of a bug,

and I came back into Caltech the second time. And so then that's where the rollercoaster really starts. I think. I mean, I was in second or third place at that point., And then, and they had, they had, they weren't feeling great, but it's like you go to work and you've got a cold, you know, you like still can go to work.

You're just like not at your top. Your top. Yep.. Performance and so and so, you know, you're trying to feed them, they don't feel great. So they kind of want different things just like we do when we want a cold. You want like this, you know, things that feel a little bit different, and so trying to feed them is a little bit more of a challenge.

So when I got back to Caltech, , I stayed there a little bit longer because I was trying to get them. To eat something and feel a little bit better. And then when I left there I was like, okay, if, you know, it's a long way to, you know, cleat,, it, it's about 85 miles I think is the, published. Distance and I was like, okay, we are either gonna, if, if we're still not feeling good, you're not gonna, if you're not snacking along the way, then we're gonna stop halfway and then, you know, we're gonna concede basically to third place.

But if we, yeah, if they do look better, you know, then we'll go a little bit further and then we'll still be racing. And at that point I was racing for second place, I think, unless there was some, we still had 300 miles to go and I was still gonna be pushing if they, you know, if they felt better and, yep.

So I'd stop every hour, try to give them a snack. The first two hours they were like, we don't want any food. And the third time I'd been carrying some, what we call like cardboard kibble, which is normal pet dog food. I've been carrying that for. At this point, like 800, 900 miles a, a gallon bag of it. And I was like, oh, I should pull this out and see if they want that.

And I gave that to everyone and they just scarfed it down. Aw. And I, and I stopped another hour again later and gave them more food and they scarfed that down. So that was like the turning point. I was like, okay, we're not gonna stop at Oldman Cabin. We're gonna keep going. Mm-hmm. And we're gonna try to erase this thing.

And they just did great. They, you know, they, at that point, their, their, bug, little bug issue got resolved, and then they were, happy and healthy and, and strong again. And, and yeah, so I, we, I was basically racing with Jesse Holmes and Matt Hall. The next person behind us was, well, at the finishing point was about eight hours, I think.

So, yeah, I didn't really see anyone else out there. I was, yeah, just trying to. Strategize how to, hopefully catch up and pass Matt, or, you know, you don't really hope that anyone EL has a, you know, a problem. But yeah., Just kind of staying, staying competitive so that if anyone else has an issue, then you're still right there.

Yep. So, oh, that's really, that is really cool. Yeah. So I wasn't, I wasn't thinking about asking you this, but since you talked about the dogs and the cardboard kibble, would you be willing to share just a little bit about what the dogs. Eat on when you're racing and like I know there is a big kind of production involved in feeding the dogs, so could you share a little bit about how that works?

I think people be really interested in that. Yeah. So, yeah, the interesting thing about sled dogs is that when we're racing, when we're doing that, you know, 120, 130 miles a day, their bodies go into ke to ketosis and they're really efficient at, um, at, um, having that, um, fat burning. Yep. Physiology. And so they, they about 50% of their calories come in the form of fat.

Yeah. And they can do that seemingly endlessly and be at peak performance where humans can only do that for about six days, when then we need carbohydrates again. Yeah. Um. Sled dogs can do that seemingly forever. And so we're feeding them a really high fat, high protein kibble. Um, which, you know, it's the kind of kibble if you had, if you fed that to your pet dog, it would probably be at the pet er really quickly with pancreatitis.

Yeah. It has to be a really active working dog. And then we feed a raw beef, um, beef, fat, chicken skins, Turkey skins, salmon, beaver, and then a whole host of supplements and some blended meats too, but a raw, raw meats and lots of fat. That cool. And then in the summer when it's not like training and racing season mm-hmm.

Do they have a different diet then, or do they eat the same thing year round? They eat the same thing year round, but just much less of it. So while we're racing, like in a day they'll eat 12 to 15,000 calories in a day. And they That's bananas. Yeah. Yeah. So they're, because how much, how much does a typical sled dog weigh?

Yeah, average is about 50 pounds. Our dogs range from 40 to 65. Yeah. Or even 70. And so, yeah, it's, I mean, it's a third of, you know, a quarter to a third of a human size, and they're eating seven times the amount of calories, which is crazy. It is crazy. That's totally bonkers. And so when they don't eat, when they miss a meal, it is really important to make sure, you know, because we also aren't starting the race with them with a whole lot of extra fat.

So when you, these guys are marathon runners. So if you think about, you know, someone that's winning a marathon, they're not particularly big people or have a lot of extra fat. They've got, you know, long lean muscle and lean, lean fat. And so we, you know, we do have a couple, you know, a few extra pounds on them, but.

Um, but they need those calories on a daily basis. Yeah. And so if they miss a meal, then, you know, then you start wor, you know, worrying a little bit. Or I worry, I worry about 'em all the time. But, um, yeah. But when they don't feel good and, um, and or just a little bit under the weather and maybe like, oh, I don't really want that food right now, then you're kind of, you play the, um, you know, what about this, what about this?

And so the time that you're spent when you're supposed to be sleeping, then you're kind of trying to, um, manage their food a little bit more. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it'd be similar to like, if you're driving and you know. You have to refuel, right? Yeah. Just like any athlete does. So it makes sense. The dogs would as well.

Yeah. Yeah. So what is something Paige, that, that you wish people knew about the Iditarod, that many people who aren't in this sport don't know? I guess I would, I, you know, I think that most people don't know that these dogs aren't just working dogs, that they're are pets too. They're our family. Mm-hmm.

They come inside and they're super friendly, just like your, you know, pet dog is friendlier, sometimes even friendlier because they, you know, they, they're handled by so many different people from the time that they're very young and then throughout the races that they are, they just are super lovable.

They're, they're pretty mellow. Compared to what you would think that they would be like. When we do our summer tours, we bring some dogs into our tour area with us and they're, you know, they just, they walk around and say hi to people and then they just kind of plop on the ground and, you know, look, ask for belly rubs, just like, you know, a normal Yeah.

Dog would. And so what you see from them at the start line, the crazy, you know, jumping and. Going. The madness that ensues when they get to run is just them really, their expression of the thing that they love to do. Yeah. But when they're not, when they don't have that harness on, when they're not connected to the sled, they're just like a normal pet dog.

That love to come inside, love to be pet, love to go for walks, and, and we do all of those things with them. Yeah. Yeah. That's really cool. Um. Okay, so what was the, what is the most difficult thing for you as a musher when you are in one of these super long races like the Yukon Quest or the Iditarod? I think the hardest thing for the human, or for me as a human is the sleep deprivation.

Yeah. The, you know, while the dogs are getting eight to 10 hours or more of rest in a day, um, you know, I'm only getting, you know, one and a half to two and a half hours, maybe three hours of rest in a day. It's so rough. And part of that is, is, you know, um, I, I don't wanna say my inefficiency, but my love for caring for the dogs, and so I, yeah.

Maybe baby them a little bit more while, you know, we're at a checkpoint. Or then when I go to take a, take a nap, then I, you know, my brain sits there and twirls about what I should have been doing or what I didn't do. Yeah. And what needs to be done, from there. But, um, so the sleep deprivation is really difficult, especially this year, over 10 and a half days when normally, yeah.

You know, it's nine days. So a day and a half more of that, is hard to just keep, go. You know, again, you get back to the, what the heck am I doing out here? Why? Like, why? Yeah. And I had to keep reminding myself this year it's not for me. It's to show that these dogs are, you know, some of the best in the world.

Um, yeah. And they deserve that. Did you? Have you ever fallen asleep in this? Have you ever gotten to the point where you just like nod it off back there? Yeah, you certainly do. I mean, you can take these little micro naps and, I do it while standing because sitting you can get too comfortable and, you know, fall off.

And people, it does happen to people. I've picked up other mushers on the trail that have fallen off their sled and the dogs don't care if we're there back there or not. In fact, sometimes they're like sweet. You know, I just lost 150 pounds off the back rules. No one, no one telling me what to do, and they'll just continue on their way.

They, I tell people they love me, but they love running more than they love me. So if they lose me, they don't, they don't care that much. Yeah. They're like, well, that was a bummer, but. Moving on. And so knock on wood, I haven't done, I haven't fallen off my sled, but I, but you can take little micro naps and microbial meaning like seconds.

'Cause you know, your knees start to buckle or something and you, and it wakes you back up. But, yeah, at one point I, one time, one race, I thought, man, I had been nodding off for, you know, what seemed like hours. And I looked at my clock and it had been like three minutes and I had taken like, it felt like I had taken like 50 naps.

Yeah. And you were like, that wasn't long. Yeah. So when, so you finished, I feel like I remember that you finished early in the morning, is that right? Yep. Yep. That's great. Okay, so then, so obviously that's like super exciting. You get to know him. And like, then what, like, yeah. Do you immediately fi, are you like, I'm gonna take a nap in the sled?

Or like, what, what ha like how long can you stay awake? Like what does that day or night look like when you first arrive? Yeah, so I had actually had a bunch of friends, show up in Nome for me this year, which was amazing. So fun. And so it was, and so, but really the first thing that you're doing again, is taking care of the dog.

So just because you finished the race doesn't mean that their care, you know, ceases. Yeah. And so we take them to the dog yard, we get them, you know, we take off their booties, we take off their harnesses, take off their jackets, and, put or put jackets back on them. We have different jackets so that they can rest comfortably and no.

And. And we have kennels for them. So they've got straw and make sure we feed them and massage them. And so there's a couple hours of, yeah, of, but again, but at that point we have got more people that can help me. So there's a bunch of, you know, people that are also helping to, right. So they can, so once the race is over, you can.

You can have that kind of support. Yeah. I'm by the way, listeners, so one of those people I know was Ryan and, she was, she is also a, she's also done the Iditarod and the Yukon Quest, and she was also on the podcast in July of 2023. It was episode 21 and that was also all about dog mushing. So if you're loving this, you should listen to that episode also.

Okay, go ahead Paige. Yeah, so it's, yeah, still really all about the dogs and, and me like brain dumping on basically Cody, everything that, that I know about each dog and what they need and what they, yeah. What their needs are at that moment. Yep. And so I can kind of sit back and direct traffic a little bit at that point, but,, yeah.

And then, yeah, then we go out to eat and I have some food., And then I try to take a nap. But it generally, I'm still in that mode, so of very little sleep. So I wake up, you know, in a panic. What checkpoint am I at? Where am I, where, how long have I been here? I feel like it's, yeah. Not knowing where I am.

And, that happens for a couple days. Yeah, even, even after Cody had left with the dogs, I had an alarm set and for a meeting and Iditarod meeting and, um, another friend of mine was there with me and I woke up and I was like, I'm late, I'm late. I'm thinking, I've been here for four hours. How long has it been?

Four hours? And she was like, you're not late. We, 'cause she was thinking about the meeting and I was like, no, no, we're late. Like, I'm late. And she was like, I don't think we're late. And I was like, I've been here for four hours. She's like, oh, you don't, you finished, you know, yesterday you're done. You finished.

Yeah. Okay, great. So it takes, yeah, it takes me a while to feel, um, to go back to a normal schedule. Yeah, I bet it does. And it's a couple weeks before I feel like I, I can even drive a car again. Actually. Yeah. Yeah, so how many dogs did you start with and how many did you finish with this year? So, yeah, the maximum we can start with is 16, and I did start with 16 dogs.

Mm-hmm. We can leave dogs along the way at checkpoints when the care of veterinarians, if there's Yep. Some reason that, um, we feel the dogs should not continue, but we cannot add dogs to the team. Yep, yep. And so the, and, and some of that's strategy. Some of it's, you know, dogs like, you know, some of these dogs maybe haven't done a thousand miles and they get.

You know, further down the trail and you're like, what the heck is this? I don't really wanna do this anymore. Um, and so, you know, we're just sort of, every dog is an individual and so we're looking at them and what are they capable of? Are they still having fun? Are they feeling good or is it a strategy?

'cause taking care of 16 dogs is a whole lot of dogs to take care of and Right. And so this year I finished with 11 dogs. Mm-hmm. I think 10 is about the average finishing size team. Yeah. That makes sense. Cool. And then, so now you're in Nome with all these dogs, do you like, do you, are there charter, like small charter planes that take people back to Anchorage or Fairbanks, or do you just go get a ticket on Alaska or airlines with like all of your crates or like how.

How does that work? Yeah, so both of those things happen. Some people put their dog teams on Alaskan Airlines and c create, I mean, they're all in crates. There's also a bunch of cargo, um, airlines there that are just bringing in supplies to No. And the surrounding communities, they have a longer airstrip and so they can get bigger planes in there.

And so those cargo, companies, um, also ship dog teams and all of our gear back. And so that's how we do it. Cool. Awesome. Yeah. Alright, so what was, during this year's Iditarod specifically, what was like the best moment for you? I think it was probably that moment where I fed all the dogs, cardboard kibble and was like, okay, we can actually, like, they're feeling better and, you know, we can continue, we can keep racing and see, you know, see how we can do all the way to the finish line.

That's cool. Yeah, they're just, they're just such a great group of dogs. We had, you know, during the pandemic. We had two litters of, of puppies, , as you do during the pandemic. 'cause what else are you gonna do? Right? And the year before when we first moved to this property, we also had a litter.

And it's those three litters that are basically making up our team right now. And, and they're just such a fun group of dogs. And, you know, when you, when you worry about them, it's like, you know, again, it's like. It's like having a, a child that doesn't feel well. You're like, what do we, you know, oh, how do you know?

You just wanna make them feel better. And so then once they did show me that they were, were coming out of their little bug, then I was like, okay, yes. Like everyone's feeling good now and we can, we can keep going. So that was really cool. A great moment. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I bet it was, that must have felt amazing.

Okay, so. We, I feel like we could talk about the Iditarod forever and there's just, I'm sure so much to cover, but, um, so you've done this 10 times? Yes. Is there, are you gonna do an 11th time? Yeah, I did. I did. So this year I signed up early. Awesome. I've already signed up. That's exciting. Last year, I, I did won that win the Seila Humanitarian Award for the best cared for dog team on the trail or, that's amazing.

Congratulations. Can you talk a little more about that? Yeah, so that's voted on by the veterinarians along the trail and also at the finish line. And there's some scorecard that I don't really know what it looks like, but even at the end, they,. There's a bunch of vets that come and score each dog like on, you know, what they look like.

They, their weight, their body, their body condition score, their, their overall health. And, um and then the vets along the trail, I guess, get to vote as well. Mm-hmm. And I don't, again, I don't really know all the metrics of how that happens, but, but yeah, so I was, picked as the, as the person to receive that award this year, which is a huge honor.

That's so cool. That's amazing. Yeah. And so it not only came with a trophy, but it also came with a free entry for this year, so, oh yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. But yeah, so I signed up, , early so that I could, um. Get my stuff together before, yes, before the drop bags are due and everything is out. So this year I've already got all my booties for the race, so I'm really ahead of the game.

Oh, yay, yay booties. That's awesome. So, so when you send things to the checkpoints, then. Like you, there's like an organized place where you drop it off and then do you like label it? 'cause isn't there strategy also with like. What you're gonna do at different checkpoints. Sure. Yeah. So that's the kind of, the hard part about the, the trail change last year is that, before the race, you, you know, you have a plan A, and so you pack your bags according to your plan A, but you also have to have a plan, you know.

B, C, D, F, you know, Z right? And so, but you pack your bags, hopefully so that you know, you're on Plan A and you can just grab this one bag that you need. And everything's sort of organized in a way that, you know, but then the checkpoints got scrambled and the trail got scrambled. And so you kind of were like, oh, what's here?

What do I need from this point to the next checkpoint? Yep. So, yeah, so, but that all is due about three weeks before the race, starts and then Iditarod sends them out to the checkpoints. And so you can send as much stuff as you want out to the checkpoints, through the, the race committee if you get it all in on time.

And so I think I sent about, you know, 1600 pounds worth of gear last year and it's, I normally have a little bit more than that, but again, because I was on the tail end of, , signing up, I didn't have as much Yeah. As much gear. And so, , and so yeah, it all is at the checkpoints and all the bags are labeled however you, however you label them,, so that you know what you need or which bags you need and what's in what bag.

Everyone has a different, different organization skill for that. But, or strategy for that. So, yep. Yeah. Cool. Okay, Paige, so let's like transition just a little bit towards talking a little more about visitors and how they can interact with sled dogs. So what advice do you have? Like, first of all, in general, for people planning a trip to Alaska who really want to see dogs or experience dog mushing?

But let's say they're coming in the summer or spring or fall, like not during the season, the dog sledding season. What's your best advice for people who really wanna get a feel for the sport or get to meet dogs? What do you recommend to visitors? Yeah, there's a, I mean, there's a couple different ways you can see sled dog kennels in the summertime.

If you're in the, um, on the panhandle of Alaska, there are some glacier operations, along the coast that, have dog teams up on the glaciers. Yep. And so that is a way you can go up and actually ride in a sled that's on snow. Yep. And also get a cool helicopter ride. Yeah. But then there's also, yeah.

A lot of smaller operations such as ourselves that . That cater to more small groups, um, of people. And so it's more of a hands-on experience where you get to, we do like a, our, I'll still speak for our kennel. We do about an hour educational component. So we talk about the gear and the sled and,, the Alaskan Husky and we have dogs in our tour area to, to play with.

And then we teach people how to harness, a dog and then they can go out into the yard and help us harness a team if they're, if they want to, and are able to. And then we hook up a dog team to a side-by-side and take them for a run so they can see them running. We're in a side-by-side on dry land, but, but still get to see the excitement and, and the joy that the dogs have with running.

Yeah. That's so fun. And you do that in the summer in Cantwell. Right. We do, we also do it here at the lodge. And so we have a, we do have some day tours here at the lodge and we're kind of transitioning to do that more here. Oh, cool. I didn't know that you did day tours. Awesome. Okay. Yeah, so that we don't have, 'cause we're kind of trying to be at two places at once and we had started in Cantwell in like 20.

17 at our place there. And so we already had that kind of going. Okay. And once we bought this place, we're, you know, we're hoping that more people wanna come out here because it's gorgeous. Yeah. Place. We do like a whole day tour out here where part of it is a dog tour and then we can go for a hike in the surrounding areas here with dogs or even a side by side.

Wildlife tour here. Yeah. But we do like a whole day tour here 'cause people are driving the highway out to come see us and so Yep. We get, they can spend a whole day with us. Yay. Oh, that's really cool. So listeners we're talking about when we say the highway, we're talking about, sorry, Natalie Highway.

And just because this is a very common confusion for people mm-hmm. It's not the Parks Highway. That you take to get to Denali National Park, and it's not the Denali Park Road, so it's not inside the park. It's in the same area. And then one other thing, if you're wanting to head out there, it's really important to get your rental vehicle from somewhere that will let you drive on the Denali Highway, which is not.

Everyone basically more like local companies or if you're driving yourself in like an rv, then it's no problem. But yeah, it's a gravel road and yeah, we did not do ourselves a very good service naming all these roads, something similar. It's very confusing for sure. Yeah. I also think too, you know, one of the tours that I lead in the summer goes over top of the World Highway, which is like.

Listeners, if, I'm sure you've heard me talk about it before, but it's between, it's basically between TOC and Dawson City, and when we're up there on these like 15 mile an hour curves with like drop offs on a gravel road, people are like, so this is a highway, we call this a highway. Yeah. It's kind of, it's more like a driveway.

It's a really long driveway. Yeah, the Denali. The Denali Highway wider. Yeah. The Denali Highways does not have those big dropoffs. It just has really gorgeous views of the Alaska range. It does have gorgeous views and the TNA range. Yes, it's Beau. The Denali Highway is so beautiful. Mm-hmm. It's totally worth the effort to get a vehicle you can drive out there.

And it's not anything like, I don't know, I feel like it's not anything too crazy most of the time as far as, no, it's, it's, it's been getting better and better every year. And, um. People we've met, met people in Cantwell that like wanna drive their motorcycle, like hear here and there, like we've been given, you know, some advice not to take a motorcycle.

Mine is totally fine. You sometimes just have to go a little slower. But it's, yeah, it's not, it is not a dangerous highway at all. Yeah, totally agree with that. Alright, cool. So, um. How can people come visit you, Paige, if they're like, whoa, this gal is rad. I wanna meet these amazing dogs. So maybe talk a little, I know there's a big difference between what you offer at the lodge in summer versus winter.

So you talked a little bit about summer, so maybe add on anything you want to to that, and then we can talk about winter visits as well. Yeah, so we have a, um, lodge here that is maybe a little bit of a misnomer because it's, we do an all-inclusive stay here for the summer. Yeah. It's a three bedroom, two bathroom house, luxury, luxury built house.

That, um, is always a private. Stay. And so when you book, there will be no other guests here during your, during your stay. Yep. And we have a private chef here that will cook a menu based on your dietary restrictions and your preferences, yu. And then we'll, we'll take you out on daily adventures of your choosing and duration.

And so we can do, you know, dry land dog mushing tour. We can go hiking, we can do a side by side. Sight scene tour, we can, we've got kayaks and canoes and standup paddleboards and so we can do some water, water sports. We've also got pack RAFs and so we can, pack RAFs across some lakes to some different hiking options.

And we also have fishing poles and we've got Grayling, fishing around here. So, it's super fun. Variety pack of all the Alaskan things in a private setting. It's really fun. So. Essentially, so this is not something people can, I'm just clarifying that you can't like just go like find you on like Airbnb and be like, I'll book a room.

It's like, no, this is gonna be like a custom. Private experience. So they just get with you and you tell people, you know, you hear their story and what they wanna do and then you make it happen basically. Yep, exactly. Yeah. We, we can, we can take group sizes of anywhere from three up to 12 people. And we, it is all custom and private and so we, there is no booking platform.

You go to our websites to sit in Adventure Lodge. And then basically, you know, call or email and, and that, and you book that way instead of, you can't just randomly book on a platform. Yeah. Which is. Pretty awesome. Okay. So then, then the day trip tours that you offer there mm-hmm. That is people would just drive to you on the Denali Highway and then is that also booked separately or is that something people can book on a platform?

They can, yeah. So that can be booked through our squid acres, kennel website. Okay, cool. 'Cause that's the. Yeah, people are just wanting a longer dog tour basically then that's what that is and so, yep. Um, and that can be booked directly on our website that has a platform booking platform. Cool. And I'll listeners, I'll put links to both of these in the show notes so you can find it there as well.

And that. That day Tour is also always private to you, so when you book it, no one else can book it. And so you get a private tour with us out here at the lodge. And is that the day trip one? When do you, that's just summer, right? That's just summer, yep. Okay. And then what, so what months roughly do you offer or, yeah, it's generally, , Memorial Day to Labor Day.

Okay, cool. Fabulous. Okay, so let's talk about winter. How can people visit you in the winter? Yeah, so winter is, , has its different logistical challenges, but we have a suburban on, snowmobile tracks. So we're 55 miles from the George Parks Highway, which is the highway that runs from Anchorage to Fairbanks, and that's where the road maintenance ends.

And so it's a snowy. Escape from there,, to our place. And so we can pick people up in Cantwell or at the train station,, in Denali, and then bring them out here in that suburban on tracks and, um, get them settled in at the lodge here. And then we do again. It's, it's the same thing all inclusive, private.

Custom trips. We take, we teach people to Dr. Drive their own dog team and take them out on our local trails. If people want other winter experiences, we also can go ice fishing or snowmobiling, snowshoeing. And in the surrounding area, but most people are coming 'cause they wanna run dogs here.

Yeah. In the winter time. It's great Northern Lights viewing out the front windows. We, the, the lodge faces to the north and you can see the Alaska range from the big picture windows. And so you can sit inside in comfort and warmth and, and,, and wait for the northern lights too in the evening.

That's pretty amazing. It is. Love it. Awesome. I, uh cool. Okay. And like I said, we talked a lot more about kind of the Denali Highway and the area and different times of year in, , episode 39. So if you're enjoying this, definitely listen to episode 39 and episode 21. 'cause they were both good ones too. Paige, is there anything else you wanna tell us about, about you or about the Iditarod?

About the lodge before we wrap up. Goodness. There's so much more. I know. We could talk, it's hard to, hard to put a neat bow on it, but Yeah, I know. It is hard. I mean, I, I guess, um, yeah, we're, I'm running Iditarod again this year. Again, because I've got this amazing team and we're going the traditional route hopefully this year.

Yeah, a woman has not won the Iditarod since the early nineties, and so I'm hoping, hoping that this will be the year. Yes. Ah, we're all pulling for you, Paige. That I, it's, and listeners, I will tell you it is really cool to follow this online. I'll put the link to the IRADs. Website, which is where you can, when the race is on, you can see like what checkpoints people are at and their time and the standings and all that good stuff.

So, and I'll just put a plugin for Iditarod too. They have an insider subscription, which is like $40 or something, and you get year round access to that. And during the race you get, , lots of, , lot more information that they have. . Cameraman working the trail that are, are working just as hard as we are out there that are trying to get interviews for people back home.

But while we're on the trail, you can see dogs moving cool in between checkpoints and it's a, it's a great way to, to watch it for a, for, you know, a small monetary fee that helps out the race. That's awesome. Yeah. You know, when you were talking about it being like 30 years since a woman has won the Iditarod. This last year's race was like half women, wasn't it, who were racing or at least a third, do you know? I think, yeah. It generally is about a third. I think it was probably about that this year also. Yeah. Yeah. So it's, it's definitely time, yeah. For the gals to take the crown. Yeah, there's a bunch of women that are, because even, I mean, Michelle Phillips got fourth place just behind me.

Yep. Also has been in the top 10, a number of years. Yep. Yeah. There's been a bunch of women that have been knocking on the door. So hopefully, if it's not me this year, I hope it's,, I hope it's one of them. Yeah. Well, I hope it's you. Yeah. I'm pulling for you. Thank you. So is everybody else after they listen to this?

Thank you. And I'll have to, I'll have to. Share some photos of your finish too, when this episode goes live. Thank you. Cool. Okay, so very last thing, Paige, before we wrap up. So I love asking people about their favorite restaurant. Mm. And I know we talked about that with Cody before. I don't remember what your answer was or his answer was, but this is a tricky question to ask people who live in a place.

Like where you live on the Denali Highway mm-hmm. That does not have restaurants. Yeah. Yes. Um, so you have your amazing private chef at the lodge. Right. Which I can imagine it's probably pretty difficult to top that. Mm-hmm. But if you go out to Anchorage or Fairbanks, let's say. Mm-hmm. What's your favorite place to eat?

Well in Anchorage, we, I love the South Restaurant. Yeah, that's a great one. Delicious. Yeah. And then in Fairbanks is generally a Thai restaurant. Yes. I think you can't really go wrong with any of them. I agree with that. And most people who've been on the podcast from Fairbanks. Either say a TA specific Thai restaurant or Thai food in general, Uhhuh or Thai food.

And then I also really like this restaurant. It's really funny. It's a really interesting,, niche that they've got up there. I know really, really great food. Yeah, I totally agree with that. Well, Paige, thank you so much for taking the time to come on and share about your most recent Iditarod experience.

Congratulations again on your amazing finish, and I'm gonna be pulling for you  📍 this March. Thank you so much, Jennie.





 





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