Eagle, AK - When trailbreakers briefed mushers on Alaska-side trail conditions, they said it was the worst trailbreaking in 30 years, but neither Allen Moore nor Hugh Neff were complaining when their energetic teams came bounding into Eagle.
The fifth checkpoint on the Yukon Quest trail is in Eagle’s historic old school house. Teams have to round a sharp corner just before they arrive. Hugh Neff’s team whipped his sled around the corner and the Tok-musher had a hard time sinking his snow hook into the hard-pack as the dogs jumped eagerly, anxious to continue down the trail. Allen Moore’s team also sped into the checkpoint, jumping and wagging their tails. “Oh yeah, they were rolling, they’re happy so," he smiles. "That’s the main thing If I can keep ‘em like that then they’re ready to go and that’s my objective.”
Both teams are coming off 40 hours of rest in Dawson city. They also caught a break this year from a reroute that replaces the difficult climb over American Summit with a long run along the winding Yukon River. Trail breakers warned mushers in Dawson that the trail into Alaska would be rough, but Hugh Neff says he wouldn’t necessarily describe it as such. “That was the greatest, most bizarre experience in 13 Quests, that I’ve ever seen," says Neff. Two hours outside of Dawson City, Neff drove his team into a herd of caribou on the trail. “All of a sudden there’s holes in the trail everywhere and my dog team shoots off like a rocket," he explains. "Literally for an hour straight it felt like I was in an earth wake half the team was trying to jump off the trail and go after the caribou.” Neff had to drop a black and white spotted dog named Archie in Eagle. Archie stepped in a posthole left by the caribou and tweaked his shoulder. The herd had scattered by the time Allen Moore came through. He cut his rest time on the run to Eagle, in order to gain back some of the time Neff has on him. “I wanna stay close for sure and it’s nice that he’s breaking trail for me. I better quit getting to close to him though, or he’ll start letting me break trail,” Moore says. His plan is to keep a close distance between his team and Neff’s. “So I’m pushing him the whole time to wear his dogs down. To me, he’s playing into my trap even though he thinks just because he’s ahead, he’s in the lead,” says Moore. Neff admits maintaining his lead over Moore’s team could get harder. “Oh he’s still got the team to beat,” he nods.
Both mushers spent more than half of a mandatory four-hour layover in Eagle’s dog yard readying their teams for the 159 mile push into Circle City. Neff says he doesn’t expect either team will make any big moves to get ahead. “We’ve been doing this for so long you know that neither one of us is gonna leave the other guy in the dust," Neff says. "So we’re just gonna keep moving down the trail and teasing each othe and try to figure things out. He’s always making fun of me, calling me Huge Mess and Alright and all that sort of stuff.” Their voices echoed across the dog yard as they put booties on their dogs. Moore says the two have a loose agreement to maintain a similar run-rest schedule as they make their way for Fairbanks.
“We did this last year about every checkpoint. 'I won;t leave for five hours, if you don't leave.' So, then it will be a race to the finish, I guess, if that’s the way it is," he says. Neff and Moore both rested for an extra hour in eagle. Moore was more than happy to let Neff take off in front of him. Then, the Two-Rivers musher signed out shortly after and took off. Only minutes later, Jake Berkowitz’s team came loping down Amundsen Street into Eagle, with frosty ears and fluffy wagging tails.