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Throughout the fall and winter months, our team is in full training preparing for the racing season that kicks off in January and culminates with the 1,100-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog in March. Training for the team begins in late August with the dogs being harnessed to pull an ATV on area trails as well as along the shoreline of nearby Cook Inlet. With the onset of winter weather, the switch will be made from the ATV to dog sleds. Paul is a General Contractor by trade, and one of a limited number of mushers that builds his own sleds himself.
Paul began mushing in 1992 after meeting Martin Buser (4-time Iditarod champion) and working with him on the commercial fishing crew of Dean Osmar ('84 Iditarod champion).
Paul ran his first race in 1994, and in his first Iditarod in 1996, placed an impressive 26th. He has repeatedly placed in the Top Twenty ranks of the Iditarod, including multiple Top Ten finishes putting him in the upper echelon of the world's top competitive mushers. Paul was within hours of claiming first place honors in not only the 2000 Iditarod, when he crossed the finish line in 2nd place - but once again in 2007 when he claimed yet another 2nd place. In the 2006 Iditarod, Paul crossed the finish line in Nome, Alaska with an impressive string of happy, healthy dogs in 3rd place. At the finishing banquet, Paul was named the recipient of the coveted "Humanitarian Award". This is considered the highest honor in the mushing arena, and Paul is one of less than a handful of mushers to have been awarded this prestigious recognition multiple times in the Iditarod.
As a man who once wore an Army uniform himself, Paul takes his hat off to the United States Servicemen and Women who serve our country. During the 2010 Iditarod, Paul carried special ribbons in his dog sled bearing the names of fallen soldiers. Their widows were in Alaska as part of the TAPS Gathering(Tragedy Assistance Program), and it was an honor to meet them. View the video here and learn more about this.
The Iditarod trail follows the southern route on odd years.
Click here to read a story about one of Paul's Iditarod adventures, entitled: "Overflow". (please note this story is copyright protected 2010)
He has won several mid-distance races, which are events that are from 150 to 300 miles in length. He has also been awarded various honors for excellence in dog care, good sportsmanship and also for inspiring his fellow competitors in these races he has participated in as well.
In both the races as well as during the miles of training, Paul has had some incredible experiences while traveling with his dog team. In his rookie run in the '96 Iditarod, Paul was one of several mushers that encountered a polar bear on the coastal portion of the trail near the checkpoint of Unalakleet. He has run through herds of caribou, has had wolves on either side of the team on the trail, as well as bison and all too commonly, moose while on training runs out of the kennel. On one cold November night, Paul's team was stomped by an angry moose in a terrifying encounter that left killed his lead dog. (Click here to read the story)
Both Paul and Evy have been involved in the development of the Kenai Peninsula's Iditarod Qualifying race, the Tustumena 200. As volunteers with the T-200, the event evolved from a neighborhood get together among local mushers with a meager purse of $380 to a world-class competition with the largest purse of any 200-mile race in the nation under our leadership. Paul has devoted countless hours into trail grooming and set up in the remote Caribou Hills region of the Kenai Peninsula for the race, and for many years, Evy was the voice of the T-200 providing live commentary and as the volunteer MC to the race functions. Paul served as the race marshall of the Tustumena 200 for both the 2007 and 2008 races.
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One element of the T200 that the Gebhardts were very involved with was with the implementation of a Ceremonial Start that was fashioned after the Iditarod's. The difference in the T200 was that the riders the mushers carry for a portion of the race trail are all children. With an emphasis on children with challenges, Evy worked with such entities as the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Challenge Alaska and the Shriners to locate children with disabilities or terminal illness to ride in the sleds of the mushers. (Unfortunately, this element of the race has been discontinued.)
Read about Paul's visit with some of the T200 sled riders! |
Our sponsors play an important role in our ability to take dog mushing from the trail into the classroom. Each year hundreds of school children from across the United States and Canada write to Paul about their classroom experience of following his progress on the Iditarod Trail. Their questions always have a way of surprising and amusing us. Some of these children have never seen snow, much less a dog team, so this is a unique learning experience for them. We also spend time visiting Senior Citizen Centers and various Civic Groups to talk about our involvement in dog mushing.
We pride ourselves in the fact that we have a very competitive team that comes from a kennel considered modest by Iditarod standards. Our dogs are born and raised at our kennel, which affords Paul with a close bond between himself and the team. From the time they are tiny, wet newborns to when they cross the finish line in Nome, we dedicate ourselves towards their upbringing and development. In the Iditarod, there is a special recognition called the Golden Harness Award. All of the mushers in the race vote on this award, which singles out one exceptional canine athlete from the over 1,000 dogs that have competed in teams in the race. Our beloved leader, RED DOG, was awarded the Golden Harness Award in the 2000 Iditarod.
While we have been involved in mushing since 1994, we did sell off most of our kennel in 2001. At the time, we needed to take a break from the demands that preparing a high caliber team place on family life. Our daughter, Kristin, was involved with school activities, and we valued our time as a family. In the window that Paul took a hiatus from mushing, he did step in an provide television coverage for the start of the Iditarod, giving insight as a competitor. The sale of our main race dogs also meant that we would be rebuilding with new dogs once we got back into mushing. From 2003 through present, the dogs that Paul has been working with have been that new young team. Paul has been disciplined in his approach with these young dogs, and heading into the 2011 season, looks to have a phenominal team that includes some fresh faces.
The Iditarod features a special Ceremonial Start each year, in which the mushers carry passengers that have bid on the privilege to ride for a segment of the race trail as an "IditaRider". One year, Paul carried the actress, Joan Rivers, in his sled for the Ceremonial Start. Along with this special rider, the mushers are also required to have an additional "handler" along for only the ceremonial portion of the race. There are literally thousands of people that line the streets of downtown Anchorage to see the teams off on their 1,100-mile trek across Alaska. The handlers ride along to help out if there is any problem on this congested early portion of the trail.
The second day of the Iditarod race will see the teams departing the road system entirely, where they will leave the official starting line for their destination of Nome, Alaska on the Bering Sea Coastline. The mushers are entirely on their own at that point, as they travel through the Alaskan wilderness, stopping to refuel on supplies at various checkpoints stationed along the trail. It is a huge logistical undertaking, with all of the food and gear both Paul and the team will need over the 9-10 days their journey will encompass. Over 1,500 lbs. of supplies are shipped out in advance of the race start, in what is referred to as "food drops".
Preparing the team for this type of long distance marathon is a demanding undertaking. From the 1-2 mile runs that mark the start of the training season in August, the team will gradually be increasing the mileage they travel on their daily training runs. By the time they leave the starting line of the Iditarod, the team will have about 2,000 miles of training under their belts. They are incredible athletes, with the ability to literally charge up a steep hill and keep rolling without breaking stride when they crest the summit. The lower Kenai Peninsula region where Paul does most of his training is called the Caribou Hills. On the trails he uses, the frequency and height of hills the team will encounter are unmatched in other areas of the state. Aspen Hollow Lodging and our kennel are located at near sea level, being in close proximity to the shoreline of Cook Inlet. The highest altitudes in the Caribou Hills are at the 3,000 ft. level. Although this may not seem terribly high, consider that the climb is literally from roughly 300 ft. above sea level to that 3,000 foot altitude in one tight rolling hill to the next. Mushers that are familiar with the Swiss Alps have been humbled by the terrain that Paul and our team trains in.
Guests to Aspen Hollow during the winter months are afforded the opportunity to see various dog teams on training runs in the area. We are take our hat off to the local snowmachine club, the Caribou Hills Cabin Hoppers, who do a fantastic job with trail maintenance and grooming assistance. Without the aid of a snowmachine or grooming equipment, a musher would have to rely wholly on their dog team to break out the trail, or would need to snowshoe a path in front of the dogs. Paul's late leader, Red Dog, was famous for his trail-breaking abilities. While we normally only receive a couple feet of snow accumulation immediately at Aspen Hollow Lodging each winter, the higher elevations are blanketed in substantially more snow beginning in October. There is still excellent snowmachining in March and early April at that altitude. Paul is normally able to do some training with the young pups at home right out of the kennel when he returns from Nome the end of March each year. He will take advantage of the awesome spring days we enjoy with increasing daylight and adequate snow cover. However, once the snow melts, we normally give the team a couple of months off from regular training. We do not offer trail rides or summer tours as part of Aspen Hollow Lodging, but will be happy to refer you to established businesses of this nature located on the Kenai Peninsula.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO RIDE WITH PAUL GEBHARDT IN THE CEREMONIAL START OF THE IDITAROD TRAIL SLED DOG RACE? YOU CAN BID ON HIS SEAT THROUGH THE IDITA-RIDER AUCTION. PROCEEDS FROM THE AUCTION GO TOWARDS THE IDITAROD TRAIL SLED DOG RACE. CHECK IT OUT! |
