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Did You Know?
Water is the most important thing a dog will consume on the Iditarod
In this activity, learn about the steps mushers must go through to feed and hydrate their team on the trail.
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Feeding On The Trail
Online Activity
Read through the information below describing how mushers prepare food at a checkpoint. Afterwards, test your knowledge by completing the quiz below.
When a musher arrives at a checkpoint during a race, they have a lot of things to keep them busy. In addition to talking with race veterinarians about their athletes, repairing broken equipment, and providing a warm straw bed for each dog, a musher must also feed and water each member of their team.
In order to give food and water to a team on the trail, the musher must go through multiple steps in a routine. This lesson will teach you what you would need to do along the trail to feed and water your team of athletes.
Assume you have just pulled into a checkpoint, and no water is readily available for you to give your dogs. This means you must melt snow with your dog food cooker.
To begin, you must unpack your sled and pull out your cooker. This contraption has the ability to melt snow and produce 3 gallons of water in roughly 20 minutes. But before you can begin melting snow, it needs to be fueled up! Usually cooker fuel is kept near the drop bags at a checkpoint, so next you will have to walk and retrieve your drop bags and cooker fuel. Returning to your sled with the supplies, you will then add the fuel to your cooker and fill the 3-gallon pot with clean snow. Don't forget to check the cooker in a few minutes - the snow will have melted, but only a few cups of water will be in the bottom of your cooker pot. More snow has to be added to your cooker until the pot is full.
Once you have a pot of hot water, you will pull your frozen meats out of your drop bag and place them in the cooler you carry in your sled. Coolers are used like large serving bowls on the trail, and once the food is prepared, mushers use a ladle to give each dog a serving. Mix the hot water with the frozen meats in your cooler, and let the mixture soak for a few minutes; this allows the meat to thaw out. During this time you can give a dish to each dog in the team. Once the meat is thawed out, you will carry the cooler from dog to dog, giving each athlete a scoop or two of the water and meat mix. Not only is the team receiving calories they need to keep warm and remain strong, but they are also getting water, which is crucial to keep them in good condition as they continue down the trail.
Now, complete the quiz below:
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