Meet the Team: Pilgrim

Meet this handsome man, Pilgrim.

This guy is full of energy and has an insatiable drive to run. 

He thoroughly enjoys getting loved on, but sometimes it's difficult to actually give him attention. He gets himself worked up into such an excited tizzy that he can't sit still and must get as close to you as possible. He jumps on you, runs around in circles, jumps up and down off his house. 

Oh how I long to simply give him a hug without the worry of getting scratched or bruised from his thrilled frenzy.

I bought Pilgrim from Middy Johnson, the musher I worked for out in Unalakleet back in 2011-2012. He was two years old when I moved out to UNK for the season. When one of my leaders was injured, I was forced to find a new one. In comes Pilgrim. I cycled through the other dogs in my team to see who had a natural ability to lead. Pilgrim was who I discovered. He was nowhere near perfect; had a lot of maturing to do, but he turned out to be my go to guy.

My parents came out for visit to Unalakleet and I took them mushing. I'm in the sled with Bravo (who you met last year) as a wee pup, my dad is on the runners, and there's Pilgrim in lead!

Pilgrim was one of my leaders for my first mid distance sled dog race, the Portage 200 that ran from Unalakleet to Kaltag and back.

End of the Portage 200 with my main man, Pilgrim!
We placed 2nd out of 5

He did such a great job that season he ended up running lead for Pat Moon in the 2012 Iditarod.

I can't even begin to explain how proud I was of Pilgrim :D

Seeing him leading the team down the chute in Willow made my heart soar!

Photo by: Sam Towarak
This is a photo of Pilgrim in lead from the ceremonial start of Iditarod in Anchorage, 2012
Recognize Tucker behind him?? :)

Now that we've been training for a month now, I've been working Pilgrim back into the leader position. I have been so proud of him and the growth he's had since I ran him in Unalakleet. He follows my commands extremely well, keeps the team moving forward when passing distractions or other teams, keeps the team lined out when we are at a stand still, has the enthusiasm to keep everybody upbeat and ready for more, and much more. A number of these skills he struggled with when I ran him 3 years ago. Now that he's 5 years old, his maturity is definitely starting to show.

I am beyond thrilled that Pilgrim came back to me and is a part of my team now.

 I just love this guy to pieces!