First Alaska winter

The winter of 1977-78 was my first in Alaska. We lived at 11th and Eagle in Anchorage. Growing up in Indiana, winter was my second favorite season. The order was fall first, winter second, spring third and summer last. That order had much to do with hunting, fishing and trapping. Growing up in the 1940s-50s, we hunted and fished to augment food supplies and hunted and trapped fur bearers for what cash the hides might bring in. Spring brought good fishing, but in summer it fell off and farm work came on heavy.

I wrote the above to suggest that I felt like I fit Alaska. Here I found my favorite temperature to take a winter walk was a dry minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit. When a good windless snow began falling, I found it relaxing to get out to where trees were and listen to the flakes strike tree branches with the shush-shush-shush sound. I was home in Alaska for sure. The newspaper job fit too.

The Susitna Sentinel office was on the Anchorage Hillside. The reporter’s beat was from the Sutton – Palmer area to Wasilla – Big Lake and up the Parks Highway to Talkeetna, ending at Cache Creek. That is a big chunk of places to go with some people to talk with. It was a big-country invitation to one who had just finished a degree in writing after service in the USAF and near a dozen years in mid-west automobile factories. The only dog race I had seen was when I was five or six; Uncle Bud and others took me to watch greyhounds run in circles.

Iditarod; what was that? It was the Anchorage part of this reporter’s beat. I took some photos of celebrations and the race start. The Sentinel didn’t have color photo printing capability. I think at that time none of the newspapers had 4-color technology for photo printing. News photography required black and white film.

The 1978 Iditarod restart was on Big Lake (my recollection). I didn’t give much thought to “on Big Lake” till I got there and was motioned to drive my car out onto the ice to the “parking lot.” I noticed quickly the ice gave a bit then seemed to bounce or wave some. Driving on a frozen lake was new for sure!

With the camera strap around my neck and a gear bag in hand I walked toward the start line. My mission was to go 40-50 yards down the trail to take photos. When I got there I laid down at a right angle to the trail with my head placed such that a

team would be running almost strait at me when the starter said “Go.” I pointed the Nikon back up the trail and plunged the shutter release on three or four teams spaced at the starter’s digression but running straight at me

The ice seemed to wave like water once in a while and I got to thinking about the 30-40 cars parked on it 60-70 yards away. How strong is that ice I wondered?

Then, here came the next team. It had a white lead dog running hard; its hair stood straight out from its head. It lunged smoothly in the harness, coming nearly head on toward me. It looked like a white streak. I pointed the Nikon. When the dog’s head nearly filled the frame I snapped the shot.

“That’s the money shot” I thought. Now, I can get off the ice! Thor Brandt- Erichsen, the Susitna Sentinel Editor and Publisher, put that shot on the front page of the next issue. I am sure it was the best photo I ever took for the Susitna Sentinel.

Budd Goodyear is a local freelance writer who has had articles and photos included in publications throughout the state. Goodyear moved to Alaska in 1977 with his wife and children, and has worked in the Valley, Anchorage and Palmer. Goodyear contributes historical pieces to the Frontiersman.