Trail gets a fitting name

Resslin' Around, by Casey Ressler

A young boy, perhaps 13 or 14 years old, took to the snow last week on Knik-Goose Bay Road.

A few miles before the community of Knik, this boy could be seen riding a rickety and elementary dog sled, being pulled by three huskies.

This boy was probably out for the afternoon, playing with his family's dogs, and nothing more. But at the same time, he symbolized Alaska's past, and its future.

The boy was riding and playing on the Joe Redington Sr. Memorial Trail, a stretch of Knik-Goose Bay Road that extends from Mile 1 to Mile 15, a place Redington called home for years.

The boy probably wasn't aware of the name of the trail -- the state formally dedicated and named it only the weekend before -- but hopefully, he will know why it received that name.

Joe Redington Sr. was an intriguing man, a person I met a few times here and there in the course of covering the Iditarod, but I never got to know him personally. That is a regret I have, although now his legend is what I'll remember most, and sometimes the legend is the best thing to remember.

Redington had a vision for not only the sport of dog mushing, but also for the Alaska of his generation. It was a much different Alaska then, and he helped mold it into what it has become.

He was the "face" of the state for years when the state of Alaska was relatively young, and he represented much of what Alaska was about -- adventure, ambition, perseverance, dedication and pride. He took a mode of transportation -- the dog sled -- and built a state's identity around it. He helped instill positive qualities in a generation of Alaskans through his efforts, and now they are passing them down to a new generation of kids who probably never got the opportunity to meet Redington.

The "trail" going out Knik-Goose Bay Road is now named after Redington, and it is very appropriate.

There were grumblings by some people that the state shouldn't be spending the time or money on a trivial matter such as adding a name to an already-named street.

Those people obviously have no sense of Alaska's history, nor do they see how much today's students could learn and grow by knowing who Redington was and what he did.

Naming the trail was the right thing to do, regardless of the politics.

That little boy on the back of the dog sled probably knows of Redington. If he didn't, or if he is too young to remember everything Redington did, let's hope seeing the sign on Knik-Goose Bay Road makes him ask his parents who Joe Redington Sr. was, and why the trail is named for him.

It's a story about a man everybody can learn from.

Casey Ressler (valleylife@frontiersman.com) is the Frontiersman Valley Life editor.