The  Results
We finished with a happy and healthy team in 10th place and received the Sportsmanship Award in 2006 and the Challenge of the North Award in 2002.  We are not actively looking for Sponsorship at this time.

The DOGS!

Our kennel is currently 34 dogs strong, including two puppies and a couple of senior “re-tirees.”  Each and every dog in our team is a family member.  From birth they are socialized and given the freedom to run loose.  Thus they have a love for us, a desire to be with us and seek us out for affection.  Ever member of the yard gets time to be free and play.  They know their names, are happy to come when called and love to be hooked to a sled.  Just ask anyone who has been around when we touch a sled or pick up a dog harness.  Of course they love the summer just as much, when they get to run free along the Yukon River as we jog or take the 6 wheeler to the fish wheel to pull fish.

Seventeen of these dogs are destined for the 2009 Yukon Quest, 14 team members and 3 alternates.  Winning or placing high in the Yukon Quest requires not only fast dogs BUT tough dogs as well!  In a race such as the Yukon Quest, the fastest team does not always win.  Extreme temperature can influence physical and mental handicaps.  Perfect training and conditioning for both dogs and musher, race strategy, attention to detail, specialized veterinary medicine combined with specific nutritional requirements, not to mention a good dose of luck, all play into the equation of who finishes in the front and who brings up the rear.

The new type of winning long distance sled-race dog is a finely tuned cross breeding of Alaskan Husky with hound and/or pointers.  We have an ethical problem with this in our dog yard and refuse to become a part of these changes.  There is just enough northern breed bred out of these dogs where the dogs now have to wear coats and many need protective sheathes to prevent their private parts from freezing and many other undesirable traits.  But…they are faster than Alaskan Huskies.  Our kennel and many others do not want to see the REAL Huskies of Alaska disappear into oblivion just for the sake of winning races.  Therefore our team is the real thing 100% Alaskan Husky. 

So, can we compete with the “New Breed?”  Yes, we can!  Wayne ran the Yukon Quest in 2002 and crossed the finish line with a full team of 14 dogs capturing the “Challenge of the North” award.  This was the first time in the history of this race that any musher finished with all 14 dogs.  We have already proven that our dogs are tough.  We then took this “Tough Line” of genetics and bred with one of the fastest Alaskan Huskies to have run the Quest and placed 10th in the 2006 Yukon Quest.

We have been developing this tough/fast genetic line for the last 3 years.  The end result is a fast team of real Alaskan Huskies, a shade slower than the “NEW” breed, but a heck of a lot tougher.  For the toughest race in the world, it just makes sense to run the toughest dogs!! 

Your contribution would be influential in preserving a true heritage of the North Country when Wayne and his team of Alaskan Huskies crosses the finish line of the toughest race in the world, the 2009 Yukon Quest International Sled-dog race!

The Human Side of the TEAM!

Wayne, his wife Scarlett and 14-year-old son Garf live in the very heart of Wilderness Alaska.  There are no roads to their cabin, access by boat in summer or dog team/snow mobile in winter.  The log cabin/homestead is located off the Yukon River, nestled on a ridge over-looking “Last Chance Creek.”  Their life-style year round revolves around the dog yard.  Running extremely remote dog tours, in winter, provides their main source of income. 

Most of the summer months are spent gardening and taking fish from the Yukon River.  Catching king (Chinook) salmon for themselves and chum salmon to supplement their dog food for the kennel.  Red meat, for themselves, comes from the harvest of a moose or caribou in the fall. 

There is no telephone or running water.  However they do have a battery bank that powers starband, a satellite dish that gives them Internet capability and other small electrical needs.  Solar panels and a windmill charge the batteries.

Many hours of the short summer season are spent training dogs and preparing for winter, when the snow starts to fall they have to be ready.  Snow often comes in early September in this area of Alaska.

The total family income is extremely low but the Hall’s consider themselves far richer than most people in the United States.  Their way of life results in the highest quality of individual independence and quality of life interlaced with a tightly loving family surrounded by God and nature.

You can become part of their 2009 dreams by becoming a sponsor and even be invited to participate in their life-style at their homestead and/or float the Yukon River on a camping/photography trip when the ice is gone and at the same time know that your contribution was influential in preserving a true heritage of the North Country, the true breed of Alaskan Husky!

CONTACT: For more information and/or questions e-mail us at bushalaskaex@starband.net or bush_alaska_expeditions@hotmail.com ask for our brochure or write us at:  Bush Alaska Expeditions, P O Box 161, Eagle, AK 99738.  No incoming phone calls due to the remote location but there is Internet access via satellite. Phone calls can be arranged via computer and satellite.   

OCT-NOV-DEC each year finds us at our American Summit Base Camp.  Our internet access is limited to once every 7 to 10 days.  Please contact us with any questions but also be aware that during that period you may not receive a reply for a period of time depending on weather and travel conditions.