Hall family lives mushing lifestyle
DAWSON CITY, Yukon—For the Hall family, mushing is less about racing and more about a lifestyle.
Sure, Wayne Hall is mushing in his second Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race. But the annual run from Fairbanks to Whitehorse occupies just a small amount of their time on the runners. Hall’s wife, Scarlett, and son, Garf, both drive dogs and he families use canine power to help sustain their subsistence lifestyle.
When Hall brought his dog team into the Quest checkpoint in his home town at the old Eagle schoolhouse last week, Garf was waiting to lead the team into the yard and Scarlett was waiting to give Wayne a big hug.
She hadn’t seen him since the time he whizzed on by at the North Pole dog drop on Feb. 11.
“I’m a worry wort,” said Scarlett Hall, one of the many Eagle volunteers who pitch in at the efficient checkpoint. “I worry that something might go wrong. I’m no different than the rest of the mushers’ wives.”
But there’s little on the trail Hall can’t deal with. He’s chugging right along in 10th place and should leave Pelly Crossing some time this morning for the 200-mile trip back to the Dawson City finish line.
Garf Hall, whose nickname started as a joke that stuck, grew up on a dog sled.
“Garf has mushed dogs since he was knee-high to a jackrabbit,” said Scarlett Hall, revealing her Alabama roots.
Her change from southern belle to northern homesteader was an easy one.
“I always felt like I should be here,” she said. “I love the snow and the mountains. I was out of place in hot weather.”
The 2006 Quest is Wayne Hall’s second attempt at the 1,000-mile race. He finished 26th in the 2002 race, becoming the first musher to finish with all 14 dogs he started with. He also posted the fastest time ever for a Red Lantern finisher. Hall has had a variety of “careers.”
He’s been a Bush pilot, a crop-duster, a bull rider and a musher.
“He has to have a challenge in his life,” Scarlett Hall said. “This second (Quest run) is more to master the challenge and come back with a better team.”
When Hall was in Eagle last week, neighbors and friends him at the checkpoint and extended their well wishes. But that’s nothing new. The closely knit community of Eagle welcomes everyone on the Quest when they stop by each winter.
“It’s because we’re a small community,” Scarlett Hall said. “We let our neighbors live their own lives and everyone watches out for the kids. It’s a place of old values.”