Just a few days after the 2009 Yukon Quest sled dog teams travelled through the McCabe Creek Dog Drop (located between Carmacks and Pelly Crossing) in February, the building used as the "checkpoint" (not the main house) burned to the ground. No-one was injured and there is apparently a movement afoot to raise funds to rebuild this building (spearheaded by Quest 2nd place finisher Hugh Neff).This wasn't the first fire along this section of trail that has had an impact on the staging areas used by the Quest.
I believe that it might have been in 1990, a forest fire ravaged the area north of Carmacks and one of the casualties was the (former) Midway Lodge, located on the Klondike Highway between Carmacks and Pelly Crossing. Up until that time the Quest Trail literally came out of the bush just before the lodge and ran along the highway, the lodge was a stopping point, but I honestly don't think that it was checkpoint. This was before Pelly Crossing was a checkpoint, the trail continued along the highway for a few miles and then dipped back into the bush and travelled cross country to Stepping Stone. I wonder if Stepping Stone wasn't the checkpoint at that time, I honestly can't remember.
The Midway Lodge was a happening place during the Quest. It was essentially a restaurant with a couple of small sleeping cabins out back. If I remember correctly, it was family run and these folks lived in a separate house. There is nothing standing there now, the fire wiped out everything. The mushers would come along the trail, cross the highway and leave their teams in the parking lot while they came inside for something to eat, usually a cheesburger with fries. This was allowed as the owner was prepared to stay open 24/7 during the Quest so that there was the opportunity for every competitor to stop and have something to eat if they wished...most of them did, the race moved at a slower pace then.
I was travelling with a group of reporters, handlers, mushers' girlfriends and groupies, this was in 1989. We were all in a sleep-deprived semi-comatose state, essentially lounging around in the restaurant until someone would rush inside and breathlessly announce.....headlight! We would all rush outside as yet another team made its way into the parking lot.
It seemed like every musher stopped at the Midway Lodge, I really don't remember anyone mushing right through. There was a really relaxed atmosphere as mushers parked their teams in the parking lot, checked to make sure that they had their wallets and came into the restaurant for a bite to eat.
One memorable competitor was Pecos Humphrey whose claim to fame up to that point was that he started first in the very first Quest in 1984. Pecos wasn't having a very good time of it, he had lost his glasses and apparently Pecos was quite dependent on his glasses to do any kind of detailed tasks. As if that wasn't enough, his headlight had also packed it in and Pecos was doing the chores out on the trail with the help of a BIC lighter. The final straw for Pecos was that he and his handler were on a very restricted budget. They did have a sponsor for the race --Rent A Wreck--but they only provided the vehicle, there was no money for anything else. To make a long story short, Pecos didn't have the cash for a cheeseburger and fries.
I will never forget it when I just happened to observe Mary Shields (a very well-known musher in her own right but on this occasion she was just one of the groupies), quietly going over to the cook/owner of the restuarant and giving him $5.00 to cover the cost of a cheeseburger and fries for Pecos..... he really enjoyed his lunch.
Also for $5.00 you could rent a spot on one of the beds in one of the sleeping cabins. This was an adventure. There was no guarantee just who you might be sharing the bed with and if you knew who it was when you fell asleep, chances are it was a different person when you woke up. Everyone slept with boots and parkas on because you had to be able to spring into action when someone announced.....headlight!
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