HUMAN
Name: Anjanette Steer
Age: 53
Residence: Palmer, Alaska
Occupation: Ecologist for the University of Alaska Anchorage
First Year Ran Iditarod: 2012
How Many Years Involved With Iditarod: 14 years
Iditarod Role: Musher, Handler
Current Location: Palmer, Alaska
Date of Photo: April 10, 2026
Temperature: 64F indoors
Question 1: What is it about running sled dogs that you love so much?
What I love about running sled dogs is the quiet shush of the runners on the sled, through the wilderness of Alaska. It was a super special time for me and I’ll cherish that forever.
Question 2: What, who or how and when & why did you first get involved running the Iditarod?
I got involved running the Iditarod because this guy I was dating named Zack Steer, had met Robert Bundtzen, who was a long time Iditarod musher. And Robert invited Zack to be a dog handler for a season. And so Zack did that. And then the next year, Robert said, well, I’m not going to take the team to Nome, and if you’d like to take it Zack, in 1998, then you can. And so, Zack trained for Iditarod in that 97- 98 winter, and I helped him. And unbeknownst to me, at the finish line in 1998, Zack’s lead dog had duct tape wrapped around his collar. And in that duct tape was an engagement ring. And so I was proposed to on the finish line of Front Street in Nome, and I said, YES. So we’ve been married since then and Zack did Iditarod. He started 6 times and did the Yukon Quest 2 times. And so I was helping him through those years. And in 2010, he said, well, I’m going to be done, I’m ready to retire. If you want to do this big endeavor, you should be next. And I knew I wanted to do an even year route because that seemed slightly more easy for a rookie. Mainly to do with the wind blowing downriver on the Yukon. And so then I trained and qualified. At that time you had to do 500 miles of qualification, I think, and get signed off. And so then away I went for the 2012 Iditarod.
Question 3: Tell me about just one of your most memorable Iditarod experiences running the Iditarod.
My most memorable experience running the Iditarod is from when I arrived to Takotna, which was a traditional place for dog mushers to take their 24 hour rest as required by the Iditarod rules. So I got there, had been running numerous nights through the night, the way my schedule worked. It seemed like I was always running like midnight to 6 AM. And so I get in there. It’s dark, and the volunteers checking me in on the main street there, and I’m off my sled runners. But not knowing anywhere to go or kind of what’s next. But I’m gonna park and stay there for my 24 hour. Well, I’m signing in and not paying attention and before I know it, my team’s taken off from me, I had no control of them and they took a right and went on up the street because my lead dog Envy, she knew where she was going to park and get a lot of food and rest for 24 hours. So, that was my most memorable experience from my 24-hour rest and from that portion of the race. But then the other thing that’s real memorable was that when I got to Nome, I didn’t know it, but my dad had passed away the year before, and I’d carried his ashes along in my sled bags. Zack had stashed them in my sled bag and I’d carried him with me. And so then we spread some on the beach there right off of Front street. So that was really special.
What in life do you know for sure?:
What I know for sure in life is that there will always be change and love is the most important thing.