HUMAN

Name: Michel Lee

Residence: Fairbanks, Alaska

Age: 78

Occupation: I’m retired from being a state park ranger.

Years involved with Iditarod: I was first involved with the actual race in 1970, but I was also a member of the Aurora Dog Musher’s with Joe Redington before that for two years, three years before that. So we actually did some work on what was called the Iditarod Trail out of Knik Lake back before the actual race started.

Past Iditarod Roles: I was a handler for Rod Perry, and then later on I handled for a young man named MacAlpine, and he was 18 at the time, he might have been maybe one of the youngest senior mushers to ever do the race. And I remember his dad’s name was Barry McAlpine, I can’t remember what his first name was.

Current Location: Settler’s Bay Lodge in Wasilla, Alaska
Date of Photo: March 1, 2022

Temperature: 68 F Indoors

What, who or how and when did you first get involved with the Iditarod?

I first got involved with the Iditarod… Rod Perry did his first dog mushing at my house and with my dogs, and so that planted the seeds in him and he went on to help organize both the Iditarod and the Yukon Quest. Being involved with Joe Reddington was being involved with Iditarod, and so like I said we started in about 1967. We had already had the bicentennial race, which was called Iditarod, but it was a short race, a sprint race out of Knik Lake, so we were aware that one had been around. And then in those years up leading up to 1970 Joe kept saying we got to get dogs back in the village, everybody’s snowmobiles now and we got to see that dog mushing stays alive. And so that was one of his goals was to get this thing going.

What was one of your most memorable Iditarod experiences?

One of my most memorable Iditarod experiences was… Cookies and stuff. I was handling dogs for Rod Perry and we were getting ready for the race and one of the things he liked to do was come up with some special formula for the dogs. He had a special formula for snacks for the dogs and made them into cookies. Well they weren’t baked cookies, they were frozen cookies, but the trouble was the weather was only about 31 degrees and so we couldn’t get the cookies to freeze, and the neighbor dogs kept coming over trying to eat them.

What does the 50th running of the Iditarod mean to you?

Knowing this is the 50th Iditarod makes me feel…I think this is the 50th Iditarod race and how does that make me feel? It makes me feel very privileged to have been part of something in Alaska that’s so historic, and it brought dog mushing back to the state in such a big way. We went on then of course to do the Yukon Quest and get that thing going. I’m from Fairbanks so I have to say that and it was just a great thing to be part of that.

What do you know for sure?:

What I know for sure in life is… After reading Jack London, and that’s what brought me to Alaska, I wanted to experience that things that were in his book, and I think that’s what I got to do.