Customer Reviews

Back of the Pack: An Iditarod Rookie Musher's Alaska Pilgrimage to Nome

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I love this book. I am in my 4th year of mushing. I love the sport. This book tells you what it is like to deal with these wonderful creatures that are a special breed. The author had a wonderful insight to share his thoughts, feelings, adventures,failures, and successes. Most of us dont tell of things that we did wrong. He not only tells you about what he did wrong, but what he learned from it. I am hoping to run the Iditarod sometime in the future with my daughter, and this is a book that I will for sure have her read before we set of to THE GREATEST RACE. I recommend this book for a veteran, or a beginner, or anyone that just has an interest in dogs. I have laughed outloud while reading this book and I have cried, and had every other emotion but anger. This book is the best I have read in a long time about this sport. Thank you DON.

As a fellow US Air Force Academy Grad, I was thrilled by Don Bowers' adventure! Spending years as an Iditarod pilot, Don finally decides to run the race. He shows the true human effort behind running the race, not as a champion, but as a man willing to give his all to prove his determination and the love for his dogs. Unfortunately, Don Bowers died this year doing one of the things he truly loved: flying airplanes. This book is a tribute to the man and the sport that took over his soul. I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves mushing or for anybody with an adventurous heart. It's a true uplift from the everyday drag of modern life. It will yield to the wanderlust of even the most rigid of people. It shows that some people out there still pursue their dreams, no matter how crazy they may seem. Farewell, Don Bowers! May your book be a tribute to you and the sport that you loved!

Don Bowers wrote it with so much heart, it's amazing! If you love sleddogs, Alaska and the Iditarod - it's a must to read it (especially if you want to run the Iditarod once)! Even if English isn't your mother tongue - you will love it! I laughed but also cried while reading the book. It really touched me very much! Don Bowers was killed by an air-crash in summer 2000 and even if I haven't known him personally - my eyes went wet when I heard about it! I wish I could have meet him once...... (sorry, about my bad english, but even with this english it is easy to read his book)!

Subtitled, "An Iditarod Rookie Musher's Alaska Pilgrimage to
Nome", the author, Don Bowers, shares his 1994 and 1995
experience in running a team of sled dogs on the 1,100-mile run from
Anchorage to Nome in the race that has been sometimes called the
"Last Great Race on Earth." He was 48 years old, a bachelor,
with no previous experience in dog mushing. However, he was a pilot
who lived Alaska and had worked as a volunteer in previous races. He
knew many people who had run the race before him and they all
encouraged him to do it.

Every March, since 1967, between 50 and 80
dog sled teams set out on the trail, which can take up to three weeks
to complete. Most are not competing for the front-runner prize.
Merely finishing the race is a personal goal for many. The trek is
difficult, requiring stamina, endurance and the ability to make quick
decisions in constantly changing conditions.

The temperature can
vary from 40 degrees above to 65 degrees below zero and there are
storms and flooding, drifting snow and heavy winds. In some places
the trail plunges down 200 feet or more, twisting between trees and at
the edges of steep drops. At other places, there are long empty
stretches over slick icy rivers. The sled often spills, the dogs get
tangled and sometimes they find themselves miles and miles off the
regular trail.

Mostly, they prefer to travel at night when the
weather is cooler and the dogs are more comfortable. The musher wears
a single beam headlight if the night is dark. Other times the moon
and stars reflect off the snow. And, on rare occasions there is a
spectacular display of flashes and colors in the northern sky.

The
mushers stop at about 20 checkpoints over the course of their
travels. These are mandatory rest stops which often are no more than a
tent or a cabin with a place to put a sleeping bag. A few of the
checkpoints are towns with a place to purchase a meal. Mostly though,
the musher must rely on the 50 or more large bags of supplies weighing
2000 pounds or more which he or she personally packed and had shipped
to these checkpoints. This includes huge amounts of food for the 16
hungry dogs who must be tended to and rested at each of these
stops.

The Iditarod Trail was actually used as a mail route during
the boom time of Alaska's gold rush. And the dog teams of that day
did not have the advantages of modern technology. There were no
helicopters charting their progress. Or airplanes to fly their food
to various checkpoints. There was little if any shelter. And the
conditions for the dogs were certainly not humane.

I can't help
thinking of Jack London's "The Call of the Wild" and
"White Fang" which depicted the life of a sled dog at the
turn of the century. In those days dogs were whipped, beaten with
clubs, and often starved as the food they were given had to be hunted
for as the mushers went along the trail. They lived and died in their
harnesses and it was a constant fight for survival.

Modern dogs are
never beaten. The dogs are trained to respond to simple verbal
commands and whips are never used. They are well fed and rested and
checked by a vet at every checkpoint. If they are injured they are
flown by helicopter to a place they can be cared for. A musher might
start out with 16 dogs, but is allowed to finish with as little as 7
if necessary.

I enjoyed the book tremendously, even though Don
Bowers is no Jack London. This is his first book and he is not a
professional writer. He's good at descriptions of trail conditions
and details of the race. He's also good at discussing his own
personal challenges. I really did empathize with him when a virus
killed some of his dog pups. And I held my breath during his most
scary outdoor challengers. I also have a lot of admiration for his
adaptability and sheer determination to finish, no matter what.

By
the end of the book I had really accepted his style of writing, which
is probably like his personality, which tends to be introspective. And
sometimes I felt he went on a little too long about some detail. I
must say also that I yearned for deeper characterization of the people
around him. There was a woman named Lisa and a man named Andy who
were also "back-of-the-packers". They met at checkpoints
and helped each other during the long trail. I wanted to know more
about them and wish he would have included a few personal details and
a little characterization.

I did get to know his dogs though. Each
one was a distinct and interesting personality. I'll never forget
"Socks" one of the leaders, who was able to sense the trail
without any markers. Or the time the team refused to move because the
females were in heat. His love for his dogs really came through.

I
thank Mr. Bowers for writing the book and definitely recommend it. It
took me to Alaska, put me right on the sled and made me feel I was
part of it all. Quite a departure for a woman who lives in New York
City. It was a great read and I loved being part of the adventure.

When I first began to become interested in the Iditarod, one of the things that most fascinated me was the determination of everyone who entered the race to finish. While all harbor hopes, however slight, of winning, just finishing this 1,000 plus mile race is one of lifes's most difficult and amazing feats, resulting in the last finisher often dragging in days after the winner has packed up his dogs, sled, and headed home, check in hand.

Don Bowers, who fell in love with the sport of Alaska with no real knowledge of either, details his often painful adventures as he prepared and ran the Iditarod. Bowers, also a teacher and pilot, writes well, using detail and humor effectively, making you feel you're there beside him, slogging through the snow, searching for trail markers, and, occasionally, meeting trees and branches all too upclose and personal. You will also share his tears, as he mourns the sudden death of several puppies that have begun to emerge as loveable, definite personalites to him when parvo strikes.

You'll also be there with him as he struggles to pay the bills in the face of his growing love of the sport and the dogs, a love that, sadly, brings little glory or money to those who run in the Back of the Pack. Thus, if you'd like to get a real feel for what it must be like to race in the Iditarod, I highly recommend this book. Or, if you've ever read some of the negative publicity put out by a small faction of opponents, you NEED to read this book. It will answer many of your questions and give you, via Bowers, an inside look at the pain those who sacrifice so much for their dogs feel when confronted with these false accusations.

Don Bowers takes the reader through the process of training for, and running the Iditarod and makes you wish you were there even though it's umpteen degrees below zero and snowing like crazy. It was very hard to put the book down and so readable! Mr. Bowers leaves you "thirsty" for more about the great race to Nome and its history. I hope there's more to come.

I "fell in love" with the Iditarod about 3 years ago, have read everything available; Mr. Bowers book is one of the best.

"Back of the Pack" leaves the reader (much like Clancy in "Red October") confident that he can proficiently complete some task never before imagined. Whether navigating a nuclear sub or mushing across the wilderness, these books take the reader on a trip into neverland and return them to reality feeling breathless, excited and a whole lot wiser about the world we live in. This author delves into not only the mechanics of a race few people undertake, but into the very heartbeat of the Alaskan wilderness, his utter dependance on his animals and his knowledge knowledge of the wild, as well as the comraderie that inevitably develops under such extreme circumstances. Filled with colorful commentary, gripping suspense and heartwarming photos, this is a book I wholeheartedly recommend.

This is an exciting, inspiring, well-written book that I couldn't put down. Written in a logbook style, it tells what happens when the author catches the Iditarod bug. A very satisfying read.

A very good book if you have a beginner's interest in dog sleds or have ever been intrigued by Alaska, Dog Sleds or the outdoors.

The author can be a bit wordy and long winded, particularly in the first half of the book, but it is well worth it anyway.

The last half of the book describes the race and his experience in great detail and really puts you there.

Easy reading. I couldn't put it down for the last 100 pages.