These days, we’ve been getting away from the homestead a lot more while running our yearling teams and clearing overgrown trails. In some towns, there are street signs and prominent buildings that people navigate by, but here in Eureka creeks are the most important landmarks. On the way in to the homestead, there are five creeks which span the road like very inconsistent mile markers.

Yet they do the trick – providing a reference point for trails and turnarounds. For this reason, one of our first tasks when we arrived was to memorize the order of the creeks so that we would understand phrases like “the dip on the left hand turnaround at Seattle.” Now that we’ve got them down, we thought we would share some creek secrets with the general public. We’ve listed the creeks in the order you would encounter them if you were leaving the homestead, driving South-West.

Joe Bush Creek

The Salter Homestead (home of Wild and Free Mushing) sits on Joe Bush Creek, with its waters running through puppy pens and into a small pond at the base of the lawn. Joe Bush marks the center of the valley we live in, making it very helpful for orienting oneself on puppy hikes. One of our most common routes takes us up on the ridge in a loop, but we typically dart down from the trail at random points to keep the puppies on their toes. We can confidently leave the trail anywhere because we know that if we keep walking downhill far enough, we’ll eventually hit Joe Bush, which will take us back to the base of the homestead’s lawn.

Skookum Creek

Skookum is a small creek, fun to wade through in muck boots. However, the crossing over Skookum has been growing narrower and narrower as the downhill side of the road slides into the water in chunks. On foot, there’s plenty of room to cross in the road, but driving the side by side over Skookum is always exciting.

Seattle Creek

Our closest year-round neighbor lives at Seattle creek, and the area around the creek is filled with small trails and turnarounds for dog teams. Roundtrip, a Seattle Creek dog run clocks in at about 5 miles so we are just starting to take our yearling teams out to Seattle.

Boothby Creek

That big puddle in the middle of the road? That’s Boothby Creek! If you look closely, you’ll see that there is in fact flowing water, but nestled in the middle of a sharp turn in the road, it’s easy to miss Boothby. We often find ourselves plowing through the water a bit faster than we mean to, leading to big splash up on the wiper-less windshield of the side by side. Moral of the story: slow down for Boothby!

Doric Creek

This little corner of Alaska is absolutely steeped in Iditarod history, including Doric Creek which runs beside the homestead of five time champion, Rick Swenson. He earned his title, “King of the Iditarod,” during Eureka’s golden age (literally) of the 70’s and 80’s when gold miners flocked to the area. On our way down the road, we pass the Swenson homestead first, and then Doric Creek. Doric is also home to a very friendly beaver who is frequently spotted swimming about his lodge.

Eureka Creek

The big one! The Eureka Creek crossing marks the intersection of the Eureka-Rampart Road and the unnamed road that leads up to the Salter Homestead’s driveway. Mined extensively in the past, Eureka’s large gravel mounds are easily recognizable. Crossing in a side by side is nothing that special this time of year, since the creek has been fairly low, but taking other vehicles across can take a bit of finesse.