E39: Lead Dawgs - Lil Nelson & Izzy Nicolier's Account of the AL650 & Yukon 1000

In this episode, Chris Thomas sits down with Lillian Nelson and Izzy Nicolier, 25 year old canoeists, dog mushers, and adventurers hailing from Alaska. Both have just finished the Alabama 650 in 2025 and the Yukon 1000 in ’24 with plenty of endurance adventuring as well. We cover so much in this episode from the Yukon 1000 race, source to sea on the Yukon, the Great Alabama 650, revisiting an air quotes hallucination story from a previous episode that actually proved to be true, 6 day portages, how dog mushing in the Yukon translates to race performance in the 1000, going upside-down just out of Dawson City, SOS fails, duct taping fire ants, the Boo Bash versus Mobile Bay, and their upcoming business venture guiding folks on the water and over snow. There’s so much more to this episode, but I’ll let you hear it from Lil & Izzy themselves on this 39th episode of the Dabbling in Paddleism Podcast… Lil’s Book Recommendations: -Brothers on the Bashkaus, A Siberian Paddling Adventure, by Eugene Buchanan: https://a.co/d/01eqKof8 -Amazon Woman, by Darcy Gaechter: https://a.co/d/0iZNd70M Izzy’s Book Recommendations: -Alone, by Gerard d’Aboville: https://a.co/d/0h0eTKeF How to keep up with Lil & Izzy: -FB: Lead Dawgs Expeditions -IG: @lead.dawg.exp How to reach out to Lil & Izzy with specific questions about their expeditions: [email protected]