I had no idea what to expect heading into covering the Yukon Quest.

I listened to everyone's stories which still gave me no inkling of what was ahead.

The best advice I got was from the Yukon Quest's executive director Wendy Morrison.

She told me to expect the unexpected.

What I discovered, is that nothing can prepare you for the amazing experience that is the Yukon Quest.

When it started I was overwhelmed by the movement and panic of the start of the race, but as we moved along the checkpoints and there were only a few media personnel, I got to know a few of the mushers and the people I was travelling with and started to feel like I belonged there.

The most important thing I learned early on while covering the Quest, is that everyone is so full of knowledge, and willing to share it.

My first real adventure was the hike to Eagle Summit.

I'd heard so many stories from mushers of how treacherous it can be, but when the offer came to hike it I pushed them out of my mind.

I did the hike with Sam Harrel, a photographer from the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

He swore he had a bad knee and would be taking it slow, but about 10 minutes into the vertical hike he was already about 200 metres in front of me.

By the top I was so tired, every step was painful.

I am the least athletic person in the world, but for whatever reason I kept putting one foot in front of the other.

We finally reached the top, and headed over the flat part.

On the other side we were faced with another challenge – how to get down the steep hill leading to the actual summit.

Being a child at heart, I sat down and went sliding down the wind-swept snow right into the summit. It was the best part of the climb for me.

We were lucky to catch three mushers going over the summit. If we had been 10 minutes later, we would have missed every one and our hike would have been in vain.

On the way back, we tried to slide down again, but it was determined that the slope was too steep, and both of us got sent down the hill at rather terrifying speeds while trying to protect camera equipment.

The most difficult part of covering the Yukon Quest comes when the field starts separating.

By Central, that was already happening.

I had to split up with the News-Miner crew, also including reporter Josh Armstrong, and head on to Circle to try to catch Hans Gatt and Gerry Willomitzer, who were expected into the Circle checkpoint in the middle of the night.

I caught a ride with Quest musher Didier Moggia, who was handling for Gerry. It was a great trip.

He told me about his previous Quest runs and once we arrived in Circle he helped me figure out the times to catch the mushers before they left.

Circle was a pretty cool place to stay.

We were there for two nights in the school gym.

I had forgotten to bring an air mattress with me, so I found some scraps of carpet and set them up in a makeshift bed.

The best part of being in Circle was a hike we did out to Cochrane's Cabin to meet a few mushers.

We spent the day listening to stories and photographing Bart de Marie and Peter Fleck's teams.

By Circle, it was clear the Yukon Quest's leaders were determined to make this the fastest race yet.

They was already 19 hours ahead of schedule.

We were supposed to spend three nights there, but the mushers were already due into Eagle by the second day. We rearranged our flight and got out on an earlier one.

I had never been on a small plane before, and I don't particularly like being on big ones either.

Our pilot knew what we were doing, and told us he would try to help us get photos of the mushers along the river below.

This meant doing crazy banked turns whenever we saw a musher below.

I don't know if you've ever tried to work a camera while willing yourself not to throw up, but needless to say very few of my pictures were successful.

Eagle was probably the best part of my Quest trip.

We spent two days there before again having to move onto Dawson early.

The little town was so quiet and beautiful surrounded by mountains and the Yukon River.

The town had really pulled together after the previous spring's flooding that wiped out many of the buildings along the river.

It was really amazing to see.

The media set up an office in the little log library. It was our base camp.

There we met Peter Kamper, the Yukon Quest's videographer for the first time. He ended up being one of the best people to work with.

It was his job to film the mushers arriving in each checkpoint, so he became the person we kept one eye on for the rest of the trip.

Whenever Peter moved, we got in our snow gear as fast as we could and followed him.

One thing that was strange that I loved about Eagle, was that there were no streetlights.

The walk from the library to my cabin where I was staying was so dark.

It was a perfectly clear night and you could see every star in the sky.

Usually I'm a wuss about walking places alone at night, but I felt safe walking the few blocks by myself.

We flew out to Dawson a day early.

This flight was much better.

It was a little four-seater red plane that we all squished into. It was a great flight.

Our pilot provided us with in-flight entertainment in the form of jokes and we searched for mushers along the way.

Dawson was a bit hectic.

I met up with Star reporter Jason Unrau, who took over the photography for me.

We had a lot of downtime due to the 36-hour layover, and finally got a chance to catch up with some of the mushers we had to leave behind in Central.

Being finally back in Canada, I indulged in a poutine at the Downtown Hotel, which was a mistake to do in front of a bunch on Americans and Britians.

I got made fun of for the duration of my meal.

After our journalistic blunder that saw all four of us from the News-Miner and the Star drive away once noticing Gerry still in town, when he was due on the trail, we headed for Pelly Crossing.

There we slept on another floor for a night. I woke up at one point curled up in a ball on top of my laptop charger, a rather big, black box.

It wasn't exactly the Four Seasons.

The next morning Jason had to kick me for a fairly long time before I woke up.

The only thing that got me out of my sleeping bag was knowing that I would spend that night in my own bed.

We headed out to McCabe Creek, to see how the Kruse family had been doing in the past year since their shop burnt down.

There I fell in love with a puppy, and worried everyone with me when I told them I was bringing her home.

Unfortunately the little pup had a family coming to look at her first, who ended up adopting her instead.

In Braeburn we had some downtime, and some cinnamon buns, as the mushers had an eight-hour layover.

Peter, Josh and I got into a discussion about the Northern Lights, and I mentioned I hadn't seen them since I was about eight years old and still living in northern Ontario.

A few hours later, I was dozing off at my table and Peter started gesturing to Josh and I from outside.

We followed, and he pointed to the sky, where a stream of white light was beginning to take over.

All I could say was "Hmm,” and Peter looked at me, and asked me what was wrong.

I said they weren't all that colourful.

"Now we have Northern Lights, and they're not good enough for you?” Peter asked.

He shook his head and went back inside.

Josh and I laughed, until they really did start turning green.

It was beautiful, and a perfect way to end the Quest.

The next morning was insane, with Hans expected to come in at 1:30 p.m. – which happens to be the Star's deadline.

I've mentioned my previous lack of athleticism, and here is where it really killed me.

Hans pulled in at exactly 1:35.

I fought to get my one question in, which was to ask him how it felt to get his fourth finish at home in Whitehorse.

Then I left the media scrum that had formed and sprinted the three or four blocks from the finish line to the Star office.

I don't run – anywhere – so when I got in the office, the time I saved was spent catching my breath at my desk.

I wrote the story and was back at the finish line by 2:11 p.m. to catch Lance.

I feel so lucky to have been allowed to cover the Yukon Quest this year.

It was truly the most amazing experience of my life.

I have made so many friends that I hope to see again next year, and know so much more about the dog mushing world.

I plan to fight anyone at the office for the opportunity again next year.