[1] Aliy Zirkle moved to Bettles, Alaska at age twenty and began mushing due to the remote nature of the town.

Aliy also regularly competes in shorter dog sled races, such as the Two Rivers 100, the Copper Basin 300, and the Yukon Quest 300.

The kennel is named for Skunk, one of the six dogs Aliy adopted when she first moved to Alaska and began mushing.

During the 2016 Iditarod race, Zirkle and fellow competitor Jeff King were intentionally hit by a man on a snowmobile.

When Zirkle arrived at the Rohn checkpoint, she fell and had to be airlifted to Anchorage for a concussion and upper torso injuries, though suffered no broken bones.