Jeff King pulled into Shaktoolik in 7th place. He parked his team next to the checkpoint and plans to bed them down for a good rest.

Mitch just woke up and is going outside to take care of his team. When somebody asked him how he slept: ” Just a few minutes, everything helps “. At this point in the race, sleep is a real luxury, hard to come by. Specially in this situation, where some teams like Aaron and Jessie are skipping a whole checkpoint. Long 5 hr rest, that puts you quite a few places behind, so mostly 3 hrs or 2 hrs like Aliy Zirkle took have to do.

Looking back down the trail, both Wade Marrs and Pete Kaiser are shut down on the trail, They are sitting in a very exposed spot, near an old Cannery, And that place is littered with driftwood. The trail is hard to find. Mitch said, that he also spend about half an hour in there last night trying to find the trail. It zigzags though the driftwood, some 90 degree turns in there and if the old runner tracks have been erased by the wind, it is hard to find a way out.

Long time insider Kevin Bodhi, still having fun

Myron, long time Iditarod checker, jack of all trades in Shaktoolik. Salt of the earth type of guy!

We will now head down the trail Koyuk bound. Happy trails! Sebastian More Jeff pictures here: