There’s a lot to catch up on from Tuesday night as the teams reached the confluence of the Tanana and Yukon River. Tanana is only a couple miles downstream from the confluence. From here the teams will travel on the Yukon all the way down to Anvil then take a short inland jaunt to Shageluk and loop back out to Grayling where they will head north on the river all the way back to Kaltag. What will the Yukon dish out with respect to weather? It’s always windy so count on that. The wind will be with the mushers going south but that will change as they turn back for Kaltag.
Jason Mackey was the first musher to reach the Yukon River and arrive in Tanana at just before 20:40 on Tuesday. Paige Drobny arrived only four minutes later then Gabe Dunham followed in 10 minutes. Ryan Redington cruised in at exactly 21:00.
Jason received a gift from the people of Tanana. Patrick Moore presented Mackey with a pair of beaded fur trimmed gloves and $100. Mackey was both surprised and delighted to receive the gifts. There’s a sign over the door of the checkpoint – “We knew you’d be back 2003, 2015, 2017.” 2025 has now been added.
The people of Tanana like Manley and Nenana are exceptionally excited to host a checkpoint. There is a constant stream of food coming into the checkpoint prepared by villagers. A drying rack has been erected around the wood burning stove inside. Folks are stopping by to see the mushers and wish them well. Think of it, the announcement came only two weeks prior to the restart that the race would move north. In that short amount of time, people planned and implemented the change all the way from Fairbanks to Nulato.
Watching the tracker yesterday, during the warmest part of the day, there were many teams resting at mile 107 between Nenana and Manley. Turns out they were resting their dogs while enjoying hospitality at The Tolovana Roadhouse. The roadhouse is a true piece of history as it served travelers along the old mail routes from Fairbanks to Nome.
It was a spot where the serum was handed off in 1925. Edgar Kallands received the serum from Wild Bill Shannon in Tolovana then carried it 31 miles to Manley Hot Springs. Dan Green took charge of the bundle and traveled 28 miles to Fish Lake where Johnny Folger took over transporting the serum 26 miles to Tanana. Four mushers would split the distance from Tanana to Ruby – Sam Joseph 34 miles from Tanana to Kallands; Titus Nikolai 24 miles from Kallands to Nine Mile Cabin; Dave Corning 30 miles form Nine Mile Cabin to Kokrines and Harry Pitka 30 miles from Kokrines to Ruby. The route hasn’t change much. It’s 117 miles from Tanana to Ruby by the 2025 map and it was 118 miles in 1925.
As in 2015 and 2017, the operators of the roadhouse at Tolovana extended hospitality to the 2025 mushers. There were cots to sleep on and a large spread of food, including pastries according to the Insider guys and the mushers.
Who, except the locals, would know there was a fierce blow hole on the Tanana River prior to reaching Tanana. Mushers described the onslaught of wind as fierce and sudden. Like blowing snow, blowing sand obscures visibility but also adds friction as sand covers the river ice. When Jason Mackey came through the stretch 10 miles shy of Tanana it was windy but not an all-out sand storm as other mushers experience. It’s not unusual for the winds to reach 40 to miles per hour at Windy Point. There’s an Insider video clip called Dust Storm available for Insiders to experience the conditions.
Before Uncle Jason arrived in Tanana Insiders Greg Heister and Bruce Lee debated about strategies. Based on where Jason camped, they were certain he’d stay in Tanana and he did. Other teams were camped closer to Tanana and would likely go past Tanana another 30 miles before resting and they have. It looks as if they might be planning another rest short of Ruby and then going on to Galena. It’s a viable strategy to break the run into three equal runs of 60 miles, camping outside of Tanana and Ruby and staying at Galena.
Bailey Vitello is camped 60 miles beyond Tanana on Wednesday morning. Vitello is a two year Iditarod veteran with a best finish of 17th place. Vitello is also a Jr. Iditarod Veteran. Bailey lives in and trains from Nenana. He’s had the good fortune of working with Aaron Burmeister, a seasoned Iditarod veteran who maintains a kennel Nenana. Vitello says his team is full of fire and energy and is excited to give them a chance to prove themselves in the 2025 Iditarod.
Wednesday morning finds Riley Dyche camped 50 miles beyond Tanana. Riley’s first Iditarod start was in 2020. He’s completed 3 of 4 Iditarod starts with a best finish of 18th place. Dyche relocated his kennel from Fairbanks to Big Lake when he took over the ride concession at Iditarod Headquarters – Rides With Riley. Dyche is also veteran of the Yukon Quest 1,000 mile race. He and his fiancé, Isabel maintain their kennel with 38 dogs.
As the day wears on, Tanana will clear out and the GPS Tracker will show a concentration of teams – both resting and running on the river to Ruby.
