Minnesotan Nathan Schroeder has traversed the Kaltag Portage and is taking rest on the coast of the Bering Sea at Unalakleet. After checking in, Nathan asked how cold it was here last night. That’s a common question for mushers coming out of the interior to the coast. Frequently there is a difference, often up to twenty degrees and when you’re talking below zero, it can be severe. While we knew the temperature here was down around zero, Schroeder said the Temperature at Kaltag was twenty below zero. That would make for a cold run from Kaltag to Unalakleet but twenty below isn’t as cold as it’s been in the recent past. The 2012 race saw the proverbial mercury drop to minus 50 on the run from Kaltag to the coast. Musher came in frost on their ruffs and eyelashes. Ed Stielstra dropped a big mitt somewhere between Old Woman Cabin and the coast. He managed to keep his hand warm but he was eternally grateful when the next musher into Unalakleet handed him his mitt.
As Schroeder tended his dogs, he praised them and spoke softly about their performance. What I noticed were the names on a couple of the collars – Sheriff and Fillmore. Asking if he’d named a litter after the characters in the Cars movie, his answer was affirmative. He’d started the race with Tow Mater and Lightning as well but dropped them earlier in the race. Nathan’s children probably had something to do with selecting “Cars” as a theme for naming that littler of puppies. When Nathan was booting up and putting jackets on the dogs in preparation to leave, a couple of village youngsters where standing on the berm making small talk. One asked where he was going. Nathan replied, “Shaktoolik.” Then he asked if they’ed heard of the place. They both nodded yes. Nathan then asked which way he should go. The boys pointed in opposite directions. Good thing Nathan had trail markers to follow as the boys would have sent him back to Anchorage or off to China.
Schroeder took his first ride behind a team of malamutes at the age of 12. From that time on, Iditarod has been on his mind. Schroeder has raced all over the mid-west collecting many top five and champion finishes. Nathan is a John Beargrease Grand-Champion with victories in 2010 and 2013. The Beargrease is a 350-mile race from Duluth, Minnesota to Grand Marais, Minnesota and back. Some of the checkpoints are supported and others are off road. When tending his dogs this afternoon in Unalakleet, Nathan asked how many miles to Nome. The answer was three hundred. He could look at the big picture and say it’s less that the Beargrease or he could look at it in manageable segments, six fifty mile runs to the burled arch. Upon completing Iditarod, Nathan plans to share his experience at area school in hope of inspiring students to work towards meeting their own dreams and goals.
Schroeder was the twenty second musher to depart from Unalakleet.
