Monica Zappa has departed McGrath after a five hour rest.  Her dogs came into the checkpoint trotting smartly with Monica wearing her usual brightly colored parka and musher hat.  Zappa usually wears a smile nearly equal to Aliy Zirkle’s and is very upbeat and positive about the performance of her team.  No deviation today, big smile and lots of praise for her dogs.

Leader Blue Steal

One dog that she depends on for lead is Blue Steal.  Blue Steal came into McGrath in single lead.  Monica said he prefers to run lead and prefers to run single.  She also said it took me a while to figure that out.  She’d try different partners for Blue Steal but after some trail and error, she decided he’s confident enough to run alone.

Zappa grew up in Cumberland, Wisconsin.  She comes from a mushing family.  Both her parents have officiated and participated in the John Beargrease race in Minnesota.  Monica is living her father’s dream to run Iditarod.  

Zappa has a degree in meteorology and geography.  She’s worked at the National Weather Center.  Guess if we want to better understand the weather extremes of Alaska, she’d be the one to ask. 

When she moved to Alaska in 2010 she worked as a handler for Bruce Linton.  Later she began working with Tim Osmar and continues to do so.  Monica lists her major occupation as commercial fishing.  It’s what she uses to support her avocation of mushing.

Monica is a third year veteran on the trail for 2016.  She was on the river in front of Skwentna Checkpoint on Monday morning more than a little nervous about the infamous sections of the trail that were ahead.  Danny Seavey, running puppies from the Seavey kennel was taking his time on the river and gave Monica lots of assurance and good advice.  Monica made it through the technical sections of the trail that she was so worried about as well as the snowless Farewell Burn.  She made Nome in 47th place which she duplicated in 2015.  Her 2015 time was a day better than her 2014 time.

Zappa’s Garage Sale at Skwentna in 2014

One thing that Monica has become known for is taking everything, EVERYTHING that she could possibly need on the trail.  When she unpacked her sled at Skwentna in 2014 it looked like a garage sale our on the river.  That wasn’t the biggest issue, getting it all back in the sled bag would be a challenge.  In 2015 she promised to eliminate “unnecessary” items but the sled beg was even bigger and packed more tightly.  AS she came into McGrath this morning, her sled bag wasn’t busting at the seams.  She’s got the hang of it now.