The evening before the ceremonial start, snow moved in. Not the kind that fell from the sky or the ground blizzard type. This snow was trucked in. While it was still warm and sunny at 15:00 in the afternoon on Friday, the streets were blocked off in preparation for creating the trail through the streets of downtown Anchorage. Once the sunset, the trucks began hauling snow from the stock pile created throughout the winter. It would be a great math problem to calculate the amount of snow necessary to put 6 inches down for parking on all the side streets, 4th Avenue and Cordova Street up to where the sleds meet up with the Anchorage trail system. 

As the mushers began finding their places to park their dog trucks, fog rolled in. While visibility wasn’t the best and the light might have been too flat for photographers, enthusiasm and energy was very bright. The mushers, Idita-riders, canine athletes and spectators were enjoying every moment of the ceremonial festivities.

When 10:00 arrived, the first sled was waiting under the banner for introduction and the countdown from 10. Junior Iditarod Champion Noah Pereira drove the first sled with Linda Fenton, Iditarod’s Teacher on the Trail™, as his passenger. Wearing bib #2, Martin Buser followed. Of special note, wearing Bib#8, Newton Marshall brought his team to the banner to a chorus of Happy Birthday. Could there be a better way to celebrate a birthday than to stand on the runners behind a team of your very best friends. Happy birthday Newton.

For now the 66 mushers participating in the 2013 Iditarod are preparing for the restart at Willow. Trail volunteers are happy the fog has lifted so the Iditarod Air Force can transport them to the checkpoints on this side of the Alaska Range.