Old Woman Mountain Between Kaltag and Unalakleet

On Monday morning, Unalakleet has seen 18 mushers, and I think it’d be safe to call those “the front of the pack.”  “Mid pack” seems to be situated between Kaltag and Unalakleet.  That would include the Tripod Flats cabin and Old Woman Cabin.  The “back of the pack” is on the Yukon heading due north to Kaltag.  That run on the Yukon can be ‘in your face wind’ along with wide open and just plain boring.  It takes a special state of mind for a lead dog to be happy running in a wide-open place like the wide river.  Think how you feel driving on a super highway over treeless flat land for hours on end. It can get a bit monotonous.  While it’s pleasant here, the weather on the Yukon can be entirely different.

Mushers Use Safety Cabins Between Kaltag and Unalakleet

The Red Lantern Crew made Anvik last night and the trio moved to Grayling over night.  Cindy Gallea, Victoria Hardwick and Jeremy Keller have been running in their own little pack.  As of now, Keller and Hardwick have departed Grayling while Gallea remains in the checkpoint.  As the sky lightens in Unalakleet, visibility doesn’t look to be great, so it may be another flat photo day. There are a few flurries in the air, light winds and temps are in the 20’s.

Safety Cabin Along Trail

Way back, Kaltag was a Koyokon Athabascan area used as a cemetery for surrounding villages.  It’s located at the point where an old portage trail from Unalakleet meets the Yukon River.  Interior residents met Russians and traded furs for goods hauled inland over the portage.  Epidemics and food shortages took a great toll on the population of three nearby villages.  Remaining residents of the three villages established Kaltag in an effort to pool resources and continue to live in the area.  Sadly, the Yukon River eroded the banks near the burial ground and claimed the old cemetery in the 1930’s.  Kaltag residents depend on hunting, fishing and gathering to enjoy salmon, whitefish, moose, bear, waterfoul, and berries in their subsistence lifestyle.      

Tripod Flats Cabin – Photo by Jim Ryder 2011

With so many teams on the Kaltag Portage, I’d thought I’d share some photos from the air of Old Woman and the Tripod Flats Safety cabins from the ground.