Part of our crew has now moved to Takotna, about 7.5 hours mushing from Nikolai, where we left the pack recovering from a bruising traverse across the Alaska Range.  I am personally bummed about injuries—Burmeister hurt his knee, probably ACL, it appears Jake Berkowitz broke a leg, Hans Gatt flipped and had a divot installed in his head by a rock and suffered a severe stinger that has left the tri-athlete’s neck and back very stiff, just to name a few of the battered.  Almost everyone is dinged and bruised, e,g. Zirkle’s painfully hammered hip.

Mushers did everything possible to step down the power of their sixteen dog teams.  Drags and brakes were utilized. Most mushers took the tugs off the backlines of the harness and simple ran the dogs on necklines, as if you were taking the pet labrador for a walk in the park.  Many had planned ahead and taken particularly durable sleds capable of withstanding big time spills.

In the end, those that prepared by using the best equipment and had trained their dogs well made it with a little added luck  through the traverse of the Alaska Range.

For those that can continue,  the constant anxiety of the last day is over as the trail out of Nikolai can now be described as technically kindergarten, good enough for a baby, a smooth flat trail that lulls mushers to sleep with long stretches of uneventful , numbing, sameness of scrubby black spruce, alder, and birch.  The occasional slip (trail up or down a bank) onto a lake or river breaks the monotony.  The mushers have just entered the land of the oxbows—The Great Yukon River Basin—-where rivers and creeks wind serpentine leaving  huge sweeping dead end sloughs, lakes, and   relief on unending horizons on the flat basin.

Sonny Lindner now leads the pack.  (The reader can check the Insider tools for more details.Some of our crew noticed that the standings are not correct this afternoon but we are assuming the mix-up will be fixed. )   He is closely tagged by Aliy Zirkle.  The pack, too numerous to sensibly enumerate, follows on the smooth ribbon to McGrath.  

Strategies are diverging.  Lindner, I think, will barrel through Takotna, and go deep into the Alaska Wilderness —-at least to very isolated Cripple.  Zirkle is likely to pull up and declare a 24 in Takotna—a move she typically makes.   Others will also diverge, a stark contrast to Buser on a 24 (lhour layover) who is sitting on a big lead in Nikolai.  More on that as mushers commit in the next days.

We wait in Takotna along with its 50 or so inhabitants for the first musher.  Takotna is a mining town, or should I say, a remnant of a mining town. Diggings and remains of placer mining dot the region.   Significantly, and most importantly, Takotna provides unbelievable hospitality for mushers—-a warm place to sleep, a possibility of a shower, well organized parking for the dogs, and incredibly good food.  Takotna is the dream of mushers—-where hot water flows from fire-heated drums, hamburges can be ordered with or without cheese or “would you like a steak?”, and rows of homemade pies line a counter for dessert.

It is a little less than halfway.  Despite the sirens wailing in the wind “stop for omelettes, take a break, relax, declare a 24, slather the apple pie with ice cream”,  some mushers will resist.  They will grab a wonderful paper sack of sandwiches and depart Takotna up a long winding mining road to the checkpoints of Ophir, Cripple , and Ruby.  Cripple can be regarded as the halfway point.  It is a point on the map with constructed tent frames and used only every other year by the Iditarod and entourage of officials and volunteers.

A familiar group, to include Sonny, Aliy, 4x Jeff King, Nicolas Petit, and Yukon Quest Champ Hugh Neff, leads the way.

With a good trail, many mushers regard the halfway or even beyond as the most logical point for a 24 hour.  I admit I am in this camp but also realize i’ts only theory.   Each musher has a different set of values for making a decision, but one thing is certain.   The 24 hour break gives mushers a strategic push because the dogs have slept and therefore are ready for a ten or twelve hour rumble on the trail.   There is a big difference between being physically tired and sleepy.  Each condition requires the remediation of rest, but lack of or shortage of sleep is a big physiological item.  

One consideration for taking a 24 hour rest is schedule.  Most mushers will try to schedule their arrival at the 24 so that they leave at the most opportune time of day.  For example, a departure at 1PM is a squandered effort because everyone knows that dogs and humans are lethargic in the afternoon sun.  Schedule a departure for sunset, like 5PM, and now we are talking about a dog team that feels like blistering the trail as the sun sets.   

Another is uncertainty.   If mushers are nervous about the trail to Cripple, for example, they will stay in Takotna.   What if the trail is soft and I am just breaking trail for the teams behind?   They ask, “Am I an idiot for being everyone’s trail breaker.”   Another reason,  “I am better to stay in Takotna because I want to make sure all my dogs are sound.  If I go to Cripple, I may have to haul a dog for 90 miles.  Better to stay in Takotna.”

The calculus of decision making is different for each musher.  We will see dramatic choices tonight in Takotna.  For me, the fun is to watch these decisions play out over the next seven days to Nome.  Usually, the best team wins, but in a close race, strategic moves can be deal makers or breakers.