Teams between Skwentna and Finger Lake at 0600 Monday (Photo: Iditarod GPS Tracker)

Well, you know you’re a serious Iditarod fan if your weather app includes checkpoints along the trail.  Looks like the temperture will stay in the teens, winds will be lights and snow is likely for this side of the Alaska Range today.  Pretty good weather.

Jessie Holmes and Connor McMahon were the first to arrive at Yentna Station, 43 miles from the start banner at Willow.  The both checked in at 17:47.  One minute latter, Mats Pettersson checked in then Jessica Klejka followed.  Mille Posild was six minutes behind.  That was all before 18:00.  At that point, one could say there was a flood of arriving teams – 23 teams arrived in the next hour.  Joshua Robbins was the final musher out of Yentna at 22:22, napping there for close to four hours.   Only a handful of teams napped on the river outside the Yentna Station Roadhouse.  A few others took straw and found a quiet camping place on the way to Skwentna.

The first head lamp appeared up river of Skwentna just a minute or two past 21:00.  It was worn by Mille Porsild who checked in at 21:03.  My prediction of 21:12, made yesterday, wasn’t too far off.  Ryan Redington followed at 21:15.  There were a number of teams who rested between 4 and 5 hours on the river taking advantage of the Skwentna hospitality before taking off for Finger Lake.  Benjamin Good, Calvin Daugherty and Lara Kittelson departed just before 06:00.  Just like that, Skwentna checkpoint was quiet.  All the action was packed between 21:00 and 06:00.  Now the crew that worked all night will catch some sleep and tackle clean-up later in the day.

Jessie Holmes was the first to check into Finger Lake at 04:11.  His run from Skwentna took 4hrs, 44 min.  The Insider Crew got a few comments from Jessie as he collected straw and Heet to continue down the trail.  He mentioned 10 miles of rough trail (I won’t quote his exact description) and said that he had to punch a moose in the nose.  Paige Drobny who arrived in Finger a short time later also grabbed straw and headed up the trail to rest. 

At this point, Holmes, Drobny, Wally Robinson, Ryan Redington and Mille Porsild are out of Finger heading toward Puntilla Lake.  The Happy River Steps, a perennial challenge, awaits them. 

Rookies Gabe Dunham and Josi Thyr are in Finger along with veterans Mat Pettersson, Jason Mackey, Anna Berington and Hunter Keefe.  All the rest of the teams are heading to Finger Lake from Skwentna.  Now is a great time to watch some of the incoming Insider interviews at Finger Lake.