Libby Here!

Listen to this great question!  “Do they ever get lost?”

The Iditarod Trail is a marked trail.  People on snowmobiles—  or  snowmachines  which is what they are called in Alaska, travel the race trail before the mushers and make sure that the trail markers are in place.  The markers are sticks with a florescent paint, often orange, on the tip of the markers so that at night, the musher can see them when the musher’s headlight flashes on the trail marker.

I hope you can watch some Iditarod Insider video clips because they often show what the markers look like.  There is also an interesting clip in the 2006 archived videos called: Behind the Scenes – Trail Stakes, which is in the behind the scenes part of the videos. (02/24/2006)

No one wants to get lost, but sometimes the wind and snow can hide markers or hide the trail.  Sometimes in the dark, a musher misses a trail marker.  Most of the time, the musher and the team find their way back to the trail because they notice they aren’t seeing any trail markers.

 Anyone can get lost.  It is something that can happen. 

I hope you never get lost, but I am guessing a couple of you have gotten lost before so you know the feeling!  I have even gotten lost before, mostly because I wasn’t listening to my human or paying attention.  In the real world, anyone can get lost! If you move to a brand new school, you might get lost at school.  Maybe you’ve been on a car ride with a family member and the driver has gotten on the wrong road and gotten lost.  Getting lost happens. 

My best advice is if you get lost, stay calm and think carefully using your common sense.

Because getting lost happens, take a few minutes today and talk about plans that you can make if you are ever lost.  Think about what you should do to stay safe.  Make a plan and talk about your plan with your family. 

Getting lost happens, so let’s try to figure out ways to not get lost, but if we do, to stay safe.

Just spinning some de’tails’!

Libby