Iditarod
Ten hours and fifty-seven minutes after departing Kaltag, Nic Petit brought thirteen dogs into Unalakleet. He was welcomed by a crowd of Gold Coast residents. It was plenty warm and as the clouds thinned, it felt balmy. Some of the children were in shirt sleeves as they scampered up and down the berms plowed up …
The Back of the Pack is making steady progress to the Yukon River. Iditarod has once again returned to ghost town status. The last time it was populated was in 2013 when Iditarod followed the southern route to Nome. Back in its day, Iditarod was a town of 10,000 and the heart of the Iditarod …
Kaltag is an inland village that sits on the edge of the Yukon River. It’s history lies in gold, trading and hardship. Athabascans had hunting and fishing camps in the area near where the village of Kaltag is now located. They traded with the Inupiat coastal residents. In turn the Inupiat traded with the Russians. …
Flying from Iditarod to Kaltag, Bruce Lee sits behind me, scanning the land for animal tracks. After spending many winters subsisting off the Kobuk River, Bruce is always on the lookout for food roaming the land. If he should ever be stranded somewhere, it’s good to know where a meal might be walking around. …
As the first team to Kaltag, Nicolas Petit received the Bristol Bay Corporation First Fish Award. Petit arrived in Kaltag at 19:45 behind 14 spirited dogs. Insider Commentator Bruce Lee called the team energized and in fantastic shape, even one of the best he’s ever seen at this point of the race. Petit parked and …
The checkpoint of Unalakleet is coming together. The light on the internet modem is solid green, a good omen for communicating race stats. The drop bags have been sorted and are in perfect alphabetical order right behind the checkpoint. As mushers come off the river and onto the slough, their bags are taken down to …
It’s s bright sunny day (Saturday March 10) in Unalakleet. From the photo above, it looks like it’s still snowing in Iditarod. The IAF pilots were eating breakfast early anticipating a busy day of transporting personnel, supplies and dropped dogs. With snow on the Southern route and on the Yukon River, some of the checkpoints …
The best strategies of mushers are only successful if Mother Nature allows. The fickle woman is creating havoc along the Yukon River and the southern section of the trail. Folks dependent on air travel are sitting in Iditarod hoping the persistent snow will cease and visibility will improve to allow the IAF access to the …
The PenAir Saab 340 from McGrath to Unalakleet was mostly filled with Iditarod volunteers. Some were drop dog people, some were vets and some were comms. All will fill a variety of Iditarod support positions in checkpoints along the Yukon River or in Norton Sound Villages. At any rate, we are far ahead of the …
It’s another partly cloudy day with snow showers in McGrath. Population of the checkpoint is down to one. Tom Schonberger and his handsome Siberians will depart at 10:47. Tara Cicatello departed earlier this morning at 08:40. Both are rookies seeing the Iditarod trail for the first time. Tara and Tom spent time during their long …
