People, Places, or Dogs
Have you ever wondered where the word or name Iditarod came from? I’ve heard 3 explanations. First, Iditarod was a word used by Athabascans that meant FAR DISTANT PLACE. Second, Iditarod was a word from another indigenous language that meant CLEAR WATER. Finally, a ROD is a measure of distance and so one miner might …
Master of the Yentna Station Roadhouse, Dan Gabryszak, succumbed to cancer on January 12, 2021 just eight days after being diagnosed. Dan and his wife Jean have called the lodge on the big bend of the Yentna River home for forty years. Early on, the Jr. Iditarod asked the Gabryszaks to host a checkpoint and …
On Saturday, December 18, the 2021 Iditarod Rookie Musher Meeting took place via ZOOM. An Iditarod “rookie” is someone who hasn’t completed the Iditarod. As of the writing of this article, there are 15 rookie mushers signed up for Iditarod 2021.They hail from Alaska, Wisconsin, and even Canada and France. Four of them are …
When Diane Johnson became director of Iditarod Education in the fall of 2005, the program was in its infancy. Today as Diane passes the roll onto a new director, the program is well-developed and serving educators and students around the world. It reminds me of a photo I captured a year ago in Katmai. A …
Photo guy Julien Schroder captured shots of Aliy Zirkle, Matt Hall and Paige Drobny between Safety and Nome. Of great note is the open sea. Mushers are re-routed into Nome as it’s not feasible to follow the tradition route on the sea ice from Safety to access Front Street in Nome.
There are many aspects of Iditarod that make the event quite astonishing, not the least of which is the aspect of team work. Right now race photo-guys Julien Schroeder and Jeff Schultz are snowed in at McGrath and Rainy Pass respectively. I’ve shared out some of Jeff’s earlier photos as Eye on the Trail: Schultz …
Brian Hickox from Massachusetts has begun his duties as the 21stIditarod Teacher on the Trail™. Brian has been at summer teachers camp and has been a key presenter, sharing lessons and activities he uses with students in his classroom. Brian is an 8th grade English Language Arts teacher. Brian is an energetic, compassionate, humorous, passionate and engaging …
Summer days are supposed to be leisurely but the teacher’s at Iditarod Summer Teacher’s Camp, have been intensely busy. So much to experience and learn and only ten days to do it! Katie Mangelsdorf, author of Champion of Huskies, shared stories of Iditarod’s visionary and founder, Joe Redington, Jr. Before writing the book, Mangelsdorf spent …
There’s plenty of anticipation in Alaska’s Iditarod this final week of June. Teachers at Iditarod Teacher’s Summer Camp are anticipating soaking up a ton of knowledge on using Iditarod as a theme for education. Brian Hickox is anticipating the excitement and his responsibilities as the 2019 Iditarod Teacher on the Trail™. Mushers, both rookies and …
Heidi Sloan, a fifth grade teacher from Virginia, will serve as the 20th Iditarod Teacher on the Trail™. Heidi arrived in Alaska for the 2017 Iditarod Summer Teacher’s Camp. During the next two weeks she’ll participate in training for her duties on the trail during the 2018 Iditarod and participate in Teacher’s Summer Camp picking …
