Here we are with another trail talk and today’s letter “T” is all about the top ten! What a race it has been these last few days and we are watching tirelessly to see what transpires. At this time, Jessie Holmes is out of Elim and on his way to Golovin. By the time you read this on Tuesday he will most likely be in White Mountain for the mandatory 8 hour layover.
Travis Beals is toughing it out right behind him approximately ten miles. Travis stated that he would love to pull his dogs from the straw and if they were a machine with a throttle, he would. But his dogs needed rest and their treatment comes first. He admits that he is running out of time. Wade Marrs is trailing not far from Travis, choosing to camp rather than use the checkpoints at all. He has spent a total of 22 minutes total in 3 of the last 4 checkpoints. Paige Drobny is definitely not throwing in the towel. She explained that the trail has just been slow ever since leaving Takotna. It seems that every run has taken more time because of it. The trail ahead is extremely hilly with tons of time spent walking behind the sled. Teams must be tough to get through this section toward White Mountain. Typically people talk about Rainy Pass, but it is more gradual, where this is truly difficult. Mille’s team was trucking along and she chose to go through Shaktoolik and camp at a tremendous spot outside the checkpoint. Jeff Deeter was out of Koyuk after 4 hours while Mille, Matt and Riley all remain there as of this moment. Rounding out these ten are Michelle Phillips and Lauro Ecklund out of Shaktoolik traveling on down the trail.
So, it is time to so see what these tremendously talented mushers do in the next 12+ hours. Will they tough it out? Will someone else take the lead? And who will make that turn onto Front Street in Nome first? Your guess is as good as mine. I’m just the Teacher on the Trail… which by the way… this teacher is finally healthy and headed for Nome! The trail finally awaits! Triumph!
“T”eaching Ideas!
- Telling Time- This is the perfect opportunity to use the mushers times to practice telling time, elapsed time, and even converting military time to standard time.
- Temperature- Converting C to F and F to C is always a good skill to practice. Working on subtraction word problems using the differences in temperatures at checkpoints or varying times of day is another possibility.
- Timelines- Have students make timelines of musher careers and races or timelines of how the race has evolved since it’s beginning.
- Trail Mix- Have fun making a snack of trail mix practicing measuring, reading a recipe, and fractions.
- Tundra- Learn about the tundra biome including plants, animals, adaptations, comparing and contrasting other biomes, and survival.
