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Kate Newmyer 2024 Teacher on the Trail
Iditarod 2024 is a wrap. I’m seated on the late evening “banquet flight” with volunteers, mushers, their families, and the Nome-Beltz High School boys basketball team on their way to the state tournament. It’s a 737 packed to the wingtips with stories, memories, tears, laughter, triumph, new friendships and quite a few Iditarod trophies and …
Why is the Red Lantern so important? The Lynden “Committed Through the Last Mile” Red Lantern Award recognizes the musher to make the last run from Safety to Nome. It symbolizes perseverance and commitment to finishing, even though there are challenges. This morning at 2:22 am, I greeted Jeff Reid as he and his dogs …
Imagine a thick quilt, covered in many squares, patches and fabrics, with layers of warm fiber nestled through, sewn together with thread. On this trip I’ve met so many people who are the threads holding the history of a place together. Their stories weave in and out of the fabric of time. Change happens, and …
Happy Pi Day! It was another beautiful day in Nome Alaska, and I am celebrating Pi Day by sharing all the ways that Iditarod is associated with pie. I mean pi. Well, actually, I mean both! Pi is the ratio of the circumference of any circle divided by the diameter of that circle. Pi is …
The Iditarod is an amazing role model for building relationships. It’s one of the few cultures I’ve been in where friendships form instantly, dogs melt your heart on an hourly basis, and the wide open landscapes of ice, snow, and mountains take your breath away and make you want to linger for a day or …
Today Dallas Seavey won the 2024 Iditarod, earning a record-breaking six championships. He crossed the finish line under the Burled Arch at 5:16 pm Alaska time with ten dogs. Dallas honored his lead dogs Aero and Timon, saying, “they brought the team home for everyone.” It was amazing to be right on Front Street in …
I arrived in Nome today and actually got to see the finish line! I was with another new friend, a veterinarian, and we were walking through town to see what we could see. We headed down the hill—and there it was! The Finish banner! It felt surreal! The sign was up and there was the …
All eyes have been glued on the tracker today as the Iditarod starts to set up in anticipation the top five finishers’ order. Checkpoint denizens will mentally calculate the time it will take for the musher to arrive, based on GPS data from the unit each musher carries. The trail down to Unalakleet is long, …
Today was an amazing travel day. While mushers cruised along the Yukon River at 5-8 miles per hour on average, they were able to appreciate individual trees dripping with snow, fallen branches, the craggy edges of river bends—all the details of a magnificent, slow journey by dog team. Instead, today I got a bird’s eye …
I’ve been at Galena for about 27 hours now. In that time I’ve observed many interactions that help me understand better what community means. Here are some examples: Charlotte, who lives in this remote Alaskan village, brought moose soup for the mushers. Robert and Katie, volunteers, attend the comms desk and do a great job …