Trail in the making

There’s snow in the forecast but is it a false alarm or will there be the 4 to 9 inches that are predicted?  At 10:00 pm there’s light rain with the temperature sitting at 38 degrees.  Droves of folks are out on 4th Avenue watching the dump trucks deposit loads of snow on the street to prepare a trail for the Ceremonial Start of Iditarod XLIII.

The sun will rise at about 7:45 on Saturday morning and volunteers will take their places along 4^th Avenue. Not long after that, the mushers will find their assigned parking spots and begin to unload sleds, ganglines and other gear in preparation for the start at 10:00 am. Some will drop their dogs and leave them out. Others will drop them early then put them back into their boxes until it’s closer to their time of departure.

As 10:00 approaches, the buzz on the street will increase 12 fold for every team in the race. Dogs that can’t contain their eagerness to run will be lunging, jumping and barking with sheer excitement at doing what they love.

Excitement will build for the Iditariders who’ll find their mushers, perhaps help bootie the dogs then get tucked securely into the sled for the 11 mile run to the BLM’s Campbell Airstrip.

The 43^rd Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is only a few hours away. Preparations have been going on for months and in some cases years. As the streets are prepared, the countdown is approaching zero.