The checkpoint in Skwentna was filling up quickly. I was surprised to see Dallas Seavey pull in. I would have guessed that he camped out on the way to Skwentna. His dad Mitch did. Robert Buntzen, Michael Williams Jr and Aliy Zirkle all pulled in shortly after.

In the meantime Cym Smyth and Nicolas Petit were just loading up to go through the checkpoint. While Cym’s dogs waited patiently, the ones of Nicolas were a bit more vocal. Before the race I got to look at his team roster, and there is a lot of young dogs in that team, many aged 2. Nicolas was feeding them human grade chicken legs quipping” Sebastian you want to throw one on the BBQ? “. The dogs who did not eat the chicken leg, he tried to snack with Salmon. Salmon is a good food in this ” heat “, gives good hydration to the dogs.  Cym’s team has some nice size dogwise. Big male Dogs. He did not go far out of the checkpoint, whereas Nicolas was still moving when I passed him, or better said, tried passing him, my first attempt with that was not so successful. Good thing Nicolas was patient with me and stopped so I could get by. 

As usual there is a big bonfire at Shell Lake, about 21 Miles from Skwentna. The first team there, usually gets an envelope with an ” unofficial ” first to Shell Lake prize. The trail into Skwentna was hard, smooth and fast. Well hard and fast the trail to Finger Lake also. The smooth part is somewhat lacking. It was a very bumpy ride over. On the upside the northern lights were out.

Looking at some runtimes, Hugh Neff is moving pretty quick. 3hrs and 6 minutes is a fast time to Skwenta. It took Allen Moore over 5 hrs, as he camped out for a couple of hours. Mike William Jr and Robert Sorlie were only 2 minutes slower with 3 hrs 8 minutes. Ketil also pretty quick with 3 hrs 10min. Dallas Seavey, Aliy Zirkle, Jeff King, Joar Leifseth Ulsom and Dee Dee Jonrowe are notably slower with close to 3 hrs 30 min runtime, which is still fast. They all seem to be holding their teams back at bit more. Usually not a bad thing on day one. 

As I write this, looking at the tracker, both Nicolas Petit and Hug Neff are still moving. Both have not rested yet and thus begin Iditarod 44 with a hundred plus mile run ( Nick Mile 104, Hugh Mile 99 ). That is a huge contrast to somebody like Travis Beals who I talked to back in Yentna. When I asked him if he had camped this early before, he said ” No, I did not get many good runs in before the race, with all the packing, so I have to start conservatively”. Big differences in how the teams run. Nicolas is now pulled over 18.5 miles from Finger Lake. Right from the starting line, he had been carrying a full bale of straw. A normally unusual move, yet with the fast trails, carrying a bit of extra weight sure did not hurt. He will have a nice campout under clear skies. Its warm out, did not look at my thermometer, but it’s ” no hand warmer weather ” on the iron dog.

Here some shots of Skwentna, time to get a quick nap….

Enjoy the late evening shots: