Mitch was visibly tired. Who would blame him. These early wee hours of the morning are tough. He did not declare his 8 hr and said he was going to stay for a little bit. That can mean 2 hrs or 5 hrs. He lost quite a bit of time to his son Dallas Seavey. They left one minute apart in Cripple, and where Dallas ran straight through, Mitch decided to camp. It’s only the mushers who see their team, and something in the team must have not wanted Mitch to do a 9.5 hr run out of Cripple. Dallas came off his 24 hr in Cripple, Mitch only off a  4hr rest. That could make the difference right there. Mitch does his ” signature watch check ” every time he pulls into a checkpoint. That tells you a lot, how focused he is on runtimes. Not many mushers ever look at their watch when they check in, a few ask for their time while checking in. 

Looking at schedules, resting here does not set Mitch up very well to avoid the heat of the day. Personally I think Aliy Zirkle is on a really good schedule, as she should get to Galena before noon, and then can shut the team down for a nice 8 hour rest. With it being projected to be warm and sunny, the dogs can tank some vitamin D, whereas when running, the sun is more of an enemy for a sled dog team. With Brent pulling over to Camp at 3 a.m. he would leave that spot at 7 a.m., then run through Galena and camp out somewhere again, before it gets too hot. Camping out on the Yukon River could be tricky, but so far it has been beautifully calm. Also about 12 miles out of Galena, the trail this year leaves the Yukon River, due to open water at Bishop Rock, and it should be less windy overland.  Being able to run by the watch, is a huge advantage of avoiding checkpoints. 

Here some shots of Mitch Seavey arriving: