Hugh Neff is just dropping onto Puntilla Lake as I type this and upload some pictures. While Martin Buser, Mike Williams and Aliy Zirkle ( Early Zirkle ) are resting in Rainy. Kelly Maixner is the surprise leader at this point, closely followed by Nick Petit. Nick himself was one of those surprise front runners last year. Both mushers are trying to escape the heat of the day. If they make it over Rainy Pass before the sun fully comes up, they should be able to run in the shade for most of the way down Dalzell. I was tempted to chase after them with the snowmachine, but than I get into a long internet dead spot all the way to Nikolai, so I stay here.

Aliy’s pants were caked in ice, from about knee deep. I guess she missed the bridge. Martin Buser could not even remember it and also Mike Williams commented on how his dogs went beside it, and him jumping ” this huge crack “, but next thing he was over the bad spot, and stayed dry. Martin said it was incredibly slick and fast and that there was not much room for error, never mind precision steering. 

Finnbear Lake, also called Helicopter Lake, boasted some signs promising hot water there. Last year for the first time in a long time nobody was out there. But as it looks, for now, everybody is moving and not stopping there. There is a gap of about 15 miles for the next teams arriving. 

It is very nice to see Mike Williams do as well as he does. This is his 5th Iditarod. And Mike is very happy how his team is looking. His runtime from Finger Lake was 39 minutes faster than Martin Buser. That is no chunk change, that is quite a bit on such a short run.