Update on the Trail

Good morning everyone! Jan is almost to Rohn Roadhouse, the check point at mile 168. Rohn, population 0 (as in no one lives there), was historically the location of an original Iditarod Trail Roadhouse, a place for dog teams hauling mail or other cargo to stop and rest. There is no roadhouse there any more though. The check point is a cabin that was built in the 1930s.

We've received a message from Jan from two check points back, at mile 108:

"A slog into Finger Lake - soft, deep trenches which resulted in losing a GPS. Dogs are doing great, still have 16. My feet are so sore! Iditarows (aka corn rows) are taking a beating...bets on if they'll make it to Nome. Having dinner at Winterlake Lodge. Preparing for the Steps....10 miles up the trail from Finger Lake. Plan to leave about 6pm this evening. Traveling with Angie Taggart.  Yours truly, Jan Steves" 

Let's take a look at the topographical map of the race route. First, you can see that musher number 43 is right with Jan. That is Bob Chlupach. I think Jan and Bob and Angie are pretty much sticking together for this race. I wonder if that will still be the case when they get closer to Nome? Hmmm. Jan is the competitive sort and I'm pretty sure she doesn't want a second Red Lantern.

Next, you can see Jan is at mile 167 and the altitude there is 1479.7 feet. Rainy Pass is over 3000 feet in elevation, so she is coming down out of the mountains and will soon be on the flatlands of interior Alaska. You can see at two check points back she would have just reached the mountains. Pretty cool! Literally! You can see the temperature at Rohn is 34.2F. Once onto the flats the temperature will drop dramatically. Aliy Zirkle is at the next check point (Nikolai) and the temperature there is 19.3F. Brrrr for you and me, but great for the dogs.

Yesterday afternoon lots of mushers were at Rainy Pass together, and they were all resting "in the heat of the day" because it was just too warm for the doggies to run uphill through the pass when it was 35F. Come to think of it, since the mushers are often running along beside the dogs on the uphill, it would have been too warm for them to run as well.

One really exciting opportunity for Iditarod spectators is to fly from Anchorage in little planes up to Rainy Pass where they can watch the mushers come through the check point. Everything I read says the scenery there is stunningly beautiful. I had hoped to see for myself last year, however a storm moved into the mountains and all the flights were cancelled. The potential problem they were worried about was getting a bunch of tourists stranded up there in a remote mountain location without adequate food or shelter. I was disappointed, but I guess if an experienced Alaskan bush pilot doesn't want to fly somewhere, then it's probably wise to stay home.   posted by CindyK