Newsletter
I was the 4th team out of six to leave the checkpoint. We tried to space ourselves out so we would not be right on top of each other. As I dropped down onto the river my stomach went hollow. The wind was unbelievably loud and violent. I was obviously not the only one intimidated by these conditions. The three teams that left in front of me were moving about the speed of molasses. We were all lined up, one after another, moving very slowly. My dogs however were barking and wanting me to take my foot off the brake. I had to stop repeatedly to keep my distance from the teams in front of me. After about an hour of this, and we had traveled just a couple of miles, I decided I needed to be the lead team and keep moving. I discussed this with Tim Osmar who was guiding Rachael Scdoris. Tim was the senior-most musher having run the Iditarod 23 times in a row. His opinion was that my team looked quite impressive and that he felt I should go in front and not stop until I get to Eagle Island. He assured me that he was not going back and if I ran into trouble they would eventually catch me. I was nervous to head out on my own into a storm that was no less than 100 times worse than anything else I had ever experienced. However, my dogs did look exceptionally good so we took off. I instantly was traveling at least 2 mph faster. Within 25 minutes of running I had already lost sight of the other teams and that was the last time I saw them for over 24 hours.
I had every piece of clothing with me on and that all was covered up by a wind suit. I had goggles on with a neck gator and my hood cinched down tight. As a standard piece of equipment we all have fur ruffs around our hood. When you cinch your hood it tightens the fur around you face and you end up with a 6” circle. This is all you have exposed and you truly have tunnel vision. The wind had created an endless supply of three to four foot snowdrifts. They were soft enough to break through but every time the sled would travel through the drift it would slow our momentum. The team would pick back up and another drift would slow us down. The further we went the more frequent the drifts became. As close as five feet in between them and no more than 20 feet apart. There were no distinguishing characteristics about the trail. The whole river looked the same. It was the occasional remaining trail marker that gave confidence that we were headed in the right direction. The river is anywhere from ½ miles wide to 2 miles wide. Occasionally we would come to an intersection of one river feeding another. In the winter it just looks like another highway of snow. Staying on the Yukon meant staying alive. We traveled for about two hours after leaving the group. I stopped the team and fed out a quick meal. I had a cooler full of food that I was carrying with me. If you feed it before too long it will not freeze. When I dished it out it was already a little frozen. By the time I walked to the next dog the food began to freeze and if a dog did not eat instantly the food froze in less than one minute. I stopped for about ½ hr total. I was kind of dragging my feet because I could see a long way from where I stopped and it was out of the direct wind. It was only blowing 20 to 30 mph were we stopped. I was hoping to see a glimpse of another dog team coming towards me before moving on. After 30 minutes and no sign I decided it would be best to move on. I could not help but think that if they had not turned around I surely should have seen them after waiting ½ hour. I was alone at that point running up the middle of the Yukon in one of the worst storms in Iditarod history. It was time to focus and play the tough guy card.
We kept moving and the only piece of information that I had about this stretch of trail was that we would be passing by an old barn and a few buildings on the left. It was an old camp they called Blackburn I was told that this was about halfway to Eagle Island. Well after about 6 hrs on the trail we passed what I figured was Blackburn. We were about ¾ of a mile across the river from the buildings. Part of me was excited to see this and know that we must be half way. However the fact was that we had been running for six hrs and we were only halfway. I stopped shortly at a bend in the river. We were close to shore and it was as out of the wind as it was going to get. I fed the dogs again, changed some booties and checked their coats over to make sure they were protected. Dogs can get frostbite as well. Their genitals are most susceptible and we use fleece blankets that drape across their bellies to protect them. These Belly Bands, as they are called, are replaceable and once they get wet we change them. We wasted no time and once I finished inspecting the welfare of the team we moved on.