Iditarod Training Update--Ultimate Iditarod

We had a really fun run today! The fresh snow is weighing all the trees down and bending them out over the trail. This provides some entertainment for us mushers on the long runs. I was driving the rear team so I got to watch my dad drive under every low hanging tree, scrape through it, and get about 20 pounds of snow deposited right down the back of his neck. Of course, by the time I got there the tree would be relieved of the weight of the snow so it would spring back up two or three feet and I could then cruise under with little or no incident.

Sometimes though the tree wouldn’t go up far enough so I would end up hunkered behind the snowmachine’s windshield, eyes squeezed shut trying to keep from getting slapped in the face by the renegade sticks that were springing back off the windshield. It is really hard to gauge distance when you have your eyes shut and your head buried in the handlebars so I never knew if it was safe to look up yet or not. Sometimes I would end up riding several hundred yards before I would get the gumption to stick my head up.

We also encountered our first overflow of the year. Hazard Creek had about three inches of slushy water on top of the ice so it was just enough to get the booties wet but that was about it. It is really fun when you get waste deep overflow. In that kind of water the musher gets soaked, the dogs get soaked, the sled gets soaked, the … well you get the idea.

This photo shows frozen "overflow" on the Unalakleet River on the Iditarod race trail.

Overflow occurs when too much water flows down an ice-covered river or stream. Essentially, the "pipe" formed by the riverbed and the ice on top is too small if the flow suddenly increases. As a result, water runs over the top of the ice. Sometimes the water is only a few inches deep. Other times the water is several feet deep. When the weather is very cold, the overflow can freeze and form a second layer of "false ice" above the true ice of the river. This ice can be thin, and mushers and dogs can fall through and get wet in the overflow beneath if they are not careful.

I signed up for the Jr. Iditarod yesterday. Counting my brother, Dallas, and me there are 12 kids entered at this point. This number will still go up some but at least this gives me and idea for how much competition there will be. Cali King and Hannah Moderow, last year’s second and third place finishers, have already both signed up for this year.