Iditarod Trailbreakers just reached Shaktoolik! The trailbreaker is a snowmachine that goes ahead of the sled dog runners. Behind the trailbreaker are 3 other snowmachiners who are the "stakers." They place stakes all along the trail.
He travels on to the Shak Checkpoint. The stakers are soon to follow. I made the mistake of waving at them, and they looked at me like I needed help or their attention. I tried my best to hand signal them that I was okay and just saying "hi." I learned my lesson--sometimes you have to let people do their job! And it might look suspicious when you are out in the middle of the tundra by yourself with no snowmachine.
The bags of each musher are piled outside of the Shaktoolik Armory. They have all of the food and provisions that the mushers shipped out before the race began. Who knows what the bag holds--Clif bars? Dog food? Frozen pizza? Whatever the mushers and dogs like to eat, I guess!
The official Iditarod plane lands on the Tagoominick River next to town. It's pretty awesome watching the tiny aircraft fight against the Shaktoolik winds. The pilot had to make a couple of passes before it was safe enough to touch down (notice how I got a nice shot with the Iditarod trail marker in it).
Lots of planes in the Unalakleet airport. I was in Unalakleet this weekend training at the District Office. The airport was packed with all kinds of different planes belonging to Iditarod spectators/afficiandos. We left right before the mushers made it in to Unalakleet, but the Stebbins group got to see Jeff King make it in. This was especially cool for them because the Iditarod doesn't run through Stebbins. I knew that I would just have to wait about 10 hours for the musher to make it to Shak!
What would have life been like in Unalakleet? During the training I stayed at some extra apartments where the Unalakleet teachers stay. Compared to my pad in Shak, they aren't nearly as posh.
But hey, Lance Mackey is only 10 miles outside of Shaktoolik and I can hear the whole village migrating to checkpoint. I've got to go get in on the action! I'll try to take some excellent, Iditarod quality pictures without getting mauled by race dogs. Notice that it is almost midnight, the wind is howling, the musher and dogs have already gone 700 miles, and they will probably press on through the night across the sea ice to Koyuk. Iditarod mushers might be the most hardcore people I ever get to see!
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