24 in Takotna

Good morning Ryno Kennel fans!  I apologize for the radio silence last night. There’s been lots of activity since yesterday morning both here and on the trail!  Tessa and I ran all our six and seven month old puppies yesterday, and we’re busily preparing for our adventure trips coming up just a week after Ryne returns from Iditarod.  But, enough about home life, and on to the trail!

Yesterday morning I left you with Ryne resting in Nikolai.  She has since hit the trail, made it all the way to Takotna, and (I’m assuming, so don’t quote me on this) taking her 24 hour layover.  For any fans that aren’t sure of all the ins and outs of Alaska’s premier long distance dog race, mushers are required to take two layovers, a 24 hour layover anywhere they choose, and an 8 hour layover somewhere along the Yukon River. 

I had thought that Ryne would run straight from Nikolai to McGrath, forgetting that Takotna – and her 24 – is less than twenty miles from McGrath.  So, rather than running Nikolai to McGrath, Ryne treated the run as Nikolai to Takotna, making it about seventy miles total.  This meant that she would need to camp along the way, as she’s been consistently keeping the dogs’ runs at about 40 miles or less.  It looks like she took 3 or 4 hours along the trail, and then continued on to Takotna blowing through McGrath.  

And now we wait. Ryne got into Takotna just after 10 PM last night, so we’ve got a little while until she starts moving again. 

If any of you have seen pictures of Ryne, videos or articles, please don’t hesitate to share!  I’ve been scouring the internet, but the more eyes on the prize the better!