Five and a half hours out of the chute, Ryne camped on trail between Yentna Station and Skwenta. It was a 3 hour rest and the trackers show Aliy Zirkle joined her here.

Ryne took her second rest outside of Finger Lake checkpoint for 4 hours where Cody Strathe camped, as well. Around 8:30 in the morning, the team took off to tackle the stretch between Finger Lake to Rainy Pass. It’s 29 miles between these two checkpoints and is one tough run. Mushers often aim to tackle it in the day light.

Leaving Finger Lake checkpoint, the trail takes a steep climb over a ridge toward a lake. The team gets a mile or two along it before swinging up a ravine and hitting a series of climbs.

This puts the team 10 miles out from Finger Lake checkpoint and at the dreaded Happy river steps, a series of downs into the river.
They’ll follow Happy River, climb up another ravine, cross two lakes, and finally finish running along the steep sloping mountainside. These are two particularly difficult stretches of hillside trail in the last 8 miles before Rainy Pass.

Rainy Pass checkpoint is located on Puntilla Lake in the heart of the Alaska Range. Leaving here, the team will cross Rainy Pass itself—the highest point on the Iditarod.

Now, it’s 24 hours into the race! Ryne and the dogs are currently camping in the Rainy Pass itself and we’ve heard it really pretty out there!