Day 3 of Iditarod

When Ryne is here at the kennel, she always tells Kalyn and I good morning in an upbeat tone. When she’s gone, we tend to ignore each other until the caffeine kicks in. Today though, our morning lull quickly turned into talking about the race with Derek and how proud we are of the Ryno team!!

At 2:35pm, Ryne left the Nikolai checkpoint. She covered 111 miles since Rainy Pass and conquered the notorious and infamous Dalzell Gorge along the way. Several miles of the tight, twisting trail lead down to the river and drops further into the gorge. It can be a real pinball machine at times. Surviving this part gets the mushers a few miles from Rohn checkpoint.

The stretch from Rohn to Nikolai often has a painful amount of overflow and icy patches. It goes along the South Fork of the Kuskokwim River and covers the Farewell Burn. Farewell Burn is the site of Alaska’s largest forest fire in 1978, affecting a million and half acres. It’s a very tough run but the team made it through for a well-earned rest.

Now, Ryne and the dogs are headed toward McGrath! She left the Nikolai checkpoint with 13 dogs. Uno was left with volunteers due to a swollen tendon, just to be safe. Uno is an incredible sled dog and already has three Yukon Quest races under her belt so this must’ve been a tough decision. But if there is one steady fact about Uno, it’s her positive energy and I bet she‘ll try to lick the faces of anyone that helps her get back home.

It’s been warm out there, reaching near or above freezing point. Dogs don’t run as well in the warm temperatures so many mushers had to slow down during the hottest hours. Not for long though! By Thursday, many parts of the trail will reach subzero values. It’s expected to be as low as -20 and -30! Cooler temperatures will be great for the race.

Photo credit: whitney mclaren photogrApHy

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