From minus 33 degrees at sunrise, the temperature peaked around 10 this afternoon. The sky was clear, the sun shown brightly and there was wind but the checkpoint, sheltered by trees was without the wind chill the mushers moving to Takotna experienced. It was just a perfect day for the dogs and mushers to rejuvenate.

Chewing necklines - a great pastime

The routine for the 24-hour layover is fairly standard between mushers. Upon arriving, the dogs are given straw. The musher gets water and begins cooking up some broth. Booties are removed and the soup is served. Mushers spend the next hour or so interacting with the dogs, massaging their wrists and shoulders and applying liniment and wrist wraps. Next comes dinner- dry kibble and maybe beaver, fish, lamb or other red meat. The dogs are covered and left to sleep while the musher goes inside to eat and sleep. In the 24 hour rest period, the dogs will eat 3 high calorie meals and enjoy a 4th soupy meal before heading back out to the trail. The dogs have developed a 6-hour clock so it’s not uncommon to see a whole team standing, playing or digging in the straw during the day long rest. The mushers will fuss over each dog at every meal – a little more liniment on a wrist, massage a shoulder, scratch behind ears and general good dog encouragement.

After sleeping for a few hours then going out to feed his team, Trent Herbst was surprised to find a few of his dogs standing lose around the gangline. After waking from their first nap, they were antsy and had to find something to do. Chewing necklines is a favorite past time and so they did. Trent is thrilled with how well his dogs are doing on the trail. He says that the trip down the Happy River Steps, over Rainy Pass, down the Dalzell Gorge and across the Farewell Burn were the easiest of his four Iditarod Races. He came into McGrath 14 hours ahead of his schedule. Trent and a young village boy who was serving as a dog handler sat inside the checkpoint eating M&M’s talking about the run through Takotna to Ophir. With a current stat sheet in front of them they estimated it would take about 5 hours to cover the 43 miles. Looking at his adjusted out time of half past midnight, Trent commented that it would be cold then but he’d be in Ophir by the time the thermometer bottomed out for the night time hours. He pulled the hook and dropped down onto the Kuskokwim River at 00:34, stopped briefly in Takotna then arrived in Ophir at 05:35. It can’t get much closer to five hours than that.

Siberian Husky peek-a-boo

Karen Ramstead scratch in McGrath sighting personal reasons. Her dogs were in great spirits coming into the checkpoint. Undoubtedly, her Siberian Huskies are some of the most beautiful dogs at McGrath and anywhere along the Iditarod Trail. As villagers stopped by the checkpoint, they all gravitated toward her team to admire her handsome team. Handsome is as handsome does is a proverb meaning character and behavior are more important than appearance. It seems though with Karen’s dogs, they have it all – good looks, strong character and stellar behavior.