John Norris, Chief Iditarod pilot had to fly from Nome out to Safety to deliver some drop dog papers.  There was room in the Cessna 180 for Handler to go along.   While they were at the checkpoint, Ramey Smith came through and dropped a dog by the name of Happy.  That left Ramey with 5 dogs, the minimum necessary to finish the race.  We loaded Happy into the Cessna where he immediately curled up on the engine cover and went to sleep.  From Safety, John and Handler headed back toward White Mountain looking for a herd of Musk Ox.  They saw the herd as well as several red fox running along the trail.  After sighting the Musk Ox, they circled out over the Bering Sea looking for seals.  They saw several soaking up sun on the sea ice.  As soon as the Cessna flew low for a better look, the seals dove through their holes back into the sea.  Those seals are slippery critters!  Flying back to Nome, they saw a large herd of Reindeer.  They also flew over some abandoned locomotives and a gold dredge which remain from the 1898 gold strike.  What a great day around Safety!

From White Mountain, it’s only 77 miles to Nome BUT if the wind blows or a storm hits, the 77 miles can be the most dangerous of the whole Iditarod Trail.  The highest ridge between White Mountain and Safety is Topkok at 500 feet above sea-level.  The trip to the summit is wide open to the wind and look out for ground blizzards.  I had to ask what a ground blizzard was and this is what I learned.  In a regular blizzard, there is precipitation that is being blown about.  In a ground blizzard, there isn’t any precipitation falling instead, the wind is blowing snow and ice crystals that are already on the ground.  This area is also known for its wind tunnels called “blow holes.”  In Trail Notes, Don Bowers warns that mushers and dogs can be in the midst of hurricane force winds with blowing snow and suddenly enter into a calm area.  Winds can go from calm to hurricane force within an hour or quit just as quickly.  Don’s best advice is to follow the markers if the visibility is bad.  Dogs will tend to turn away from the wind which means they’ll be running out over the beach onto the sea ice.  DON”T cross the driftwood line on the beach as open water lies not far off shore.  BE CAREFUL when visibility is bad.  It’s not a bad idea to make the run in daylight or hole up in either the Nome Kennel Club’s cabin or Tommy Johnson’s cabin.

With the burled arch in Nome only 22 miles away, most mushers don’t stop long in Safety.  But if they go inside for a bowl of soup, a cup of coffee, to wait out a storm or to use the facilities, they’ll find the walls covered with dollar bills – there must be a thousand of them.  It seems that long ago a tradition was established.  When visiting the Safety Roadhouse at any time of the year, sign a dollar bill then staple or tape it to the wall.  Before leaving Safety, the checker hands the musher his or her bib to wear when crossing the finish line.

There you have it – some good advice from trail expert Don Bowers for the trail between White Mountain and Safety along with stories about Handler’s experiences at Safety.  A couple of hours after leaving Safety, mushers will be running down Front Street in Nome to cross under the burled arch.  Stay tuned as Handler tells us about Nome.  Remember, in everything do you best every day and have a plan.

Born to Run,
Sanka

 

Looking at the map we have in the kennel, I expected that handler would be telling us about what goes on in the checkpoint of Golovin – but Golovin isn’t a checkpoint!  Golovin (GULL-uh-vin) was a checkpoint at one time but because the distance between Elim and White Mountain is only 46 miles, the trail committee decided it wasn’t necessary to have a three checkpoints such a short distance apart.  I was curious about the village along the trail that isn’t a checkpoint so I asked Handler a few question.  She said that Inupiaq Eskimos live in the village.  In the early 1800’s Russian Navy Vice-Admiral Vasily Golovnin explored the bay and lagoon that now hold his name.  Did you notice the difference in spelling?  The bay and lagoon are spelled exactly like the explorer’s name but the village uses the spelling “Golovin”.  If you’re interested, you can learn more about Golovin in Wikipedia.  Today there are 140 people who live there. Forty-nine are students who attend Martin L. Olson School for grades K-12.

When Jeff and the little dog left Elim, they headed along the shore to a spot called Walla Walla.  Here the trail crosses a peninsula and climbs over the Kwiktalik Mountains.  The highest point that the mushers reach as 1,000 feet above sea level at LIttle McKinley  Trail expert, Don Bowers, says this is the toughest climb on the last half of the trail.  With Elim in the sled, Jeff ran up one side and down the other side of the mountains to Golovnin Bay.  Today, as Golovin is no longer a race checkpoint, the trail runs by the village then follows the snowmachine route across Golovnin Lagoon and up the Fish river to White Mountain.  More than likely, it was at Golovin that Jeff tried to contact the pup’s family to ask about adoption.

White Mountain is the only village on the Seward Peninsula that is located inland from the Bering Sea.  Two Hundred and three people live in the Inupiag Eskimo village.  The culture has been influenced by neighboring Yupik Eskimos as well as the Klondike Gold Rush.  Present day White Mountain began as a fish camp named Nutchirviq which means “mountain look-up point.”  During the gold rush of 1900, a warehouse for mining supplies was the first non-Native built structure.  After that an orphanage that later became a school was built followed by the Covenant Church.  The post office opened in 1932.  The current grade school meets in the oldest operating school building in Alaska.  Fire destroyed the high school building in early 2006.  A new school was built on the southern edge of town for the White Mountain Wolves.  Forty-nine students go to school in White Mountain.

Some folks in White Mountain hold jobs with the school, native store, post office, city and airlines.  Some folks work seasonally in construction and firefighting.  There is one reindeer farm and some residents hold commercial fishing permits.  Ivory and bone carvings; knitting, crocheting and skin sewing also bring income to a few homes.  Depending on subsistence hunting and fishing, many people spend their whole summer at fish camp to harvest salmon and other fish.  Beluga whale, seal, moose, reindeer, caribou and brown bear are commonly eaten along with berries, greens and home grown vegetables.  About half of the homes in White Mountain are on water and sewer.  The other half have water but use honey buckets and outdoor toilets.

There are no roads to White Mountain so travel and deliveries are by boat and plane.  Locals travel by snowmachine or ATV depending on the season.  Average summer temperatures fall between 43 and 80 degrees.  Winter temperatures range from 7 below to 15 above. White Mountain receives about 15 inches of precipitation with about 5 feet of snow.  If you lived at White Mountain you could expect rain or snow 120 days of the year and sun on 150 days.

When mushers reach White Mountain, they are required to take an 8 hour rest before they make the final push to Nome, 77 miles away.  The checkpoint building is up the hill beyond the Native Store.  Teams park on the shore of the river.  School kids come down to collect autographs and talk to the mushers.  Villagers come down to the river to talk with their friends and enjoy what’s going on.  Everyone enjoys the view of nearby mountain for which the village is named.

Well there you have it – a summary of Don Bower’s trail description and compiled information about Golovin and White Mountain from Wikipedia, each village’s home page and Alaska’s Online Community Data Base.  About now the mushers are both excited to be so close to Nome and yet sad that their personal Iditarod Journey is nearly finished.  Stay tuned as Handler tells us about Topkok and Safety.  Remember, in everything do your best every day and alway have a plan.

Born to Run,
Sanka