It was only by chance that the two teams met on the sea ice.  The serum was handed off and Seppala immediately turned to begin the run back toward Nome.  He took the risky shortcut back over the sea ice toward Golovin.  Late that night, Seppala, Togo and the other dogs needed to eat and rest so they stopped at Issac’s Point fifty miles short of Golovin.  In the morning, after feeding the dogs and resting, Seppala harnessed the team.  Before he could take off an old Eskimo came to him and said that he should run closer to shore rather than use the usual route which ran a few miles out from shore.  The Eskimo was right – the ice that Seppala and Togo had run on just a day earlier had broken up.  At Golovin, Charlie Olson took the serum from Seppala and continued the relay over land toward Nome.    Just a few hours later, the ice which Seppala and Togo had just traveled over broke up and was pushed out to sea by the fierce winds.

If you haven’t read any books about the Serum Run, you really must make that a priority.  I strongly recommend The Cruelest Miles by Salisbury or The Great Serum Race by Miller.  You’ll find out details about the fearless men and teams that carried the life saving serum to Nome the will fill you with awe.  You’ll also learn that Leonard Seppala and Toga traveled 261 miles in the Serum Run.  No other team, not even Balto’s, came close to covering that distance.

Another great piece of history that took place on Norton Bay was in 1985 when Libby Riddles was the first woman to win the Iditarod.  Libby was leading the race when she arrived in Shaktoolik where a fierce storm was pounding the little village on the spit.  She had worked very hard to gain the lead  but she knew how dangerous these coastal storms could be.  Should she wait it out or leave?  The other teams that pulled into Shak were thankful to be out of the storm and couldn’t believe that Libby was preparing to head to Koyuk.  Out on the trail, Libby couldn’t see from one marker to the next so she’d pass a marked and watch it until it nearly disappeared then she’d stop the team, set the snow hook and walk to the next marker then return and bring the team forward.  In the bitter cold and howling wind, Libby did this time and time again so as to not lose the trail or the lead.  Libby says that visibility out on Norton Bay was like trying to make your way through a room filled with baby powder.  As night came, Libby knew she and the dogs needed to eat and rest.  She parked the team beside a very tall marker.  While the dogs burled into the snow and curled into weather proof balls, Libby cleared out the sled bag so she could sleep inside.  The next morning the zipper on the sled bag was frozen shut but Libby found her way out.  The storm remained fierce but the team moved on – marker to marker.  Finally Libby made it to Koyuk.  Libby was so glad to be off Norton Bay, she kissed the snow bank and hugged all her courageous dogs.  They made it to Koyuk because the dogs trusted Libby and Libby trusted her dogs.  You can read about Libby’s Iditarod victory in her book, Storm Run.

Well, there you have it – two great historical happenings from Norton Bay.  Every Iditarod musher has great stories to share but Libby’s storm run victory has to be one of the best.   I really like history and love to hear about the hardships of the Serum Run.  Mushers and dogs back then were really strong and tough!

Born to Run,
Sanka

 

Mushers say that being on this section of trail is like falling off the edge of the earth.  If you wanted total peace and quiet this would be the place to go provided you could hold up against the wind and severely cold temperatures.   Don reports one musher saying, “It’s like you’ve gone to the edge of the planet, fallen off and discovered that the Place Down Below really has frozen over.”  To add to the loneliness, the wolf packs howl all night to welcome and bid farewell to their domestic cousins.

Ralph Conaster is the only person living at Eagle Island.  The checkpoint used to be in his spacious cabin until it burned down a few years ago.  Ralph went back to living in his tiny old cabin which is not large enough for Iditarod to use as a checkpoint.  With no community buildings, Eagle Island is a tent checkpoint that’s located near Iditarod veteran, Ken Chase’s, summer fishing cabin.  The checkpoint is set up in a Quonset shaped tent called a Dodge Lodge.  It’s heated and has straw on the floor for sleepy mushers and volunteers to nap on.  The humans at Eagle Island checkpoint get the chance to experience the insulating or “R” value of straw.  We dogs know all about that!  Finger Lake and Cripple are two of the other “tent cities” that spring up on the Iditarod Trail as checkpoints.

Being that I’m a lead dog, Don mentioned a few things in his notes that really caught my attention.  Because there is little shelter between Grayling and Eagle Island, mushers need to have coats for their dogs, especially the lead dogs.  We leaders will experience the full force of the wind while breaking it for the swing, team and wheel dogs behind us.  He also warns about drifted sections of the trail, rough or snow-free ice and the possibility of overflow.  It’s best to stay right on the trail as the tricky Yukon can have sections of open water and thin ice.  It’s a good thing Iditarod has Trail Breakers to scout and set the trail for the teams!

With all this talk about the Yukon River, I did some research between runs with my team to learn a few things about the great river.  As it turns out, Yukonna in Athabascan means “great river” as does the Gwich’in word Yukunah.  Yupik Eskimos called it Kwiguk, meaning large stream.  A little more than half of the river flows through the U.S. while the other half is in Canada.  The head waters of the Yukon are in northern British Columbia.  It flows in a westerly arc across the Yukon Territory and then into the state of Alaska where it empties into Norton Sound of the Bering Sea.  The river is 2,300 miles long and is the fifth largest river in North America.  It’s longer than the Colorado, Columbia or the Rio Grande rivers.  During the last Ice Age, 10,000 years age, the Yukon River Valley was ice free.

Just like for Iditarod, the river has served as a transportation route throughout history.  For nomadic hunters from Asia, it was the gateway to the rest of North America.  The Eskimos and the Athabascans used it as a trade route.  In the mid 1800’s, Russian-American and Hudson’s Bay fur traders extended their Voyageur routes into the Interior by canoe and keelboat on the Yukon.  In the late 1890’s the gold rush saw grand sternwheelers like the Sarah, the Suzie and the Hannah navigating the river.  The huge powerful boats carried stampeders and supplies to the boom towns.  By the 1930’s, after the completion of the Alaska Railroad and the arrival of cargo aircraft, most sternwheelers were retired.  Smaller boats, barges and snowmachines remain plentiful today.

For the most part, the river is a slow-moving braided stream that is shallow except during spring runoff.  While narrow in some spots, it is a mile wide in other places.  For three months out of the year, the river can be navigated from is mouth all the way to Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory.  The Yukon Territory took its name from the mighty Yukon River.  Surprisingly, there are only four vehicle bridges across the entire length of the river along with a couple of pedestrian only bridges.  In some places, car ferries operate during seasons of open water but in winter, cars cross on the frozen ice.

Well, there you have it, a cold forlorn description of Eagle Island and some facts about the mighty Yukon.  You can find out more about the river by checking the internet sites I used – Wikipedia and the Canadian Encyclopedia.  There’s another good resource by Harry Ritter called Alaska’s History.  Handler refers to that little book frequently.  In seventy long miles, teams will reach Kaltag and leave the Yukon behind.  Next Handler will tell us about Kaltag and a famous dog named Yukon.  Stay tuned and remember in everything do your best every day and have a plan.

Born to Run,
Sanka

 

Whether it be the northern or southern route, there is a special award for the musher reaching the Yukon River first.  The Millennium Hotel, race headquarters in Anchorage, sponsors the First to the Yukon Award.  After the dogs are fed and bedded down, the musher is treated to a delicious seven course meal prepared and served by the Millennium Executive Chef.  In the rustic checkpoint building, a formal dinner table is set complete with fresh flowers, crystal, fine china and silver candle sticks.  The chef prepares the meal on a two burner camp stove.  The dinner served last year in Ruby included chicken and mushroom terrine, potato bisque with shrimp ravioli for appetizers followed by the main course of halibut and a beef fillet stuffed with king crab, asparagus and blue cheese.  Raspberry crepes were served for dessert.  Just like eating in a fine restaurant, an after dinner mint is served – in 2008 the mint was 5,000 freshly minted one dollar bills presented in a gold pan.  Handler helped me find this description of the 2008 First Musher to the Yukon Meal on the Iditarod Website in the sponsor section.

Being a sled dog who eats only the best dog food, I’ve never tried any of the dishes served last year in Ruby.  Have you?  I don’t even know what terrine or bisque is.  Do you?  Would you like to try shrimp ravioli?  I think it would be fun to plan the menu for a festive dinner like this.  Why don’t you give it a try.  Keep checking the sponsor’s section of the Iditarod website to see what the menu will be for the First to the Yukon dinner in Anvik this year.

Over the years, Anvik has been known by different names – American Station, Anvic, Anvick, Anvig and Anwig.  These names more than likely came from Russian Explorers.  Way back in 1887, an Episcopal Mission/school and church was built near where the Anvik River flows into the Yukon.  Anvik’s first post office was built around 1900.  Sad to say that there were two flu epidemics back in 1918 and 1927.  Many children were orphaned and were taken in to live at the Anvik Mission.  At that time, the population of Anvik was around 700.  Today, there are 94 people, mostly Athabascan that live in the village.  Twenty-five students attend the K-12 Blackwell School.  Like other bush villages, there are no roads leading to Anvik but the Yukon River is a major water highway.  People and supplies travel by boat or bush plane to the village.

Living in Anvik, you’d experience 150 sunny days each year and a 100 days of precipitation.  Eighteen inches of rain falls on the village along with seventy-six inches of snow during the year.  Summer temperatures are pretty cool – the July high is 67 degrees.  The average January temperature in -7 degrees.  While that doesn’t sound as cold as some of the previous checkpoints, the Yukon River can be blasted by wind so on any given day, they windchill can be severe.

The trail from Shageluk to Anvik is a well used village to village snowmachine route.  Most of the trail runs over lakes, swamps, sloughs and a little tundra.  The trail is considered easy but there are a few steep climbs up banks of sloughs and some narrow trail in the heavy timber along the Yukon River.  Upon reaching the Yukon river, Anvik sits on the far side behind a high bluff.  At the crossing, the river is a mile wide.  Teams travel down the main street of Anvik to the community center where the checkpoint is located.  All of this information is courtesy of Don Bower’s  Trail Notes.  He also says that hospitality in Anvik is excellent but it’s only 18 miles north to Grayling so many teams continue on through.

Well, there you have it – information about the First to the Yukon Award, the history and climate of Anvik and the trail leading from Shageluk to the might Yukon.  Next Handler will tell us about the checkpoint of Grayling.  After hearing about all that great food prepared by the Millennium Chef, I’m getting hungry.  I can’t wait to see what’s for supper tonight!  Stay tuned and remember in everything do your best everyday and have a plan.

Born to Run,
Sanka