*NOTE* I apologize for pretty much abandoning my race write-up for many months. With the growing COVID-19 pandemic and rough adjustment to a "new normal" of juggling teleworking, parenting, moving to a new neighborhood and "light" home renovations, I pretty much gave up writing for awhile. But I'm going to finish off this race report before the end of the year! That is my challenge! I do it not only in the hopes of entertaining whomever might read it, but also for me to re-live the experience and provide a bit of closure and clarity for the events that transpired during the event. What can I say, it's been a rough year! I'd hoped to share more about my experience, more widely locally after the event. I was really looking forward to our local Huntsville Track Club or Fleet Feet Sports hosting a meet and greet and Q&A session. I even thought about it during my last day on the trail. How fun those events would be! But COVID-19 robbed us all of that possibility. Sucks! Anyhow, back to the story!
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Unsurprisingly, nobody was in a rush to get an early start. Snow was still coming down outside, albeit at a much slower rate, and the sky was definitely showing signs of clearing up. We'd definitely gotten several inches of snow overnight. The snow mobiles had a thick covering of snow and racer's sleds that weren't under the protection of the roof were completely buried. There was also no indication of the trail that led to the cabin or back to the main Iditarod Trail (we were technically at the end of one of two, mile long spur trails that led to the cabin).
No racer desired to venture out to break trail through the thick snow, so we were at the mercy of the Iditarod Trail breakers yet again! On the flip side, we'd certainly be able to make very good progress almost immediately as we'd have a fresh packed trail to follow once the trail breakers forged on to Nikolai. So we waited. And as we waited, we packed and re-packed gear and melted additional water on the wood burning stove. My gallon sized zip locked bags that had been stuffed full of snow had produced a sad amount of water in return. So I'd definitely need to find some more on trail before Nikolai. Fortunately, we'd be crossing Sullivan Creek which was about 10-12 miles away so I'd have the opportunity to refill my water bottles. Nikolai was about 50km away so I'd definitely be able to make it there today, even given the late start.
Finally, even the trail breakers were itching to go. And so by 8 a.m. the trail breakers were off; the high pitch din of their snow mobile engines gradually fading away; absorbed by the blanket of snow. I think I was the first of the racers to head out after the trail breakers.
The trail was much the same as it has been the previous day, an endless spruce corridor that just went on and on. Despite what the trackleaders map shows, the trail is definitely not completely straight for miles and miles. That would have been completely mind numbing! No, the trail did have frequent kinks in it, possibly to avoid some natural obstacle but still trended the overall same direction all day long.
I'd not been back on the main trail long before both skiers had caught up and overtaken me. These conditions were probably pretty good for them as it didn't take long before they'd both disappeared ahead of me. Jill was still behind me somewhere and as we'd both been travelling at similar speeds we'd probably not see much of each other this day. So, I'd fully expect to not see another living soul all day long.
By mid day I'd arrived the Sullivan Creek crossing. Thankfully there was a bridge across the creek. For whatever reason, this creek rarely freezes over completely so it's a good spot to refill water containers. Another bonus is that there is a can tied to a rope at the center of the bridge that you use to lower into the creek to access the swiftly flowing snow water. Unfortunately, some inconsiderate past user had left the can upright on the bridge rail so that it was nearly full of frozen water! There was only just a small top section of the can that wasn't completely full of ice! Still, it was something! I lowered the can into the stream and retrieved some delicious, ice cold water! Yum! I drank my fill from my water bottle and refilled it. I should probably have refilled my other nearly empty water containers, but for some reason I *thought* I'd not need so much water to cover the remaining 20 miles or so to Nikolai. Surely I don't need that much water do I? Why add more weight to my sled?
So left the can (inverted) on the bridge rail and continued on the trail. The next point of interest would be a fishing camp another 12 miles or so away. While it was abandoned this time of year, it would at least mark progress and remind me that the trail would about to make a radical turn from north-west to north-east to head to Nikolai. Yeah, this was one of the few times that the trail wouldn't generally be heading directly towards the finish line in McGrath but instead making a "detour" to head to town. Kind of a bummer, as one could simply avoid the turn and make their way down river until they reconnected with the section of the Iditarod Trail that connects Nikolai to McGrath; cut out the detour entirely. BUT, racers were required to check-in at Nikolai before heading to McGrath. Besides, the snow was SO deep off the trail that it would probably be extremely foolish to attempt to break trail that way anyhow. It looked like there had been some snow mobile traffic doing just that, but it wasn't recent and who knows where those buried tracks led... I think I was through following random tracks right?
Nothing more eventful happened for a long while. I just kept plugging away. The sun did finally make an appearance which was nice, but it was still pretty cold. That seemed to be the cycle we were in. Snow storm, then deep cold, rinse and repeat. I'd truly wanted to take more photos but the cold was wreaking havoc on my phone. I'd no sooner pull it out for a photo (kept under several layers by my body) when it'd "brick" and shut down. So, no more photos... Next time I'll have a dedicated small camera with lithium ion batteries! But, I'll re-post some photos from the previous day, as my view was much the same on this day.
So, by late afternoon I'd passed through fishing camp and arrived at the sharp north-western turn towards Nikolai. From here it'd be another 11-12 miles to the checkpoint. Ugh. Another long grind made far worse by the official yellow mile marker signs that kept me second guessing how far I really had to go.
Just when I thought I was well into single digit miles to go, I'd pass by the "Nikolai 10 Miles" sign. Double Ugh... It grew dusk before I really starting worrying I'd not make it the check point by a reasonable time. I wanted to make it there early enough to get a good long rest as I'd planned to push through all the way to Nikolai without bivying (yeah, no more overnights on the trail for me!). I thought for sure I was only 3 or so miles to go now, based on what my GPS was saying, but, boom up ahead was a sign. "Nikolai 5 Miles". WTF??!! Anyhow, the upside of the deepening cold was that the soft trail left by the trail breakers (hey, any broken trail was better than none) was starting to "set in" meaning that it was firming up enough that I could remove the snow shoes at last! So I did. I was sill in the NEOs overboots, had been so since almost day 1, so I was happily marching along making pretty good progress, even if those trail signs were lying! The real problem I was starting to get concerned about was the fact that I was now completely out of water. I'd consumed the liter of water I'd gotten at Sullivan Creek and hadn't touched my other, empty, bottles. I really should have filled them up! So, dehydration was setting in. I could tell as even with adding additional layers I was getting cold in my extremities. I wasn't overly worried though as I knew I was almost there. But, it was a foolish mistake that could've really cost me in a different scenario!
At last though I passed by a wretchedly stinky swamp and dropped onto the South Fork of the Kuskokwim River. I was finally very close to Nikolai even though I could see no village lights just yet. However, the trail was marked extremely well. There was reflective lathing all lined up like a runway so it was impossible to get off course, even without a GPS.
It was a cold last couple of miles along the river. But at last, I made around a bend in the river and could see the lights of Nikolai. And just a little more steadfast marching led to the shore of the river and up an embankment, passing right through the dog race check point, and into town. The small village had street lights and small houses and buildings. I followed ITI race signs to the checkpoint at the local community center that was at the far end of town (about as far away as it could possibly be it seemed!).
I finally arrived at the check point about 10:30 p.m. local time. I parked my sled among the other racer's sleds and bikes and removed my harness pack. I didn't waste anytime but unhooked my sled bag and awkwardly carried it inside. Not for the first time I'd wished the sled bag had some sewn in handles or back pack strap; would come in real handy for dealing with hauling gear into/out of checkpoints. The official check point, after asking around a bit, was upstairs on the second level. Apparently there was no official welcoming crew. No surprise there...
After finally lugging my heavy sled bag upstairs I paused and looked around. I was in a large open room, gymnasium? There were racers passed out amid piles of gear everywhere. There were ad hoc clothes lines strung everywhere for damp gear to dry out. There didn't seem to be much space available to set up my own crash pad. Then I eyed a broken pool table by the stairs I'd just climbed. Good enough. I placed my gear bag under the table and quickly spread out my bivy to mark my spot. It'd be a tight fit crawling under the table to sleep, but it'd do.
I staggered over to the kitchen area ( I must've looked like a zombie) kind of out of it. I was so tired, physically and mentally and massively dehydrated. The volunteers did there best to serve us what was available which wasn't, pathetically, near enough. It seemed like the lead cyclists and other front runners had completely wiped out the food sources of this ITI checkpoint. All they could offer me was a couple of burgers and some chips. There was hot Tang a plenty but not much else. Pretty sad. I was bonking so bad and needed the calories as I wasn't sure I had enough to get me to McGrath. I'd stupidly abandoned my drop bag in Rohn thinking I had more than enough to get me to Nikolai. The calculus I'd done was that surely there'd be enough food/water at Nikolai that I could use to restock my stores. Not so. There was barely enough at Nikolai to even try and break even with the calories I'd lost that day! I looked around at the pitiful supply that was left and instantly felt mad. How could there be so little amount of food for racers here? Un-freaking-believable. What was worse was that one of the volunteers, a race veteran who was touring the trail on his bike independently of the race this year, informed me that the check point would be closing down early in the morning! WTF? There were still several racers well behind me and they'd arrive to a closed check point? Apparently nobody had planned on the race panning out so slowly this year. In typical years, even the back end of the race would have passed through Nikolai already. So the checkpoint schedule hadn't changed at all and the volunteer's flight schedules were made long ago and couldn't be easily changed. I could forgive all that. I get it. BUT that didn't explain why there wasn't an abundance of food left. That's either poor planning by the race staff, or the racers who'd already passed through were really just inconsiderate. Perhaps a bit of both? Damn! I could only imagine the frustration that was to come as other racers arrived the next day only to find a closed checkpoint. Perhaps they'd be able to seek sustenance in town?
So, I ate what I figured was my quota (and no more) and really hammered the Tang. After a quick bio break I headed to my bivy spot under the broken pool table. I managed to set out some of my damp gear to dry and set my watch alarm before passing out asleep. I needed a good sleep as tomorrow would be a REALLY LONG DAY; one final 50 mile long push to the finish!
