17 March 2010, 05:25
SnellstromIditarod Race
Anybody have any stories from this year, first hand, second hand, brother in law, your buddies cousin stories about the race?
17 March 2010, 07:57
Scott KingI believe Lance Mackey is about to win.
Don't hold me to the details as I'm operating off of my poor memory but 4 from Dillingham just completed a snowmachine ride on part of the Iditarod trail turning off to come down to Dillingham.
If I understand the story correctly, Todd Palin guided the foursome out of the Wasilla area as far as Rainey Pass lodge. After that they followed the trail thru McGrath and Sleetmute and then turned south to travel thru Lime Village and down thru the Tikchick mtns Alegnagik and home. One mo-chine broke along the way but three finished the ride unscathed.
17 March 2010, 09:18
Joel/AKI havent followed the iditarod in recent years but this year I did. It was cool hearing that mackey won his 4th in a row. The guy is good.
As for the trail, that can be on the rough side. When I was in the Marines up here we would deliver toys (toys for tots) to McGrath, Nikoli, and Tokotna. Wrecked more than 1 machine doing that trip.
Our Corpsman started this trek since he used to run the iditarod. it gave him an idea on what the trail would be like, albieght months prior.
Wife had a blast helping Harry on the ceramonial start here in town handling his dogs.
Good memories.
Good job lance on #4.
17 March 2010, 19:24
phurley5I always keep up with the race with great interest because I killed my Moose just off the Iditarod Trail between the Rohn checkpoint and Nikolai checkpoint in an area called the Farewell Burn. We flew into a small lake near Farewell Lake and then we went by horse down the Trail itself for 15 miles and hunted about two miles off too the West side. The "Burn" is 1.5 Million acres burned over in 1968 that is full of Moose that feed on the regrowth willow, therefore it is also full of Grizzlies that feed on the Moose. The animals never see humans except for the sled dog race in March, or the occasional snowmachine trekkers, thus they have no fear of humans. Makes the hunting quite interesting to say the least. That is the area that the racers often have encounters with the Moose that like to walk the Trail. Lance Mackey just won his fourth race in a row, never before accomplished. You can follow the race with a GPS system on the computor at a small fee. Good shooting.