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| Bismarck Tribune Continues Hardcore Team Coverage | Tue, Mar. 11th, 2008 | |
SIIRTOLA DECIDES TO KEEP GOING DESPITE SETBACKS
Mar 11, 2008 - 04:05:08 CDT
By TONY SPILDE
Bismarck Tribune
Heather Siirtola spent a lot of time in Ruby, but she must have found some slippers and, like Dorothy, said "There`s no place like Nome."
Despite losing half her team - which prompted talk of quitting Monday morning - the Bismarck native continued her quest to finish the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
To read the rest of the story CLICK HERE." Nome."
Despite losing half her team - which prompted talk of quitting Monday morning - the Bismarck native continued her quest to finish the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
To read the rest of the story CLICK HERE.
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| The Hardcore Team Continues Their March to Nome | Tue, Mar. 11th, 2008 | |
They arrived in Galena at 5:30 PM AKDT yesterday. They rested 9 hours 15 minutes. Now Heather and the eight members of her Hardcore Team continue their journey to Nome. The next checkpoint is 52 miles down the Yukon River in Nulato.
For Heather and her Hardcore Team this next leg is all on the Yukon River and normally presents no real problems. It is a major snowmachine highway maintained by the locals and is well used all winter. The Hardcore Team can plan on four to six hours for this run. It can be cold, as can all river runs, and all the usual river hazards can be present, including overflow, rough ice, and open water. When the wind blows, the trail can become obscured very quickly, but it should be well marked. The trail can swing back and forth across the river several times on this leg to cut across bends.
As the Heather guides the hardcore Team she’ll work her way across to the south bank and the entrance to Jimmy Slough, on the left side of the river five miles out. On the north side of the six-mile-long slough will be Jimmy Island, Hen Island, and Cat Island.
Off to Heathers left she’ll see Pilot Mountain, one of the most prominent landmarks in the area, rising by itself to a thousand feet; it is located ten miles due west of Galena and four miles south of the river at its closest point.
Just past Cat Island, the trail often crosses the river to the north side; the crossing may be rough depending on how the river has frozen up. Note: The state of the river upstream from Galena has no relation to what happens downstream—you may have a smooth highway coming into Galena and find a jumbled obstacle course in places headed down to Nulato, or vice versa.
Two miles after rejoining the main river past Cat Island, Pilot Mountain Slough opens to the left; it makes a nearly 15-mile meandering loop past the base of Pilot Mountain and rejoins the Yukon seven miles downriver, past Bishop Rock where Heather should stay on the main river for five more miles past Pilot Mountain Slough, swinging gently to the north in a big oxbow bend, often on the right side of the river.
As she comes out of the bend headed back to the south, Bishop Rock will be on the right bank in front of her, rising a few hundred feet above the river. This is a notorious spot for ice jams during the spring breakup and flood waters from the instant ice dams locked against Bishop Rock have been known to rise at the rate of a foot an hour, more than once swamping all of Galena, including the airbase behind its huge levee. If the river has frozen up rough, the trail at the foot of Bishop Rock can be tight sometimes, with side hill ice and rough spots.
The trail usually swings off the river to the west behind Bishop Rock onto Whontleya Slough in front of the summer fishing camp of Yistletaw, whose houses and cabins Heather will see on the south side of Bishop Rock. The slough passes behind Bishop Rock Island on the left (south) and rejoins the river in four more miles. Just past the end of the slough, one of the lesser mouths of the Koyukuk comes in from the north.
Heather will continue her run down the Yukon for seven miles past Koyukuk Island on the right. The main channel of the Koyukuk enters from the right (north) at the west end of Koyukuk Island. The village of Koyukuk is on the northwest side of the Yukon at the mouth of the Koyukuk. There will probably be one or more trails going to the right to the village.
Past Koyukuk the river runs west for five miles, heading directly for a thousand-foot ridge dead ahead, then makes a 90-degree left turn to the south to run along the base of the ridge. There is a liquor store at the northwest corner of the bend that is frequented by villagers from up and down the river. Unfortunately, Heather and the Team may have to watch for discarded bottles and cans and inebriated snowmachiners.
When feasible, the trail will cut the inside of the corner and head down the left (east) side of the river. In 1998, however, the trail stayed on the right side all the way from Bishop Rock to Nulato. Wherever the trail runs, the ridge will remain on the right bank of the river all the way to Koyukuk (ten miles), where the hills break to allow the Nulato River flow in from the northwest. Four miles past the bend Heather may see a low-lying half-mile-long island lying close under the high west bank. At five miles out she may see Patsy Slough opening off to the left; it separates four-mile-long Big Island from the mainland and rejoins the main channel three and a half miles above Nulato. A mile from Nulato the main channel is divided in the middle by Nulato Island.
Because Heather is making this run at night, she’ll probably see the beacon flash from the airport, which is a mile north of town atop the south tip of the ridge on the right side of the river. Finally she’ll swing up the bank to the checkpoint, which in 1998 was in the new community center, several blocks back from the river. She’ll need to watch the markers carefully as she winds through the village streets to the checkpoint.
Since Heather couldn’t ship anything to Nulato, so she’ll be feeding the dogs with whatever she hauled from Galena. There are usually people munchies in the checkpoint as well as a place to warm up and rest for a bit. There is also a place for Heather to grab a hot shower which we hear is something she is really looking forward to taking advantage.
When Heather and the Hardcore Team arrive in Nulato they will have completed 719 miles and have only 393 left to get to Nome.
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| How Many Dogs Do You Need to Finish? | Tue, Mar. 11th, 2008 | |
Because of the intestinal virus impacting the Hardcore and other Teams, the Hardcore mailbox has received several inquiries as to how many dogs Heather needs to finish the race.
According to Iditarod Rule 17 -- Dog Maximums and Minimums: The maximum number of dogs a musher may start the race with is sixteen (16) dogs. A musher must have at least twelve (12) dogs on the line to start the race. At least six (6) dogs must be on the towline at the finish line. No dogs may be added to a team after the re-start of the race. All dogs must be either on the towline or hauled in the sled and cannot be led behind the sled or allowed to run loose.
This means that Heather could still lose two more dogs and still legally finish the race.
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| Hardcore Team Arrives in Galena | Mon, Mar. 10th, 2008 | |
Like the little engine that could, the eight member Hardcore Team just keeps plugging along. After a 7 hour 36 minute run from Ruby, Heather and her Hardcore Team arrived at the Galena checkpoint at 5:30 PM AKDT (9:30 PM EDT).
The Team will now rest for several hours before taking off for the next checkpoint in Nulato.
The townsfolk are mostly Athabaskan Indians (as are most Natives along the middle Yukon) and they always provide a good feed in the checkpoint. One of the specialties is always moose stew.
Heather and the Hardcore Team have now traveled 667 miles and have 445 more to get to Nome.
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| Hardcore Team Recovers and Are Back on the Trail | Mon, Mar. 10th, 2008 | |
The Hardcore Team is down to 8 but they are once again on the trail headed down the mighty Yukon toward the next checkpoint in Galena.
We just got word that Heather and the Hardcore Team left the Ruby checkpoint at 9:54 AM AKDT this morning (1:54 PM EDT). Heather rested her weary team 10 hours and 28 minutes before getting back on the trail. We can assume the antibiotics she was giving the dogs did the trick. We can also assume the dog that presented a slight limp as she approached Ruby on the run from Cripple was dropped and will be the first of the Hardcore Team to reach Nome, only this dog will be traveling by air. This gives new meaning to the phrase “lucky dog!”
We learned that Heather consulted with Kathleen Holden back in Talkeetna prior to resuming her run. Holden is Heather`s landlord and mentor. When Heather moved to Alaska from Colorado she went to work for Holden and Sousa. Jerry Sousa is a veteran Iditarod musher and he and Holden have served as mentors for Heather. As of the time we were writing this post, Sousa is on the long 90 stretch between Kaltag and Unalakleet.
Holden told us she and Heather had a lengthy discussion on the health of the dogs.
“I told Heather to resume the antibiotics and keep them on it for the next five day,” says Holden. “Heather says when the dogs began to perk up near Ophir she stopped the medicine.”
Holden said she also told Heather not to make any decision about scratching until she reached Kaltag. She told Heather to get a hot shower in Nulato and relax for a bit and then make the run to Kaltag.
“I told her she is really tired right now and it is hard for her to make good decisions because she just completed the most difficult part of the trail this year and is wore out,” Holden said. “Iditarod veteran Paul Gebhardt, currently in 7th place, said the run from Cripple to Ruby was the worst run of his life.”
Holden told Heather the next few runs on the Yukon are short so she can run 6 and rest 6, and that she really only has one more long run from Kaltag to Unalakleet.
The Hardcore Team is not the only team down to eight dogs. Matt Calore, a friend from nearby Trapper Creek, is also racing with 8 dogs as is Rohn Buser, son of 4-time winner Martin Buser. Several teams are showing 9 dogs including last year’s rookie of the year Sigrid Ekran.
This leg is all on the Yukon River and is generally easy running. The trail follows the main snowmachine route from Ruby to Galena. The Hardcore team can plan on five to eight hours, depending on how long Heather wants to rest your dogs, or if you do it during the heat of the day. Most of the times being posted by teams nearest to the race position held by Heather are making the trip in about 6.5 hours.
Heathers biggest problem may be getting the Team to go on the huge expanse of the mighty Yukon, which is a mile wide at Ruby and up to two miles wide downstream. More than a few teams have balked at starting down the river. Because most of her team ran the race last year this hopefully won’t be the case.
It is absolutely critical that you do not get off the marked trail on the Yukon. Like most big rivers in Alaska in the winter, the Yukon has spots and stretches of open water, some no more than a narrow leads a few feet long, some big enough to float a good-sized boat. There can also be overflow on a massive scale just under unbroken snow. When snowmachines pack down the snow and expose the overflow, it freezes quickly into a hard surface, while just off the trail you can go in up to your waist. Needless to say, the threat of thin ice is always present if you go exploring.
This leg is all on the Yukon River and is generally easy running. The trail follows the main snowmachine route from Ruby to Galena. The Hardcore team can plan on five to eight hours, depending on how long Heather wants to rest your dogs, or if you do it during the heat of the day. Most of the times being posted by teams nearest to the race position held by Heather are making the trip in about 6.5 hours.
Heathers biggest problem may be getting the Team to go on the huge expanse of the mighty Yukon, which is a mile wide at Ruby and up to two miles wide downstream. More than a few teams have balked at starting down the river. Because most of her team ran the race last year this hopefully not is the case.
It is absolutely critical that you do not get off the marked trail on the Yukon. Like most big rivers in Alaska in the winter, the Yukon has spots and stretches of open water, some no more than a narrow leads a few feet long, some big enough to float a good-sized boat. There can also be overflow on a massive scale just under unbroken snow. When snowmachines pack down the snow and expose the overflow, it freezes quickly into a hard surface, while just off the trail you can go in up to your waist. Needless to say, the threat of thin ice is always present if you go exploring.
When Heather and the Team leaves Ruby, they’ll leave town down the street in front of the checkpoint, make a right at the bottom of the hill, and go directly onto the river. Depending on how the river freezes up, the trail can be anywhere on the ice. It’s usually straight and smooth, although it can get a bit punchy sometimes. Once her dogs are moving steadily on the river, she can sit back and enjoy the ride, which will probably be a boring one. This is a good place to rig out your sled seat if you have one. Some mushers have been known to climb onto their sled bags and take a nap while the dogs plod steadily down the white highway.
After the Team moves down the river from Ruby and its enfolding hills, the left (south) bank will be low and swampy with heavy forests in places. The right bank will be a thousand-foot ridge that gradually descends as you head west, finally ending about ten miles before Galena.
Three miles downstream from Ruby on the left bank, at the west end of the ridges near Ruby, Heather will pass the entrance of Ruby Slough, which describes a looping 30-mile course through the bottomlands south of the river. It rejoins the river about 15 miles downstream, at the mouth of the Yuki River. Between Ruby Slough and the main river is Big Island. The trail usually stays on the main river, but it may deviate onto the slough and the island if conditions require. As far as we have heard this year, that is not the case.
For the first seven miles west of Ruby the river makes a gentle right turn around the delta of the Melozi River, whose mouth is opposite Ruby. At the seven-mile point, the river makes a 45- degree left turn and flows along the foot of the ridge on the north side, which rises 1,000 to 1,500 feet above the river. Two-mile-long Melozi Island will be on the outside (north side) of the bend.
There are a handful of houses and cabins on the north bank of the river for the next 30 miles, a few of which are occupied during the winter. Most of these have their own trails leading off the river; Heather should keep a sharp eye out for the trail markers and not deviate from the mainline.
Gales along the river sometimes blow dust and sand off the north side bluffs and onto the river. In 1998 there was a lengthy stretch of very dirty, runner-eating trail about ten miles out of Ruby. Additionally, the trail in 1998 deviated all the way over to the north side of the river for several miles in this area. In any case, this is a major village-to-village snowmachine trail and should be well used and easy to follow.
Ten miles past Melozi Island the trail will pass Yuki Island, a low-lying two-mile-long sliver in midstream. The mouth of the Yuki River is on the left (south) side of the Yukon at the west end of Yuki Island. The river will make a gentle bend to the left after the Yuki joins it, still running at the very foot of the right-hand ridge, now rising less than a thousand feet above you. At the mouth of the Yuki, the Hardcore Team will be about 30 miles from Galena.
Ten miles past the mouth of the Yuki you’ll reach the east tip of five-mile-long Fish Island. The trail normally takes the left- hand (southern) channel and may actually run up on the island a bit. At the west tip of Fish Island Heather will be about 16 miles from Galena. From the west end of Fish Island the trail usually crosses the river to the north bank. This crossing may be interesting if the river has frozen up rough, and there may be some icy side hill running as the trail hugs the right bank once across the main channel.
Heather will now see the end of the right-hand ridge just ahead. The trail will swing around the last riverside bluff and head northwest into Louden Slough, which cuts across the meandering bend of the main river. The slough is about four miles long, after which you’ll come back out on the main river and angle across to the left bank. After she crosses the river there she’ll see a couple of cabins on the left bank for reference.
The right bank of the Yukon at this point is a series of bluffs, called the Cave-Off Cliffs. At night she may start to see the red light of a radio tower on the right bank; this is near the site of the old Campion Air Force Station, an abandoned Cold War radar outpost. Once on the left bank she’ll follow the river gently left as it makes a 90-degree swing to the west; the trail will cut up and over the sandbars on the inside of the bend.
As Heather comes around the bend she’ll see a few towers (and lights at night). These are radio navigation aids for the Galena airport. When she’s abeam the towers, she’ll be about four miles from the checkpoint. She may also see a road with vehicles on it on the north bank. This is a local road extending east from Galena for ten miles or so. (There are actually two Galenas: the old town on the riverbank where the checkpoint is located and the new town a couple of miles east on higher ground.)
By this time Heather will see the lights (or buildings) of Galena, only to lose them again as she makes a last quick pass behind a small island on the south side of the river. When the town reappears, the trail will cut across the river, up the steep river bank, and then into the checkpoint a couple of blocks west along the top of the bank.
The checkpoint is always in the old log community center right on the riverbank. Cold water may be available. There is a cafe a few blocks from the checkpoint if you get in when it’s open. The townsfolk are mostly Athabaskan Indians (as are most Natives along the middle Yukon) and they always provide a good feed in the checkpoint. One of the specialties is always moose stew.
When they arrive in Galena, the Hardcore Team will have completed 667 miles and have 445 remaining to get to Nome.
Historical Note
The Yukon Mail Trail was as famous in its own right as the Iditarod. It ran mostly overland along the north shore of the great river, in the trees wherever possible to shield it from drifting. Modern river trails go directly on the river ice because snowmachines can easily punch through a trail no matter how bad the drifts.
The Serum Run of 1925 along the Yukon used the Mail Trail. The last surviving 1925 Serum Run musher was Edgar Nollner of Galena. He died in 1999 and was one of the honorary mushers for the 2000 race. He was active until just before his death and often visited the checkpoint during the race to chat with mushers.
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