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| Heather thruTakotna to Ophir | Mar-11-2007 | |
Heather arrived in Takotna after about 2 1/2 hours and then on to Ophir after picking up a few items from her supplies there.
This leg is about 32 miles. It follows the old mining road over to Ophir, built in the 1920s to connect Takotna and Ophir with Sterling Landing, a steamboat landing on the Kuskokwim River. It is now maintained by the state; the stretch from Takotna to Ophir isn’t plowed in the winter. Like other Bush roads, it doesn’t connect to the state highway system.
The first part is a 9-mile climb to the top of the divide between the Kuskokwim River drainage and that of the Innoko River, which flows into the Yukon. The rise is about 800 feet on easy grades. Then the road crosses the divide and runs downhill along Independence Creek for another 8 miles, then follows the south bank of the Innoko River for the last 15 miles into Ophir, with possibly a few overland shortcuts across bends.
Heather arrived at Ophir about 1 am (4 am
EDT) and will probably rest here before taking on the next leg to Iditarod of 90 miles.
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| Heather back on the Trail | Mar-10-2007 | |
Heather left Mcgrath at about 7:18 (11:18 EST) for Takotna. This is normally a two-to-three-hour run on a well-traveled snowmachine trail. The trail crosses the Kuskokwim, runs up the Takotna River for a mile or so, then swings up the left bank for an overland run west toward Takotna across a gradually rising and mostly open area. About halfway it will climb up and run along heavily wooded Porcupine Ridge, after which it will drop back down to the Takotna River for the last couple of miles to the checkpoint. As with most Iditarod trails, it is usually best at night or on cold, cloudy days when it has a chance to set up. On hot afternoons it can become punchy and very slow.
Takotna only has about 75 people and there are no stores.
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| Heather Phones Home | Mar-10-2007 | |
Heather just shocked her family with telephone calls from the McGrath checkpoint. She called her mother in West Virginia and her dad Jim in Bismarck to say her spirts are high and her team is still lively. Her step-dad Dann connected onto the call from the Iditarod Headquarters in Anchorage, Alaska.
Heather says she plans to leave McGrath in a few hours for Takotna and Ophir.
Heather says she is still in McGrath taking her manditory 24 hour rest. Musher mate Ellen Halverson left McGrath around 10:30 AM this morning AST (2:30 PM EST). Halverson arrived in Takotna at 12:48 ASK and left for Ophir ten minutes later. Halverson had already taken her manditory break.
This means Heather is now once again holding the Red Lantern. Nineteen mushers have now dropped out of the race but Heather says she is determined to get to Nome. "If the dogs keep their spirits up, I'll make it," she said a short while ago. "Odo and Shadow continue to lead the pack and are doing a great job."
When Heather was informed of all of the media coverage she was receiving, she said she was amazed.
"Please tell everyone thanks for their support and I hope to make them proud. Please also tell the kids at the Prarie Rose school and those from the Middle school in Estherville, Iowa that I really appreciate their love and support as they follow me on my journey."
Heather says her plans are to zip through the Takotna checkpoint and head directly to Ophir. Once she arrives in Ophir she plans to rest for a few hours before making the 90 mile run to the Iditarod checkpoint. When she arrives in Iditarod, Heather will be nearly half way to her goal of reaching Nome.
During the call Heather detailed the reason she and Halverson returned to Rohn. She says shortly after leaving the checkpoint they had to cross some water. Her dogs were a bit reluctant to cross so Heather and Halverson helped lead each others team across. Heathers feet got wet and as they went down the trail they encountered blizzard conditions and the visibility became nearly zero. Rather than risk getting lost the two turned around and returned to the Rohn checkpoint to wait out the storm. Heather says this also gave her an opportunity to dry her feet to avoid frostbite.
Heather says she has enjoyed traveling through the remote villages and seeing parts of Alaska that most people never see. She says she has many more stories to share when completes the race.
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| Heather remains in Mcgrath | Mar-10-2007 | |
As of the last update at 7:13 am (11:13 EST), Heather remained in Mcgrath along with fellow mushers, Halverson and Rogers. It appears that Heather may be taking her mandatory 24-hour layover. Unless she has decided to stay and find gold in the old mines of Mcgrath.
The other two mushers had already completed their 24-hour layovers earlier in the race but from a mother's perspective, it would be great if they decide to wait on Heather so she is not left alone on the trail.
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| Heather Is in McGrath | Mar-09-2007 | |
After 6 hours and 15 minutes on the trail, rookie musher Heather Siirtola arrived in McGrath at 6:30 PM AST or 10:30 PM EST. Race logs show Heather's traveling partner, Ellen Halverson, arriving 15 minutes later at 6:45 AST.
The McGrath checkpoint in recent years has been in a house a couple of blocks east of the airport, right on the river. It has become a popular place for mushers to take their mandatory 24-hour layovers because of the excellent facilities there, including a 24-hour kitchen for mushers and staff. Many mushers, like Heather, also ship replacement sleds here because McGrath is served by a major air freight airline and the cost is very cheap. The swapped-out sleds also can easily be shipped back from McGrath.
Halverson has already taken her mandatory 24 hour break but Heather has not. it will be interesting to see if Heather does it here. She is one of seven of the 63 mushers left in the race that have yet to take their 24 hour break.
Heather has not traveled more than 400 miles of the 1150 mile race. Race leader Martin Buser is on the trail between Anvik and Grayling, nearly 225 miles ahead of Heather.
Heathers next two checkpoints are rather close, only 18 miles to Takotna and another 25 to Ophir before she encounters another 90 mile stretch between Ophir and Iditarod Checkpoint. Most mushers only ake 2.5 to 3.5 hours for each of the shorter runs.
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