Iditarod 2017 Trail
A repeat of the 2015 race for the same reason – no snow and warm weather in southern Alaska. This can be a very fast trail, or a pure terror depending on the condition of the ice on the rivers and the Norton Sound. With the Sound, the wind speed can also be a major factor, because if the ice is smooth, the dogs can’t get a grip and the entire team can get blown for miles.
The two numbers reflect the approximate number of miles from the last checkpoint, and the total miles for the race. The 11 miles for Fairbanks represents the ‘parade’ and are not actual racing miles.
As forecast the temperatures are dropping along the route and some snow is forecast for the weekend, so the lead teams should have a fast trail.
Tanana River
Fairbanks 11 11
Nenana 60 71
Manley Hot Springs 90 161
Tanana 66 227
Yukon River
Ruby 119 346
Galena 50 396
Over Land
Huslia 82 478
Koyukuk 86 564
Yukon River
Nulato 22 586
Kaltag 47 633
Over Land
Unalakleet 85 718
Norton Sound
Shaktoolik 40 758
Koyuk 50 808
Elim 48 856
Golovin 28 884
White Mountain 18 902
Safety 55 957
Nome 22 979
2 comments
Weather is just plain strange everywhere now. A few year’s back I dug up my grandmother’s daffodils from our old family home (which belongs to other people now who couldn’t care less about them), and replanted them on my property. This is a higher elevation and they should bloom sometime in the middle of March. This year, they bloomed the 3rd week of February. That’s nearly 30 days ahead of schedule.
Of course, now the cold weather has returned for a few days, and I had to put a bucket over them last night so they wouldn’t freeze. By tomorrow, the temps will be back in the 60’s. Totally out of character for this part of the Virginia Blue Ridge.
I have family just South of Lake Ontario and they have been going from the 60s to blizzards. You want to get some fresh air inside, but you have to watch the weather. Now they have snow, but it is going back to spring before it goes back to winter next weekend. It’s sort hard to know what to wear.