Part 2: Iditarod Trailbreak 2024: Biglake to Cripple

Part 2: Iditarod Trailbreak 2024: Biglake to Cripple

“I did, I did, I did the Iditarod trail...”- Hobo Jim

   

2024 Iditarod trail breakers:  From left Kody Dubie, Jerney Simkowski,
Steve Harrison, Cameron Grayson, Jalen Katchatag.

      “Say ahhh,” he said.   I opened up as instructed and tried not to watch as he lowered his dental extracting forceps into my face.   That’s right I was having a tooth removed; Fun.  What started as a minor toothache the week prior had jumped to the next level right before hitting the trail...shit!  I thought about toughing-it-out, but then imagined what might happen if it got worse.  I couldn’t get the Tom Hanks figure skate scene from Castaway out of my head (one, two...three!)

     So with a pocket full of pills in my coat I set out with the boys once again.  This time would be different.  This time we would ride all the way to Nome! We left from Allen’s place in Big Lake as usual and before too long we popped out onto the Susitna River.  “Alright, let's start stabbing lath,” said Spencer. 

     It’s all about the lath

     Lath by definition is a thin strip of wood.  The Iditarod has special trail marking lath produced for the specific purpose of marking the Iditarod trail.  The top six inches of each stick is dipped in bright orange fluorescent paint before being adorned with a reflector and a blue ribbon.  They are banded in bunks of 50 stacked and staged at all of the checkpoints.  All six of our machines are equipped with custom angled aluminum lath boxes that are filled and emptied each day with hundreds of lath. 

Jalen replace a blown belt.  A full box of lath is overseeing the job.

      It is one of our primary responsibilities as trailbreakers to place these important trail markers along the trail from the beginning of the race to the end in Nome.  The mushers rely on these markers to ensure they are on the right trail.  As it turns out, there are lots of different trails intersecting and veering off-of the 938 miles along the historic Iditarod route.  

Aside from what fits in our boxes we haul an additional lath
box on a sled.

      It has been estimated that we place 15,000 of these markers along the way.  One trailbreaker sticks lath at a time and the rest follow and  and “fix” leaners and shallow stabs.  Sometimes lath needs to be turned 180 degrees because the prevailing wind swings the blue ribbon around covering the reflector. 

      There are a variety of techniques to stabbing lath.  Generally a strong left handed down-stab will do the trick but not always.  In icy conditions a chainsaw plunge-cut creates a slot for the next-in-line to hammer one in with the side of an axe.  It is a game of chase as one guy cuts slots with the saw while the rest leapfrog and race to the front of the line.  In the heavily treed areas the spacing is very far apart because there really is no way to get off the trail but crossing large open areas such as swamps and sea-ice is a different story.  Here we stab lath every eight seconds traveling 20 miles per hour.  The possibility of getting lost in whiteout blizzard conditions is much higher in these open areas and it is important to adjust the spacing accordingly.  The last lath, I would find out is stabbed into the snow right next to the burled arch on Front Street in Nome.   

     When we left the Dalzell cabin this time I was excited, I knew that soon we would be at Rohn and from there we would be traveling through over 700 miles of Alaskan wilderness most of which I’d never seen.

     A notable section of trail through here was the Fairwell burn which cuts through the aftermath of Alaska's largest forest fire.  Very little snow accumulates here and much of the riding was on dirt and ice. 

Fairwell burn 

     

We ran into this delightful English chap on the trail.  We share the
trail with many folks including racers in the ITI (Iditarod Trail Invitational)
This is a human powered race finishing in McGrath or Nome depending 
on your tolerance level for suffering.

        This area is also home to one of only four herds of plains bison in all of Alaska.  It is a highly coveted hunting tag with a very low percentage chance of drawing.  Each year thousands of Alaskans (including myself) donate money in the form of a lottery with hopes of drawing what many consider to be the holy grail of Alaskan hunting tags.  Although we did not see any bison, we found a bunch of fresh bison poop that was still warm.  It was 20 below zero so they couldn't have been far away.

Cameron warming his hands with fresh bison poop.

       From this point in our Journey a variety of "Safety cabins" could be found along the way.  Typically they were located along long sections between communities.  Some of them were funded and built by BLM, others were built by some of the communities along the way.  Regardless of origin, these safety cabins are open for everyone to use and no one can be turned away.  This can sometimes lead to super crowded conditions.  There is no doubt that these cabins have been a life saver over the years for many adventurous souls.

Here we stayed at Carlson Crossing Safety cabin.  We shared this cabin with at least 10 others,
most of which were competing in the ITI.  It was like sardines in there except sardines smell better.

          One of the most interesting aspects of this entire trip for me was the opportunity to meet adventurous people along the trail.  During our stay at the Carlson crossing safety cabin, we met Alex Bellini who is a professional explorer from Italy.  He is sponsored by a project called "Eyes on Ice" who's mission statement is: A Journey to the epicenter of global climate change.  He was fascinating to talk to as we left I asked for a photo with his fat tire bike which was 3d printed with recycled plastic.

Explorer Alex Bellini with his cool bike.  Check out the message on the frame by the
back tire.  It reads "Avanti, bastaro!"...translation: Get going you bastard!  This was a message to himself whenever he gets tired.

     The next day we would drop down onto the Kuskokwim River and on to Nikolai where we would fuel up and continue on to McGrath.  As our journey progressed I couldn't believe the incredibly beautiful wilderness we were passing through.  I wanted to take more photos but realized that my quick snapshots along the way didn't do much justice to the reality of the spectacular vistas around every corner.  I have been lucky enough in my life to have been involved in a wide variety of Alaska wilderness adventures and I soon realized that the country we were passing through on the daily was among the most breaktaking of all.  

   Approaching Mcgrath had us passing through large stands of tall spruce trees.  Untouched by spruce beetles these perfect specimens  towered over a hundred feet high, were straight as arrows and perfectly tapered (lake a Christmas tree).  My thoughts turned to the late Arthur Mannix who was a good friend and passionate about the forest and wilderness.  The spruce beetle epidemic passed through our home town of Talkeetna and killed almost all of the large white spruce trees. Art found a lone giant "super tree" that had somehow resisted the invasion of the invasive beetles.  All the trees around it were dead. He took it upon himself to harvest the seeds and plant a bunch of super tree descendants in hopes of revitalizing the local forest.  I felt like I was riding through an entire forest of super trees as we pulled into McGrath.  

Iditarod headquarters in McGrath.  Great food for all volunteers.
We stayed at the Innoko Inn and had our first shower of the trip!

        The next morning, after a great breakfast in Mcgrath, we fueled up and hit the trail.  Soon we would drop down onto the Takotna River.  We passed several beautiful log homes as we left the river and pulled into Takotna itself.  After "lathing-up", we hit the trail which at this point was a road that took us up and over a mountain pass that was the divide between the Kuskokwim and Yukon River drainages.  Soon we passed through the abandoned mining town of Ophir on our way to the halfway point of Cripple.  

Cripple

     Cripple is a bit of an oddity along the trail as it is simply a collection of wall tents situated on the edge of a swamp.  Two older gentlemen named Chris and Bob are the go-to volunteers each year and were flown into Cripple two weeks prior to set up camp.  They had replaced metal roofing on several of the wall tents and had everything organized and tidy as we pulled-in  Along with organizing all the the mushers hay and food-drops, they are also responsible for cooking for everyone in a separate galley tent.  We stayed in the mushers cabin which was warm and cozy.        

     While we were there a plane landed to drop off more volunteers.  One of them may or may-not have witnessed one of us mooning the plane as it buzzed us earlier on the trail.  It amazed me that most of the volunteers at the checkpoints were from out of state.  I met people from Florida, Colorado, Montana, Arizona and California.   At dinner time there was a lot of buzz as the mushers were getting closer.  "Are you getting excited?", I asked Bob.

     "Well actually when the media circus gets here and all the hoopla around the front runners, I'd prefer to hide-out in the back cabin," he said.  This was not Bob's first rodeo.  The first musher into Cripple wins 3000 dollars in gold nuggets and it's a big deal.  Most of the mushers take their one mandatory 24 hour rest here.

     It was hard to believe that we were only halfway to Nome.  I had seen so much already and was trying to process it all.  Most of our daily rides were around 75 miles long and it was all new-country for me.  I was blown-away with the passing wilderness and wanted to spend more time exploring but would have to settle for passing through.   The fact that this expanse of wilderness has been protected and is celebrated through organizations like the Iditarod warmed my heart. 

    From here-on we would try to stay 24 hours ahead of the mushers so that our trail could set-up nicely for fast mushing conditions.  Our next stop would be the Yukon River village of Ruby.

Cameron chilling with our new friend Jan who was an ITI racer.
When we pulled up she came out of the cabin and hugged us.
"I'm so glad to see you!".She said.  She had been slogging through deep snow
the last few days.  She knew that our trail would dramatically improve
her progress.

Kody and myself taking a break near Cripple

Our fearless leader Spencer Pape doing his thing.
Be sure to check out the video below.