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 |
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. |
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 |
Kody and myself taking a break near Cripple |
Our fearless leader Spencer Pape doing his thing. Be sure to check out the video below. |
I enjoyed reading of your adventure 😎. I'm going to figure out a way to include the phrase"stabbing lath" into everyday conversation. 🌞
ReplyDeleteI have learned to escape the clutches of mundane government work by selecting to appreciate moments, even if those moments are vicariously experienced through the exploits of others. Good shit, Hbomb.
ReplyDeleteVery informative!
ReplyDelete