Deedee Jonrowe runs through a narrow section of trail shortly after cresting the summit of Rainy Pass during the 2013 Iditarod sled Dog Race March 4, 2013.
Photo by Jeff Schultz Do Not Reproduce without permission
Tuesday March 5th — Nikolai 5 pm.
So I’ve been off-line and out of touch of the normal world as of 1 pm yesterday when I left Rainy Pass with Steve Perrins Jr on a snowmachine for Rohn. We spent until 7:30 pm on the trail waiting for mushers and looking for good spots. It was nice a warm for a change and that was good though once at the summit of the pass it was windy. After the summit we waited for over an hour in one place for teams to get to us. But got some nice images of top teams in some narrow sections of the trail and along ice bridges over Dalzell Creek.
I guess I’m getting older and the race is certainy maturing as I could not believe how crowded the checkpoints and the trail is getting. At the Rainy Pass checkpoint there must have been 50 day-trip tourists amongst the teams. SO, so very different from the old days. And once on the trail there were several film crews and still photographers.
Today was a wild-ride out of Rohn and through the buffalo tunnels to find a place where the trail was bare rock and dirt. It’s always an adventure riding double on a snowmachine and this was no exception. I’m very thankful to Steve Perrins who is an exceptional sno-go driver and a great guy to be with out on the trail. And we’re off to McGrath……
