![[ Mrs. Holmes Home Page ]](graphics/home.gif) |  | | | | | | | |
Race Day 3
March 4, 2002
Hello Everyone!
Today was a bit more relaxed than other days. I stayed in Skwentna until about 1:30 in the afternoon. People drive snowmobiles and dogsleds instead of cars. It’s funny when people ask if you would like a ride to the airport or checkpoint because they pick you up on a snowmobile. Can you imagine if your family didn’t have a car? It sure would take some getting used to! Think about how you would get to school each day, go out for dinner with your family, or how you would get your groceries home!
I spent some more time down at the checkpoint this morning.
Here is the inside of Skwentna cabin.
This is one of the Sweeties who runs the kitchen and serves the mushers meals.
You can see the beds all over the floor. I slept in one of them too and slept like a baby. I’m only getting 3-5 hours of sleep each night!
Everyone slept on the floor at the Delia’s. There was a whole sea of bedrolls and sleeping bags. I was so exhausted I slept through all of the commotion.
In the morning there was another group of mushers at the checkpoint. All of the frontrunners were already on their way. Even as early as it is in the race, the trail must be pretty exhausting. Everyone looks tired, dogs and mushers, and two teams have scratched already (Bomhoff and Solmonson).
Joe and Norma Delia are the owners of the Skwentna checkpoint. Joe is the postman.
Joe Delia, the postman in Skwentna.
He has a dog that goes everywhere. Here you can see them going to get the mail.
Joe and his dog get the mail.
Joe loves to tell stories. Norma is great fun to talk to also, because she knows the mushers very well.
Norma Delia
Norma and Joe keep everything under control at the checkpoint and are both incredibly generous people. All of the mushers come to say hello to them and get a hug. I’d definitely like to come back to visit again.
After talking to the Delias, Sweeties, and mushers, we hopped on the plane and headed for McGrath. We flew over some of the hardest parts of the trail today. I’ll tell you about it through pictures.
We left Skwentna and headed toward Finger Lake. I was eager to see the trail that led through the mountains ahead. The trail runs to the left of the snowy mountain in the foreground.
We approached the mountains and could see the trail below. Although it looked quite flat from above, the gradual incline was no doubt exhausting for the mushers.
The trail is to the left at the base of the mountains. Rainy Pass is known for it’s deep snow. The mountains are part of the Alaska Range. This is a rather scary part of the trail.
These were some of the most beautiful mountains I have ever seen. I can’t explain why. Perhaps because there were so many, yet they were still very high. They were completed snow covered which added to their beauty. The mushers must simply be in awe throughout this section of the trail.
The Rainy Pass checkpoint is on the lake you see in this picture.
The Dalzell Gorge is one of the most trecherous sections of the trail. It is a ravine between the mountains and the mushers just fly through it. It’s twisty and can have jagged rocks on the sidehills. Sometimes there is overflow at the bottom. Here is the entrance to the gorge.
You’ll have to imagine just how steep the gorge is. The mushers sometimes slam through it at a very fast pace. Can you imagine how scary it would be for a rookie?
Once through the gorge, everything flattens out again. I’d assume that the mushers are exhausted and some bruised. I would assume that it is a difficult section for the dogs as well.
This section of the trail is called the Farewell Burn. In past years this area had many snowless stretches where the mushers had to slide over rocks and dirt. I asked Jeff King how it compared to the conditions last year and he said they were snow covered and much better.
We flew over to McGrath to spend the night. I went down to the checkpoint to help set up right away. There were so many volunteers there already. People come from all over the world to help at the checkpoints. I’m meeting so many people. The first mushers are expected in tonight at around 10:00. We will be flying to Nikolai to see the mushers there first.
Finding a way to send reports back is getting challenging so please be patient. I’m now out in the bush.
I hope you are all doing well!
Mrs. Holmes
Skwentna, - Wednesday, March 06, 2002 at 01:09:51 (EST)
 | | | | | | |
Mrs. Holmes
| | ![[ Marion Cross School ]](photos/MCS.jpg) |
Webspace for Mrs. Holmes Iditarod 2002 project was provided courtesy of ValleyNet of Norwich, Vermont. 
