Y-K Delta rookie Iditarod mushers are no strangers to the rough trails and warm wet weather in the midsection of this year’s race. As Jessica Klejka completed her 8-hour rests in Shageluk Saturday, she described the run into Iditarod a wild experience.
“It was a couple hours of straight tundra tussocks, big huge tussocks, no snow, huge holes, and and just pushing our sled over them.”
It’s a familiar feeling from fall training in Bethel, which involves runs over the tundra, while low snow year mean overland trails are full of unexpected bumps and icy patches. Klejka’s technique was to drive cautiously, but slowing the team brings its own complications.
“Because if you use your brake it’s going to get stuck on the tundra tussocks and if you use your drag, your foot is bouncing all over the place. I tried to keep them super super slow so they could figure out where to go, but I’m sure they think we went too quickly, the dogs, they were trying to find their footing.”
Besides a sore knee from the earlier in the Dalzell Gorge, Keljka physically made it out ok. But before her break was up, she took time to double check all of the joints of her sled.
“The checkers in Iditarod were like ‘what’s broken on your sled, everyone’s broken something.’ Surprisingly my sled’s holding up well, I’m going to go check the bolts to see if anything’s loose from being rattled for hours.”
Niklas Wikstrand has been running dogs a few years with Pete Kaiser’s kennel. He too was trying to trying take things slowly over the tussocks to avoid risking injuries.
“Because they have to lift their feet and really watch where they’re going. I think it’s also a little mentally tiring for them to concentrate on where to step whole time. I saw it closer to Iditarod that my leaders started fumbling around, but that might be because of the lack of a trail.”
It rained Friday in Shageluk as temperatures climbed in to the 30s. While warm gusty winds blew straw and dog bowls across the lot, Wikstrand was unfazed by the marginal conditions.
“Our dogs are kind of used to these warm temperatures because in Bethel where we train, it’s has been above freeing for a month and a half. You only need to give them enough water, they seem to drink plain water and kibble. I try to sneak in some meat, but then they usually eat less at that point.”
The third Y-K Delta rookie musher, Victoria Hardwick, arrived at the halfway point of Iditarod on Saturday afternoon.
