As the bulk of Iditarod 42’s competitors now move through the checkpoints of the Yukon River, there’s a palpable sense that the race – which has, of course, been going on for nearly a week – is finally becoming a real race.
With more and more of the lead mushers finishing the mandatory layovers where the location is at the musher’s discretion – the 24-hour layover and the 8-hour Yukon River layover – it’s starting to become clearer just who is out front, at least for the time being, among the Iditarod pack.
At the time of writing, Martin Buser has just arrived in Kaltag, the final checkpoint along the Yukon (next it’s the long run to Unalakleet and the Norton Sound coast). Close behind him are Aliy Zirkle, Dallas Seavey, and Sonny Lindner, all out of Nulato. Of the 50 mushers behind them, only 11 have yet to hit the Yukon, which meant that on Friday, the Yukon River was where the action was.
See a few shots from Ruby, Nulato, and from the air (en route to Nulato and Kaltag).
