A log destined to become the new finish line arch for the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is drying in Willow.
It’s predecessor crumbled in Nome last April, prompting the Iditarod Trail Committee to hire 26-time Iditarod finisher and log home builder Ramey Smyth to oversee the construction of a new one.
Smyth said finding the right spruce took months. Ten-time Iditarod finisher Travis Beals and Ben Ringler scoured the woods around Seward, dropping pins on their map app to mark candidates. Smyth said they must’ve picked out over 30, but none of them were quite right.
“We looked at each tree that they had marked. They had huge, huge burls, but they weren't quite right for the arch, so we had to look further,” Smyth said.
In October, they expanded their search to the Chugach National Forest, where the crew finally found the perfect log.
“It was very appropriate that we find a tree that came from nearly mile 1 of Iditarod Trail, and now it's going to travel all the way to the end and be the arch that symbolizes the end of many people's journeys in Nome,” Smyth said.
One permit and a frigid 200 mile drive later, the log is now resting comfortably next to a blazing woodstove at Northern Spirit Rustics in Willow. Smyth said the drying process will take a couple weeks. Then he’ll get to work on carving.
“It's going to be bigger, the arch is going to be much stronger. But the wording is going to be very similar. We're going to probably carve in the names of many of the first people who finished,” Smyth said.
Those names include his parents, Bud Smyth and Lolly Medley, both of whom competed in the Iditarod back in the '70s. He said the weight of the assignment is starting to hit him.
“Just the symbolism of it, of the journey that ends in Nome, the people's lives. You know, many people have spent decades, some of them have spent their whole life dreaming about traveling the Iditarod Trail,” Smyth said.
Plans for unveiling the new arch are in the works. It’s expected to be ready for the finish in Nome in just a month.
