The early stretches of the Iditarod trail were brutal this year, according to almost everyone who dared to mush across it.
The dirt-bare trail leading up to the Rohn and Nikolai checkpoints was beset with a lack of snow and a variety of natural obstacles and hurdles that kept mushers struggling both to avoid injury and to stay on their sleds.
From describing it as a “nightmare” to comparing it to a horrific sci-fi movie, the competitors of Iditarod 42 each described their early trail experiences in a different way when talking with our trail reporter, Laureli, over the past few days.
There’s one thing they’re unanimous about, however: they’re glad they’re leaving this part of the trail behind.
Hear the different ways some of Iditarod’s competitors have described the rough trail this year:
