The Coast

I woke this am to find Nic Petit resting at the spit of land at the edge of the ocean where there is a shelter cabin....he has been there for nearly 3 hours.  This year, instead of venturing out onto the ice, the trail will go to the east and go overland to Koyuk, as the Bering Sea has no ice this year.  Can you say Climate Change? This will add about 12 miles to the trip to Koyuk. Maybe Nic likes this, as it was out on the sea ice last year he took a right and actually got to the shore and had to backtrack back onto the ice to go north to Koyuk, allowing Joar to slip past him.  Anyhow, this year everyone will be on the land route. 

Weather forecast in Shaktoolik is 31 degrees.....still quite warm, with occasional snow showers.  Low of 29.  Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph.  So today, Mother Nature is being nice.

With the warmer than normal temperatures, Teams appear to be resting and hydrating their Teams more.  As always, if you push too much your Team could revolt, or worse yet get dehydrated.  But with these temps you have to allow extra time to feed and water to assure that does not happen.  Alaskan Huskies typically will only drink water that is offered to them by mixing it with kibble or other foods.  Our retired AP Kennel (Aliy Zirkle/Allen Moore Kennel) Chemo rarely drinks water, whereas Outlaw drinks a lot of water....but typically they are more like Chemo.  They do eat snow however, and can hydrate that way too. 

So, the GPS looks like this:

Nic Petit still resting at mile 791
Joar, Jessie and Kaiser all resting at Shaktoolik
Mitch Seavey running at mile 767
Jessie Holmes running at mile 741
Aliy Zirkle looks to be heading out of Unalakleet now at mile 737
Failor, Hall, Beals, Drobny, Redington, and Burmeister still all resting at Unalakleet

I filled out the Top Ten spreadsheet last night.....many of you had Nic first to the Coast, so Bonus Points are on the board!  It looks like the absence of Wade Marrs in the top ten is going to break a lot of boards, as he is presently in 20th position with breaking a sled runner early on in the race.  King is another favorite who is now in 19th position. Buser us a sentimental favorite in 31st place, and of course everyone wants to know where Lance is....I believe his goal is just to finish, and he is currently in 28th place.

Aliy had a nice "pick me up" at Unalakleet, where her Husband Allen and her Dad flew out to see her on the trail.  SP Kennel is not running a B Team this year so Allen could come out and visit...and I'm sure they will also be in Nome to see her in.  I know that must have been a nice visit, and even though Aliy had to leave a Team Mate behind (she now has 12 dogs) she is probably looking forward to being up in the Blueberry Hills this morning, which is her favorite part of the trail.   With lots of snow cover this year the trail thus far on the coast has been nice!