As Royer and Sass served out their 8 hour rest in Kaltag, Thomas Waerner got in and rested his Team about 5 hours before being the first one to head down the ancient portage trail between interior Alaska and the Coast. Its a 90 mile trek, so most Mushers break this up into 2 or 3 chunks. There are 2 shelter cabins along the way that I'm sure the Mushers will have in their strategy to use. Here is a screen shot of the Teams out on the portage trail:
If you are wondering where Richie Diehl is, his Team had a difficult time leaving Nulato, so they returned for a longer stay. Richie was not quite sure what happened, he mentioned there was an interest in one of his female dogs so it could be a heat thing....or it could be Richie played too closely to the line of asking his dogs to do more than they could do. The remedy....more rest and don't push it!
The weather is now the issue....last I heard 6 to 8 inches of new snow had fallen, and Thomas Waerner is now breaking the trail for the chase pack. This is always an issue on the trail....some pull over in hopes a snow machine comes along to break a new trail (the official trail breakers have already been through and do not return to re-groom the trail). There are many village folk who travel the trail by snowmobile, and also you have tourist groups on snow machine too. Its a public trail, so there is no way to reserve it for the race. Right now, it does not appear to be a great trail, as everyone is traveling about 6 mph, even after a 8 hour rest!
I will post snap shots of the lead pack throughout the day to keep you all informed of what is going on.
On another note, Aliy has made it through that portion of the trail between Galena and Nulato where she was attacked by the snow machine in 2016. She did this portion of the trail in the daylight and was with a good group of other Teams, which I am sure she found solace in being there with them.
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