Farewell Burn Trail
Good Morning Race Fans! All the speculation yesterday about Martin Buser’s amazing run into Rohn has fallen by the wayside as so many stories do in an Iditarod Race. As he finishes his 24 hour layover, it is still on the minds of mushers who now have moved past him and are on the way to Nikolai. He will be able to remain on the trail as they take their layover, but will the performance of his team hold up after the long run will be the question. After he gets going we will be able to see.
During the first days of the race it is very hard to judge what position a team holds due to everyone being so close together and on different rest cycles. Pete and the Team are now positioned nicely with several Teams near the front of the pack. Tracker shows Pete with a group of about 6 mushers including King, Berkowitz, and Jonrowe, that are about 5 places back from the Leader presently, Aaron Burmeister.
The trail today includes moving across the “Burn”, a stretch of burned out trees an tundra that often has little snow, towards Nikolai, on the Kuskokwim River. From Nikolai to Takotna, which Pete mentioned as a possibility for his 24 hour layover, the trail is a traditional, well used, transportation trail that local folks use with snowmachines to get from their village to McGrath, the hub for the area. It may be a faster trail and will definitely be more well packed.
Temperatures have cooled somewhat from yesterday. Hopefully a coastal storm that has Bethel and Aniak in the 40’s and rain will stay to the southwest and keep it cool.
Currently in Nikolai:
Today’s Mushing Weather Forecast:
UPPER KUSKOKWIM VALLEY- INCLUDING...MCGRATH...NIKOLAI...TAKOTNA...FAREWELL LAKE 515 AM AKST TUE MAR 5 2013 .TODAY...CLOUDY WITH SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS. HIGHS IN THE UPPER 20S. LIGHT WINDS. .TONIGHT...CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF SNOW. LOWS IN THE MID TO UPPER TEENS. LIGHT WINDS.
