Category Archives: John Baker

John Baker is 54 miles from White Mountain. That’s 7 hours if he goes direct which puts him into White Mountain about 2pm. Then the 8 hour layover which means 10pm. A 9 hour run at the best to Nome might put him into the Burled Arches by 6 or 7 tomorrow morning. But I really think I am being optimistic.

Ramey Smyth is shorting rest, so we’ll see how long he can do that.

No one better blink…

For some reason no one else is taking breaks at Shaktoolik. That might be the game changer. Let’s hope John’s stop works out for him later down the trail. 5 now through that checkpoint.

John Baker got a chance to rest, but Ramey Smith and Hans Gatt aren’t giving up without a fight. John got a 3 hour rest, and they took none. His 20 mile lead has now dwindled to 6 miles. This is going to be interesting and VERY exciting. GPS shows Baker with a speed advantage, but not by too much. Baker is just now heading out onto the ice on the way to Koyuk. This part of the trail is like the moon. No land marks to speak of and time just slowly churns by. You don’t have much to gauge how you are doing until you get much closer to Koyuk. Go John Baker!

Trail times for the three are within 4 minutes– It’s not over yet! At this point a small mistake becomes a huge ordeal and can really cause trouble for the leader. It’s a shootout and someone has to blink. John has a bigger gun, but the boys are ready for anything!