I was particularly excited to make the 86mi to Unalakleet for two reasons: (1) to see the Bering Sea with the sea ice and (2) to have pizza at Peace on Earth, which would also be our checkpoint. It’s rather unusual to find a pizza place in a small Alaskan community by the Bering Sea. But more on that tomorrow.
Over the next two days, it was pure solitude, which I greatly enjoyed. I saw nobody. I was now running in 2nd place. ITI veteran foot athlete Beat was about a day ahead of me, leading the race. This was his 6th Iditarod to Nome. Needless to say that he had a lot more experience than my clueless rookie persona. As a Nome veteran, you don’t lose time with navigation, you know how to find the checkpoints in towns, you know what to pack and what not to pack, and you can take more (informed) risk and optimize everything. My strategy was to play it safe.
I loved this entire section. For the most part, it follows a valley that is lined by great coastal mountains. The trail was mostly in good shape because it’s a well-traveled snowmachine highway. After about 35mi I got to the Tripod Flats cabin, one of two public shelters on that stretch. It was definitely too early to rest. My plan was to hammer out the 50mi (from Kaltag) to the Old Woman cabin, the 2nd public shelter maintained by BLM. I made it there just when it got dark. There was not enough wood to heat up the cabin, melt snow, and make dinner. So I first had to head out with the axe, cut down a big tree that would provide enough wood, chop it up, make a fire, and only then I could start to think about dinner. Given that I had 17 leg days so far, a bit of upper body workout with the axe was welcome. I quickly made dinner and hung up my wet gear to dry while I slept a few hours. Yet, before I passed out, I melted extra show and kept the stove going because I thought Josh would be showing up any minute. He never did. Hmmm, I wasn’t sure what happened and assumed he bivied somewhere on the way.
#iti2022 #iditarodtrailinvitational #ultrarunning #nome #alaska