We were warned about significant overflow on the South Fork Kuskokwim River ~1mi past the Rohn checkpoint. The wind was howling badly and we moved on blank ice as soon as we hit the river. There were no trail markers to be seen and it was pitch dark, so we navigated by GPS and tried to find a good line on the ice. No ice is safe, so you want to read it as much as you can, look for changes in the structure, cracks, etc. As we moved closer to the shore, I suddenly heard cracking noises and saw the ice crack around me in what felt like slow motion. With a bang I was standing knee-deep in icy water. Crap. Well, at least it wasn’t very deep. We tried to retreat to safer grounds, but MP also broke through suddenly. Although we were now wet, we put on our waders before we proceeded carefully, breaking through the ice on almost every step. Once we reached the forest, we put on dry socks and kept moving to stay warm.
Slowly but certainly we moved into a section called “The Burn,” which traditionally receives little to no snow. And rather suddenly we found ourselves indeed on a pretty bare trail. It was surreal to pull the pulk on rocks, dirt, and grass for many miles and hours. Needless to say that it was incredibly slow and exhausting. Did we have a choice? Nope. So we pushed forward. The dry sections were followed by miles on bare ice on lakes. And then came the deep moguls for dozens of miles. Destroyed by exhaustion and despair, I finally came up with a dynamic technique to sail across moguls that did not feel unlike dancing. Over many miles, I perfectioned the technique, and to my own surprise, it almost became fun. Sadly, I only saw piles of bison poop and no bison on that section, where they often hang out.
Late at night we quickly set up a bivy on a nice hill and fell asleep. When the alarm went off in the middle of the night, the northern lights were in full swing. Like the pros we got up in a few minutes and were moving in a jiffy to warm up. We now had about 40mi to go to the Nikolai checkpoint, where a burger would be awaiting us.
That seems indeed true.
Once upon a time on the South Fork Kuskokwim River. Waders are on, let’s go!
Looking back toward the Rohn checkpoint as we enter the Burn.
Where are the bison?! And where is the snow?!
Very normal.
Even more normal.
And then there was blank ice. For miles.
And some more ice. For more miles.
And then came the moguls. Some were practically vertical.
#iti2022 #iditarodtrailinvitational #ultrarunning #nome #alaska