Five mushers are making their way down the Yukon River, toward the Quest 750’s halfway point.
Frontrunner and Quest veteran Josi Shelley has a solid lead on the rest of the field, and was first into the village of Beaver, nearly 350 miles into the race, last night. She’s being followed by fellow Fairbanks area mushers: Jonah, Bacon, Jeff Deeter, and Jason and Patrick Mackey.
Communities along the route are serving as checkpoints for racers and their dogs contending with lonely miles and extreme cold.
The Fort Yukon checkpoint feels like Christmas, the Fourth of July, and a series of fire drills… all rolled into one. Between race errands, volunteers set out aluminum containers filled with caribou ribs, salmon salad, and the biggest hit — cinnamon buns with wild blueberries baked inside.
As she nibbles on a bun, first-time race official Izzy Nicolier says it’s imperative to taste all the snacks before the mushers arrive, just to be sure…
(laughing) “We're doing our due diligence. And no poison, just deliciousness.”
But outside, the cold is punishing. Dog sled teams pushed into the Arctic Circle with temperatures dropping into the negative 50s.
Frontrunner Josi Shelley charged across the Yukon River and up to the checkpoint just after 3 a.m. on Tuesday. She says her team of 12 sailed over that segment of the trail, but the extreme temperatures were wearing on her. To manage, the steward of There and Back Again Kennels is escaping into a fantasy world…
“I was listening to The Silmarillion. It's kind of a long, boring book, pre-Lord of the Rings — but I was like, this is a perfect time to listen to it.”
Shelley left the checkpoint just before noon on Tuesday, and Jeff Deeter followed six hours later. He dropped two dogs in Fort Yukon and is running to Beaver with ten.
Deeter says this leg of the trail has been difficult for his team.
“Everything is just taking a bit longer. I've got a few dogs with orthopedic issues, so just muscles and joints that are tight with the cold, and that needs heat.”
Jonah Bacon was third into Fort Yukon, pulling up in the noon sunlight. He says his 13-dog team is handling the extreme cold well.
But he, himself, is a little worse for wear. Frostnip got to his feet while he camped out. He rolls up the ankles of his snow pants to show me where pale blisters are erupting out of his toes.
“After doing my dog chores and stuff, I laid down, stretched out next to my sled on the ground. And when I woke up, I was like, I'm frozen. I got a little bit of a blister on my right big toe. Actually, it's almost the size of the whole toe.”
He says the northern lights have been a welcome distraction from the pain.
“Oh, the aurora has been RIPPING the last two nights. That was a nice treat while it was cold and everything, just like to look up and be like, that's incredible. It was moving like a snake across the sky.”
Meanwhile, Fort Yukon checkpoint volunteers are doing their best to keep mushers comfortable and fed. Several told me about their excitement for hosting the race for the first time, and of hopes that it’ll pass through their community for years to come.
A couple of them showed their appreciation by sewing beaver mittens with colorful woven accents for each of the mushers. Corrima Cadzow made the mittens with her aunt, Louie Fairchild. She says she got the idea while she was out moose hunting with family.
“And they brought up that the Quest might be going through Fort Yukon. And we threw around ideas how cool it'd be, and one of them said — beaver mitts. Five pairs took about three days — the whole mitt, the liner, everything outside.”
As the first to the checkpoint, Josi Shelley got first dibs. But Jeff Deeter picked out Cadzow’s favorite pair.
“A beautiful pair of jet black beaver mittens. They fold over at the top so snow doesn't get in them. So, not only do they look beautiful, they're also very practical.”
Each of the mushers say they’ll wear the mittens proudly as they charge south for the next leg of the race.
According to the Yukon Quest GPS tracking site, it’s 71 miles from Ft. Yukon to Beaver, and another 66 to Stevens Village, which is over 4 hundred miles into the race organizers say actually runs about 850 miles. (Shelby Herbert)
