Day 23: The Path of Earth’s Wanderers
Gavan Hennigan and musher Jody Potts-Joseph. Photo curtesy of Gavan Hennigan
In her 1918 book “Tenting To-Night”, Mary Roberts Rinehart wrote this about “The Trail”: “It [the trail] is dusty; it is wet. It climbs, it falls; it is beautiful and terrible. But always it skirts the coast of adventure. Always it goes on, and always it calls to those that follow it. Tiny path that it is, worn by the feet of earth’s wanderers, it is the thread which has knit together the solid places of the earth. The path of feet in the wilderness is the onward march of life itself.”
Nowhere else does this path that is “worn by the feet of Earth’s wanderers” apply more than in this next section of the Iditarod Trail.
But first, let’s cover what these Wanderers have been up to over the last 24 hours. Good trails and light winds mean that our racers have made good progress today.
Veteran Gavan Hennigan (foot) did not need B&B owner Larry’s hand-drawn map to leave Galena yesterday, but it is always on the table for those who need it. Gavan traveled all night and arrived in Nulato around 6:30 this morning. After a Gavan-like quick stop like we are used to seeing when he is in his element, he is on the move again, making his way on the last stretch of the Yukon River to Kaltag.
Bikers Ryan Wanless, Troy Szczurkowski, Mayella Krause, Kendall Park, and Erick Basset arrived in Nulato yesterday during the afternoon and early evening. After a brief 2-hour stop, Kendall, Erick, and Maya left to take advantage of the good trail to Kaltag, arriving roughly around midnight. Ryan traveled overnight to Kaltag and arrived this morning. In Kaltag, our racers stay at the public school, where posters and signs cheer them on. All four have left Kaltag and are now on their way over the Kaltag portage to the coast, likely stopping at Old Woman cabin later on. Not far behind them, Troy Szczurkowski arrived in Kaltag this afternoon and has also set off on the Kaltag portage.
Now for the Tiny Path. The Kaltag portage is the name given to the area between Kaltag, on the Yukon River, and Unalakleet, on the coast. This portage has been an important route for travel, transportation, and trade between Norton Sound and Interior Alaska for thousands of years. It served as a vital link between the Inupiat and Yup’ik peoples of the coast and the Yukon River and Athabascan groups in the Interior. During the period of Alaskan development, the Kaltag portage was used as a route for both the historic Iditarod Trail and the Washington-Alaska Military Cable and Telegraph System. As racers travel along this old route, many remark that you can feel its significance and history. The trail leaves Kaltag, travels through a wooded area, crosses the Kaltag River, and eventually climbs about 500 feet before beginning a long descent towards the sea.
There are two fantastic Bureau of Land Management (BLM) shelter cabins on this stretch. The cabins are open to all travelers passing through the portage. Tripod Flats is around 27 miles past Kaltag, and Old Woman Cabin is around 16 miles past that, or around 43 miles from Kaltag. From Old Woman cabin, racers have around 34 miles to Unalakleet.
The colder temperatures continue to hang around overnight and into the morning hours, especially at lower elevations, like along the Yukon River; it was -27 degrees F when Ryan arrived in Kaltag this morning, but the winds were light. It appears temps will stay in this general 0 to -30 deg F range for much of the week. The four bikers appear to have a slight tailwind as they climb to the top of the portage, before the wind becomes a headwind on the other side, down towards Unalakleet and the coast.
There is one chapter coming to an end today, and that is our racers’ interactions with the Iditarod Dog Sled Race. All dog teams have passed Gavan, and the remaining teams will pass the four lead bikers by tomorrow morning. Interactions between mushers, dogs, race volunteers, and our athletes are among the most treasured moments on the trail, and racers will now be left with very quiet trails, with only the occasional snow machine venturing by. Racers may feel lonelier on the trail after all the activity of the last few days on the Yukon. But no doubt participants in these two events will meet again next year when the tiny path is once again traveled by earth’s wanderers, both human and canine alike.
Today’s update written by Faye Norby
Thanks to Wild Winter Women - Kari Gibbons, Amanda Harvey, Faye Norby, Jan Redmond Walker, Jessica Roschlan, Laura Wiesmann Hrubes, Allison Carolan, Leah Gruhn, Lynn K Hall, Madeline Harms, Rashelle Hintz, Rebecca McVay-Brodersen, and Sarah Bergstrom.