Aliy is out of Nikolai in second position, she left at 1.13pm after just over four hours rest. On the “Insider” video of her arriving she said she had a fun run from Rohn to Nikolai – she said it is great to have a team that listens to you in that section as there were a few challenges along the way such as glare ice, glaciers and the section known as “The Farewell Burn” (this was the site of Alaska’s largest forest fire, a million and a half acres in the summer of 1978)!
There is a great picture of Aliy in the Nikolai checkpoint with her down slippers (in Sebastian Schnuelle’s “checkpoint scenes” blog on idiatrod.com). I remember when she was packing to leave and she was tossing up whether to take them – she said it was a bit of a luxury and that maybe she shouldn’t. I am so pleased she decided to put them in, it must be nice to have a tiny bit of luxury out on the trail!
We do know she has dropped one dog in Nikolai and although there is some video of her and the team leaving it is just too difficult to tell for certain who the dog is so we don’t want to speculate at this stage and get it wrong. We talked with the Dog Drop HQ and from Nikolai the dogs are flown to McGrath checkpoint and will travel back in a larger plane on an, as yet, unscheduled flight so it is possible they won’t be back to Anchorage until Wednesday evening or even Thursday morning. Please be assured we will let you know as soon as we know who it is – there is no way we can know for sure until we go to pick them up.
Allen arrived into Nikolai at 3.01pm and at the time of writing is in 28th position. I’m pretty sure Allen won’t be carrying any “luxury” items in his sled. As some of you may know, Allen likes to travel light, taking only the essentials – so much so that we kid him about it often. At the start line in Willow he was deciding whether to put an extra lip balm in his bag – he chuckled, pointed out that it weighed 4.8g and threw it over his shoulder saying “that’s just too heavy!”
Footnote: We picked up Tug and she is great! She was well looked after at the Millennium by the fabulous volunteers. She is a little sore but she was really happy to see us. She and Sissy spent some time catching up and telling trail stories before having a massage, a fish and kibble snack and a sleep.
Tug (in green third from bottom) waits with other dropped dogs
LOVING the updates !! Many thanks . Sending all and the team lots of luck and <3
Well, if Allen arrives in Nome with grotesquely chapped lips, who will have the last laugh, huh?
Enjoyed this update! Thanks for posting. I'm off to search for that down slipper picture…
And of course, GO SP Kennel!!!!
Thanks so much for this report – will wait to hear which 4-legged Red Team member had to call it a day in Nikolai.
And thanks for the explanation of the "Farewell Burn" – prior to your explanation, I thought it sounded just like a bit of Scotland.
Your description of Tug and Sissy exchanging tales from the trail is too perfect!
Love to hear additional updates here through The SP Kennel Blog. The Insider is awesome to watch, but I love to hear about the details too! Thanks for posting! Excited for Aily and her team!
Love hearing all of the details from the trail. I am a Insider Member and it is great to see the live updates from the mushers and their teams. Thanks for keeping us posted here! I look forward to the updates. So excited for Aily and her team!
I'm wondering if it was Scout she dropped. Didn't she have a problem in the Quest?
So the challenge over the next year will be to find a lip balm that weighs less so that Allen will carry it! Thanks for posting the update, great to hear things are going well. Wishing good thoughts for all the mushers, but of course I'm cheering for Aliy and Allen the ABSOLUTE loudest – go dogs! Thanks again crew for keeping up the Dog Log, much appreciated.
click this direct link here to see Seb's pic of Aliy.
The dogs look so cute! I am Ava and I am 7 years old following your journey in upstate NY. I got a book called mush sled dogs and you're in it! Good luck! We're rooting for you.
Love this website and the updates! Go Aliy and Allen, and their amazing furry babies!
I also love hearing all the details here. I am an Inside Member too, but I love seeing the details here on your site – Thank you! Lots of luck coming to you from New Hampshire!