ID: 24 Hours in Takotna

Its 7pm Wednesday.

Aliy and her 15 team mates are now 15 hours into their 25 hour, 14 minute rest (24 hours plus time differential). They can leave Takotna no sooner than 3am tomorrow.

Allen and his 14 team mates pulled in to Takotna at 5:25pm this evening. We are presuming they will complete their 25 hours, 24 minute rest here also and, if that is the case, they can leave at 6.49pm tomorrow.

I can’t zoom in enough on the GPS to show you but if you hover over both teams you can see they are parked right next door to each other. In this screen shot the box behind Aliy is Allen.

During the 24 hours break our mushers will feed their teams three high calorie meals of high protein/fat kibble and meat and fat, plus plenty of meat snacks to nourish them for the 600 miles ahead. They will be walking them around at each feeding to stretch their legs and let them relieve themselves, and they’ll be tending to them physically, i.e. massaging shoulders, wrists and feet (and scratching ears!).

In both Aliy and Allen’s 24 hour checkpoint bags were dry fleece-lined sleeping jackets and fleece throws for the dogs. Although it is warm out it is likely they will use jackets or blankets anyway, firstly to keep the wet snow off them and secondly, when a dog is nice and warm when they sleep they are more likely to stretch their limbs out rather than curl up into a little ball trying to keep warm; exactly the same as us! It makes for a more relaxing and refreshing rest for them.

Takotna is a very musher friendly checkpoint in that there is always plenty of delicious food for them and good resting spots. We still try to include some favourite treats in their bags for them to enjoy. In Aliy’s we put some dried plantains, breakfast burritos and grilled cheese sandwiches, along with the usual moose lasagna / chicken pesto meals and energy bars (thanks Clare!) that are at every stop. In Allen’s we pack cheesy popcorn, burritos, walnuts and granola. His ‘normal’ checkpoint food includes the lasagna and pesto meals with the addition of meatballs, mixed nuts, oatmeal bars… lots and lots of oatmeal bars, and bacon. His metabolism, like our Quest dogs, has kicked into overdrive after running 1000 miles a few weeks ago, and he can eat more than you could imagine right now.

Both mushers will also be trying to catch as much sleep as they can in-between tending to their team.

It’s also an opportunity for us to take a break from obsessive tracker watching and get outside! I took Ginger for a walk with Barbara, Scruggs and Molly this afternoon and might get an early night. What are you all planning? (I mean, I’m presuming you don’t have any other teams to watch… right?)

If you are looking for something to do, check out the Iditarod Instagram page for some great pics.

RETURNED DOG UPDATE

Due to the weather out there (snow, wind, general yuckness) the planes bringing dogs back to Anchorage have been grounded for another day. We still do not have Felix and our other mate back from the trail but we will try again tomorrow. They will be well taken care of out there by the vet team and volunteers.