Aliy Cam Iditarod 2020: Episodes 16 and 17

These Aliy Cams are a fun and interactive way I try to share my team’s experiences on the Iditarod Trail. In the 10 days, 7 hours, 28 minutes and 30 seconds that we traveled the trail I tried to capture the real images from the wilderness, the weather and the trail.

My dogs are the center of the videos. The race revolves around them. Their individual positioning in the team varies throughout the race. I moved them around depending upon their moods and energy. Their positioning also depended upon the trail and weather conditions or other random influences. The dogs on the team are: Amber, Bruno, Chevie, Cloud, Dutch, Decaf, Five, Jefe, Junior, Kodiak, QT, Rodney, Spark, and Violet. If you watch closely, you’ll get to know their gaits or their ear “bobs” or their little quirks.

These videos are taken on the Western Coast of Alaska between Shaktoolik and Golovin.

In Episode 16: Gorgeous Afternoon we have left the Shaktoolik checkpoint and are heading over to Koyuk. This section of the Iditarod Trail predominately skirts the edge the frozen ocean. As you watch the video, you can tell that we are heading north due to the vision of the sun, as it sits above the horizon, off to our left and by the amazingly long shadow of a dog team that the sun creates. Some of the sights along the trail are simply spectacular. I am fortunate to have captured this moment.

The team composition is Q.T. and Dutch in lead, followed by Junior by herself, followed by Decaf and Cloud, followed by Rodney and Five, followed by Jefe and Spark and Violet and Amber are together in the rear.

Episode 17: Storm Progression. The final few days of the Iditarod were punctuated by one storm after another. Here is the video progression of one of them. 

At 11 in the morning on March 17th, the skies looked somewhat friendly and there is little wind. An hour and a half later the ground winds increase as does the beginning of a white out. Throughout that day, we traveled many miles with little, to no visibility. I never even saw the obvious geographic trail “markers” that I’ve known from traveling the trail for 20 years – like the cabins and boats in Moses Point or the VOR station (with a brightly lit beacon). Then later that day, we found ourselves grinding through an even tougher blizzard situation. This was a semi white out ground blizzard with wind. 

The team composition at the start of the video is Q.T. and Dutch in lead, followed by Junior by herself, followed by Decaf and Cloud, followed by Rodney and Five, followed by Jefe and Spark and Violet and Amber are together in the rear. I make a change in the second clip and you might notice that I switch the positions of Decaf and Junior. When we get into the most challenging storm (towards the video end) I move Junior back up to the second position. She was a primary leader on this team and she was working hard to find the trail. During this storm when the dogs had to look for the trail, I actually talked to Junior as much as I talked to both of my lead dogs: Q.T. and Dutch.

Storms on the western coast can come and go quickly. I heard from the mushers who were traveling near me during this storm: Jeff (who was an hour ahead) didn’t run into blizzard conditions but, Kelly (who was a half hour ahead) ran into the storm that we did. Once again… I wished that we were just a little bit faster. Ha! 

The race took my dogs and I over 10 days to complete. In total, I recorded only one hour of video. So these Aliy Cams are only a tiny segment of that experience. I also did not video during the most challenging trail or the worst blizzard conditions. I was too busy clinging my handlebars or navigating hazards. I also never recorded a video when I felt like it would intrude in our personal space.

Here is a map so that you can follow along.