ID: Dawn on the Coast

Good morning!

RED TEAM UPDATE

As the sun comes up over the western coast of Alaska the leading pack is moving from Unalakleet to Shaktoolik. Two Seaveys and Brent Sass are in front of Aliy and the Red Team at the moment. The chase pack headed by Wade Marrs has left Unk and is in hot pursuit.

The team rested in Unalakleet for 4 hours 18 minutes and left there at 6.42am this morning (note, daylight savings time kicked in overnight here).

In an Insider video of Aliy at Unalakleet she talks about how pretty her run this morning is going to be through the Blueberry Hills and onto the coast. These hills are one of Aliy's favourite parts of the trail and will hopefully make her heart sing this morning. The dogs will enjoy climbing the hills and imagine Schmoe barking his way up them, cheering the team on!

Take a look at this "Aliy-Cam" video from 2013 as she mushed over the area at sunset. And, here is another link to "Aliy Cam 2012"



We see she has left one of the team with the vets in Unalakleet and we'll get that information to you as soon as we can. Unalakleet is one of the "hubs" that the returned dogs get flown to before getting back to Anchorage so hopefully he or she will get back to Anchorage quickly in only one flight.

BLACK TEAM UPDATE

The Black Team went straight through Kaltag, spending just under half an hour there. They are cruising along the portage trail, likely on their way to one of the cabins along the way to Unalakleet: either Tripod Flats Cabin, near where Aliy and her team camped yesterday, or 15 miles further on to Old Woman Cabin.

Tripod Flats and Old Woman are both Bureau of Land Management (BLM) public shelter cabins maintained primarily for winter travellers. For more information click here for the BLM webpage on the cabins on the Iditarod Trail.

What is exciting is they are currently on the first page on the GPS tracker standings (see left).

Hopefully today is the day we get to see a picture or video of the team - fingers crossed. If anyone finds one do let us know!