Target Iditarod Teacher on the Trail^™ Trail Tidbits 16

by Kim Slade

Today:

Monday, March 12, 2007, Day 10 of the Iditarod – Sunny, 1°F. I was a guest on the BSSD Pod-cast this morning and then was off into the wild blue yonder! We flew to Kaltag and I got to speak with Tim Osmar. He was in good spirits, having just got off the phone with his family. He was looking forward to a nice run to Unalakleet. I also had the chance to help load some drop dogs, taking them to the airplane. It was very comforting riding with dogs laying over me in the sled – they were great cuddlers!

It seems that the dogs have had very few injuries and have fared better than the mushers this year. I have been told that most dogs have been dropped due to being tired. All of the dropped dogs I have seen looked pretty good, were very friendly, and have been given a lot of TLC.

There was a fire on the trail! As we were flying back from Shaktoolik, we noticed quite a bit of smoke. When we got closer, we saw that it was about an acre-size fire burning right at the trail. It was about 8 miles north of Unalakleet. There was just small brush and tussex burning and it didn't appear that it would cause a problem for the teams.

Doggy Math:

Take a look at the number of dogs each musher has on their team. Take the number of dogs and divide it 16 (number of dogs a team starts with). This will give you a decimal. Now, multiply the decimal by 100. This will give you the percentage of dogs still on the team and/or the number of dogs that have been dropped. Example: Lance Mackey has 14 dogs: 14/16 = .875 x 100 = 87.5%. Lance has about 88% of his dogs at this time in the race and has dropped only about 12% of his team.

It’s a Race Now!

Things are really heating up on the trail with the leaders all jocking for the top position.

Right now, Mackey is in the lead, but it should be interesting to see the strategies used by the others. I am heading to Nome first thing tomorrow morning so I am there to see the top runners go under the Burled Arch!

Where is Jack?

Take a look at where Jack is now! See if you can tell what part of the trail he is on.

One Small Square:

Look deep inside the frame. What do you notice? Use figurative language to explain the details.

Click on images for a larger picture: