Tales from Trail Center
The teams are rolling into Trail Center. It is taking about 6 hours for them to make the run from Sawbill to Trail Center.
As predicted, Jamie Nelson claimed her $2000 for being the first musher into trail center. Race officials at Trail Center said that Jamie’s team looked really good. “It looked like a Jamie Nelson team, which is well mannered and works well as a unit.” In fact, the race official related that Jamie’s team looked the best of all the teams that had made it into Trail Center.
Second into Trail Center was Peter McClelland. Peter’s handlers said he was happy with the race, so far. They told us that his team did slow down in the run up to Trail Center, but they weren’t complaining. Peter’s dogs were all sleeping soundly under their “magic quiet blankets.” The mushers cover their dogs with blankets or sleeping bags so the dogs aren’t disturbed and get more sleep. Once the dogs get the hang of sleeping under covers, they learn to love it. I think my dog, Duckie, would like having her own magic quiet blanket.
Third into Trail Center was last year’s champion, Nathan Schroeder. We spoke to Nathan’s dad. He said that the race was going well for his son, and they were running according to their plan. Like Peter McClelland, Nathan also felt that his run up to Trail Center was slow. Nathan still had 14 dogs. His trail time is 1 ½ hours ahead of Jamie, so he is, arguably, in the lead.
Fourth into Trail Center was Ryan Anderson. Ryan is one to watch. He is a quiet and smart competitor.
In other news, Colleen Wallin lost about 45 minutes chasing a loose dog outside of Beaver Bay. It sounds like she had to turn her team around in the process. Otherwise, Colleen seemed to be in great spirits. Bruce Langmaid scratched at Pike Lake after he had to take a dog back to Sawbill. We will miss Bruce’s band of handlers. Rumor has it that Matt Groth’s team was down to 8 dogs. Matt will be hard pressed to stay with the pack all the way back to Duluth with such a relatively small team. None of the teams volunteered when they would be leaving Trail Center, but my experience tells me that once the first one goes the rest of them soon follow.
For a Monday night in January, Trail Center was hopping with energy. There was a line into the restaurant and the staff was working hard to keep the crowd full of food and drink. I had the ribs, which were fantastic. Gary went with the soup and salad. Down at the lake, people were huddled around the campfire as they waited for the teams to slowly trickle in. The cool air was filled with wood smoke and lots of good conversation.
Jeff King was working on his computer in the store part of Trail Center. Earlier in the day, he had been checking out the trail on a snowmobile. Jeff mentioned that the Beargrease trail was “sinfully nice” but did express some concern about the quality of the trail marking for the race.
Because we could only get very limited internet access in Trail Center, and more importantly, didn’t want to sleep on our car, Gary and I headed back down the Gunflint Trail to his father-in-law’s cabin. As we got closer to the lake, we could see that the winds were picking up and there was a damp chill in the air. It will be a long night once the majority of the racers get back out on the trail.
The next 12 hours are probably going to separate two or three mushers from the rest of the field. Those two or three teams that emerge from the pack will have a shot at winning this race. The rest will have to keep running hard and hope for the best.
Stay warm, GBJ
