Starting from Anchorage every
March and ending 8 to 15 days later in Nome, the Iditarod is one of the great
endurance tests in the sport, with competitors mushing sled dogs across 1,150 miles
of snow and ice in temperatures as low as 60°F below zero. It is Alaska’s
largest spectator sport and few things celebrate the pioneering spirit of our
49th state better.
Now a National Historic Trail, the Iditarod began as a mail and supply route for miners. It winds across frozen rivers and desolate tundra, through dense forest, and along miles of windswept coast from Seward, near Anchorage, to Nome, on the western Bering Sea coast. In 1925, part of the Iditarod Trail became a lifesaving highway for epidemic-stricken Nome.
Diphtheria raged, and serum had to be brought in by intrepid mushers and their hard-driving dogs. In commemoration of those heroic feats, the route was turned into a racecourse in 1973, and today mushers come from as far away as Japan and Norway to compete for a share of the $600,000-plus purse. You can get into the race yourself as a passenger, or “IditaRider,” by bidding for a spot on a musher’s sled for the first 11 miles (the auction begins in November, with a $7,500 offer guaranteeing your choice of musher). For a less competitive take, contact Raymie Redington, son of Joe “Father of the Iditarod” Redington Sr., leads short trips on the Iditarod Trail.
Winterlake Lodge, one of the remote fly-in outposts directly on the trail, offers four handsome guest cabins and opportunities to traverse the trail with a team of 24 Alaskan huskies (it’s also one of the state’s few wilderness lodges that stays open year-round). The dinner menu is remarkable even by big-city standards. Nome, the “end of the line” for the Iditarod (and almost everything else), stands on the coast of the Bering Sea.
Its dirt streets and rough-and-tumble saloons are quiet until the month-long Iditarod celebration rolls into town every March. Along with the race, fans come northern lights aficionados, as well as participants in the Bering Sea Ice Golf Classic, who hit orange golf balls onto Astroturf laid across the frozen sea.
Where: Headquarters in Wasilla, 40 miles north of Anchorage. Tel 907-376-5155 or 907-248-6874 (race time); www.iditarod .com. When: early Mar. IditaRiders auction: Tel 800-566-7533 or 907-352-2202; www .iditarodauction.com. When: early Nov–Jan. Raymie Redingtion: Tel 907-376-6730.
Cost: half-hour dog sled rides $50. When: beginning with 1st snow in Nov. Winterlake Lodge: Tel 907-274-2710; www.withinthewild.com. Cost: 2-night stay, $2,130 per person, all-inclusive with air transfer from Anchorage.
Now a National Historic Trail, the Iditarod began as a mail and supply route for miners. It winds across frozen rivers and desolate tundra, through dense forest, and along miles of windswept coast from Seward, near Anchorage, to Nome, on the western Bering Sea coast. In 1925, part of the Iditarod Trail became a lifesaving highway for epidemic-stricken Nome.
Diphtheria raged, and serum had to be brought in by intrepid mushers and their hard-driving dogs. In commemoration of those heroic feats, the route was turned into a racecourse in 1973, and today mushers come from as far away as Japan and Norway to compete for a share of the $600,000-plus purse. You can get into the race yourself as a passenger, or “IditaRider,” by bidding for a spot on a musher’s sled for the first 11 miles (the auction begins in November, with a $7,500 offer guaranteeing your choice of musher). For a less competitive take, contact Raymie Redington, son of Joe “Father of the Iditarod” Redington Sr., leads short trips on the Iditarod Trail.
Winterlake Lodge, one of the remote fly-in outposts directly on the trail, offers four handsome guest cabins and opportunities to traverse the trail with a team of 24 Alaskan huskies (it’s also one of the state’s few wilderness lodges that stays open year-round). The dinner menu is remarkable even by big-city standards. Nome, the “end of the line” for the Iditarod (and almost everything else), stands on the coast of the Bering Sea.
Its dirt streets and rough-and-tumble saloons are quiet until the month-long Iditarod celebration rolls into town every March. Along with the race, fans come northern lights aficionados, as well as participants in the Bering Sea Ice Golf Classic, who hit orange golf balls onto Astroturf laid across the frozen sea.
Where: Headquarters in Wasilla, 40 miles north of Anchorage. Tel 907-376-5155 or 907-248-6874 (race time); www.iditarod .com. When: early Mar. IditaRiders auction: Tel 800-566-7533 or 907-352-2202; www .iditarodauction.com. When: early Nov–Jan. Raymie Redingtion: Tel 907-376-6730.
Cost: half-hour dog sled rides $50. When: beginning with 1st snow in Nov. Winterlake Lodge: Tel 907-274-2710; www.withinthewild.com. Cost: 2-night stay, $2,130 per person, all-inclusive with air transfer from Anchorage.
