DAY #14 IDITAROD FRIDAY MARCH 20, 2026 WHITE MOUNTAIN - NOME

DAY #14 IDITAROD FRIDAY MARCH 20, 2026 WHITE MOUNTAIN - NOME

FIRST DAY OF SPRING and its -11 in NOME!!! There are all 9 teams that have left WHITE MOUNTAIN. They stop at SAFETY to pick up their bibs to wear coming into NOME. This is a 77 mile trip.                                                                                                                                                                       I really feel sad for ADAM LINDENMUTH not only that he had to scratch but his Mom has been waiting in NOME for days. Pictured below on right. She has been soooo excited. He was close to finish.😔

These 2 men have been narrating the race from many of the checkpoints. They have done this for years. On the left is GREG HEISLER on the right is BRUCE LEE. BRUCE has mushed the trail in the past so his perspective is usually on the money.

Sorry I'm so late in introducing the TEACHER ON THE TRAIL---KARI WRIGHT (don't think she's related to Jodi???) She is from Osage, Iowa and is a 3rd grade teacher and has used the IDITAROD in her classroom since 2006. She is chosen from many applicants from all over the country. She travels (by small plane) to some of the checkpoints and her goal is educating students about the race and Alaskan history. These are students from all over THE WORLD!! using technology. The teacher integrates IDITAROD into their curriculum. This is interesting to students who think scientifically, solve problems, read more, use technology as a tool, who LOVE DOGS and the magnificence of the Alaskan wilderness.There is a website where you can view Kari's journey and teaching plan.

The Air Force has supplied small planes to transport any dogs needing to be transported to ANCHORAGE where they are looked after by Vets. till the owner picks them up. These are dogs that have been dropped during the race for a myriad of reasons---not performing, ill etc etc etc.

It is 10pm EST and the last of the 9 are en route. They will be in, hopefully, in the middle of the night so I will blog about them tomorrow. 

Just a few FYI: In NOME many of the mushers stay with locals. Some have stayed with the same family for many years. Others may stay with their family if they are there. There is one hotel in town The AURORA HOTEL. I am trying to figure if this is the same hotel I stayed in that was right on the finish line--can't remember the name. You could go out on a balcony and see the teams come in if it was the middle of the night. Another "Hotel" is the former hospital building and the other the former Juvenile Detention Center. I guess make use with what you have!!!!

15 minutes before a team comes in the town sets off a siren. You can get ready to come down and welcome the teams in.

At the moment, BRENDA MACKEY is bringing up the rear and is in contention for the RED LANTERN AWARD. We'll see.                                                                                                                              

                                                    TILL TOMORROW
 

DAY #13 IDITAROD THURSDAY MARCH 19, 2026. WHITE MOUNTAIN - NOME

 DAY #13 IDITAROD THURSDAY MARCH 19, 2026 WHITE MOUNTAIN - NOME

I do hope the this is the last sad announcement: ADAM LINDENMUTH scratched. He said his dogs were done mentally and he wouldn't push them. He was past ELIM when he pushed his button for assistance. Once that is done you are out of the race. There were intense winds and it was very cold. He then followed the snow machine to WHITE MOUNTAIN and scratched there. Before SAFETY checkpoint there are river valleys between mountains and the winds funnel straight across the trail and can blow the dogs towards the open water. 

The Race Officials advised that the 10 mushers in WHITE MOUNTAIN ,early this evening, should wait until tomorrow morning to leave when the winds die down. The winds are dangerous and it is very cold. 

I started with the ending now lets go back to the beginning of the day when a total of 20 mushers came under the burled arch in NOME.  Below: JESSIE TERRYwas named ROOKIE OF THE YEAR (a great honor) and also had the fastest time from SAFETY to NOME 2 hours 56 min. Pictured below.

MATT HALL, nearing NOME, across the frozen Bering Sea. You can see some of the ice fishing huts.       

BOTTOM PICTURE : KYELL INGE ROKKA. Hope you remember mention of him at the beginning. He is the billionaire that funded some of the race and dental facilities in some of the communities along the IDITAROD trail. He always wanted to run the race himself so he trained for some time and after ending in NOME was asked what was the most difficult part of the trail. He said "everything about it, I crashed, I wiped out, I was drug on the snow and had only 12 dogs. It was cold, down to -52 you can dress for that but the run is like a train  coming down the trail. First thing I am going to do in NOME is take a shower!! He thanked MARK NORDMAN for being receptive to the idea of an EXPEDITION CLASS and making it possible. That is how he,  STEVE CURTIS and THOMAS WAERNER (former IDITAROD winner) raced in the Expedition Class. They were under different rules and could not receive any awards.

At midnight EST there are 20 mushers in NOME and 9 mushers in WHITE MOUNTAIN. They will wait till the morning when the winds die down and come into NOME. Right now in WHITE MOUNTAIN it is -17 going down tonight to -21 and windy. It is -16 in NOME with a low of -21 and not as windy as WM--only 8mph winds.

                                                             TILL TOMORROW

DAY #12 IDITAROD WEDNESDAY MARCH 18, 2026 ELIM - NOME

DAY #12 IDITAROD WEDNESDAY MARCH 18, 2026 ELIM - NOME

TODAY 13 mushers will arrive in NOME under the burled arch. 

Sadly GRAYSON BRUTON scratched in UNALAKLEET for the good of the team. Haven't heard any more. GRAYSON started in ANCHORAGE next to last and remained in that position thru most of the race. When he scratched he was running in the last position. He is from TOK, Alaska. 

Then after 9 days, 7 hours, and 32 minutes JESSIE HOLMES guided his team across the finish line in NOME to win the 1,000 mile race for the second year in a row. Only 2 other mushers had completed that task of winning their second consecutive IDITAROD race--SUSAN BUTCHER and LANCE MACKEY. JESSIE's prize was $80,000!!! Not bad. JESSIES' comment- "This is the dogs race, I'm just here for the paperwork and drivin". JESSIE lives a very basic lifestyle. You can't drive to his home in the winter and it is just off the Denali Highway. When JESSIE came in it was -1 with a wind chill of -22 degrees. Didn't seem to bother him after experiencing -40 on the trail!!!Below: JESSIE coming into NOME on the frozen Bering Sea. 

JESSIE coming down the Main Street of NOME--at the end THE BURLED ARCH

JESSIE HOLMES winner of the 54th IDITAROD 2026                                            

 

 

Following JESSIE HOLMES to the finish and top 10 teams:

TRAVIS BEALS, JEFF DEETER, PAIGE DROBNY, WADE MARRS, MATT HALL, RILEY DYCHE, LAURO EKLUND, PETER KAISER, MICHELLE PHILLIPS and 3 more.                                                     There are 8 in WHITE MOUNTAIN and 9 in ELIM. ADAM LINDEMUTH is bringing up the rear

Most of the teams will be in tomorrow. The Banquet isn't until Sunday. Most will stay for that. 

TILL TOMORROW

 

DAY #11 IDITAROD TUESDAY MARCH 17, 2026 St. PATTY'S DAY UNALALEET - WHITE MOUNTAIN

DAY #11 IDITAROD TUESDAY MARCH 17, 2026 ST. PATTY'S DAY UNALAKLEET-WHITE MT

TODAY is the day for Jessie Holmes to arrive under the burled arch in NOME. It hasn't happened yet but perhaps in a few hours. 

IT IS ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!! My friend Joanne Chapman made a delicious REUBEN SANDWICH with corned beef, cabbage, cheese on a sandwich. WOW it was good. It was dinner on bread!! 

Above: JASON MACKEY(LANCE MACKEY'S SON) coming into KOYUK. JASON is from FAIRBANKS.                                                         

One of PAIGE DROBNY'S dogs in UNALAKLEET. Ready to go......

ABOVE: The village of UNALAKLEET                                                        

The extra sad news is JODY POTTS - JOSEPH has scratched in UNALAKLEET. Still not certain what the problem was but the media said she called the race officials via 2 way communicator giving them her decision to scratch.The officials sent personnel to assist her with safe transport to UNALAKLEET via snow machine.                                                        

Above: JESSIE HOLMES saying goodbye to the volunteers in UNALAKLEET. Fans of certain mushers send pizzas from PEACE ON EARTH in UNK. Someone sent JESSIE one but he went thru too quickly so someone on a snowmobile chased him down to deliver his pizza. 

Hank and I stayed for 5 days in UNALAKLEET to volunteer. GREAT place but I have mentioned this before and now I'm being redundant!!

Above: My next, and hopefully last sad news, MILLE PORSILD 53 from DENMARK scratched in ELIM (123 miles from NOME). Her 4 year old dog Charley died on route. He passed all pre race and vet testing so a necropsy will be preformed in UNALAKLEET. The rule of the race is if a dog dies on a team the musher can volunteer to scratch or be withdrawn by the race officials. She was definitely a favorite. She had been 1st thru 3rd thru the race. MILLE was named top rookie in 2020. She had 4 top 10 finishes over 5 years and in 2021 received the Humanitarian Award from the VETS who believed demonstrated the best dog care. 

FYI: Mandatory for the mushers to have in their sled. These are checked at each checkpoint. If anything is missing they are disqualified.  They MUST HAVE: a cooker, dog booties, sleeping bag, snowshoes, promotional pack, vet book, an axe, fuel, insulated dog coats and a vet pack. 

JESSIE HOLMES, just when I thought he won ALMOST all the awards he has won 1st to WHITE MOUNTAIN with 13 dogs, first given out in 2018. Northrim Bank gave the ACHIEVE MORE AWARD. He was given a $2,500 check and a special trophy that will be kept at IDITAROD Headquarters year round. 

As of midnight EST JESSIE HOLMES is in SAFETY (22 miles from NOME).  5 of the top 10 are in WHITE MOUNTAIN: TRAVIS BEALS, JEFF DEETER, PAIGE DROBNY, WADE MARRS, MATT HALL, RILEY DYCHE, MICHELLE PHILLIPS, LAURO EKLUND and PETE KAISER. There are 6 mushers in ELIM, 10 mushers in KOYUK, 7 mushers in SHAKTOOLIK and the last 2 are in UNALAKLEET: ADAM LINDENMUTH and GRAYSON BRUTON.

From UNALAKLEET to SHAKTOOLIK  is 40 miles and from  SHAKTOOLIK to KOYUK is 50 miles KOYUK to ELIM is 48 miles ELIM to GOLOVNIM is 28 miles and GOLOVNIM to WHITE MOUNTAIN is 18 miles. Temps haven't changed very much. Low (minus) temps and wind.

77 miles from WHITE MOUNTAIN to NOME

Let's hope JESSIE HOLMES  will come in tonight. 

TILL TOMORROW

DAY #10 IDITAROD MONDAY MARCH 16, 2026 UNALAKLEET - ELIM

 DAY #10 IDITAROD MONDAY MARCH 16, 2026 UNALAKLEET - ELIM

JESSIE HOLMES is running a smart and fast race. The weather conditions are helping. The dogs love the cold weather, there is lots of snow which is packed down by the snowmobiles and conditions are fast. It's still very cold from 0 degrees to -16 at night. Not seeing those -40's which is good. 

A note about what snacks the mushers have for themselves: cheddar cheese packs (vacuum packed), meat snacks, trail mix, yogurt covered fruit snack packs,, mini granola bars for example. They will be frozen, due to the outside temps, so they can put a pack inside their parka ,close to their body, to defrost it if they are on their sled. 

MILLE PORSILD is at a shelter (many shelter cabins along the way)by SHAKTOOLIK (just after UNALAKLEET). She had to go UP Blueberry Hills which is steep and usually windy. She said it was good for her--no problems. Being a veteran, you anticipate the trail and seem to be able to handle difficulties better than a rookie never haven been on these trails before. MILLE is definitely a veteran. She tries to rest her team outside the checkpoints as she is not fond of chaos and there can be a bit of chaos when so many teams are in checkpoints. MILLE gets sad to know the end is coming up. She said you train for 8-9 months and then ITS OVER😢

ABOVE: PAIGE DROBNY is now on NORTON SOUND an inlet of the Bering Sea, above photo.The SOUND is 150 miles long and 125 miles wide and is typically ice free from June to October. NOME is on its north shore. This area is steeped in history of human settlements and subsistence activities . PAIGE crossing the SOUND. It's flat, snow clumps and windy (reason for the blurry pic), seems to go on  and on and......

Above: sun coming up in UNALAKLEET. Over those first hills pictured live a herd of musk-ox. Their fur is used in making hats, gloves etc etc. I have a hat and it is the lightest and warmest hat I have ever had. In ANCHORAGE you can see the natives making these products. They are for sale there.                

A sign of spring in the Arctic are the snow bunting birds, like our robins.
They are small and white and blend in very well. They turn brown in the summer. Hope you can see them. As I said, they blend in very well!!

Everyones strategies and strength are now tested trying to get to WHITE MOUNTAIN where they have their last mandatory rest --8 hours. This is testing their endurance as they are getting tired, sleep deprived and full of anticipation and some anxiety. 

SHATOOLIK to KOYUK is 50 miles, 7 of the mushers are here. I found KOYUK cemetery quite interesting. Pictured here. 

UNALAKLEET to SHATOOLIK is 40 miles and the weather during the day in both places approx. -5 degrees and nite temps are approx -17 they had a sunny day today.                                                                    SHATOOLIK to KOYUK is 50 miles  with day temps 0 to -4 and night temps -15. It was sunny here today as well.

JESSIE HOLMES is approx 46 miles to WHITE MOUNTAIN. 

3 mushers are in ELIM : JESSIE HOLMES, TRAVIS BEALS and WADE MARRS.                                    7 mushers are in KOYUK (48 miles from the front runner): PAIGE DROBNY, JEFF DEETER,                    MILE PORSILD, MATT HALL, RILEY DYCHE, MICHELLE PHILLIPS, LAURO EKLUND.                  There are 7 mushers in SHAKTOOLIK and 16 mushers in UNALAKLEET.                                             JODY POTTS-JOSEPH and GRAYSON BRUTON switch last place periodically.                                   There will be a big push to WHITE MOUNTAIN tomorrow so we can look forward to that.

                                                                    TILL TOMORROW

DAY #9 IDITAROD SUNDAY MARCH 15, 2026 NULATO - SHAKTOOLIK

       

 DAY #9 IDITAROD SUNDAY MARCH 15, 2026 NULATO - SHAKTOOLIK

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEEDEE LUMB (not JONDROW)💃. Can you believe that JESSIE HOLMES won yet another award. He well deserves these awards but I do wish he could share a bit of his speed with others. He was the first musher to KALTAG and won 25 lbs of fresh Bristol Bay salmon filets, $2,000 and a wood burned art piece of a sockeye salmon. Kaltag is home to the worlds largest sockeye salmon fishery.       Below: JESSIE accepting the beautiful art piece, made by a local.

Many of the mushers are seeing, and a few confronted by, moose on the trail. So far no accidents or incidents except for JODY POTTS-JOSEPH that I explained previously. I am trying to find the picture of JODY'S dogs with their handmade beautifully stitched coats on. They were given to JODY by the locals in her community in EAGLE RIVER,ALASKA

All the mushers have now had their 24 hour and 8 hour mandatory rest periods. The next mandatory rest is in WHITE MOUNTAIN ( resting up for their run to the finish in NOME!!)

JOEY SABIN from Grandville, Michigan has a 4th grade following-- below. JOEY went to this school and had this teacher. They are making blankets for the natives in Alaska and following JOEY in the race.      

                                          This is JOEY SABIN in Anchorage before the race began.  He said "follow your dreams because I'm LIVING mine". GO JOEY!! picture below.

JESSIE HOLMES has won yet another award. He was the 1st to UNALALEET. He was given  $2,500  in gold nuggets from the Bering Strait region, a carved loon by a local and a gold pan plaque commemorating his feat. 

Weather and mileage to checkpoints:  NULATO 0 degrees -16 at night with a few flurries.                       KALTAG -2 at night -14 and sunny. UNALAKLEET -6 at night -15 and sunny. SHAKTOOLIK -3         at night -10 sunny during the day. 

From NULATO to KALTAG 47 miles, KALTAG to UNALAKLEET 85 miles, UNALAKLEET  to         SHAKTOOLIK 40 miles.

As of midnight EST the standings are: 3 OUT OF UNALAKLEET, JESSIE HOLMES, TRAVIS BEALS, PAIGE DROBNY. IN UNALAKLEET MILLE PORSILD, RILEY DYCHE, WADE MARRS, JEFF DEETER, RYAN REDINGTON, MATT HALL, MICHELLE PHILLIPS of the top 10 plus 3 more in UNALAKLEET. 

KALTAG there are 11 mushers.

NULATO there are 8 mushers.  GRAYSON BRUTON is the last musher, at the moment. More excitement coming up.                                                                                                                                      

                                                       TILL TOMORROW

                     

DAY #8 IDITAROD SATURDAY MARCH 14, 2026 NULATO - KALTAG

 DAY # 8 IDITAROD SATURDAY MARVH 14, 2026 NULATO - KALTAG

Still very cold in the minus figures and not as windy with some sun. The distance between the musher in first JESSIE HOLMES to the musher last JODY POTTS-JOSEPH is approximately 170 miles (about a full days run). 

JASON MACKEY said he has seen bison and a few moose on or near the trail. They didn't bother him BUT JODY POTTS - JOSEPH, at the back of the pack and not for the reason of her encounter with a Bison. She rounded a corner on the trail and a Bison was coming at them . Bison have shorter legs than moose so it is difficult for them to move in the deep snow. They therefore enjoyed the packed down trail and thought it was theirs--NOT JODY'S!!! He was not giving up and lowered his head to charge towards the team then stopped short-twice! Jody had a pistol, part of the mandatory items, used only if threatened by animals. She tried firing some warning shots but click---click---nothing. May have been frozen?? She jumped out of the sled moving up to her leaders and took cover with them, behind a tree. She used sticks and branches to ward him off but it was a no go. She remember her Grandmother facing an aggressive grizzly bear and her children were in the yard. With courage and boldness she went up to the bear and started speaking her native language HanGWich'in and yelling "go away, have mercy, leave us alone AND.....the bear retreated!!! JODY thought would Grandma's tactics work here. She tried it and IT WORKED--why, how WHO KNEW!! Perhaps the bear and her Bison understood her native language!!!????? Another musher came along---after all this occurred--- and gave her another pistol for safety sake. They are huge animals. They stand up 6' tall and can weigh 2,000 pounds! WHEW!!! 

Below: picture of JODY POTTS-JOSEPH (the WARRIOR!!) Love her "markings", of her heritage, on her chin. 

                 

FINALLY some Northern Lights near RUBY and GALENA. 

I am just now getting pictures of the gourmet dinner (below) JESSIE HOLMES had as first to RUBY.I can only see his salmon dip that convinced him to stay and have the rest of the 9 course meal. Also had white bean and bacon soup, beef bourguignon plus 6 other courses. You can include another person so JESSIE shared this meal with local BILLY HONEA. 

From NULATO to KALTAG is 47 miles. JESSIE HOLMES is on his way there now along with PAIGE DROBNY and MILLE PORSILD. The next 9 mushers are in NULATO: TRAVIS BEALS, RILEY DYCHE, WADE MARRS, MICHELLE PHILLIPS, MATT HALL, RYAN REDINGTON and JEFF DEETER of the top 10. Two others are in NULATO and 10 are in GALENA and 10 are in RUBY including JODY POTTS - JOSEPH pulling up the rear. Tomorrow more awards given out and perhaps it will get a little warmer. In most places today it was minus -20's and -30's. In one area there was ice fog and JESSE ROYER found it difficult to see even her dogs BUT the trail markers and the reflectors on the dogs coats helped a great deal. The lead dog isn't bothered by the weather. He, or she, keeps on the trail. They perhaps can smell the other dogs? or know the packed trail with the reflective markers. Somehow they know. 
                                                        TILL TOMORROW