IditaProject Forum

Nenana to Manley Hot Springs; distance of 85 miles. After crossing the Tanana river and climbing the bank on the far side. The original trail begins. It’s 29 miles to Old Minto. All but the 1st two miles is groomed, as it gets traveled a lot. Plus it’s one of the main training trails for the area mushers. It follows the Parks hwy for about two miles, then along the powerline and railroad right of way. At about 7 miles the trail turns left away from the railroad tracks. It’s 22 miles to Old Minto. Follows an old cat trail, then lakes and flats with little portages in between.
After Old Minto, the trail gets narrow (lack of use). It’s 5 miles to Tanana slough, cross to the left and start the portage to the Old Tolovana roadhouse. It’s 18 miles of narrow portage with only a 2 mile long old slough starting at 1.5 miles and a lake about 3 miles shy of the roadhouse. It’s a little technical sled driving right before the roadhouseJ. Immediately after the roadhouse you’ll cross the mouth of the Tolovana river, again to the left and climbing the cut bank on the far side. The 1st mile after is good, the 2nd is not so good. It follows a creek uphill, not straight, maybe a little glacired, and maybe an overflow spot depending on the temperature. It levels off and fairly good going for 8 miles. 10 miles after crossing the Tolovana, you’ll connect to Charlie and Robin Bouldings trail to Manley, a distance of 23 miles. If they are there you can count on this being a well maintained trail.

Martin and Cody are through Nenana. Cody is stopped about 4 miles out. Smart boy avoid the traffic though it is cold -3 and -24 tonight

libby the lab wrote:It levels off and fairly good going for 8 miles. 10 miles after crossing the Tolovana, you’ll connect to Charlie and Robin Bouldings trail to Manley, a distance of 23 miles. If they are there you can count on this being a well maintained trail.

Does anyone know what Charlie & Robin are up to nowadays?

Every once in a while a picture will pop up on facebook. Usually because someone else I'm friends with liked their picture. Usually pictures of them with their little girl. They are either being Alaskans or she is being homeschooled on a sailboat in the Caribbean.

And Nic Petit is rabbiting again. As far as I can tell, he's gone 121 miles on two snacks and a 25 minute meal break?:

24
Nicolas Petit
121 RUN
15
Martin Buser
104 RST
25
Peter Kaiser
104 RUN
34
Jeff King
103 RUN
11
Ketil Reitan
102 RUN
9
Michelle Phillips
101 RUN
14
Ray Redington, Jr.
101 RUN
6
Linwood Fiedler
101 RUN
2
Ryan Redington
100 RUN
16
Mitch Seavey
99 RST
64
Jason Mackey
99 RST
65
John Baker
99 RST
5
Cody Strathe
99 RUN
13
Sebastien Vergnaud
99 RUN
18
Dallas Seavey
98 RST
29
Wade Marrs
97 RUN
21
Richie Diehl
97 RUN
41
Aliy Zirkle
97 RUN
32
Hans Gatt
95 RUN
38
Joar Leifseth Ulsom
94 RUN
33
Mats Pettersson
92 RUN
37
Jessie Royer
90 RUN
10
Roger Lee
87 RST
63
Noah Burmeister
86 RST
69
Scott Smith
86 RST
27
Rick Casillo
86 RUN
57
Paul Gebhardt
85 RST
45
Lars Monsen
85 RUN
39
Ralph Johannessen
83 RUN
4
Misha Wiljes
82 RST
8
Ryan Anderson
82 RST
7
Laura Neese
82 RST
28
Jodi Bailey
82 RST
19
Gunnar Johnson
82 RST
26
Nicolas Vanier
82 RST
22
DeeDee Jonrowe
82 RST
23
Mark Selland
82 RST
20
Karin Hendrickson
82 RST
31
Cindy Abbott
82 RST
36
Allen Moore
82 RST
40
Thomas Rosenbloom
82 RST
12
Joe Carson
82 RST
46
Charley Benja
82 RST
42
Zoya DeNure
82 RST
47
Paul Hansen
82 RST
50
Hugh Neff
82 RUN
48
Justin High
82 RST
52
Katherine Keith
82 RST
49
Justin Stielstra
82 RST
62
Nathan Schroeder
82 RST
60
Dave Branholm
82 RST
58
Monica Zappa
82 RST
53
Peter Reuter
82 RST
17
Kristin Bacon
82 RST
67
Trent Herbst
82 RST
70
Robert Redington
82 RST
68
Mark May
82 RST
35
Alan Eischens
82 RST
71
Larry Daugherty
82 RST
44
Ramey Smyth
82 RST
59
Ken Anderson
82 RST
72
Dave Delcourt
82 RST
43
Jimmy Lebling
82 RST
30
Ellen Halverson
82 RST
56
Melissa Stewart
81 RST
66
Anna Berington
81 RUN
73
Kristy Berington
79 RUN
54
Gier Idar Hjelvik
78 RST
55
Matthew Failor
73 RST
61
Michael Baker
73 RST
51
Seth Barnes
73 RUN

Yep, other than one brief 30 minute break he has been running for close to 10 hours now.

They do not have a checkout time for John Baker in Nenana but according to tracker he went through. Other than several snack breaks he has run for 8h 14m and is now resting.

Nicolas Petit do as his usually does. I am not sure this will work out, but it's way too early to tell.

Otherwise it looks like the first day of iditarod. Two years ago it was very chaotic in Nenana since all handlers were there to look and great. Anyone heard if this were smoother this time?

Per the videos, they said it's running very smoothly.

Tracker snap showing how far ahead Nic is (still going at 139 miles):

Nicolas finally stopped at race mile 127. He stopped at 11:24 pm. His start time was 11:44 am. He has run just shy of 12 hours with only very brief stops. At this time I am assuming it is a real rest and not just another snack stop. Meanwhile there is a parade of mushers heading up the trail. the closest one is Jeff King at mile 111. Everyone behind him has rested an average of 3 hours since the start. It looks like Manley is at about race mile 150.