Thursday, March 1, 2012

Iditarod: The Route and Checkpoints

 From the website:




The northern route is run in even years, and the southern route is run is odd years. To read more about the Iditarod Trail and checkpoints, go here.
Checkpoint Terrain between
Checkpoint
Distance between
Checkpoints
Distance from
Anchorage
Distance to
Nome
Total Distance 975
Anchorage Anchorage to Campbell Airstrip 11 11 964
Campbell Airstrip Campbell Airstrip to Willow ___ ___ ___
Willow Willow to Yentna Station 42 53 922
Yentna Station Yentna Station to Skwentna 30 83 892
Skwentna Skwentna to Finger Lake 40 123 852
Finger Lake Finger Lake to Rainy Pass 30 153 822
Rainy Pass Rainy Pass to Rohn 35 188 787
Rohn Rohn to Nikolai 75 263 712
Nikolai Nikolai to McGrath 48 311 664
McGrath McGrath to Takotna 18 329 646
Takotna Takotna to Ophir 23 352 623
Ophir Ophir to Cripple 73 425 550
Cripple Cripple to Ruby 70 495 480
Ruby Ruby to Galena 50 545 430
Galena Galena to Nulato 37 582 393
Nulato Nulato to Kaltag 47 629 346
Kaltag Kaltag to Unalakleet 85 714 261
Unalakleet Unalakleet to Shaktoolik 40 754 221
Shaktoolik Shaktoolik to Koyuk 50 804 171
Koyuk Koyuk to Elim 48 852 123
Elim Elim to Golovin 28 880 95
Golovin Golovin to White Mountain 18 898 77
White Mountain White Mountain to Safety 55 953 22
Safety Safety to Nome 22 975 0
Nome        
Note: As of 2012 the Northern Route distance is approximately 975 miles. In prior years the distance was always over 1,000 miles.  Three things factor into this adjustment:
  • The change in the Ceremonial Start (running from downtown Anchorage to Campbell Airstrip instead of Eagle River);
  • The change of the Restart location from Wasilla to Willow (loss of the Wasilla-Knik-Susitna River and some Yentna River mileage), and;
  • The actual year to year trail conditions can affect trail routing and the actual mileage will vary somewhat from year to year.
  • “1,049 miles®” has been a symbolic figure from the inception of the race to signify the 1,000 miles or more of race trail and the number 49 depicts Alaska as the 49th state.
More to come...

Love,
Buddy

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