Sourdough Checkpoint - Monday, January 16, 2006

I pulled into the Sourdough checkpoint which was a campground along the Sourdough Creek just off of the Richardson highway. As I pulled into the checkpoint around 1:30am, the frontrunners were just leaving. We found a good quiet place to park the team and utilized some straw from a team before us to give the dogs an extra insulated place to rest. JJ oriented me to where my drop bags were and where they had cut a hole in the ice for us to get water. There was a bonfire blazing and a tent for sleeping if I wanted to rest, but first I needed to attend to the dogs.

They had all done well on this run even with a surprising number of hills to climb. Monty was showing signs of weakness though and hadn't eaten well since the run from Chistochina to Paxson, so I was contemplating dropping him from the team at this checkpoint, especially if he didn't eat well. He was starting to balk a little bit on the hills and look back when the going got rough, so I figured this might be the place to drop him, rather than have him quit on me on the next leg and have to pack him in the sled. I also figured that by this point most of the hills were behind us so I didn't necessarily need his strength for that.

The chores went well and their feet all were still in really good shape. They ate fairly well too, with the exception of Monty, and all settled down quickly to rest. I ate a few frozen food items which I defrosted in boiling water with the cooker and then explored options for getting some rest myself. I was a bit tired and cold from the previous run and it was cold down on the Creek. It turned out the tent was right next to the bonfire where there was a bit of conversation and hanging out happening, so I decided it wouldn't offer much of an opportunity to rest. I decided my best bet was probably down by the team, so I pulled up some of the extra straw and fashioned a nest right next to the team and pulled out my 60 below sleeping bag and crawled in with my snowsuit, wet mittens and other items, and attempted to dry them out while I was catching some shut eye. It worked fairly well and I did get warm even though the temperature was below zero somewhere.

Meanwhile JJ and Wayne had been taking shifts sleeping in the truck and watching over me and the team. This checkpoint really had no facilities for the handlers and was the most challenging for them to sit and wait around at. The dog truck they were driving had a good heater though, so as long as they communicated on whether they were going to set the temperature to complement them keeping their parkas on, or crank it up a bit and shed that outer layer, they were fine. I was prohibited from going to the truck throughout the race, so I just had to make due with what I had in my sled or drop bags. It's amazing what a few heatwarmers in strategic pockets will do to warm a person up.

I was contemplating taking a rest comparable to my run time, but decided to keep pushing a bit since I was snacking quite often on the trail and was targeting to make it a 6 hour rest. So as it approached 7:45am, I left the Sourdough checkpoint, once again carrying the proverbial red lantern out onto the trail. The length of this next leg was somewhat up in air as I had seen reports of it being 48 miles and also heard that it was 60. I was ready to go regardless and thought I was reasonably prepared for this run which historically can be one of the coldest as it drops down onto a series of lakes.

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