Broken Trails

Another ascent leveled out at a rock out cropping that she easily avoided. Rocks studded the trail ahead, bare of snow and easy to see. She gritted her teeth as she went, hoping not to hit anything that would damage her sled irreplaceably. This sled had to last her to McGrath, where she had another waiting for her. Until she arrived, this one had to remain in one piece.

The convoy sailed out of the ravine, bumping across frozen and bare tundra. As they reached another tree line, Owens came to a stop, the rest following his lead. He called up the line of mushers, each taking the message and passing it on like the Telephone game played in elementary school.

“We’re taking a break here,” Scotch yelled to Lainey.

Lainey gave a thumbs up and called to Georgio Spencer behind her. She blew out a breath, unkinking her shoulders as she reached for the bag of frozen white fish. So far, so good. They were about halfway through the worst of it. She went down the line, giving her team a much needed snack and extra attention.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

THE CONVOY LEFT the break area behind, leaving bare tundra for thin forest and a gentle rise in altitude. Through the trees, Lainey spotted marshes and frozen ponds with large shaggy bushes dotting the area. She thought nothing of it as they went, until one of the bushes moved. Gasping, she narrowed her eyes and stared through passing branches and trunks. Those were buffalo! Her hands itched to grab her camera, but she knew the shot would be worthless with the woods getting in the way. Had she been alone, she might have stopped to get a decent shot.

Grunting, she frowned back at the trail.

They reached the peak of the saddle they climbed and dropped onto the other side with little trouble. For the next several miles, the trail narrowed, more rocks and dirt showing through sparse snow cover. Lainey was glad she had the foresight to not only change her sled runners, but have another set ready to replace these. Well marked in most places, the trail disappeared upon occasion as creek overflows had frozen into icy ponds. Egypt Mountain passed slowly to the right of her and the sky began to darken. The light was in that in-between stage where nothing stood out, so she donned and turned on her head lamp.

The ground leveled out and widened, and Lainey realized they were in a frozen swamp. Posted markers were few and far between, the trail pretty much useless in light of the wide expanse of ice to cover. Another issue was more overflow. She tsked under her breath as her dogs swept through a puddle of standing water. Heldig had no booties again. They would have to stop soon to take care of the animals.

Twilight faded to evening as the convoy made their way from swamp to lake. Lainey saw a red beacon flashing in the distance, and wondered where it was located. It seemed close, but out here, that meant little. She lost the beacon as she moved off the lake and into more forest.

The trail continued on this way for several miles. Lake followed forest, forest followed lake. The night was far from silent, however. Lainey grinned as she heard singing behind her. It sounded like Georgio or Roman was belting out ‘Witchy Woman’ at top volume. Her dogs’ ears kept pricking back in curiosity and she giggled. Would her team think her insane if she joined in on the chorus?

Lainey barely noted the ‘Dangerous Trail Conditions’ sign before taking a sharp drop onto another lake. Other than that slight hiccup, there seemed no other risk. Had they already passed the Burn? From all she had read on the place, it was supposed to be worse than Dalzell Gorge and Happy Valley put together. Surely they had not gone through it yet. The woods and forests they traveled through showed no indication of fire damage. She was under the impression that even after two decades the area had not grown back much.

Ahead of her, she saw a head lamp coming closer. Odd. Why would someone be going back the way they came? She squinted until she realized it was Scotch standing beside her stopped sled.

“Whoa!” Lainey called abruptly. She eased onto the brake, and her leaders automatically pulled off the trail to one side. Once they were stopped, she put in her snow hook. “Snack time?” she asked.

“Yeah. The Burn is just ahead, and then we’ll take a full rest break.”

Lainey nodded, smiling in anticipation, and passed the message on. As she snacked her dogs on chunks of frozen moose liver, she was amazed at her lack of dread for the upcoming ordeal. Up until the gorge, Lainey had felt incredible trepidation at the physical challenges of the trail. Now she was almost eager to get to the confrontation, to accept the dangerous test of her abilities and win through regardless. It was somewhat reminiscent of stalking wild carnivores to get that one elusive photograph, not caring about the peril she suffered to achieve the shot.

She did a careful examination of her dogs, finding ice balls forming under a number of toes. Heldig’s paws were getting worse, though she acted as if nothing was wrong with them. If she kept this up, Lainey would be forced to drop her in the next checkpoint or two. She was not looking forward to that. Realistically speaking, Lainey’s chances of going the entire thousand miles without dropping a single dog were minimal, but it was a goal to aim for. She admonished Heldig yet again, and rubbed liniment into her pads before rebooting her.

Then it was time to go.

They slid into more woods on a slow rise. Lainey gasped in surprise as her team broke out onto a stark and barren landscape. Finally, the Farewell Burn.

The trail was a decent one. It weaved this way and that through clumps of brush, snow covered stumps and a few spindly tree husks spiking into the sky. Lainey thought of a movie, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and decided the Burn would be an apt place to film a live action version. All that was needed was an eerie old castle in the background and bats flitting about the night sky.

For all the hype, however, the Burn was mild in comparison to the obstacles Lainey had already faced. She felt a sense of disappointment as her team easily avoided a snag, wondering if this was all there was to the trail. As the miles went by, she began to think so. Disgruntled, she spent the time convincing herself that this was a good thing, that twenty plus years had gone a long way to making the trail easily accessible.

She resolved to throw out all the Iditarod books she had accumulated during her research, at least all of them older than the last five years.

The trail moved from one ridge to another. With no trees to block her view, Lainey suspected she could see ten or twenty miles in any direction. A dark shadow against the starry night sky indicated a far away mountain, a single light shining from its top. Looking behind her, she could see the three head lamps of the rest of her party. Miles back, she saw two other lights bobbing along - other mushers on the trail. She wondered who was behind them.

Eventually they dropped into a gulch, sheltered from the ever present wind. Lainey saw structures to her left, her head lamp illuminating what looked like a camp of some sort. There did not appear to be anyone occupying it, but snow machine tracks were fairly fresh. Depending on when it snowed last, someone could have been out here in the last couple of days or so.

Again the convoy came to a stop, those in the back pulling forward to fill the narrow gulch. The number of dogs and people gathered here felt slightly claustrophobic compared to the wide open spaces of the Burn. After Lainey got her dogs braked, she joined the mushers forming a group nearby. Owens was speaking as she approached.

“I’m thinking on heading over to the BLM cabin before calling it a night.”

“That’s what? Ten more miles?” Roman Spencer asked as he arrived at the palaver.