Tales From the Trail

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A group photo at Old Woman Cabin. (Photo: Courtesy Hannah Moderow)

March 2—Day 13

Kaltag to Old Woman Cabin
Iron Dogs

I had a chance to speak with the high school students in Kaltag before harnessing up the team for departure. They were busy at work on research papers, but we spent a few minutes talking about transportation in 1925 versus today.

While dog teams were the primary means for village-to-village transportation in the early 1900s, today they have essentially been replaced by snow machines, known as “iron dogs.”

Part of Norman Vaughn’s vision for the Serum Run was to combine these two modes of transportation—to celebrate the history of mushing with the modern-day support of snow machines. The partnership between musher and snow machiner is crucial to making our expedition successful.

The view from Old Woman Mountain. (Photo: Courtesy Hannah Moderow)

The trail to Old Woman Cabin was even more beautiful than I had imagined. A narrow route with sparse snow created a wild ride for the musher, snaking around sloughs, and up and over rolling hills. After a week of flat river travel, this new terrain kept me on my toes!

We arrived at Old Woman Cabin not long before sunset. After bedding down the dogs, fellow musher Mark Chin and I climbed the nearby Old Woman Mountain. The view from the top was glorious. I could see the ribbon of white snow in a landscape of brown tundra that will lead us to Unalakleet tomorrow.

The full moon is shining over camp, and stars fill the sky in every direction. It may be cold, but the view could not be more stunning.

I fell asleep with my pen and notebook in hand. Dad had to wake me up to tell me to turn off my headlamp, and put away the writing. I guess this is all I could muster for today!

Hannah Moderow is a musher and writer for Scholastic News Online.