Feb 27 :: Day 2 // Shell Lake Lodge

Place: 12 Foot Racers Total in the ITI 1,000 (men & women)

Herman Watson (Bozeman, Montana) - 107.3 miles

Gavan Hennigan (Ireland) - 102.7 miles

Brandon Lott (Burbank, Washington) - 102.7 miles

Beat Jegerlehner (Switzerland) - 99.4 miles

Jeff Leuwerke (Plymouth, Minnesota) - 99.6 miles

Faye Norby (Plymouth, Minnesota) - 96.6 miles

Magdalena Paschke (Germany) - 86.8 miles

Christof Teuscher (Portland, Oregon) - 86.8 miles

Sean Brown (Lyons, Colorado) - 76.6 miles

Mark Hines (U.K.) - 75.3 miles

Klaus Schweinberger (Austria) - 70.3 miles

Donald Kane (Scottish and Australian) - 70.02 miles

Daily Miles: 40

Average Daily Miles: 53.9

Current Weather:

Current Temperature: -2 F (Feels like -15 F)

Daily amount of snow :: <1 in.

Daily :: High 19F / Low 11F.

Humidity :: 98%.

Cloud Cover :: 74%.

Wind :: 6 MPH WNW.

Visibility 5 miles.

Herman has reached the following check points:

Butterfly Lake Lodge @ 8:00p on Feb 25

Yentna Station @ 5:30a on Feb 26 — Breakfast was served of pancakes, bacon and eggs.

Bentalit Lodge @ 2:15p on Feb 26 — Few hours of sleep on a proper bed and a cheese burger.

Skwentna Station @ 10:00p on Feb 26

Bivy outside for a few hours a mile or two past Skwenta Station [~mile 90] — said he was cozy in his sleeping bag and slept well.

Shell Lake Lodge @ 9:30a on Feb 27 — Surprise! Real beds and warming tents, didn’t stay long since it was blue bird skies and the sun felt good :)

Other notes:

Dried nuts and jerky are extra chewy when it’s cold. A little extra work than expected. Might be looking for a jar of peanut butter down the road to replace come of that trail mix.

Herman’s said that he saw some group texts about Bitcoin and ordinal NFTs doing well and is hoping they will keep rolling.

His fannypack/harness to his sled is ripping a little in the middle, he has loosened it up and the ripping has decreased. This may be a arts and crafts project down the road.

Only three drop outs in the whole race so far! Everyone is enjoying the mild weather!

Herman caught an hour or two of rest at the Bentalit Lodge before moving on towards Shell Lake. Shared rooms and cheese burgers available for racers at this Aid Station

Herman moving down the historic Iditarod trail towards Shell Lake.