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Yesterday, I flew to Nikolai a village on the Middle Fork of the Kuskokwim River about 200 miles NW from Anchorage on the other side of the Alaska Range. The weather was perfect; clear skies, cool temperatures, and smooth air. It took us about 1.5 hrs to fly over there (Gregg's C-185 is a lot faster than my Supercub; about 120 knots vs. 80 knots), and we arrived about 11 am. Some Iditarod dog teams had already arrived, and soon the air traffic became pretty heavy and more teams began to arrive. By about 1 pm there were about 20 aircraft crammed aroung the arrival parking area. We watched the teams come in and then observed how the mushers took care of the dogs first, and only after the dogs were comfortable, did the mushers relax. They are not allowed to have anyone feed or handle their dogs, so they are quite busy after first arriving at the checkpoints. We left about 3;30 pm and flew over the top of the Alaska Range at about 8,500 ft.altitude.
The first DIGPIX are of the trip over with an accompanying airplane, some of the scenery, and scenes of the village of Nikolai which has a population of about 100 people comprised mostly of Athabascan Indians. The villagers are very friendly and we enjoyed the visit immensely. The last couple of DIGPIX are of the trip home.
Hope that you enjoy them!
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