The Iditarod is a bit unusual in that the start of the race on Saturday is a ceremonial start. The reason is that there is no safe or practical way for mushers to traverse Knik arm, the Knik River and the Matanuska River. So the pageantry of the race start is held Saturday in Anchorage, but the real race doesn’t get rolling until Sunday afternoon in Willow.

Iditarod musher Dee Dee Jonrowe takes a moment to sign autographs for fans in the chute.

That doesn’t bother Alaskans, and it is actually great for visitors. Thousands of people come to downtown Alaska and line the sidewalks of Fourth Avenue for the ceremonial start. The starting line is at 4th and D, and the area to the st of the starting line is called “the chute”. This is where the mushers park their trucks, harness their dogs, and get ready for the race. While it is certainly fun to watch the mushers head down the trail, the real action is back in the chute, where you can get up close and personal with the mushers and their dogs.

If you have a favorite musher, and you didn’t meet them at the banquet, this is a great place to get a photo and shake their hand – provided you get there early!

The first musher heads down 4th Avenue at 10 AM, with subsequent teams starting every two minutes. The starting order is decided in advance, with the first starters at the far end of the chute, and the last starters in the front. You’ll want to get downtown early – perhaps as early as 8 AM, if you want to see the initial preparations of some of the early starters.

One strategy that some guests choose is to get downtown early, meet the mushers, get some photos, and then stake out a spot along the Anchorage portion of the trail. The race starts downtown, but winds its way throughout the parks and greenbelts of town, and ends at Campbell Airstrip. There are lots of great viewing locations around town, and you can have many of them to yourself.

Iditarod musher heads down Fourth Avenue at the ceremonial start

Most of the activities are over by about 2 PM… and this is good for both the mushers and for guests. Sunday at 2 PM the race starts for real, and it is nice to get a good meal, a good night’s sleep, and then head off to Willow on Sunday!

If you’re interested in having us arrange your Iditarod package, give us a call at (877) 692-5275 or +19073342888. Or you can go to our website and complete our form, and we’ll get back to you!

There are an increasing number of visitors to Alaska in the winter… and many of them are coming here to experience the Iditarod.

The Iditarod starts in Anchorage on the first Saturday in March, and the race lasts about two weeks. Most guests arrive on the Thursday before – you wouldn’t want to schedule a Friday flight into Anchorage and end up stuck in Chicago because of a Midwestern blizzard – you’d miss the start of the race!

Dogs discuss race strategy while sitting in the back of a musher's dog truck.

The ceremonial start is on Saturday. This is when all of Anchorage turns out and lines the the streets to watch the mushers as they head through town. Most people head to Fourth Avenue, which is the starting line… but there are many great places to watch the mushers all over town, so it isn’t necessary to fight the downtown crowds. Among the more favorite spots are on the hill on Cordova Street as the mushers head down towards Chester Creek.

The route winds its way south through the parks in Anchorage. At one point the mushers cross a bridge over Northern Lights Boulevard, and a tunnel at Tudor Centre. In 2009, the Anchorage trail ended at Campbell Airstrip in Centennial Park.

A view of the "chute" at the ceremonial start of the Iditarod.

One advantage of heading to Fourth Avenue is to see the mushers prepare their sleds and dogs for the race. While the festivities on Saturday are purely ceremonial – the clock on the race doesn’t start until Sunday – there is still plenty to see in the “chute”. The area of downtown on Fourth Avenue west of D Street (the actual starting line) is fenced off, and each musher brings in his or her “dog truck”. A dog truck is how the dogs, sleds and equipment is hauled to different locations. The most distinctive feature of a dog truck are the boxes on the back where the dogs ride. You’ll often see dogs sticking their heads out of holes in the doors of the dog truck.

This is a great opportunity to get some photos of the mushers, talk to them a bit, and see the dogs. Most people can’t imagine the preparation and training that goes into a run to Nome. While the show on Saturday is just a very small piece of the entire process, it is very clear from watching the mushers get ready that a run to Nome in the Iditarod is something that takes years of planning.

Musher heads down Fourth Avenue in Anchorage at the ceremonial start of the Iditarod.

After the ceremonial start, the mushers pack up the dogs and sleds and head for Willow, where the race restarts on Sunday afternoon. Several thousand spectators attend the restart in Willow, and this event is an even more authentic Alaskan event – people arrive by car and truck, snowmachine (this is Alaska-speak for snowmobile) and even a few by airplane.

The atmosphere is a little different in Willow; the trail heads out across the frozen lake, and spectators line the trail and cheer as the mushers head out to Nome. At the same time, snowmachines race across the lake, and airplanes on skis come and go.

After the restart, many guests head north to Talkeetna, where they catch a flight out the next day to some of the remote checkpoints in the foothills of the Alaska Range. Flights leave in the morning and head to Skwentna and Rainy Pass. The first day is often a very entertaining time to be on the trail, because this is when the fastest of the teams try to set the pace.

For guests that are serious about the Iditarod, you can fly from checkpoint to checkpoint in a “Chase the Race” package. Other guests take a few days off and head to Fairbanks where you can take in the World Ice Art Championships, do a dogsledding adventure, where you can actually learn to drive a dog team and spend the night under the northern lights in a cabin or arctic-weight tent. After your dogsled adventure, an afternoon soak at Chena Hot Springs sounds like a very good idea.

The following week the lead mushers approach Nome, and guests fly out to this Norton Sound community to greet the mushers as they arrive on Front Street.

Iditarod packages have become more popular over the last few years, but there is still time to arrange your package if you’re up for a winter adventure in Alaska. Alaska Vacation Store creates custom Iditarod packages that include lodging, rental cars, and all of the activities. Packages can be as short as four days, or last for as many as twenty.