Back of the Pack: An Iditarod Rookie Musher's Alaska Pilgrimage to NomeOnce infected with the mushing virus, there is no cure -- there is only the trail Don Bowers learned the truth of these words as he lived his dream of running Alaska's grueling 1,100-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. With no mushing experience and little money, but with a spirit of adventure and support from friends, he started from scratch to put together a team. Over the next two years, he discovered that becoming a serious musher is not to be undertaken by the faint of heart, or by those who cannot learn to laugh at themselves and keep going in the face of daunting difficulties and dangers. By the time he eventually pulled under the famous burled arch at the end of Front Street in Nome, his perspective on life had been changed forever by his dogs and by the staggering scope and intensity of the Iditarod. This is Everyman's Iditarod, a tribute to the dedicated dreamers and their dogs who run to Nome in back of the pack with no hope of prize money or glory. This is truly "the rest of the story" of the Last Great Race on Earth. |
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Back of the Pack: An Iditarod Rookie Musher's Alaska Pilgrimage to Nome Don Bowers Limited preview - 2014 |
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1995 Montana Creek ahead Alaska Alaska Range Anchorage Andy booties brake cabin checker checkpoint climb cooker Copper Basin Copper Basin 300 couple decide dog food dog lot dog team dozen drop Eagle River Elim everything feel feet finally Finger Lake finish line frozen gangline half head headlamp hill Iditarod Trail Innoko River Junior Iditarod Kaltag keep Knik Koyuk lead leaders least Lisa look Martin Buser Maybelline miles an hour minutes moose mountain moving mushers mushing night Nome Ophir pack pull Pullman pups quickly race Rainy Pass realize rest river road Roadhouse Rohn rookie run the Iditarod runners says scratch Shaktoolik Silvertip Skwentna sled dog sleds sleep Slipper snowmachines Socks starting stop the team stretch Susitna there's things town trees trip tuglines turn Unalakleet village wait Wasilla weeks wind worried Yankee yards Yentna River Yentna Station Yukon