March 8
I was watching the tracker at about 9PM AKT last night and saw this Iditarod Trail Committee post (it was only 30 minutes old at the time)
Trent had checked through Rainy Pass about 830P and was 5 miles or so from the Happy Creek Crossing. He hit the crossing with several other mushers about 10P, stopped for awhile, appeared to have crossed then stopped for the night at 1030P. I would guess that he and the team had a very wet, difficult crossing of the 2 ft deep, open Happy Creek and called it a night to dry clothes and re-group. He pulled the hook and was out again at 415 this morning, with the Dalzell Gorge ahead of him on way to Rohn.
This morning I used the "VCR" controls on the tracker and played back what happened at that crossing from 1000P to 100A. A couple of dozen mushers came to the creek at mile 163, stopped, crossed, and continued. Some stopped for a bit, some moved right through.
It will be interesting to hear at some point if a better way across was established or if everyone who crossed got wet and just kept going.
I would expect Trent to keep rolling through Rohn and try to get on the other side of the some of the bad trail on the Farewell Burn, that is the first 20-30 miles out of Rohn on way to Nikolai.
Bet is was cold and wet last night.