Pelly Crossing, McCabe Creek, and Carmacks checkpoints

I apologize for so many checkpoints all grouped together, but the way Sam's team is moving the three checkpoints seem to blend together. 

Sam arrived into Pelly Crossing, 200 miles since we last saw him, just steps ahead of fellow Belgian Dries Jacobs. Their schedules and run times just so happened to match up that they had again been traveling together for quite awhile, without having planned on it at all. Both mushers were exhausted, more so than when they had come into Dawson days before. They spoke of beautiful trail, but the fatigue had made the last few legs of the trek very difficult. Sam said that if he was not working hard on his sled pedaling and ski poling, he would immediately fall asleep. He and Dries laughed about how many times they would jolt awake on the sled, the dogs still clipping along just fine. 

Sam got his 3 hours of rest and said he felt very refreshed. Both mushers fed, prepared and hit the trail again at 5 in the morning, the weather unusually warm at about 28F degrees. 

They made the 34 mile trek to the McCabe Creek cabin, where they decided instead of resting as planned, that they would push on the next 39 miles to Carmacks checkpoint. Sam left one dogs behind at McCabe due to a muscle injury, and then continued on. 

Sam and Dries again traveled together all the way to Carmacks, the second to last checkpoint on this Yukon Quest International Sled dog race. They made very good time here and were very happy with their decision to skip the rest at the McCable checkpoint. They fed and bedded the dogs down, headed inside for a pile of cheeseburgers, soup, and pasta, and laid down for a nap. While eating they laughed about how great it is traveling together, completely unplanned. They plan on leaving this evening for Braeburn, the final checkpoint in the race. Only two more runs left until the finish line, and the boys are more than happy to be this close. 

Happy Trials!

Team Belgium's Handler Crew benji