Iditarod expedition kicks off

The Iditarod doesn't start until next month, but a major effort to raise awareness of the trail got under way Sunday afternoon.

The Alaskan Express Freight Sled Expedition began in Seward yesterday and will continue across Alaska to Nome, to commemorate the Iditarod as a National Millennium Trail. As the expedition makes its way to Nome this month, it will stop in communities along the route to give presentations to schools and the public.

"We want to celebrate the trail, and we are hoping people realize the rich history of the trail and how important it was to the people here thousands of years ago," said Ron Arnold, president of the Iditarod National Millennium Trail, Inc., in a Frontiersman story last year.

Arnold, a former Finger Lake Elementary School teacher now living in the Kasilof area, is the main organizer for the Alaskan Express Freight Sled Expedition. Originally, the event was going to include teams of dogs mushing the trail, but due to logistical considerations, a change had to be made.

"It was tough to get the funding for food for all the teams and things like that, so now we are doing it on snowmachines," Arnold said.

Six men, including Arnold, began in Seward yesterday with a ceremonial start at which a plaque and sachet was presented to the mayors. Arnold said that after 18 months of organization, it is nice to finally get things started.

"I was so involved with trying to get sponsorships and organizing the whole thing, and I didn't start to feel that excitement until we started driving down here to Seward," Arnold said Friday from a cell phone. "Now I'm starting to feel relieved that we can just hit the trail and the fun will begin."

Last weekend, the expedition was scheduled to include stops on the Kenai Peninsula, including at Point Hope and Girdwood, as well as the route from Seward.

This week, the expedition is in the Valley, and Arnold said he is hoping to meet with students at one school. He was waiting on confirmation last Friday as to the exact schedule for this week, however.

"We've had our ups and downs organizing everything," Arnold said. "I can't wait to stop in some of the communities and meet everyone and show them what we are doing."

Arnold said garnering sponsorships has been difficult, but he is already planning next year's expedition with new sponsors in mind. He has talked extensively to large corporations, several of which want to see the first incarnation before committing to the second.

With a positive experience this year, however, Arnold expects the event to grow even bigger next year.

The Iditarod Trail has more than 1,000 miles of primary trail, with more than 1,000 miles of interconnected trails as part of the same system. In 1999, the National Millennium Council designated the Iditarod Trail as a national Millennium Trail, a designation that only went to 16 trails nationwide.

While many are familiar with the race, not many are familiar with the trail as a historical highway through Alaska. Historians speculate that portions of the Iditarod Trail date back more than 10,000 years, with early historic villages dotting the route.