The Iditarod Trail

By Mrs Barlet (from https://iditarod.com/about/the-iditarod-trail/ )

The Iditarod Trail

The trail goes one way in even years (northern) and the other way in odd years (southern).

2019 being an odd year, the trail will be the southern one and will pass through the ghost town of Iditarod, which gave its name to the race.

Both sections of trail are a part of the Iditarod National Historical Trail which was used in early years for all winter travel. Dog sleds delivered the mail, the preacher, the groceries and hauled out gold and furs all the way to Anchorage or Fairbanks.

During the early years of the Iditarod Race, the mushers only travelled the northern trail. After several years, the Iditarod Board of Directors realized that the smaller villages were being heavily impacted by the race coming through their village year after year. It was decided to use both sections of the trail.

The Southern Route

Distances are expressed in miles.

One mile is equal to 1.609 km, so to calculate distances approximately, add a bit more than half of the number to the distance in miles.

For example: 20 miles are about 31 kms (32.18 exactly).

The symbolic length of the southern trail is 1,049 miles (1 688 km) as Alaska was the 49th state to join the USA.