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| By: Cassandra, JoceLynn, Nichole, Samantha, Clayton, Keith, and Andrew |
| Alaska is the largest state in the U.S., twice the size of the second
largest, Texas. Its land mass is 586,412 square miles. Alaska has
over 3,000,000 lakes. The highest point in North America is Mount McKinley
at 20,320 feet above sea level. The longest river in Alaska is the Yukon
River at 1,979 miles.
It winds across the Interior Plateau and flows east to west from Canada into the Bering Sea. The Yukon is the third longest river in the U.S. Only the Mississippi and Missouri are longer. |
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The capital of Alaska is Juneau. Alaska is the
biggest state out of the United States. Anchorage is one of the cities in Alaska. Nome is also a major city. Lots of people live in the major cities. This is a picture of Anchorage. The Iditarod begins in the downtown area. |
| The population is very small for being the
largest state. The total population of Alaska is 401,851(1980 census). The density is 27 persons to each 100 sq. km. (70 to each 100 sq. mi.) |
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As you know Alaska is very well-known for its temperature. It is about -55°C during the midwinter and January it is about -18°C. During the winter the nights become very long and in the summer the nights are very short. |
| There is a lot of wildlife in Alaska. In Alaska
there are several large National parks . Along the Iditarod trail, a musher is likely to see elk and caribou. There are lots of salmon in the rivers.The buffalo in Alaska run wild in large herds. On the ride a musher is almost certain to see an eagle flying over their head. Moose can be a real danger to the teams during the race. |
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There are 26 checkpoints on the Iditarod Trail.
Anchorage to Nome is 1151 miles long. Cripple is the halfway point on the Iditarod Trail. There is a Southern Route and a Northern Route. The farthest distance between checkpoints on the Iditarod trail is 112 miles between Cripple and Ruby. |
| Several difficult places on the Iditarod Trail are Dalzell Gorge, Farewell
Burn, Buffalo Tunnel, and the
straight away at the end of the Iditarod race that makes the dogs bored. The Dalzell Gorge is a valley between two mountains in the Alaskan Range that has some water and thin ice in the middle. The Farewell Burn is a forest on flat land and there are lots of stumps and branches that can hurt the dogs and the sled. The Buffalo Tunnel is a narrow path that was engraved in the ground by bison and is very hard to see and stop for something that falls off. The straight away at the end of the race is the longest part of the race and is hard on the musher and the dogs. Some dogs have actually gotten so bored they quit and stopped pulling. |
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