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“The Last Great Race on Earth means many things to many people. It’s uniqueness and mystique is captivating. The Iditarod is steeped in the history and culture of Alaska. It represents days gone by! Trying to describe it and what it means is no easy task. Our friend and Iditarod Hall of Fame inductee Don Bowers perhaps describes the Iditarod best in his book “Back of the Pack”. We have included his Introduction for you to enjoy!”
Vern Halter Iditarod Musher
Introduction: Back of the Pack by Don Bowers - 1998
 To those who are unfamiliar with it, the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is probably one of the more exotic sporting events in the world. In reality, though, it is much more than a race--- it is the culmination and commemoration of a lifestyle that is unique to the North Country, and whose roots extend more than a thousand years back into the prehistory of Alaska.
On the one hand, modern mushers on the 1, 150 mile run from Anchorage to Nome travel in the footsteps of the freight and mail mushers of the early part of this century. In another and deeper sense, they are carrying on the tradition of Alaska’s earliest inhabitants, who perfected the use of the dog teams more than a millennium ago. Indeed, the race is a remarkable journey into the past, passing through legendary frontier gold-rush mining districts as well as some of the very Native villages where mushing was born.
When I decided to run the 1995 Iditarod as a rookie musher, after many years of flying for the race as a volunteer pilot, I resolved to keep a journal of what I thought would be an interesting adventures on a par with my flying exploits. However, this account rapidly became much more than I expected as I found that becoming a musher was far, far more than learning to stand on the runners of a sled, and was a world apart from seeing the race from the air.
 I learned that to drive dogs in anything more than a recreational mode is to adopt a lifestyle centered around the dogs themselves. I also discovered this way of life is addictive beyond imagination--- there is virtually no escaping once hooked. The dogs become a second family, and the affection and devotion given to them is easily equal to that given to any human family.
This alternative lifestyle has a payoff which few people outside it fully appreciate. Unlike a house pet or even a hunting dog, a team of sled dogs is a finely tuned machine that is a passport to--- and a permanent link with--- another world. A dog team is Alaska in winter is the ultimate instrument of discovery. Nothing can compare to a run along wilderness trails under a full moon and the shimmering aurora behind a ghostly silent, smoothly pulling team--- actually a team of friends--- that you have trained yourself.
 To run the Iditarod is the ultimate goal of almost every dog mushers. It is a daunting test for both team and driver, but it is also the most profoundly rewarding journey imaginable. No one who has ever run the race will ever forget a moment of it, nor the incredible range of emotions and experiences it represents.
I regret that mere words cannot adequately convey the intensity and spirit of the Iditarod and everything leading up to it. This journal is at best an imperfect log of a two-year voyage of discovery. I hope it will paint at least a partial picture of what it is like to prepare for and run the Last Great Race on Earth.
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