Are there two different race trails?
Yes. The middle 300 miles of the trail alternates. The Northern Route, run in even-numbered years, heads north from the checkpoint of Ophir, reaches the Yukon River at Ruby, and travels downriver to Kaltag. The Southern Route, run in odd-numbered years, heads south from Ophir, passes through the ghost town of Iditarod, and reaches the Yukon River just below the checkpoint at Anvik. The trail then heads upriver to Kaltag. From Kaltag the trail is the same every year to the finish, and the trail from the starting line to Ophir is also the same each year.
