page_title: Yukon Quest
section_title: Eagle to Central
hierarchical_section_title: Yukon Quest / Route / Eagle to Central
caption_attribution_description: English: A musher departs Slaven's Roadhouse in the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve during the 2005 Yukon Quest sled dog race.
context_page_description: The Yukon Quest, formally the Yukon Quest 1,000-mile International Sled Dog Race is a sled dog race run every February between Fairbanks, Alaska, and Whitehorse, Yukon. Because of the harsh winter conditions, difficult trail, and the limited support that competitors are allowed, it is considered the "most difficult sled dog race in the world", or even the "toughest race in the world"—"even tougher, more selective and less attention-seeking than the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race." The originator envisioned it as "a race so rugged that only purists would participate."
  In the competition, first run in 1984, a dog team leader and a team of 6 to 14 dogs race for 10 to 20 days. The course follows the route of the historic 1890s Klondike Gold Rush, mail delivery, and transportation routes between Fairbanks, Dawson City, and Whitehorse. Mushers pack up to 250 pounds of equipment and provisions for themselves and their dogs to survive between checkpoints. Each musher must rely on a single sled for the entire run, versus three in the Iditarod.
  Ten checkpoints and four dog drops, some more than 200 miles apart, lie along the trail.
context_section_description: The route from Eagle to Central covers a distance of 233 miles (375 km). In winter, Eagle is buffeted by high winds and drifting snow funneled through the town by nearby Eagle Bluff, which stands 300 feet (91 m) above the Yukon River. Because it is the first stop in the United States, competitors are greeted at Eagle by a United States Department of Homeland Security official who checks passports and entry documents.
  After leaving Eagle, mushers travel northwest for 159 miles (256 km) on the Yukon River, except for a few short portages. During this stretch, two hospitality stops are available. The first is 28 miles (45 km) from Eagle at Trout Creek. The next is Biederman's Cabin, the former home of Charlie Biederman, one of the last people to deliver mail by sled dog. (The final sled dog mail route was canceled in 1963, and Biederman's sled hangs in the National Postal Museum.) A dog drop site is located 18 miles (29 km) from Biederman's Cabin at Slaven's Cabin, a historic site operated by the National Park Service. Some 60 miles (97 km) past Slaven's Cabin mushers arrive in Circle, so named because its founders believed it was on the Arctic Circle. (Circle is actually about 50 miles (80 km) south of that line.)
  From Circle, it is 74 miles (119 km) to the checkpoint in Central. Mushers follow Birch Creek south until just before Circle Hot Springs. This area, along with the Fortymile stretch, is considered among the coldest on the trail, and mushers are advised to prepare for −60 °F (−51 °C) temperatures. Turning west, they travel through frozen swamps before reaching the Steese Roadhouse checkpoint in Central. In Central during even years, mushers have the option of taking their four-hour rest here or at Mile 101. If they choose to, the three minute start difference will be subtracted from their rest time.
caption: A team leaves the Slaven's Cabin checkpoint of the 2005 Yukon Quest.
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