Photos: Iditarod 2012 -- Life in Ophir

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Colleen Robertia napping with her dogs in Ophir on Thursday, March 8, 2012.

Before many top mushers began streaming through on Thursday morning, the Ophir checkpoint was bustling with volunteers making final preparations all afternoon Wednesday. At the same time, four-time Iditarod champion Martin Buser and his son Rohn were catching up on their sleep. The two mushers had pushed ahead of the field before taking a 24-hour rest that all mushers must opt for sometime during the 1,000-mile race to Nome.

Once mushers leave Ophir, they follow a trail along the Innoko River and head northeast through sparse scrub spruce and over rolling hills on a 75-mile run to Cripple, the official halfway point.

By 11 a.m. Thursday, 27 mushers had already pulled out of Ophir, including Trent Herbst and Jim Lanier, who had yet to take their mandatory rest but were battling it out to be the first to arrive in the checkpoint at Cripple, the halfway point of the race where a prize awaits the first musher.