Alaska News

PHOTOS: Iditarod returns to recovering Galena

Nine months after the worst flood in 100 years left the Yukon River town of Galena struggling to rebuild, things are slowly coming back to their regular pace. One thing that's helping? The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

"There's so much going on, it takes your mind off of a lot of that stuff," said Kenton Moos, refuge manager with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Galena. "It's a little normalcy."

The consistency has been balm for the town that has seen little of it in the last few months as it has focused on rebuilding following massive damage from the Yukon River flood.

For the most part, things in the checkpoint are running smoothly. Checkpoint Manager Jon Korta said it's the little things that have emerged as missing over the last few days. Plastic buckets, for example, seemed hard to come by.

"Nobody seems to have any," he said.

Read more: Iditarod brings touch of normalcy to flood-ravaged Galena

See all of our slideshows from the trail and more on our Iditarod page. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram, for more great images from The Last Great Race. Contact Alaska Dispatch photojournalist Loren Holmes at loren(at)alaskadispatch.com.

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