Iditarod 2013 -- Dalzell Gorge and Rohn

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Jan Steves lies under her sled on a steep slope on the approach to the Dalzell Gorge. March 5, 2013

Rohn is a 280-square-foot, wood-floored, wood-heated, Bureau of Land Management public-use cabin that sits lonely, deserted and hiding in the spruce trees just a little north of a seldom-used gravel airstrip in a valley between the jagged peaks of the mile-high Terra Cotta and Tea Colli mountains.

For two weeks out of the year, Rohn becomes a bustling hub of activity supporting first the Iron Dog snowmachine race, then the Iditarod Trail Invitational human-muscle-powered race, and finally the Iditarod dog race.

The checkpoint lies six or seven miles north from one of Iditarod's most dangerous sections of trail. Dalzell Gorge has prematurely ended the Iditarod aspirations of many mushers.

More: Complete Iditarod coverage