HUMAN

Name: Cole Harmon
Age: 23
Residence: Knik, Alaska
Occupation: I am a weaver and a spinner by trade.
Years involved with Iditarod: 3 
Iditarod Role: This year I am security, but today I am doing trackers. I’m putting beacons on people’s sleds. 
Current Location: Willow, Alaska 

Date of Photo: March 8, 2020
Temperature: 22F/Outdoors

What, who or how and when did you first get involved with the Iditarod?

So I got involved with Iditarod through friends of mine who are dog mushers. But what really pushed me on is I saw how much fun they were having and the dogs were having and I saw Jeff’s photos and the whole bundle. The whole package, really, just told me that, “Hey, I should get involved with this.” This is something really special. And to a great extent, as we all say, it’s the dogs, it’s the dogs, it’s the dogs. They’re just, they’re amazing at what they do.

What is your Why?..Why are you here today and involved in Iditarod?

I’m here with Iditarod today really because I just love to support the community. These are people I know. These are my friends, these are my neighbors; and it’s because of them and their dogs that I’m here. They’re not names and faces on a blog. They’re not names and faces on a map. They are names and faces who I know and love and hug and I know their kids and I go to their houses for dinner and they come to my house for dinner and their dogs are related to my dogs and it’s one big happy family. 

Tell me about just one of your most memorable Iditarod experiences?

One of my most memorable experiences involved with Iditarod was sort of a hing. I was helping for a qualifying race for Iditarod and I was coordinating a remote checkpoint about 60 miles out from the road system. And I was sitting in the snow bank looking out over all the dogs and the mushers running around with little headlamps and all the cookers going. And everybody was sort of quiet and everybody just got in, so all the dogs were calm. And I thought this is what it’s all about. When you’re out on the race, this is what it’s all about… the quiet and being with your dogs and with yourself. And that’s a lot of fun.

What do you know for sure?:

Well, I know for sure I’m going to stay here and that whatever comes my way after that, we will figure it out. I came up here, I was intending to stay just for a summer, and then four dogs and a sled later, and maybe a litter of puppies in a year and what do I know for sure? What do I know for sure; that I live here and all of the good that comes with that.