HUMAN

Name: Karin Hendrickson
Age: 49
Residence: Willow, Alaska.
Occupation: I work for the state doing environmental regulation.
Years involved with Iditarod: Started in 2002. 
Iditarod Role: I’m currently a musher.
Current Location: Willow, Alaska 

Date of Photo: March 8, 2020
Temperature: 24F/Outdoors

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

I got involved with Iditarod because of my mother. She started as a volunteer and she dragged me up, not particularly willingly, to come up as a volunteer, too. But then when I saw what it was all about, I got hooked pretty quickly.

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

I’m here today and involved with Iditarod because I’ve run it eight times so far. I took a couple years off thinking I wanted to do other things and I guess I don’t want to do other things. 

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

One of my most memorable Iditarod experiences was going across the sea ice. They told us that the markers would run out and we would need to turn to the right and then, anyways, we’d be able to see the lights of Koyuk. Well, I ended up in jumble ice that was as tall as buildings and school buses and I did get about 10 miles completely off trail going through just tall mountains of ice and having to turn around and, “Gee” and “Haw” in this fierce side wind. And the entire time I could see the lights of Koyuk so I wasn’t too scared, but I just didn’t know if I was ever going to get there because it was like being in a maze. And then I came in backwards. I hit the trail and I went, “There’s Koyuk to my right.” So I came in backwards and surprised all the checkers.

What do you know for sure?:

What I know for sure in life is that we all need a purpose and Iditarod has been my purpose and my goal and my focus for a really long time now.