Pat Moon is 5th musher to scratch.

After this afternoon's mini rant about the confusion of reports on the trail, it was confirmed that four mushers had scratched. ADN.com reported the four mushers were out of the race as of about 3 in the afternoon.

Tonight's scratch is heartbreaking as Pat Moon's story is one of true inspiration. Moon is currently battling cancer and is taking a break from treatment in order to run the Iditarod. He was not in it to win it, but just to have the experience. Pat Moon is currently at Providence Medical Center here in Anchorage, follow the adn.com story here as the story develops.

Jeff King is letting his presense be known as he is currently leading the pack heading to McGrath leaving out of Nikolai in the first place position this afternoon. Schnuelle, Baker, and Mitch Seavey (who have been consistently in the top five the last 48 hours). Debates can be had about how long they all can keep their dogs up front, but it seems to be working so far. Lance Mackey is also in the hunt, though farther back, he seems to be waiting out the ride so far. Buser, Dallas Seavey, and Jonrowe are also back out on the trail headed up to McGrath. You can read about today's leap frogging and trail reports in this article from the ADN.

DeeDee has the running tally of most dogs dropped to this point, which is interesting so early on in the race, but chances are this is her plan. However she's at a low number so soon - at this time she's running with 11 dogs. There are no reports as to the reasoning, so one can assume this is part of her strategy and not due to injuries or illness.

Some mushers are having helpers keep us up to date on their races on their websites:
Martin Buser
Team Seavey
Jeff King
DeeDee Jonrowe

It's too exciting not to follow!