Beals rests in Galena as chase pack moves in

Travis Beals has had the checkpoint of Galena all to himself for much of Friday afternoon having checked into the second stop on the Yukon River at 3:24pm. The musher elected not to take his 8 hour break in Ruby wanting to keep as much trail between he and the chase pack as possible. 

While Nicolas Petit sat in Ruby Friday he watched the leaders and chase pack catch him. Beals and Jessie Holmes were the first two in - but nearly three hours apart. Beals chose to head on down the trail after about four hours of rest, Holmes chose to stay and take his mandatory 8. As they rested, Paige Drobny and Ryan Redington were next in.

The two mushers on very different schedules met on the run into Ruby after Redington fell off his sled and Paige picked him up and carried him until they came up on his team. Musher and dogs fine they continued into the checkpoint with Paige taking the lead. Drobny has steadily picked off teams in this race and she doesn't look to be finished yet.

Pete Kaiser and Dallas Seavey also spent time in Ruby Friday, with the five time champion taking just under three hours resting before heading back onto the River. Pete Kaiser chose to stay for four and a half hours before following. Both Kaiser and Seavey had very strong looking teams, with Seavey's team eating everything offered to them enthusiastically.

Redington and Drobny also chose to spend 8 hours in Ruby and are now back on the trail behind Kaiser and Seavey. Aaron Burmeister looks to be taking his 8 hour as he's been in Ruby since 1:30pm ish. 

Matt Hall is 2 miles from Galena. It will be interesting to see if Beals gets up and gets moving.