Welcome to McGrath

Our trip from Anchorage to McGrath got off to a later start than planned. We were supposed to leave at 8:30 a.m. but because of bad weather near McGrath, our plane didn’t get out until after 10:30. I love getting out to other parts of Alaska I have never been before... especially in a plane!! It was cloudy for the first half of our ride, and then the clouds parted to make way for gorgeous views!





A little before Noon, the caravan dropped off our four person crew, 1500+ lbs of equipment and a few hundred pounds of bags filled with clothes and food.




McGrath turned out to be exactly as I pictured it – small houses and small buildings covered in lots of snow with only one main road through town. This is my first time to a village in Alaska, but I have seen video / stories so I had an idea of what the bush would be like. It reminds me a lot of remote Alabama… the only difference really is that there are no roads to get out of here.

We had to haul all our gear over to the McGrath checkpoint (about a mile from the airport) to set up shop in the washeteria. I had never heard of a washeteria before moving to Alaska, but it’s basically a Laundromat with showers. It took us four loads in an old Ford Explorer to get everything from one place to another.





My work station... Haha.


The photojournalist I’m working with on this trip, Carolyn, and I decided to focus our story today on what it takes to bring viewers live coverage of the Iditarod – a “behind the scenes look” at how much work is required. Thanks to Shirley, a satellite engineer with Alaska Mobile Productions, the company running our live shots, and freelance photographer Ian (who used to work at Ch2) for their hard work to get all the equipment up and allow us to follow their every move.
Here's how the story turned out...

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