The northern lights light up the trail between Kiana and Ambler during the Kobuk 440. - Apayauq Reitan - Kotzebue, Alaska 
Mushers experience the magic of the trail
"All the stories I heard are true and even better," says musher Fabio Berlusconi, taking off his coat and snow pants in the entryway of the Ambler cookhouse. He's just come off the spruce- and willow-dotted trail from Shungnak and will spend the next several hours resting here before heading out again toward Selawik.
In the main room, pots of spaghetti and caribou soup sit among plates of maktak and soy sauce, meatloaf, baked chicken and shee fish.
Volunteer cook Lolo Johnson hands a thermos of freshly brewed coffee to a young teenager, motioning for him to set it out on a table with sugar, creamer and tea.
"I enjoy doing this," she says. "I enjoy cooking. I've been doing it every year."
For the last two days, she's been giving up sleep to spend most of her time — day and night — in the cookhouse, preparing meal after meal after meal for mushers, support crew, visitors and volunteers who pass through the Ambler checkpoint during the race.
"Out of two days I only slept about four hours," she says, laughing.
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