Woodsong: Day 2–Days 16 and 17

by Gary Paulsen
The author invites the young reader into the grueling experience of training for and running the Alaskan Iditarod dogsled race. It is a study in preparation, training, perseverance, learning from hardship and failure, teamwork, commitment, humility, and how to finish.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Chapters 1–2, Chapters 3–4, Chapters 5–6, Chapters 7–Day 1, Chapters Day 2–Days 16 and 17
15 words 100 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. spectacular
    sensational in appearance or thrilling in effect
    At dawn we break into the open from thick, dark forest and are treated to a spectacular sight.
  2. enormity
    vastness of size or extent
    There are no clouds and the mountains, McKinley on the right, tower over us in dazzling white enormity, filling the sky while the sun warms our backs and the dogs settle into running.
  3. magnificent
    characterized by grandeur
    The dogs are magnificent. They are the true athletes of the Iditarod.
  4. pandemonium
    a state of extreme confusion and disorder
    Noise and pandemonium. Dog teams coming and going, judges and spectators all around.
  5. spectator
    a close observer; someone who looks at something
    Noise and pandemonium. Dog teams coming and going, judges and spectators all around.
  6. deprivation
    the disadvantage that results from losing something
    Sleep deprivation catches me and I start hallucinating.
  7. benediction
    the act of praying for divine protection
    “Cold,” he says, the word a benediction.
  8. timberline
    boundary marking the upper limit of tree growth
    As the team climbs into the peaks above timberline and comes out at the Rainy Pass checkpoint where there are thirty or so other teams stopping to feed and rest, I have entered into a state of almost idiotic bliss.
  9. gorge
    a deep ravine, usually with a river running through it
    Everybody warned the rookies about the gorge, also known as “The Gut” and “The Chute.”
    It is a twenty-mile downhill run through a river gorge studded with boulders and you run on an ice ledge steeply down, weaving in and out of the boulders for the whole distance. The other mushers tell the rookies that it is easy to get in trouble in the gorge.
  10. careen
    move at high speed and in an uncontrolled way
    Seconds later I am knocked off the sled and as the dogs careen down through the gorge they loop out and around a boulder, but the sled does not make it cleanly and hits the boulder and I am knocked off the runners and I cannot get up.
  11. mandatory
    required by rule
    At Rhone River I take my twenty-four hour mandatory layover.
  12. expanse
    a wide scope
    Just as it gets dark I look out across a vast expanse of rocks and dirt and dead grass and burned trees fallen across one another and no snow—not a flake—as far as I can see.
  13. befuddled
    confused and vague, especially of thinking
    My befuddled brain simply thinks it’s another hallucination and I wait for it to disappear.
  14. tundra
    a vast treeless plain where subsoil is permanently frozen
    So different, it is like another planet. No trees, only tundra and the long low hills and the jingle of the dogs’ collars and the whuffing of their breath as they trot and we cover the miles, the long miles across the interior over to the Yukon River.
  15. abate
    become less in amount or intensity
    The wind abates, the sun comes out, the trail across is flat—frozen seawater—and the dogs are well rested.
Created on Sat Dec 20 21:46:26 EST 2025 (updated Tue Feb 03 11:28:09 EST 2026)

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