The Alaskan wilderness is the most prominent motif in the story of Balto and the Great Race. It presents the most significant obstacle that everyone involved in the efforts to save the people of Nome must face. It is isolated, cold, and expansive, and the city of Nome was located 650 miles away from the nearest train tracks in 1925. Added to the usual challenges that life in Alaska presents, the winter of 1925 was particularly severe and fell on the state “like an iron blanket” (9). It brought far more snow, wind, and storms than usual, but when the serum crisis hit the city of Nome, the rough Alaskan wilderness did not dampen the resolve of the mushers and their dogs to transport the serum in five days. The journey that the mushers and their dogs took was based along mail routes between various towns, and it was a journey that usually required two months to complete, but with the risk of death inevitable if they didn’t act quickly, the people of Alaska completed the serum run in less than a week.

Along the journey, both Seppala and Kaasen, along with their dogs, have to watch out for a variety of problems—many of which they encounter.