Bear Hunting Part 2

On Monday night, I found a campsite at Tony Grove.  My friend from Cincinnati, Steve, was to join me for the next few days.  I spent a few hours wandering the campgrounds while he meandered his way to the campsite from Salt Lake City.  Despite me telling him exactly how to get to Tony Grove, he let Siri drive him to a dead end.  Hours later, he made it.

Meanwhile, I found some great columbine:

On Tuesday morning, we pre-positioned a car at Logan River and started from Tony Grove for ~17 miles of fun.  There were plenty of runnable sections, some climbs and lots of river crossings.  We even had a pause for some cowboys herding cows.

On Wed morning, we headed down to Temple Fork for the 6.5 mile climb up to Tony Grove.  While not a steep climb, it was steady, followed by a nice downhill to Tony Grove.

On Thursday, Steve needed to head off to MT, but not before helping me drop a car so I could run from Logan River to Beaver Mtn.  This, to me, was the hardest part to navigate (and I will be there somewhere after midnight).  I found the trail fine, and even navigated the drop to the drainage area, however, near the ski resort, there was lots of damage from the winter and the fires of last year.  I ultimately missed the turns, but hopefully on race day it will be better marked.  This part of the course was exposed and some very technical areas, especially near Beaver Mtn.

I also did some of the trail between Gibson Basin and Beavercreek campground.  This was  a rocky trail that was mainly downhill.

So to share a funny story:  I pulled into Beavercreek campground and couldn't figure out where to park.  I saw a man walking to his car and asked if I could park in the large parking spot near his campground for a few hours.  He had no issues as he was heading to town for a bit.  I put my pack on and started to head out, but heard a lady in the next campground ask what trail I was headed out on and when I was planning on being back.  I explained to her what I was up to and she was familiar with the Bear.  Turns out this particular family has come out to this campground for the last 30+ years and takes up every campsite in it during early Aug. It was fun chatting with them and knowing that we still look after each other as humans.

I left the next morning to head up to WY for El Vaquero Loco (El Vaquero Loco).  I did return on Sunday and hiked a few miles from Beavercreek to Ranger Dip.  Lots of rolling atv track with loose rocks.

After 6 mights of camping, I finally wimped out and found camping more to my style...

On Monday morning I hiked from Fish Haven almost up to Ranger Dip (I didn't make it quite all the way), then ran back down.  It was definitely the most technical of all the trails I ran and on tired legs it will be interesting.

Sunrise over Bear Lake.

I finished the trip by traveling down to Park City to visit my friend Amy.  We haven't seen each other since our 2014 Zion Traverse.  We had a good time running and chatting.

Overall, I'm excited about this race.  The trip was very helpful and while I know it's going to hurt at times, it will be the time of my life.  My impression of the course is that it will be tougher than both Cloudsplitter and Georgia Death Race.  It should be, it's not only longer, but has more elevation change (and is at altitude).  While the climbs may not be as hard as GDR, the course is more exposed to the elements.

If I calculated correctly, I did ~110 miles with +20k of climbing over the trip.  The altitude didn't seem to bother me (whew).

I did post some other photos from around Tony Grove at the following: UT Posts .  Photos include moose, hummingbirds and lots of wildflowers.

Bear Hunting....(no bears were hurt, or even observed, in the making of this blog)

So as you may be aware, I am prepping for my first 100 mile race in the fall:  The Bear 100, described as 36 hours of Indian Summer.  I have had this course on my radar since I first started ultra running, as quite a few of my friends from UT had run it and raved about it.  It was only fitting that I do it as my first.  The course is a one way trip from Logan, UT to Fish Haven, ID.  The timing should be perfect for the fall colors to be popping.  The only concern is the weather, as it is unpredictable in the mountains at that time of the year.  It could be hot during the day and below freezing at night, or even a blizzard like last year (keeping my fingers crossed not to see snow this year)

As soon as I signed up for the race, I planned a recon trip to get some familiarization with the course, as well as seeing how I would react to altitude.  My plan was to fly N28GM to UT approximately 8 weeks prior, run for a few days on the Bear Course, then do a race at the end of the week.  Originally that race was Kat’cina Mosa 100k.  That plan, like most, was flexible. 

First to change was my 'training' race plans.  One of my favorite podcasts is Trailmanners, out of Ogden UT.  They decided to do a meet-up at El Vaqero Loco 50k, in Afton WY.  Listening to them describe the course and the area, it became apparent that I needed to do do that race instead of the 100k.  It was one of the best decisions I made on this trip.  It was spectacular and meeting them as well as some other great UT runners made the race.  My race report and pictures are located at: https://flyingdownthetrails.blogspot.com/2017/08/el-vaquero-loco-50k.html for your reading pleasure.

The next change was to my method of travel.  We noted earlier this summer that N28GM was burning a bit more oil than normal.  That's not a good thing in any engine, let alone an airplane. So it was time for a new engine.  Luckily, I was able to cash in some frequent flyer miles and get good flights to Salt Lake City on Delta.  Even better, it added a few bonus days to my itinerary.   The bad news was now I needed to figure out how I was camping.  Luckily, Ken came through and loaned me some essentials that I couldn't pack.

This was a crazy trip.  I didn't exactly do a good job of planning for it.  Thankfully Corrine had my back as my coach and made some recommendations on the runs.  Also, thankfully, Steve was willing to put up with me for a few days and help so I could do one-way runs (vice the out/back).  This allowed me to get more miles on the trail than otherwise possible solo.

So enough of me babbling and on to the pictures and the course.   My impressions are wow, this is going to be one tough and beautiful course.  It was a lot more technical than I had thought it would be.  Lots of river crossings and for now wildflowers (at race time, they should be replaced by colored leaves...)

On the first day, I did an out/back up Dry Canyon near Logan Peak.  The first 3 miles is all climbing on some pretty rocky trails.  It is going to be a fun conga line up the mountain before sunrise!  (this picture doesn't do the steepness justice)

Looking back over Logan during the climb:

About 3 miles up the canyon, we take a side trail and eventually end up skirting the side of Logan Peak.  The wildflowers were beautiful!

 On the Monday, I had to depart Logan pretty early to avoid the pro bicycle race that was going on.  I did get caught in it in the afternoon, but by then I had completed my run, so was more mellow.  This was a combo of a few trails.  I parked at Middle Fork, then ran/hikes up Rick's Canyon for a few miles.  I returned and continued down Willow Creek to get an idea of what it would be like.  Rick's was very runnable, but Willow Creek was exposed.  Given that I expect to be there later afternoon, that is something to pay attention to.

More to follow on the rest of the days and my adventures...

Bear Hunting, Part 2

El Vaquero Loco 50k

This post will be a bit out of order, since I haven't had time to post any photos/info from my Bear 100 recon trip.  However, this was too good to wait.  I probably shouldn't post this at all, since this race is a great gem that should be hidden away.

El Vaquero Loco, the Crazy Cowboy.  An out/back 50k held outside of Afton, Wy by Ty Draney. This was the 13th year of the race, and my first time running it.  I first heard of it last year by the host of Trailmanners podcast, Joel Hatch and Aric Manning.  This year they called it an official Trailmanners meet-up race.  I was planning on being in UT to do some recon on the Bear 100 course already, so it wasn't a stretch for me to add this to the itinerary (well, except to run a challenging 50k after  a week on the Bear...).

So I went up to Afton on Friday morning, hoping to score a campsite near the start line and to figure out where Trailmanners guys were going to be camping so I could finally meet them. I scored big time.  I found a campsite near someone wearing a Trailmanners hat, so I introduced myself.  Turns out that Kelsy was expecting them anytime and I was more than welcome to join them.

We had a great evening drinking beer and chatting.  I even won a new Black Diamond headlamp at packet pickup. When I hit the tent (night number 5 for me), I slept pretty well, considering the temps were in the low 40's.  I even woke up before the alarm to some owls hooting in the distance.  It was a bit chilly, so I was glad that I brought my light gloves and a Arc'teryx shell to keep me warm.  Luckily the wind from the day before had blown a bit of the smoke out of the air (it would return later that evening).

This course was by far the most technical and challenging 50k that I have done.  The profile said 8800' of climbing, with the peaks at almost 10k. After the second climb, it was a long descent to the valley floor, only to turn around and climb back up.  (the scale is missing a zero)

I couldn't help but smile all day long seeing such beautiful views and wildflowers.

Sunrise on the way up:

At the top of the first climb:

The lake between the climbs:

Down the canyon to the turn-around:

More wildflowers and vistas:

On the way back looking down at the lake.  I thought I was going to slide down that on my butt given the steepness (luckily, I stayed upright):

It is views like this that keep me coming back.

See the trail that meanders on the lower left near the snow...we were down there at one point!

From here it was down to the finish.  I bought poles the week prior and was figuring out how to use them.  They gave me a bit more confidence on technical downhill.  I flew down the final few miles and pretty much had to be caught by the RD or I was going into the lake (well, not really, but it's 10% truth).

This was a great race.  I stayed positive (for the most part).  My goal was to enjoy the day and use this as a warm-up race for the Bear.  I came into this race with no expectations, only wanting to finish with a smile.  I knew that I had put a hard week of running and camping on my body the days prior. The only down times I had was when it was during some of the harder climbs, but I kept reminding myself that this was a more difficult course and to enjoy the beauty.  I loved it when Kelsy (the winner) later told me that I had the biggest smile on my face when we passed each other.  I couldn't help it to see the beauty this course exhibited would bring out a smile on the grinch.

Thanks to Joel and Aric for suggesting this race.  I loved meeting you and making new friends as part of this great sport.  Ty and his volunteers put on a great race.

#elvaqueroloco #trailmanners  #nowgogetit #ultrarunning