Trip Report: Lockhart Basin FKT attempt April 25, 2020
I planned to do this run on my birthday (April 25) as a way to celebrate and spend the day doing something I love. The morning of, we left Moab around 5:20 and drove to the start of the Lockhart Basin trail off highway 211. They dropped me off around 6:30 and I started running immediately. The first few miles were fairly boring on a gravel road but after passing through a notch around mile 3, the vastness of the desert backcountry opened up ahead of me. The first 15 miles were fast as it’s smooth and generally downhill. After 15, there was a 3 mile climb where I tried to maintain a pretty good pace. I was feeling strong through mile 20ish, coming through halfway in under 3 hours. But it started to get hot and, by mile 25, I was running out of water.
The plan for this run was for my support crew to drop me off and then drive back to Moab, picking up a UTV we rented to drive from North to South down the trail and meet up with me. We had hoped this would happen around mile 25 and so I packed water accordingly (1.5L). Unfortunately, on their way down, in a narrow rough section, there was a vehicle bottomed out, stuck and blocking the trail around mile 37. . . By mile 27 or 28 I was out of water and I started to suspect I wouldn’t be seeing any for a while. I continued pushing on worried that they had gotten stuck at the one particularly rough spot (at mile 37). I had no idea what had happened, but by mile 30, I was extremely dehydrated with the sun beating down and no cover on the trail. By this time, I mentally committed to having to make it to mile 37 before I’d have more water and started walking sporadically. Both to conserve energy and because of my deteriorating state from the heat and lack of water.
At mile 32, I found one of my support crew walking up the trail. They explained the situation and gave me the half liter of water they had brought. We walked and ran to mile 33 where the UTV showed up (having freed the stuck vehicle). I took a long rest and downed water til my stomach hurt. I continued running, but it was difficult to fully recover and just chugged away for the next 8 miles. At mile 41 the 800’ climb up top Hurrah Pass started and I downed some water, trying to psych myself up. The proximity of the finish lit a fire and I ran every step to the top.
The run turned into a proper challenge and it was overall an awesome day out, but I’m definitely psyched to do try and go faster on another attempt.