The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes Road is a 22.4 mile road from just outside Brooks Camp/Brooks Lodge to the Griggs Visitor Center at the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes. The road is crushed gravel with three water crossings and is completely within the boundaries of Katmai National Park in Alaska. One of the three water crossings is more than 100 yards across. I was at Katmai National Park as part of my personal project to run a full marathon (26.2 miles) in all 63 U.S. National Parks. Katmai was #58 in that project.
My friend PJ Miklus and I started the run at Brooks Lodge and ran to the start of the Valley road (8/10ths of a mile). We ran up the road (entire distance is uphill) to the end of the road - 22.4 miles. Of course, as Murphy can attest, my formerly trusty Suunto Ambit 3 peak measured the distance correctly but somehow thought I was at 8701 feet of elevation to start and then went to -3281 feet before returning to sea level and the proper elevation measure. I started the Suunto at the beginning of the road and stopped it at the end of the road. That GPX file is attached.
I also wore my Garmin Fenix 6 Pro to capture the full marathon. I hit the lap button at the start of the road and the end of the road. That watch captured the correct distance and elevation profile. The GPX file from the Garmin is also attached. If you follow laps 2 through and including lap 24 you will have the value I submitted as the FKT - 4 hours, 28 minutes, 50 seconds. According to the Garmin there was 1932 feet of elevation gain through the 22.42 miles.
The weather was perfect for running to start but then got a little unseasonably hot - approaching 75-78F - by the end of the run. For the first two thirds of the run there was wildfire smoke that hung in the air. It was visible throughout and made all the pictures hazy. We did not experience any bears or other animals - which was good - since there is always a threat of bear encounters at Katmai.
I try to carry everything I need to be safe on long run. We each had over 3 liters of water, gels/food, electrolytes, first aid kit, rain gear, extra clothing and phones for photos (no signal at Katmai).
This not a technical run except for the water crossings. Depending on the time of year they may be impassible on foot. At the time my friend and I were able to cross without incident however at the longest, deepest crossing the water was moving fast and would have been safer with hiking poles (but we made it without falling). The route we took was the uphill route. I do think this would be a fun run to do up and back.
After the run we returned to Brooks Lodge on the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes Road tour bus. The bus takes visitors from the lodge and campground to the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes for hiking and exploration in the morning and then returns in the late afternoon. The bus passed us on the way up but did not provide any assistance other than cheering (All the guests knew we were running a marathon).
Running the Valley road was a blast and I highly recommend it as a way to experience Katmai.