Technical Details:
Started at the south terminus of the Gore Range trail at 6:08. Waited until bright enough to start without having to use a headlamp to reduce weight. Due to rain previous night wore a light raincoat/windbreaker and gloves. Rain left ground muddy particularly coming down Eccles pass and on some of the northern section of trail. Was generally sunny after the morning clouds burned off, got cloudy again with very slight rain about 4 miles to go. Carried with me the windbreak, gloves, a hat, Garmin InReach Mini 2 for tracking, phone, 1 0.5L softshell salomon bottle, Sayer mini drinking straw with squeeze bottle, and a little food. Refilled water using the drinking straw while out. Only ate food which was in my running vest. Finished at the north terminus and was greeted by 2 friends who helped handle driving since it is a point to point route. Watch had 49.23mi for the entire run, this is approximately what is suggest by The Trail Run Project (49.7) and far longer than in the route description listed on this site and by All Trails (All Trails suggests starting at Wheeler Junction rather than the true trailhead which cuts the distance by around 0.75mi). AT&T for phone service, had signal at both trailheads though not the strongest at the south trailhead for people looking to do point to point hikes or runs in the area; did not check phone signal status while out as only took photos and videos quickly. Did receive some texts at various points along the trail though.
How It Felt:
Made the mistake of feeling really good and pushing the 2 passes at the start. Was sub 10:15 average through the first 24 miles but hadn't eaten or drunk much (started with the softshell full and hadn't refilled by this point). Was dehydrated (mix of not drinking and sweating a bit from the sun and humidity due to water on the ground evaporating) which made eating difficult. Tried to eat and drink more the rest of the run but didn't get out of the hole I'd put myself in. Was still moving alright through around mile 39. Had run the last part of the trail the previous weekend and so knew roughly how far I had remaining. At this point realized I was not going to beat the terminus to trailhead time (wanted to beat the time despite running the terminus to terminus route) and it had a large climb so began to hike. Foot also started hurting; believe it was partially not eating and drinking enough cause left forearm cramped but also because the shoes (Altra superior 5s with 491mi on them prior to the attempt) don't have a ton of cushioning on the bottom and didn't have the rock plate in. It was a good experience and one of the runs I was looking forward to doing this summer so happy I was able to complete the route. The passes at the south end are cool though I preferred the middle section of the trail being able to look up and see some of the more jagged peaks of the range.