Having paced Challis for the entire backcountry section of her FKT on this route 2 months ago, I knew something of what I was getting myself into. But wow, this was a whole different experience to do on my own, and this route really has everything.
I started from Cater at 3:06am to try to beat the heat. Rarely have I seen a night so dark; the moon had set just before I started, and a thick cloud blanket blocked all light coming from the city. I crested Inspo to the dull glow of the moon coming up from below the horizon, startled a fox coming up Tunnel and another cruising down Gib, and could barely see my feet in the clouds on Cold Springs. I eventually made my way to Romero, where Challis and Shyla were patiently waiting with great vibes and a fresh pack. We cruised up the singletrack, reminiscing on when our roles were reversed a couple months ago and how our lives have changed so much for the better since then. I'm biased, but she's the fucking best.
We popped out of the clouds as we got to the top of the singletrack, and said goodbye before I dropped down the back side of Romero towards Blue Canyon. That descent is in rough shape, but it was far from the worst conditions of the day. After shoving through shrubs and grass I got down to Blue Canyon camp, and started the slow climb up to Forbush. Much poison oak ensued, but the trail was comparatively pretty runnable, as I made my way to cold springs trail, then up and over the ridge down the the Grotto. After an obligatory dip in the pool by the waterfall, and my first water filter for the day, I jumped on the "trail" over to the reservoir.
Damn. That trail is in *rough* shape. This ended up being the biggest limiting factor for the day, wading through waste-high grass, pushing through branches and shrubs stuck out into the trail, getting scratched to hell and unclogging the foxtails from my shoes every couple miles. So it went for about 6 miles until I finally spat out onto the road down to Gibraltar Dam, and started climbing up Devils Canyon. At this point it was starting to get pretty warm, but luckily the slower pace meant I was still in good shape in terms of hydration and heat. That's where I met the only other two people I saw the entire day besides Challis and everyone at the finish: two college students, pristine, halfway up Devils Canyon, without a foxtail on them. I still don't understand where they came from, where they started, why the went all the way back there, but hey they were fun to talk to.
I hit the junction with matias, and having run that section many times I knew it was just going to be a slow grind out to the road. So I plugged in the punk rock, filtered some water, and zoned out the best I could. Just before I hit Arroyo Burro road, I put down a cherry chocolate Clif gel with 100mg of caffeine (what I've dubbed a "skyhook"), knowing the climb up the road was probably going to be the hardest section mentally. I knew I was going to see Challis at some point on the road, but I didn't know how far up, but the caffeine did its work and I ran almost the entire climb up to the road. Challis and Shyla appeared with ice cold blended watermelon, some electrolyte drink and ice in the pack, and after a brief stop at ECC we took off down the last descent towards Cater.
Caffeine can work some wonders. I felt great, flowy, even had some power left to run a lot of the uphills. When we got down to the road between AB and Jesusita, we met up with John Sutherland, who after BTR 100 and a 24 hour power lines challenge the past two weekends, still blasted it in with us. We passed friends who came out just to see me finish, and ended with a "finish line tape" made from a dog leash. Honestly I was just so happy to see everyone there, to know that everyone had taken time from their Saturday just to see me finish, that's all that mattered then. Eventually we dispersed and I got some sleep, but I'll be riding this high for a bit.
Thanks to John Parsons for putting this route together, it really has a bit of everything. Thank you to the SB running community that has made this place feel so much like home, even after only living here for 3 months. And more than anything, thank you Challis for waking up at 4am and spending your entire Saturday on helping me do this. Everything is better when you're a part of it, and this is no exception.
I want to end by saying that I hope these backcountry trails see some more use. They're really fun, but in pretty rough shape from all the rain and washouts. Probably the best thing we can do for them is run them more, keep them alive. We live in a really fucking rad place, and the fact that this route is in our backyard is really really special.
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fuegoooo