This is such a burly, brutal route. I attempted almost exactly a year ago today but ended up bailing partly because of the constant rain. I bought rain pants this year and also opted to try it supported instead. I left a car at the Cathedral Pass trailhead and ran the first section with a friend. That section was pretty uneventful and although there are some overgrown and technical spots there’s nothing too terrible. I had a Coke at the trailhead, changed my running pack and shoes, and continued on. After that spot is where the real challenge starts. The climb up Paddy Go Easy feels relentless and then at the top the terrain abruptly shifts into brushy, unmaintained, and difficult to follow trails. I stopped somewhere up there to filter water and continued on to Meadow Creek. I ended up following cougar prints nearly the whole trail at night which was unnerving to say the least. The sun started rising on me near the top of the Jack Ridge trail. That’s where I started to feel pretty gross. I had no energy and felt nauseous and very hopeless about continuing the whole route. Jack Ridge and Eightmile Trout Creek are some really rough, steep, ‘shwhacky miles. I felt 100% done at the top of Windy Pass. I did continue on, slowly, to the Colchuck/Stuart Lake trailhead where I lay in the dust for almost an hour recovering and waiting for a friend to show up with a mythical burger. She brought a burger, soda, fries, and a beer and I devoured everything and immediately felt better. I threw a few more snacks (and a whole bag of fries) in my pack and headed up towards Aasgard Pass. This climb was slow and steady and I was excited to get some beautiful views in the Core Enchantments. I didn’t see anyone else around up there and it was so different from the last time I went up with the weekend hordes. A very special place, if not loved to death unfortunately. I then had a little trouble descending from Lake Vivianne. Someone had placed a fake cairn that threw me off the route for a few minutes in the dark. Thankfully I’d done this section before and it just felt “off” so I figured it out. The rest of the route went pretty smoothly and I got to the trailhead around 3am and took a dirt nap in the brand new rain pants before getting picked up about 30 minutes later.