Decided to give this a try since it was close by but didn't really do enough research. I'd hiked in the area before but forgot how rugged it could be. On the drive up I realized I hadn't charged my watch and it ended up dying just before finishing the course. I took a photo of the board at the parking lot when I finished and it should have the metadata attached to verify my finish time.
It rained the whole day which really helped with the temperature but made the rock gardens and descent down the Connector Trail really sketchy. I had several close calls but managed to get lucky each time. Maybe I just didn’t understand the blazes but it seemed like all the main trails were blazed white with stubbs blazed blue? Either way it gave me a devil of a time keeping on track. I carried 1.5 Liters of water knowing that with how dry it had been a couple of the springs would likely be the only water on course (there is never water in the bottom, the main stream runs underground). I decided to just try my luck and while I was pretty dry by the finish I didn’t get into any real trouble leaving the filter at home.
For the next person attempting this I would suggest pushing hard on the rim trail before you hit the connector, it’s mostly runnable and things really slowed down for me after that. I feel like a little bit of course knowledge would go a long way out here, I missed several turns and did a little searching around at Sutter Falls (no blazes once you cross the bridge, turn left and you’ll pass a small word sign saying “<-- Exit”).
All in all a great course with some great views.