FKT: Kevin Hadfield - White Rim Road (UT) - 2020-02-19

Athletes
Route variation
standard loop
Gender category
Male
Style
Unsupported
Start date
Finish date
Total time
21h 25m 6s
GPS track(s)
Report

Starting pack weight: 27lbs
Ending pack weight: 9lbs

Started with ~8.5 L of water, calories as pictured + .6 L of pre-mixed, full strength Tailwind.
In the end, 2 L of water, 1 Epic Bar and a couple gels went unconsumed (I just took them for a spin on the WWR... ha!)

There was not much planning that went into the White Rim. I found out that I had the time to do an adventure on Sunday night (02/16), I saw that the weather was going to be good, I felt good and I don't have anything scheduled that an impromptu adventure might screw up... so I figured why not go do something?!? I was trying to get a shuttle worked out to check out the Paradox trail all day Monday (02/17) but it didn't work out so I started brainstorming loops. I knew nothing about the White Rim other than it's in Moab area and it's a loop with very little navigational challenges... Perfect for a solo adventure on a whim.

I packed everything the night before so I just slept in, put everything in the car and drove from my house in Carbondale, CO to Cowboy Camp. I started at Cowboy Camp based on information found on MTBProject... It's not busy at all mid-winter. On 02/18 at 1430 (2:30 PM) I set off toward Mineral Bottom to run the White Rim Road counterclockwise. Everything went pretty smoothly, I had a couple fits of nausea and some blisters but nothing major... I was able to keep all calories and water consumed down which was key. The trip was book-ended by beautiful sunny mid-40s temperatures and the night was crisp and clear hitting maybe only mid-20s. There were some big mud puddles in Mineral Bottom and everything else was either bone dry or frozen solid after dark so it was easy to move quickly. The stars were incredible as it was a barely there, waning crescent moon that didn't come up until ~0500... just before sunrise. Schaefer rd. was a bit icy but not too bad.

I was pretty darn tired by the back half so I hiked a lot of very runnable terrain. My legs and back were not too happy with the added weight which slowed me down quite a bit. I was telling myself that once I hit the pavement again at the end, I'd run the last 7ish miles to the car and get in under 21 hours but after the initial burst of jogging (10-11 min./mile redline!), I was back to walking it in... 21:25:06