I've had my eyes on this one for years... Excited to have finally run it! Matt has put together a great route. I was fortunate to do it on a flawless spring day with a high of 64 F and perfect trail conditions.
I ran self-supported north to south with the following prepositioned caches:
- Gold Star TH (mile 15) 1.5 liters water
- Upper Ute Canyon TH (mile 24) 1.5 liter water and a bear can with food
- Devils Kitchen TH (mile 32) 1.5 liter water
The first climb felt hard. It was a relief to top out on rolling runnable terrain. The descent through Monument Canyons was spectacular and on lovely runnable constructed trail. By the time I reached my first water cache at mile 15, I had realized that I had underestimated how much water I would need.
The second climb ascended the cliffs offtrail via Otto's Staircase, a set of faint steps carved in the slickrock. I can confirm that the metal spike, webbing, and cairns that reportedly used to be there are gone. The stairs were bolted from the top for a rap or belay, but did not prove to be a major obstacle. Once up top, the lack of water started to bite. I was able to melt some snow in a soft flask along the way. Fortunately, I ran into some trail runners at my second cache who were able to spare half a liter, and the later caches were spaced more closely.
Refueled, I dropped into Ute Canyon, the one section I had done previously. The top of Ute is riparian and brushy with water. Further down, the running opens up. I missed the turn and backtracked to the social trail that cuts across to Devils Kitchen. While relatively good for a social trail, this section had some steep sketchy eroded slopes to cross and a bit of a cacti minefield at the end as it skirts the boundary of the monument.
I refilled from my last cache at Devils Kitchen and headed up Upper Thoroughfare Canyon. I had been warned in advance that this would be a crux. Initially it was easy running and I passed lots of day hikers. At the first falls, things started to get exciting. A rugged trail up a steep and narrow ledge ascended the falls, leaving the hikers below. Things only got spicier from there. Mid-Upper Thoroughfare featured faint remnants of trail, exfoliating brush and thorn bushes, and vicious steep climbs up rock and cacti filled rivines to bypass falls. It would have been tough even had I not been a 50k into my run. I watched as my margin evaporated. Fortunately, above the last falls things leveled and slowly improved. Eventually I was able to run a little and then a lot. Knowing that my lead was slim I pushed it as best I could. Descents up and down massive channels through the sediment were an obstacle. Running the final switchbacks out of the canyon was brutal. I finished only 12 minutes ahead of Kyle’s existing FKT.
It was a great day out! In retrospect, shorting myself on water was an unforced error. As anticipated, familiarity with the route, in particular, Upper Thoroughfare Canyon would have smoothed some of the navigational challenges. The top of Ute and lower-mid Upper Thoroughfare Canyons have water.
Thanks Matt for blazing the route! Kyle, for providing some extra motivation towards the end. And a special thanks to Doug and Melinda (fellow CT FKTers) for picking me up and their help on both ends!