Trip Report:
Devil’s Peak FKT Attempt
September 8, 2024
Today I attempted to establish the men’s fastest known time for Devil’s Peak via the Cool Creek trail. There is currently only one fastest known time which was set by Laura Paschke on July 29, 2023 with an amazing round trip time of 1h 45m 23s. I’m super impressed with Laura’s time. What an aggressive run on a very steep trail. Much respect for her FKT.
I’ve lived in the Rhododendron & Zig Zag area for over 30 years, and Devil’s Peak is one of the well-known local mountains. I’ve been to the top at least 8 times, and I’ve spent many a night in the old fire lookout tower. It’s a pretty special place for me, and I was looking forward to making another visit to the lookout. At age 65, it’s hard for me to compete with all the super fit, young trail runners out there, and I knew I had no chance of beating Laura’s time, but maybe I could break 3 hours. It was worth giving it a go.
The day was rather warm and humid, and the sky was hazy from nearby wild fire smoke. I got to the trailhead and did some warmup stretches and listened to some of my favorite music to get pumped up before the big climb. It was almost 10 am by the time I got started. I set my GPS watch and launched up the Cool Creek trail. It’s a really steep trail, and all I could do was power hike all the way to the summit. I reached the lookout and the official summit rock with the benchmark in 1h 42m 6s. My time to the summit barely beat Laura’s round trip time. Wow is she fast.
I took a couple of pictures, and even poked my head inside the old lookout before beginning my descent. It’s been about 8 years since I’ve been up here, and the lookout looks pretty much the same. I recently made a stop at the Zig Zag Ranger Station and asked about the condition of the Devil’s Peak fire lookout. The Ranger told me that the Forest Service had closed the lookout a couple of years ago due to the deteriorating condition of the structure, and had placed a lock on the door. He told me that people keep cutting the lock off. I would really like to see a non-profit group adopt the old lookout and restore it for future generations to enjoy. It could certainly use some work. I would hate to see it get burnt down or destroyed like so many of the old fire lookouts around the state.
The descent was slower than I had hoped, but it went good for the most part. There were lots of down trees across the trail, and somehow, I caught the bottom of my running shorts on a sharp broken off limp. It tore a hole in my favorite pair of Patagonia running shorts and almost caused me to fall. I got a little cut and scrape below the knee but kept running down the trail. I guess it was really more like jogging or shuffling. I finally made it back to the trailhead in 3h 6m 24s. I didn’t break 3 hours, but felt good about the effort. It was another good day in the mountains.
Stay After It!
Steven Wagoner
High Mountain Rambler
Devil’s Peak Running Statistics:
Date: Sunday September 8, 2024
9:51 am Start Time
7.09 miles / Total Elapsed Time: 3h 06m 24s
1h 42m 6s Ascent / 1h 24m 18s Descent
2.3 Average mph / 6.5 Max mph / 38 rpm
26:12 Average Pace / 9:17 Max Pace / 20:45 Fastest Mile
3,127’ Elevation Gain / 3,012’ Elevation Loss / 607 kcal