The Cascade Crest 100 is held in the Cascade Mountains of Washington state, on a loop course on high ridges and valleys near Snoqualmie Pass. The race director, Charlie Crissman, bills this race as a throw-back, classic ultra that doesn’t seek fame or crowds, but just wants to share a remarkable trail running experience. That is my kind of race and it lived up to its lack of hype.
Kings Peak is the highest peak in Utah at 13,528 feet. All of Utah’s peaks over 13,000 feet are located in the Uinta Mountains. I’ve summitted ten of them. Kings Peak gets the most attention and each weekend in the summer dozens of hikers make the trek to the top.
Back in 2001, before I was a runner, I did the normal 3-day backpack with my brother and our sons to reach to top. I remember seeing a guy with a daypack running. I asked what he was doing and was amazed to find out that he was doing a Kings Peak summit in one day! That really inspired me and just a couple years later I accomplished the same thing. Now I had been to the top eight times and been to Anderson Pass, right below the summit an additional four times.
For my birthday, I wanted to try to run the Skyline Drive end-to-end, something I’m sure no one has even attempted before. This is a 110-mile dirt road that runs from I-70 to Hwy 6, north-south in Central Utah. Most of it is above 10,000 feet. Craig Lloyd was interested in running it with me and we found a willing crew to drive along, Josh and Matt. I had scouted out and driven about 40 miles of it a week earlier. I received some good information from buddy, Bryan, who has spent many days up in that region.
It was 3:30 a.m. I was lying in a cot shivering, in the ski lodge of Diamond Fork ski area above Lake Tahoe. A lady who had put blankets on me kept looking back at me with concerned looks. The previous 11 hours had been brutal. Because of an altitude-related stomach issue, I had only covered 30 miles during that time. Now, at mile 80, serious thoughts of quitting and DNFing were swirling in my mind. I was looking for the right excuse to stop, a reason that I could live with. Why continue to suffer? I had even survived the fright of running into a huge black bear with her cub earlier in the afternoon. I had a string of 23 100-mile finishes without a DNF. Was I ready to see that string broken? I told myself yes and continued to shiver.
With yet another winter storm coming into northern Utah for Memorial Day, I decided at the last minute to escape the rain and drive 4.5 hours southeast to run through another hidden gem in Utah that most people don’t even knows exists.
I had a spectacular 8-hour, 28-mile run in an area unofficially called the Wolverine Petrified Forest. I ran through two long slot canyons, Wolverine Creek and Little Death Hollow, and also visited the Escalante River. The region I was in is protected by the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
The San Rafael Swell is a spectacular area of Utah that is generally overlooked by all except off-road vehicle enthusiasts. The Swell is a large geologic feature located in south-central Utah about 75 miles by 40 miles. It consists of a giant dome-shaped fold or swell of sandstone, shale, and limestone that was pushed up millions of years ago. Numerous valleys, gorges, mesas and buttes have formed included what is referred to as the Little Grand Canyon which has been cut by the San Rafael River. The area is managed by the BLM and certain portions are protected as Wilderness Study Areas. The federal government has considered designating the area as a National Monument but no action is moving forward because of local concern about the impact on backcountry travel. Regardless, the area is spectacular enough to rival other national monuments and parks.
The area in the northwest section of San Rafael Swell is nicknamed “Little Grand Canyon.” It resembles the Grand Canyon on a much smaller scale giving an easier opportunity to experience this wonder either inside its depths or on top of the rim. The area on the rim is called “The Wedge.” The canyon follows the river for 18 miles from Fuller Bottom to the San Rafael Bridge.
The Great Salt Lake Desert covers more than 4,000 square miles and includes the Bonneville Salt Flats which are an expanse of hard, white salt crust on the western edge of the desert in Utah. They are 12 miles long and 5 miles wide covering just over 46 square miles. Near the center, the crust is 5 feet thick in places. That is 147 million tons of mostly table salt! It is the site of some astounding land speed records over of more than 600 mph.
For several years, I have dreamed about doing a very long run through the Grand Canyon. Many ultrarunners run ACROSS the Grand Canyon and back. I have also accomplished feat that many times. But I’ve had a dream to run the length of the Grand Canyon rather than across it.
The Bonneville Salt Flats are an expanse of hard, white salt crust on the western edge of the Great Salt Lake basin in Utah. They are 12 miles long and 5 miles wide covering just over 46 square miles. Near the center, the crust is 5 feet thick in places. That is 147 million tons of mostly table salt! It is the site of some astounding land speed records over of more than 600 mph. Surrounding the Salt Flats are miles and miles of Salt Mud Flats with various islands poking up.
I’ve been helping a friend who is working with the BLM to get a 100-mile race approved out in the area. I decided to go try running a portion of the proposed route. I took my son, Kevin with me, who is taking up ultrarunning. For this adventure, we would run along the Bonneville Dike through the salt mud flats all the way to Floating Island and back, a run of 26 miles. We would be about ten miles east of the famed Salt Flat Speedway, and about 90 miles west of Salt Lake City.
This year the fifth 100-mile trail race was introduced to Utah, the Antelope Island Buffalo Run 100. Antelope Island is the largest island in the Great Salt Lake, 15 miles long, five miles wide. It is home to bison, bighorn sheep, pronghorn, mule deer, coyotes, bobcats, upland game birds, and waterfowl. John C. Fremont and Kit Carson visited Antelope Island in 1845. They killed several antelope on the island thus giving Antelope Island its name. In the 1890′s, John E Dooley owned land on Antelope Island and he introduced a herd of twelve bison. Now hundreds roam the island.
The Buffalo Run, in its fifth year, is the largest trail race in Utah, with over 700 runners this year competing in distances of 25K, 50K, 50-miles, and 100-miles.
Rocky Raccoon 100 is where it all began for me back in 2005. This was the scene of the crime where I finished my first 100-mile race in 26:53. I returned for the 4th time, this time seeking my 38th 100-mile finish. Last year I had a nearly perfect race, finishing in 21:07.
The Rocky Raccoon 100 runs in Huntsville Stake Park, north of Houston, Texas. The 20-mile course runs all over the park, making its way all the way around Lake Raven. We would have to run the course five times to reach 100 miles. The course had been changed in recent years to eliminate two out-and-backs, replacing them with more forest single-track. Most of the course runs through forest on a nice soft surface. See the course map.
I’m a new race director in the sport of ultrarunning. I never envisioned that I would be a race director and never really sought after doing it, but as I wanted to share the experience of ultrarunning with others, I eventually took the plunge and started to direct a race. However, I did not just jump into it, I did it after serving several years in an “internship” helping and watching a race director who I think is one of the best in our sport. Still, I feel like a rookie race director and I’m still learning.
The sport of ultrarunning is unique in that it has no governing body looking over it. Some may believe the USA Track and Field organization (USATF) does, but in reality this body doesn’t even understand the sport and in recent years seems to get in the way more than help. They try to anoint national championships that are largely just ignored by the mainstream competitors of the sport.
So without a true governing body, race directors can have an enormous impact on the sport. In recent years, there has been an explosive growth in the number of ultramarathons and thus an explosion of the number of race directors who are impacting the sport. Thankfully, the vast majority of these race directors are ultrarunners or have experienced ultrarunners on their committees and are being careful to provide what is expected and maintain a level of uniformity.
