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Virgil Crest 100 – NY

After running the Bear 100 for seven straight years, I decided that it was time to try a new race.  I was drawn back to my roots, and wanted to run the Virgil Crest 100 in Upstate New York where I lived for eleven years.  The Virgil Crest Ultras (100, 50, and 50K), in their fourth year, are held above the town of Virgil, New York, and runs through the Greek Peak ski resort, where I used to ski in the 80s.  This would be my third mountain 100-mile race in the past four weeks, Cascade Crest 100, Wasatch 100, and now Virgil Crest 100.

The course is a 50-mile out-and-back course with a tough mountain loop thrown in the middle, taking you up to the top of the ski mountain, not just once but twice during the loop. In all during the entire 100 miles, there were 20 significant climbs for nearly 20,000 feet of climbing along the entire way.  You knew you were at the top because each time there was a ski lift shack greeting you.   But most of the course runs through beautiful green forest, some of it almost dark enough for a flashlight during the day.  The trails are soft and fast (if dry) with only a few short technical spots. 

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Wasatch Front 100

The slogan that Wasatch 100 uses is “100 miles of heaven and hell.”  This year I got my money’s worth and visited both places multiple times but still made it to the finish.   This would be my fourth Wasatch 100, a tough mountain race in the Wasatch Mountains from Kaysville to Midway.  Locally, the race gets over-shadowed in the minds of recreational runners by the Ragnar relay called Wasatch Back.   It’s funny to try to explain to people the huge difference between the two.  No, there would be no simple 10K runs with friends on this race, I would be faced with running 100 miles by myself climbing more than 25,000 feet along the way.  This year I would do it without pacer or crew.  I joked that I was going to do it without drop bags and aid stations this year and some people thought I was serious.

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Cascade Crest 100 – WA

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.

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Double Kings Peak Adventure Run – 53 miles

Kings Peak

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.

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Skyline Drive (Wasatch Plateau) – 67 miles

Planned route to cover 110 miles in Central Utah

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.

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Tahoe Rim Trail 100

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.

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Wolverine Petrified Forest adventure run – 28 miles

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.

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Little Grand Canyon Adventure Run – 54 miles

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.

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Salt Flats 100 Mile Endurance Run

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.

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Bonneville Salt Flats Adventure Run – 26 miles

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.

Map of the Salt Flats showing Speedway and Bonneville Dike
Map of the Salt Flats showing Speedway and Bonneville Dike

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.

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Antelope Island Buffalo Run 100 – UT

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.

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