First Annual OTM Peakfest

By Steve

When mother nature finally opened up and dropped moisture in Utah this year, it happened to litterally rain on our parade to run the OTM 100.  With too much snow in Willard Basin, we had to change our plans.  Since we all had already planned to take the day off, we tossed around some ideas we could do.  White Rim Trail?  Go see what Fast Cory could show us in southern Utah?  Double Zion's traverse?  All good options, but as Sam listed some peaks we could hit, I threw out the word "PeakFest."  Immediately we all had a light bulb moment and the forth OTM event was born.  This annual event will now be in the company of the Beard Camp (every February), The Skyline Drive 50k (July), and the OTM 100 (October).

PeakFest... how many peaks can we hit in one weekend?  We turned back to Sam to find some peaks he had wanted to hit for a while, and then spent the next 10 days pouring over topo maps, Google Earth, Strava, and SummitPost.  The two main peaks he came up with were Swasey Peak and Notch Peak to the west of Delta Utah.  Planning for one peak that you've never been to can take some time.  Planning for up to 10 peaks in two mountain ranges can really keep you from getting much else done.  While the main peaks were documented on Strava and Summit post, most of the less known peaks have no trails, no published routes, and would thus require a lot of route finding.



Chris and I met at Sam's house at 5:00am Friday morning, and after a quick stop to meet Jeff, we began the long drive out to Swasey Peak.  After passing a couple herds of wild horses and the apparently significant Trilobite "U-DIG" quarry, we were geared up and heading up the mountain by 9:00am.  Immediately it was clear that not many people have climbed Swasey.  It was mile and half climb through shrubs to the ridgeline.    For the most part, the trees are spaced enough without very much ground cover, so you can mostly avoid getting torn to shreds by the trees by weaving in and out of the them.  However, if you get too far to the west, it gets much worse; a mistake we made on the descent.  Well, I should say, a mistake that Sam and Chris made on the descent.  I wanted to swing wide to the east, but these bozos think going straight down through the rock slide and man eating bushes is faster than taking the well thought out route that I had planned.

Reaching the ridge, the running was fantastic as we approached the summit.  After a short Dew celebration on Swasey Peak, we stood looking 6 miles to the north to our next destination, Tatow Knob.  How difficult would the traverse be?  Is the Knob even climbable?  Only one way to find out.

Sam and Chris stoping to play on the steep descent.
The scenery looked exactly like this for a mile and a half.

We headed straight down the mountain through the Bristlecone Pine forest on the north face of Swasey, decending 2,000' in under a mile and a half.  It was very steep, and even though we had a blast laughing it up as Chris tried to make some rocks tumble down the slope, we all lamented on the thought of having to climb back up it.  While the forest was beautiful and the route finding was easy, the steep, wet ground under the blanket of sticks and pine needles made it rather slippery at times, and taking that route back up would be difficult to say the least.  As we stood in the basin below the face, we decided on our way back up, that it would be easier to weave our way around to the east and go back up over East Swasey, which meshed pretty good with our goal to hit as many peaks as possible. 

Descent from Swasey on the right. Later ascent back up to East Swasey on the left.

At this point, we were at about 28 minute miles, and realized our 5 hour trek was going to take much longer.  We questioned if we should turn back in order to hit other peaks, but decided to get out to the first overlook along the cliffs.  Once we got up to the south of Swasey's basin, we were greeted with some of the best ridge/rim running we have ever experienced.  Sam posted a photo on Facebook of the view and ridge with a caption of "Screw the Wedge!"  For four miles we ran along the absolutely gorgeous cliff, slightly ascending and descending between each of the waves the mountain had created.  Running where very few people have set foot.

We were all so awed by these ridge miles that we were not too let down when we reached the Tatow Knob and were not able to make the final 30' climb to the summit.  We scrambled around on the east end of it to see if there was a safe route, but ultimately, used our better judgement to stay on sure footing.  We stopped for a bit and caught up on some calories, and then made the return journey.  We tried to cut off some time by cutting across the mountain away from the cliff, but soon discovered that the cliffs were on both sides, and we were in fact on a mesa.  We had to back track around to our awesome ridge before we could again decend back to Swasey's basin.  After a brutal, thirsty climb  we finally reached our third peak, and claimed East Swasey with our last Mountain Dew.  After pushing back up over the ridge, we made the ugly descent down through the evil bushwack where I said lots of bad words under my breath.  We reached the car after almost 9 hours. 

At this point, we were all feeling the tiredness of 18 miles of route finding, and started our drive towards Notch Peak.  We were questioning if we should attempt to hit it now, reaching the summit in the dark, or if we should get to sleep early and head out early in the morning.  A nasty wind and rainstorm made the final decision for us, and we looked for a place to set up our tent and cook our steaks.  In what I would seriously call the middle of nowhere, a nice pavilion and bathroom had been built right between the junction of some dirt roads.  This was so far off the beaten path that here, on Memorial Day weekend, we saw only one car come up this way.  With the wind blowing the rain sideways, we set up our tent under the pavilion, ate a fantastic meal of steaks, chicken, and chili, and hit the sack after watching a movie as Jeff said his goodbye and drove home.

Chris, Sam, and I awoke around 6:30, ate, packed up our stuff, and drove the last few miles to the Notch Peak trailhead.  One of the most overused words in trail running is 'Awesome.'  I think that word should be reserved for places like Sawtooth Canyon.  The canyon is full of ancient trees, slot canyon like narrow passages, rolling areas where flash floods have tamed the ground, and of course, the crown jewel, 'The Notch.'  The Notch is a cutout of the mountain containing a 2,200' sheer drop, making it the second highest sheer face in the nation behind El Capitan in Yosemite.  A slight rain fell on us the whole morning, and as we approached the actual Notch, we were shrouded in clouds and the rain turned to snow... in May... in central Utah.  We arrived at the saddle, but due to the fog, we were unsure which way to go to get to the summit.  We went briefly north to a sub peak, drank a dew, and then went back down to then climb Notch Peak.  Arriving with very little bearing on direction, we drank another Dew and took some photos and videos of the abyss below us.

Chris trusting Sam way too much.

 


With Sam holding on to his pack, Chris reaches over the Notch and
points his camera straight down into the abyss.

Notch Peak on the edge of a 2,200' sheer cliff.

Notch Peak on the edge of a 2,200' sheer cliff.

The run down from Notch was spectacular, and very fast. Before we knew it we were back to the car, and just as we arrived, the sky opened up and started dumping rain again.  Feeling satisfied that we had now at least achieved the main peaks we had set out to do, we hopped in the car and made the 70 minute drive to the far east edge of the Delta valley to see if we could hit one more peak.  After driving up the canyon, we climbed out of the car for our third excursion, which was to hit the high point of the Canyon Range, Fool Creek Peak.  The sky almost looked blue, so we decided we could round trip this 7 mile peak in less than three hours.



Starting Fool Creek Peak.  Does Sam look tired to you?

The trail was fairly overgrown, but having studied the route ahead of time, it wasn't too hard to follow. Tired legs carried us up the wet canyon, and as we reached the saddle, we again had to summit a mountain in the thickness of clouds.  The trail was much easier to follow now, and the switchbacks took us about 700' higher into the clouds to reach the summit.  The clouds broke enough here and there to allow us to catch glimpses of what should have been a fantastic view to the east.  Again, after some video and photo ops, we descended to the saddle and went to hit our last summit.  We had hoped to make it over to Buck Peak, but we mistook a small subpeak for Buck Peak, and then descended without having summited that one.  It was getting late in the afternoon, and Chris and Sam were ready to start heading home, so it was probably a good thing.  At the pace we were now going, it would have added another 75 minutes to summit the actual Buck Peak.



Fool Creek Peak



Fool Creek Peak

We enjoyed some fast miles again on the final descent, and as we sat in the car driving home, we got word that the long lost OTM, Jake, had made sure he wasn't entirely missing the fun.  He represented the OTM PeakFest loud and proud by attempting to make a solo trip up Broadsfork Twin Peaks.  The storms and snow made it so he was not able to make the final push, but we were proud of his attempt nonetheless on this epic weekend.

In the end, we ended up with 4 named peaks, one near summit of a named peak, several sub-peaks, 14,000' vertical ascent, 34 miles, and a fair amount of rain.  Had the weather been better, I'm sure we could have accomplished a little more, but we'll just have to wait till PeakFest 2016 to find out for sure how much we can do.

Video by Sam

Video by Jeff

Grand Canyon- R2R2R

 The Grand Canyon...

My beginning began more than 17 million years ago when the Colorado River established its course through the canyon. The most powerful force to have an impact was erosion, primarily by water (and ice) and second by wind.

When my soil is baked by the sun it tends to become very hard and cannot absorb water when the rains come. When it does rain the water tends to come down in torrents which only adds to the problem. The plants that grow in the Canyon have very shallow root systems so that they can grab as much water as possible on those rare occasions when it does rain. Unfortunately these root systems do nothing to deter erosion by holding the soil in place. The result is frequently a flash flood roaring down a side canyon that can move boulders the size of automobiles, buses and even small houses. If automobiles, buses and small houses are in the way then it will take them too. This mass that moves down a side canyon during a flash flood is more like a fast flowing concrete than water and it can be very dangerous.

South rim

For a long time I have watched many hikers, runners, park rangers, and under prepared tourists travel across the land.  Many of them come clueless to what challenges lay a head of them. They come full of curiosity and excitement  then leave beaten, weak, dazed, and regretting the journey.  They also leave with a greater respect and AWE for the beauty of my canyon.  Every now and then there are those that are fully prepared for the journey out of my walls.  In the middle of April, in the year 2015 there came a group of 6 runners to conquer and embrace the beauty of my canyon. They started on the south rim and headed down the Bright Angle trail full of energy.  It was one of the runners' birthday and I could hear joyful wishes to him echoing off the canyon walls.  He may think he is old but he will never be as old as me. 
As travelers move through the valley I enjoy listening to their conversations about life, love, pain, running, religion, and even sometimes politics. This day I heard some of the oddest things. One man said to the other runner:

"My room mate installed a Bidet in our apartment. I don't understand why Americans don't use a bidet, they are really cool. Have you ever tried a Bidet?"
"NO!" Reply on of the runners.
"You really have to try one some time. They are awesome. Why clean up with dry paper, when you could be squeaky clean?"
"How do you dry off? Air dry?"
"When I was in Argentina they had a hand towel hanging next to the Bidet. I never used it, that's gross."

He also had some of the Best rock Jokes I have ever heard. He called them Rock Rock jokes.

"What did the boy volcano say to the girl volcano?
I lava you!'"
"Did you hear about the geologist reading the book about helium?

Colorado River

He just couldn't put it down!"

"May the Quartz be with you."

Later while climbing the north rim one asked:

"So, How was the grand canyon formed?"

And before I could whisper a word out this same man piped up.

"Well, over time water and glaciers eroded the dirt away. The gravitational pull of the earth pushed all the dirt out in to the ocean."

What?  Has this man gone mad from too much exposure of the sun or is he just a fool.  In the Grand Canyon National park handbook calls those that run from one rim to the other and back in one day the "Parade of Fools". Many of them come thinking they could do this and are surprised that their training was not sufficient for this great task.

Phantom Ranch

As all adventurers do they have their ups and downs. When the downs came this group of runners bound together and helped each other get through them.  There is a bond in this group that is rare and a hard trait to learn.  Selfless love and Charity.  The stronger runners held back and aided the ones having problems with the journey. They could have pushed forward to get done sooner, easing the strain and time on their body, but they willingly chose to help a friend or someone they just met get through their trials. They shared their sustenance with those in the group that needed it most. Their kind hearts are much like the park rangers in the canyon. They not only help protect my walls and valley but rescued the weak and unprepared. 

On this groups way out of the canyon Chris and Michael ran in to a young beautiful ranger (Michael called her HOT) in the dark. She was off duty and about to cook her rice dinner outside, because she enjoyed cooking out doors. She stopped to talk to them and gave them some snacks for the hard 4 mile climb out.  They told her of their plan to hit the south rim to come back with more food and aid their friends that weren't doing as well.  She later aided their friends when they passed by. She said something that I found funny but the two men didn't get.

"It's like Bilbo Baggens said from the Hobbit, 'There's too much bread and not enough butter'.  The Grand Canyon park is so big but there's not enough rangers to cover the whole park and to help everyone." 

At long last they all made it out of the canyon. They finished beaten, exhausted, and excited to be done.  They had completed a journey that not many have done, let alone attempted. It was a pleasure to listen and watch them interacted with each other. I hope and pray they come away from this experience stronger and better humans. You can learn a lot by listening to the birds, trees and rocks.

"Every rock has a story, you just gotta know how to ask the right questions."

-Grand Canyon

Epiloge

What a grand weekend.  I have never been to the Grand Canyon before this weekend.  I am still amazed of its beauty and views.  I feel blessed to be able to run that far and long to see so much of the national park.  I had so much fun running with friends and making new ones. There were so many fun moments this weekend it was hard to remember them all.  Here are a few of the great times.

The drive down and the return trip was memorable. We laughed so hard my abs hurt. Never has such a long drive gone by so fast.  Oh yeah, I wasn't driving that helped a ton. I ate when I needed too, I didn't cramp and was well hydrated.  I started taking Metasalt after my last 50 miler. It was recommended to me by the owner of Endurance Athletics Tyler Shepherd. They helped me through this run as well as others.  I made sure I brought plenty to share.  It was cool to see how fast they work. One of my fellow trail runners was feeling a bit sluggish.  I gave her one and with in an hour or so she was doing tons better.  Many of the runners brought only gels and powerbars.  Later in the day when they didn't feel like eating what they brought, they didn't eat.  I am a strong believer in eating real food for ultra running.  Eat what you think tastes good and bring a variety they enjoyed the oreos and cookies I shared (Now that's real food). 

Highlights:

Before we had even started Micheal wanted to change the run to a 5k.  "Who wants to run the Grand Canyon 5k?" he asked. "We can run 1.5 miles down and then turn around. Who's with me? That's all I really want to run."

Some how on the way home we got talking about hot Disney Princesses. Rick likes Anna from Frozen but not so much Elsa.  He said "I think Elsa would have some serious social issues." Other princesses that came up were Belle, Cinderella, and Merida from Brave. I am a big fan of Tinker Bell. I tell my 11 year old daughter all the time that I think she's hot and she's my girlfriend. It's okay my wife openly drools over Captain America, and Thor, used to be Matthew McConaughey but she says he's not so hot anymore.

We found out that Rick's girlfriend is serving a mission in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He has a picture of her on the back of his phone. He plans to reel her in when she gets home and then proceeded to joke about how he would put her in her place. "Get in the kitchen and bring me some supper." Wife says, "Good luck with that!"

One of Bethany's favorite parts of the trip was at Phantom Ranch. "We had all made it to Phantom Ranch except for Rick and Melissa for the second time. We only had 10 miles to go. The restaurant at Phantom Ranch was closed and no matter how desperate Walter pleaded with them, they wouldn't help us.  So we ate what we had despite the fact that none of it sounded appetizing to us. Then along came Rick and Melissa walking in. Rick sat down at the picnic table and immediately started to cramp. He kept cramping and yelling the "f" word (naughty boy-his missionary wouldn't like that). Totally out of character for him. He was in rough shape right then. Good thing he recovered some and made it out of the canyon."  This wasn't the only time that he cramped and dropped the F bomb. On the climb out he was done and said, "This bench is so comfy, I think I'll sleep here." When we all got back to the hotel he sat on the floor and proceeded to cramp again.  It was bad.  I unfortunately know how he feels.  

"We ran a half.... of a 100 miler"

How many liters of water do you need to carry with you to run R2R2R? According to Rick 3 liters. I think you should carry one to two liters, in addition to the Mountain Dew of course, and lots of food to share with your friends. Gels and powerbars do not power you through a physical and mental challenge like this.  Moral of the story is: Be prepared! (With Oreos and Dew for all)

40th Birthday 40K

You are never too old to set a new goal or to dream a new dream.
                                       C.S. Lewis


Lamar in back, Jake and Willy in front.
This Is The Place Race 5K, about 1984.

I won the first distance race I entered.  Or at least I won my age group in the "This Is The Place Race 5K" in about 1984.  I was around 9 years old and entered it with my Dad and my younger brother, and there are only a few things that I remember about the race:  I remember we threw on our short shorts and striped tube socks.  I remember my Dad running with my younger brother and telling me to run ahead, as fast as I wanted.  I remember hitting "THE WALL" (or what I thought was the wall, which for me as a 9 year old in a 5K is about mile 2.2) and crying... thinking I might be lost on a dirt section of the course in which I couldn't see any other runners ahead or behind me.  I remember pushing through that wall until I could see the finish line, when another kid my age caught me in the last 100 yards, but I outkicked him to win my age division by .5 seconds.

Terrace Days 5K, short shorts were definitely in.

I do remember how cool that medal was, how good the cookies we had after the race tasted, and how much fun I had with my Dad and brother.  It was the one and only photo finish of my racing career (I think I won a few distance races later, but nothing like that first 5K.)



On your marks...get set....

I turned 40 this year.  Turns out I'm growing old, whether I like it or not.  You are, too.  But running certainly makes me feel not-so-old, or at least it makes me feel somewhat capable athletically.  For my 40th Birthday, my wife arranged the perfect birthday party with friends and family, party favors, karaoke, a photo booth, etc. It was perfect.  But in order to somehow make myself feel not as old...I decided to hold my own race, with the finish line at my Birthday Party.  A 40th Birthday 40K! My wife was none too happy about that, telling me I'd be stinky and in too much pain and too tired to be any fun at the party.  But I figured it would be a good way to prove to myself in some insignificant way that I hadn't yet lost it, that my age was just a number, young at heart, blah blah blah, and it would be a fun novelty with which I could mark this milestone.

 



I asked my fellow Orange Trail Monkey Sam to come along... he's a good sport when it comes to this kind of thing:  Up for a silly challenge, keeps you entertained on the road/trail, runs faster than I do but is good about slowing down to my pace, self deprecating and blunt and obligatorily pokes fun when things get challenging or silly (which they always do).  His greatest talent is that he is incredibly adept at overemphasizing the word "DUDE" in 99% of all conversations.  Perfect running buddy!

Sunset Sam

More importantly, he's a good dude, who, okay, let's just say it, would let me win the race.  I could recapture some long forgotten glory from my younger years with a race victory!  Never mind the fact that it would be a 2-man race in which the faster runner would yield to me!  A win is a win!  Right?  Sure.

When it came down to it, Sam let me out-kick him to the finish line, just like my 9 year old self did back in the day. I broke through the finish line tape to cheers and claps and an incredible party in my honor with friends and family (And if anyone is in need of a good pick-me up or confidence builder, I highly recommend rigging a race with a party at the finish line for yourself!  You will smile about it forever!)

I don't think anyone at the party cared that I won! In fact, other than that first 9 year old race, I really don't think I've cared what place I've taken in most races. It doesn't really matter. It may be different if I was competing for real, or if I had the discipline to train and compete in that way. What it comes down to is pretty simple. I love to run.  I love the mountains and trails and roads I get to run on.  I love to challenge myself, the little accomplishments that happen when you just show up.  I adore the people I get to meet and run with, and seeing the amazing things they do only inspires me to work towards different goals and milestones, to climb the mountains in my path (both figuratively and literally).

Do I hope to win another race someday?  Sure.  But in the end, I'm really just racing myself.



40th Birthday 40K.  See you at 50.