| View of the mother mountain from Indian Henry's Meadow |
After a spring/summer of relatively intense training (several 100 mile weeks) and a compilation of a sub-par marathon and a few failed race attempts, I was ready to finally see the fruits of my labors. Sanctioned racing obviously wasn't going well for me, so my brother John and I went outside the norm of organized events and sought after an FKT (fastest known time).
The Wonderland trail circumnavigates Mt. Rainier, totals around 96 miles, and has a pretty good history of speed attempts. We left Spokane on Thursday, September 13th and drove about five hours to the White River Campground where we promptly pitched our tent and called it a night. In the morning we fine-tuned our packs as this was going to be an unsupported attempt (we would each carry our own food, water and extra gear and not lend any assistance to each other), started the GPS tracking (which didn't last long due to lack of battery life) and took off on a counter-clockwise loop around the mother mountain at 9:07 am. It was soon evident that all the buzz about this trail being, perhaps, the most scenic in the country was well founded.
| One of the many waterfalls along the trail |
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| The off-white specks (right side of glacier) are mountain goats |
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| Rotate your screen 90 degrees clockwise for the full effect |
We traveled like a well-oiled machine (which was kind of surprising because we had actually never run together). Our cadence and trekking pole strikes were like a metronome. We consumed our calories like clockwork and kept our hydration packs filled as we crossed the countless streams and rivers on the course. With the combination of good planning and our well-matched abilities, we were on pace to finish much quicker than we had planned and about six hours faster then the previous record.
| Longmire: our only encounter with civilization along the route |
As the daylight hours faded and night came we put on our headlamps and continued through the darkness. We both worked our way through minor rough patches (mostly hypoglycemia) but soon fell victim to more debilitating setbacks. John developed some pain in his shin and my left knee began to ache. When the sun finally came out we were thrilled to be able to strip our brain bruising headlamps (any good headlamp recommendations?) and see the actual size of the rocks and roots we were navigating as well as the enormity of the climbs we had been tackling. At about mile 70ish the unknown pain in my knee had intensified and was starting to slow my descents. By the time we reached Ipsut Campground and started our way up to Mystic Lake via Carbon Glacier, I had slowed to a pain-wrenching crawl up the steepest and most technical climb yet. I had come to terms with resetting my goal pace, but was feeling bad about slowing my brother down. Finally we just stopped and analyzed the true predicament. I was moving, at best, a whopping one mph and and had twelve or so miles left to go...that meant at least twelve more hours and 2400 more calories (which I didn't have). We realized that for me to continue was not wise or safe since there would have been no other opportunity for me to pull out from that point on. So I humbly bowed out. I urged my brother to continue, and he did with a determination in his eyes I have never before witnessed in any other human. As for myself, I hobbled about 3.5 miles in about 3.5 hours back down the grueling trail I had just ascended.
In my Abnormal Psychology class I had written an abstract on an article discussing the correlation between hallucinations and ultra-marathon running. I had wondered why I hadn't experienced anything like that before having participated in similar events as the subjects who had hallucinated in the article. I realized in these 3.5 hours why I hadn't. Never in my life had I entered such a state of mind. I can honestly say that this was physically the most strenuous task of my life. Having been awake for over 30 hours, traveled 82 miles at an aggressive pace, and dealt with a severe pain in my knee was a perfect recipe for hallucinations. Rocks turned to people, fallen trees became giant human eating worms (watch the movie Tremors for an example), and then there were voices. My advice to anyone who has ever wondered what it would be like to hallucinate sans drugs, forget it.
I finally reached the campground where, after a couple hours, I was met by a park ranger... who had been summoned by a kind hiker... who reported my condition... and was subsequently escorted to the ranger station. Upon reaching the station I called John and he answered (which meant that he had made it). Not only did he make it but he still managed to shave well over an hour off of the previous record. We met up (which is another story) and miraculously returned to Spokane without succumbing to sleep deprivation.
I feel a little bummed to not be attached to that record, but I don't regret any part of the trip. Pulling out pre-maturely was a hard choice to make considering its addition to my stack of unsuccessful running quests for the year, but it was the best choice. That realization was solidified when I returned home to my little family that I had been missing (and that I think missed me), tucked my girls into bed, exchanged "I love you's," kisses, and balance was restored. Overall I would consider the trip a huge success. Plus, 82 miles, a bear sighting, and probably around 16-17,000 ft of elevation gain isn't too shabby.
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| This guy was lounging in a huckleberry bush 15 ft off the trail when he was rudely interrupted by an obnoxious duo of passer-bys. |
