nat’l-park

Death Valley Trail Marathon

Published December 3, 2016

Signed up for today’s trail run almost a year ago. Sells out every year, marked my calendar.

Why Death Valley? Fave of my 50 State runs: Crater Lake [Oregon]. fave Half: Rocky Mountain [Colorado]. Opportunities to race in a National Park come far & few between. Not letting this opportunity pass.

biggest concern? Intense HEAT. Cracked dirt, sand, salt flats & record 130+ degree summer highs. Ya’ll know I’m not a hot weather runner…but the quest to ‘park-run’ overruled any worry. It’s December, how hot could it be?

Chilly morning wake-up. Ironic, huh? Cap, gloves, hydration pack. Hydration pack? Yep, trail run. Park rangers trucked in water at miles 7, 15 & 23. Oatmeal breakfast; backpacked Fritos & an apple.

Race Director provided last minute instructions (& a few laughs), then boarded chartered buses to the Start. Probably a 60/40 split marathoners/halfers. Hour-15 minute drive; soaked in the desert landscape. Lucky in life.

Steady climb in elevation, steady drop in temps. Folks piled off the bus, I stayed behind. Not leaving ‘til I’m forced outside. 33 degrees & blowing wind. Over the next half hour, bus slowly refilled with weather-beaten runners. Not my first rodeo 🙂

8:30am start. Popped off the bus & trekked dirt road for 4 miles. Sand, gusting wind. Kept my head down while I pushed thru the long stretch of flat. Neck gaiter pulled over my mouth. Adapted well.

Looped thru Titus Canyon, would spend remainder of the day here. Tall canyon walls provided protection from the wind. Shade (gloves on), sunshine (gloves off). Desert climate created insta- 10-15 degree temp swings.

Miles 8-10: WOW whatta climb! 1700ft to 5400ft elevation. Didn’t even attempt to maintain pace. Unpacked Fritos, slow-ate my Gala [apple], and hiked UP a series of switchbacks…Colorado style. Whatta view! LOVE LOVE our National Parks!

Posted a 2:47 first Half – maybe an all-time worst. But then…I grew STRONG. Down, down, down multiple miles of dirt & boulders – felt like home. Runner ahead, I’d lock him/her in, match pace, speed up, barrel by. Began passing tens of runners.

Refueled at mile 15. Popped 2 anti-nausea pills & quickly re-tagged 3 runners who caught me at the water stop.

At mile 17, passed my first Halfer. Entered the most memorable stretch of course in many a month. Trail no more than 20 feet wide, path’d thru high rock 6 continuous miles. Canyon exited at 23; met rangers equipped with water & a porta-john (first all race).

Stopped, regrouped. Restarted slow, last 2 miles re-upped my pace. Caught sight of the Finish & kept pushing. Marathon #77, just under 5 hours – my 2^nd best trail time. Hour later, back in Furnace Creek: shower, dunes & dinner.

One more Nat’l Park day & maybe Hoover Dam 🙂 #noregretlife

2016 Death Valley Trail Start List
Saturday, December 3, 2016 8:29 AM (GMT-8) – Final results

Bib Racer name Finish time
204 K R HAGA, Louisville CO 4:56:28.3

: pre-race JOY

: cap, gloves & hydration pack — ready, ready to run!

: Titus Canyon

: STRONG 2nd Half FINISH

: marathon #77, 3rd in California

Death Valley (Race Director quip)

Posted in Marathons/Ultras, Pacific/Desert | Tagged nat'l-park, trail-running | Leave a comment

Death Valley Nat’l Park

Published December 2, 2016

…so empty, so vast, so simple, so quiet.

Friday a.m. flight to Vegas — airport closest to Death Valley Nat’l Park, 2 hours further ‘cross the Nevada desert by car. Entered the Park from the south. 2-night stay, 30 minutes away in Furnace Creek — trail marathon’s host hotel & THE ONLY DIGS inside this Park’s expansive parameters.

Panorama like no other National Park I’ve visited. Massive canyon walls mined 80 years ago for Borax, America’s first commercial laundry detergent. Passed 2 ghost towns; sprung up here/gone during that boom period. Pulled off at Zabriskie Point, leg stretch & first landscape soak. Maize shades & earth-baked reds, enveloped by a 5000ft mountain range to the West.

Hotel check-in, snacked on grocery store apples. 2 hours of afternoon sun remaining, my ‘gotta/hafta/wanna‘ trip destination: Badwater Basin, 282 feet BELOW sea level. Whenever folks think of Death Valley, THIS is the place. Sand? Snow? Nope, salt. Salt flat, 5-foot thick…an ancient sea floor trapped/eroded between 2 volcanic mountain ranges.

Trekked a half-mile ‘cross the crunchy salt-crystal terrain. Put my tongue to its surface — salt, no joke. Sea salt trapped hundreds of miles inland, WOW — just WOW! Tens of minutes stood & stared across the blank landscape. I was here.

Returned to Furnace Creek via Artist’s Point, a pastel-coloured mineral display sandwiched within borax-rounded boulders. Early dinner, early sleeps, early a.m. marathon.

Fast forward 12 hours (marathon day). Resumed my all-tourist schedule at Mesquite Flat Dunes. Short hike over dense desert sand. Kicked back behind a large dune; watched the sun set pink on craggy mountains opposite my body-plant.

Isolated from man, black skies touched by stars. Dark, empty. Beauty magnified.

Early to rise, early to hike. Sunday. 30 minutes off the beaten path, followed park roads UP UP UP to Dante’s View…well, about a mile from Dante’s View — that’s where the hike comes in 🙂

High in the mountains. Peered across the vast valley expanse, Badwater Basin below. Magic.

she became to me,

what the Constellations

are to sailors lost at sea

A map of the way Home.

when your heart has

given up and is too

terrified to roam.

: Zabriskie Point

: there’s BORAX in them hills!

: BELOW sea level

: 4x saltier than the ocean

: five-foot layer of salt

: the Black Mountains

: WOW, WOW, WOW!

: guide book says: ‘shimmering expanse of nearly pure white table salt’ — did I taste? Heck yeah.

: Artist’s Palette

: Mesquite Flat Dunes

: kicked back in the sand & watched the sun set #noregretlife

: Dante’s View

: post-marathon hike — it’s what all the cool kids do 🙂

: I was here

Death Valley National Park

Posted in Pacific/Desert | Tagged hiking, nat'l-park | 3 Comments

Rock Scramble Sunday

Published September 11, 2016

Driving 4 hours post-marathon can be rough (body gets mighty stiff), scheduling a massage at 6pm – pretty sweet idea 🙂 Passed entrances to both Canyonlands & Arches National Park(s). Giddy feeling, LOVE LOVE the massive towering rock. Hotel check-in, Spa Moab on Main Street, Thai dinner. Early to bed, early to rise.

Not early enough to catch sunrise, but still able to secure parking at Devils Garden Trailhead, far edge of Arches. Backpack heavy with water. Perfect post-marathon therapy: 4.2 mile desert hike, up & over boulders, dense sand, landscaped by tall canyon walls. Panorama more reminiscent of New Mexico than neighboring Colorado.

Under a mile to Landscape Arch, longest of the Park’s natural sandstone arches. Photo stop, long drag on my CamelBak, hike terrain shifted from ‘easy’ to ‘Difficult’. Brochure description: ‘Requires rock scrambling, climbing, and descending steep slopes near drop-offs.’ Marathon Saturday, Rock Scramble Sunday – heck yeah, count me in!

Scaled large sandstone boulders, UP UP UP – uneven arid terrain, but not 14er hike difficult. Cactus, sage, whole lotta SAND & lizards. Amazing vista, landscape opened for miles. Trekked another mile to today’s hike destination: Double O Arch. Brochure description: ‘Sandstone fin, reached via a challenging hike, with a large upper & a smaller lower opening.’ What they didn’t mention? You can actually climb thru the lower arch opening. FAAANNNTASTIC!

Mercury struck 90; car returned for lunch (ice-chest’d turkey/avocado wraps). 4-5 drive hour from home, work day tomorrow, what to do? Refilled my (CamelBak) bladder & started the 3.2 mile hike to Delicate Arch (Park’s most infamous landmark) 🙂

65-foot-tall freestanding natural arch…most widely recognized landmark in Arches National Park and is depicted on Utah license plates and on a postage stamp commemorating Utah’s centennial anniversary of admission to the Union in 1996. The Olympic torch relay for the 2002 Winter Olympics passed through the arch.

…formed of Entrada Sandstone. The original sandstone fin was gradually worn away by weathering and erosion, leaving the arch. Other arches in the park were formed the same way but, due to placement and less dramatic shape, are not as famous.

UP, down, UP down, UP UP UP – temps now soared above 100. Crazy hot. Body bypassed sweating, [went] straight to secreting salt – human salt caked ’round my eyes, sides of my face. …but that view. Yea, it was worth it.

Native American petroglyphs on the hike return. WOW!

my 10 day future: enjoying a marathon mini-break. Next up: R-U-S-S-I-A #noregretlife