Frozen Head State Park, April 2nd 2011
It has been a couple of years that I've been interested in racing the Barkley. Finally, as of 2011, I'm in. I show up last minute at Campground. I spend all April 1st getting ready, buying stuff for the race at the supermarket, and talking with all the great people involved in this, and after eating some chicken, I go to bed at something like 8 pm. I hesitate to stay awake and do the one last thing I need to do before starting the race, which is to copy and hand write all the race directions so that I really remember them (writing down things is a good way to learn them, at least for me) but my final decision is to sleep. I already have jet lag to cope with, I don't need to add to the upcoming sleep deprivation.
I head for 5 loops, I know it's freakin' hard and that given my level the odds are against me but well, by not trying I'm 100% sure to fail. My best chance is that I´m not scared of day 3, experience shows that I do slow down with time, but not that much. At least, usually, less than others. Who knows. So anyway, I'm sleeping and dreaming and wondering whether I'll hear that conch shell when finally "booo booo" here we go! It's about midnight. Early start this year. I don't care, that's fine with me. I wake up and get ready. Jean-Paul, my father, who came with me, seems to have problems getting out of his warm sleeping bag. Weather is good. I almost miss the start and I'm on the starting line just 10 seconds before the cigarette is lighted, and for some reason head out in the woods without my cap. Not a problem.
The first climb up Bird Mountain ain't that hard. I don't want to go too fast anyway. I'm right in the middle of the pack. Maybe rather at its end. First problem: my compass seems wrong! What? Is that possible? I check, double check, but yes, North is South and South is North. How come this can happen? I acknowledge France and Tennessee are quite far from each other but they are in the same hemisphere, so there's no reason the compass would have any trouble, plus this "Recta" (the brand) stuff is supposed to cope with the two hemispheres without any glitch anyway. I'm puzzled. I'm just about to tell myself that I'll have to remember that my compass is simply inverted when I finally realize that what I thought was West is East. So logically, the compass is right. Always trust your compass. What a fool I am, that was close to a total wreck.
Book 1 is easy to find with that crowd around it. I engage in the NBT West to East cross with a group of 2 guys. They walk steady uphill, this is all I want. I tell them I'm a bit afraid of getting lost on Stallion Mountain. Because yes, it's pitch dark. One of them - was it "Chip"? - tells me I won't have any problem if I follow him. OK. Next, as we close upon SOB ditch, I see flash lights in the dark. Is anyone taking pictures of that ditch? It's always puzzled me there are so many pictures of the Barkley course, the race seems hard enough that you don't want to carry extra weight (a camera, what for?) and waste time for mere souvenirs of the race. Additionally, I hear the rumbling of big trucks along a highway that must be North of us. Any highway there? I don't remember that. I finally get it. There's no one taking picture of SOB ditch in the dark whatsoever, those lights, this noise, it's just thunder coming upon us. I'm impressed how badly wired my brain seems to be this morning, I'd better watch out. We get a little hail, but nothing bad, maybe only 15 minutes of it, with good raining gear on me, I barely notice it.
Now after the coal ponds, I just speed up and "lose" the group I was with. I catch another group. We're trying to find our way up to the Garden Spot. I head by myself for some time, hang with another runner I find on my way, and somehow get to book 2 and the 1st water drop. Next is Stallion Mountain. We stumble on book 3. Then where are we supposed to go? Figuring that out in the dark ain't that trivial. I've never been in that place, the elevation lines on my map do not seem to make sense. The guy I'm with does not seem quite sure of what he's doing, I hand around with him for some time but when he tells me he's going back to book 3 I figure out I'd just get ahead by myself, and find my own way out of here. I simply head South-South-East, and try to keep on the ridge, no matter what. This is probably not the exact course nor is it the fastest way across this area, but at least, I'm moving. Now this ain't a candy ass trail anymore, vegetation is dense, I'm bushwhacking the whole way, find bluffs that I need to go around or can sometimes try to buttslide. My strong pants and solid hiking shoes prove pretty useful in that context. Sometimes I see lights above me, rarely below, I just keep going. In some places I cross jeep roads, follow them as long as they are in the right directions then head out in the woods again. Wow, this is adventure man.
Finally, I get to the New River, and as I come up the highway, I see a bunch of lights on my left. I came a little too far on the West, but nothing bad. I join these new friends, who are just zooming on book 4. Cool.
Now is Testicle Spectacle. Sun is finally coming up. I leave most of the group behind me, including the famous Frozen Ed, my guess is that they are wasting time on the book, and globally move too slow. I hike "strong" up Testicle behind a fellow I follow at some distance down to book 5. I have no clue how he got to find that, I imagine I would have had some hard time finding this one by myself, for some reason I had a wrong image of the butt-slide and right turn chaining. Anyway, I have my 5th page. I look around me, my companion is gone. Doesn't matter, I can find my way. Or so do I think. I make a stupid orienteering blunder and somehow go way too South. I have to go backwards on the highway to find my way up Pig Head trail, not only do I miss Danger Dave's climbing wall at first, I even got way back near the prison. Stupid! Anyway I'm back on the course, but this time I'm dead alone. No one in front of me.
Then I get to Rat Jaw. Ouch, these are briars man! 6 feet tall, dense, and scratchy. I think I remember we're required to stay under the powerlines. I just go head first right into the thick part of it, there's just no trail in this. It takes me about 20 minutes to move maybe a 1/10th of a mile. Then I saw some runners get down on my left, aside of the powerlines. Huh? Next, on my way up, I see the group I've left on Testicle getting down on my right. I finally figure out it's allowed to deviate from the strict "under the powerlines" way and things get real easier. For some reason I was convinced there was no way to avoid the briars but it seems that was in the rules of another year's race. I find my way up the tower, collect page 6, fill up the tank, and head back down.
Using the various paths on the sides of the clear cut, it makes things way much easier, in some places there's even a good trail, easy to follow. Cool. I would have saved precious time doing this on the way up. The bottom of Rat Jaw is even easier (not as steep as its middle part) and I finally get to the prison, where I collect book 7.
Next, I need to go up the "Bad Thing". I look at the race directions carefully, have my compass in hand, and I'm convinced I'm on the right way. Indeed, I'm not doing that bad. The climb is steep but very steady so it's not such a "bad thing". Coming to the top of the mountain, I see some stones at the top and for some reason am pretty sure it's the famous "cap stone" I'm supposed to find. But, no book. Gee, it's not like I have a lot of time, I lost time on Stallion Mountain, I lost time at the Meth Lab, I lost time in Rat Jaw, I do not have many bullets left I guess. Still, I need that page to complete my loop. No one is coming up, I'm just alone. I try one stone, another one, yet another one, still nothing. Half an hour lost. Am I an idiot? Don't panic! I search for that book again, I'm sure it's not hidden. Finally I decide to go way up the ridge, just in case. And there, I find capstones. Real cap stones, on the very top of the ridge, not those stones that where merely cast into it. Finally I'm on the capstone. Book is there, for sure. 50 minutes wasted. That was bad.
Now down Zip Line. This is all too easy man, compared to what I've done it's not even steep, I feel no briars - but I've got briars-proof pants
- and simply find easily my way down. Though I hear a grunt. Is that a mad cow? Or a donkey? There can't be such an animal here, must be something savage. Grunt again. Just for the sake of it, I shout back, to show that I'm myself a big dangerous animal and that one better not get in my way. Afterwards, I'm pretty convinced that was a bear. Wild pig wouldn't make that type of noise AFAIK. Still I didn't see it so I can't be 100% sure. But I wasn't alone out there, there's no doubt on this.
I nail book 9 and head up Big Hell. Does not look so hellish but I must admit I make some micro stops during the climb to catch my breath. At Chimney Top I have my zealot minute and follow the directions very precisely, resting on the stone I just got to. And actually, book 10 is just right under my eyes. That was easy!
Now I only have to run back to camp to complete my loop. Only I'm just so late! I'm dead sure I'm out of the official 100 miles race, since I've spent more than 12 hours already on the course. Not that I'm dead slow when I move, but my four blunders, first on Stallion, then Meth Lab, then Rat Jaw, then Indian Knob, just made me so late. For some reason I think the fun run cut off is 13:40 when it's 13:20. So I don't run too fast, not wanting to be out of order when entering camp, still, I need to keep a good pace and move, move. Anyway I'm at the yellow gate after a little more than 13:00, which is OK.
I give my pages to Laz and get ready for loop 2. Jean-Paul and Michiel help me making that transition fast. I'm on my own again at 13:15, with 5 minutes to spare, which is plenty isn't it?
The weather is just perfect, maybe a little warm but nothing bad. I'm walking strong up Bird Mountain, the lady in front of me forgets her gloves on the trail, I just pick them up and give them back to her. I pass another fellow on the way down to book 1. Those two won't make it I guess, they are dead slow. I'm quite happy with my pace, I might have lost 5% since loop 1, but I'm still OK. I can jog downhill and when it's flat, my quads are a little stiff but nothing bad. Should I not waste time like I did on loop 1, I'm still in for a fun run, I can see no reason I wouldn't finish that loop in 11 hours.
Following the NBT proves very easy by daylight, it's well marked with red spots, it's a piece of cake. Right about the coal ponds, I take care to look behind me to be sure to find my way back on loop 3. Doing so, I forget to read my compass and somehow lose track of where I exactly am. I figure out this is not such a problem, then for some reason (me being a moron?) I don't climb up the Garden Spot when I should.
I finally climb but can't find book 2. No problem, the water drop must be close, I'll find it and then will find book 2 from it. But I can't lay my hand on the water drop either. I don't know if I'm way too North or way too South or in the right place but just missed book. I lose time, make circles, go forth, back. Things are getting bad. I meet a guy on a jeep, we exchange a few words. I'm just lost. I finally figure out I'm too much North, head South, find book. About an hour lost. That was bad. My ass is on fire.
I head toward Stallion Mountain, collect book 3, and after -finally - seeing that yellow indian (it's just so easy by daylight, much more than in the dark) speed up down the jeep road. Now I just want to go as fast and far as possible when the sun is still up but just as I close to the point where I have to choose the ridge to follow down Stallion, night comes. I switch my light on. A last minute intuition makes me choose what appears to be the correct ridge, on my right.
This last minute intuition was a bad one. As I'm getting down on it, my compass confirms I'm nuts, and I can see the other ridge, the one I should have taken, on my left, above me. It's quite far already, I'm deeply engaged on the wrong way. I bushwack my way back to the good ridge, but this takes ages, the vegetation is a nightmare, plus I permanently have to check my map and compass for it's dark and I don't want to get lost even more. Sometimes it's just impossible to go cross-country and I have to find my way around thick bushes or stones too big to be butt slided (I don't want to break a bone or kill myself either) and my estimation is that I lost another good hour getting back on track.
Now I'm down Stallion Moutain in the dark like on loop 1, I'm pissed, probably far from nearly as efficient and I come out a little too far on the West again. I cross the highway and try to find my way to book 4, the way I did on loop 1. I even find footprints going up, so this means I'm just right. But then, for some reason, I can't find the marsh where loop 4 is located. I go down, up again, still nothing. I try to go parallel to the highway, doesn't work either. Getting nervous. Of course, I cannot see the powerlines at all in that darkness. Then I check my watch, it's been more than 8 hours since I left camp. 8 hours! I waste an hour more trying to find that book, in useless 5 minutes small micro searches, this is getting ridiculous. Then I do the math. 13:20 minus 9 hours of precious time wasted over the first third of the loop makes it only 4:20 to go up Testicle, Tower, Indian Knob, Chimney Top. There's just no way I can do that within the time limit.
So tail between my legs, I hike my way back up the highway, ames gap, then jeep road up the mountain and down to camp using South Old Mac Trail. I arrive in camp just before the cutoff, after about 26 hours spent in FHSP, but with a bunch of missing books of course. I'm an idiot. It took me nearly four hours to hike back to camp - I wasn't in a big hurry anymore - and this is another lesson. At Barkley, even quitting is hard. That long walk in the dark was no fun. At all.
How come I did so bad on my second loop? I was just in good shape, had legs, food, motivation, perfect weather, ability to navigate (did 70% of my first loop alone). I should have known better and, among other things, read my map and compass better, move my ass faster and, most important, keep concentrated 100% of the time instead of enjoying my way Out There, which is pleasant, until you find out you're out of the race. I had some good cards in hand and didn't play them, which is frustrating. But there's no excuse.
I just screwed up.
Ouch!
Hopefully, after I'm done, watching the "mass" fun run finish and, what's more, the awesome achievement of Brett, who did it "no matter what", including a forest fire on the course, is definitely something I'm glad not to have missed. Special congrats' to Carl Laniak who did a hell of a race, even if he does not finish the whole thing, being out for loop 4 is definitely great. Good job man.