Other Crockett running adventures
A week earlier I had
attempted to accomplish the Utah “triple crown” in one day. Running from the Henry’s Fork trailhead to
the top of Kings Peak, South Kings Peak, and than Gilbert Peak, and
return. I attempted it with my brother-in-law,
Ed. We didn’t make it. The evening of our start, a cold storm came
in and dumped several inches of snow in the high elevations. We made it to the top of Kings Peak, but we
weren’t prepared for the snow and cold and it sapped my energy. We stopped with one peak.
Still naïve, I set my
sights on doing an two-day end-to-end run/hike across the Highline trail. I read on the Internet how two guys did it
in three days. I thought I could do a
60-mile portion in two days. The plan
was to start from the east side at Chepeta Lake and travel west to the Mirror
Lake area, where my wife would pick me up.
I took we me a very lightweight backpack that contained a tent, sleeping
bag, water filter, food, etc. Not
much, light enough to travel fast, but enough things to stay safe in the high
mountains for two days.
The eastern half of the
Unitas was cool to see, very remote, not a human to be seen the whole day. The first few miles were a little
challenging because the trail wasn’t well defined. I had to key an eye out for blazes on the trees as I winded
through the forests and across meadows.
As I started to make my first major climb up to North Pole Pass, I was
concerned that my left foot was very sore.
I worried that I would have abort early. The rugged, rocky trail was punishing the ball of my foot. But after awhile the pain calmed down. As I descended from the pass to the Fox
Lakes, a storm blew in. I had to stop
to dress in warmer clothes and to wait out the passing shower.
The trail through the
forests before Painter Basin were very rocky.
It was frustrating to no be able to make good speed because there was so
much rock hopping involved. Another
thunderstorm rolled through, this time with scary lightning. I stopped to quickly put up my tent and wait
out the storm. After it departed, I was
again on my way. Finally I reached
Painter Basin, below Kings Peak. The
basin opened up and I was able to make some better time. The afternoon became warm and I wasn’t
drinking enough. Finially I stopped
and loaded up on water from the stream.
As I reached the basin below Andersons Pass, I met some Kings Peak
hikers coming down from the mountain.
They were curious where I was going.
I explained where I came from and where I was going. They were amazed.
Dusk arrived and I reached
Andersons Pass at 8 p.m. and gave my wife a call on my cell phone. The plan was still for her to pick me up at
Mirror Lake sometime on Saturday late afternoon. I was a little behind schedule but had plenty of time to make
some miles during the night. As I
descened down the very steep trail into the next valley to the west, my
headlamp started to become dim. I
searched for more batteries but couldn’t find them. This was a terrible problem.
I tried my best to continue to make progress by turning my light on and
off, but I kept losing the trail. The
moon came out but that still wasn’t enough light. I traveled only about one mile per hour across the next
valley. When the moon set, I totally
lost the trail and just did my best to get close to Tungsten Pass.
Finally I gave up for the
night. I would just have to set up my
tent, try to sleep and wait for morning.
I had traveled about 30 miles, but still had 30 to go. I knew it would be impossible to reach
Mirror Lake by late afternoon. My wife
would get there and really worry. I
finally concluded that I should just head back the way I came in the morning
and call my wife at Anderson Pass to tell her that I would just hike back to my
car.
I got on early start. The morning was beautiful. The hike back up to Andersons Pass was
steep and very hard. I called Linda
and told her my plan, that I just had 25 or so miles back to the car. I warned her that I would likely be late
but that I had everything I needed.
Well, I should have aborted
at Henrys Fork and hitched a ride. The
hike down Painters Basin was great, but then it started to rain. And it rained for four hours! It made the going slow, but was cool to see
all the streams and rivers rise. At 5
p.m. I reached Fox Lakes and met a couple guys with horses up there for a
week. They had a giant tent with a
woodstove going, and I was tempted to ask to spend the night in warmth, but
still thought I could make it all the way to the car....nine more miles The guys thought I was crazy.
I pushed on. My GPS wasn’t working so I made the mistake
of climbing up a wrong pass. I figured
out my mistake, but lost over an hour.
By the time I reached the top of North Pole Pass, I knew I was in
trouble. It was dusk and I still had
five miles to go. Then a bad cold storm
blew in with snow. I was able to get
down from the pass, but knew I had to give up. I found a big rock and set up my tent near it to block the
wind. I knew my wife would crazy with worry,
but I had warned her that this might happen and that I had everything I needed. The wrong choice would have been to try to
push on.
The morning was sunny and
beautiful. It was neat to see the sunrise
to the east without mountains in the way.
The last four miles was so peaceful.
I finally
reached the car at 8:30
a.m. and then got within cell coverage at 9:15. All was well, but Linda had worried enough to call my
brother-in-law. He assured her that I
was probably fine.
This was an amazing
adventure. I still have a lot to learn
about fast hiking. Someday I hope to accomplish
this end-to-end adventure.
Anyway, here are a couple
guys that did do this hike, starting from
further
east. http://www.users.qwest.net/~cirnielsen/uintah91.html
.