Although neither of us went out on any long hikes or bike rides this weekend we stayed busy running errands and enjoying life in the campground.

I took this picture of the creek at the downstream (east) end of the campground yesterday:

The water level has been slowly decreasing. That's good for the folks who are camped right at its edge.

Our campground isn't as full the day before the Fourth as I expected it to get, which is Another Good Thing. There were more people here last year. RVs are stacked pretty close together along the creek, however, which is why we don't enjoy parking there any more:

No one can park right next to us in the spot we chose this year. This is the view from our camper:

We still aren't sure how long we can stay in this campground.

We're in daily contact with our friend Roy and Barry, the quasi-CG host, about when/where to move before the race. Barry is pretty frustrated with the Forest Service’s new enforcement of the 14-day rule and how they’re going about it. He says he has tried his best to lobby for the “consumer” but the rangers have been told by their superiors that they must enforce the regulation this year. Apparently they don't even have to give people warning notes, just go straight to a citation and fine ($75) if campers aren't out when the rangers think they should be out.

It helps that we finally found out the date we were first recorded. We should be OK until next Wednesday.

Field next to the Kendall Mountain ski area

Shauna (Hardrock 100 communications coordinator) told Roy and Jim that we can park over at the start/finish area, which is located at the ski area this year, starting on Thursday. There's a big field that's open to camping during the Fourth of July holiday. We don't know if we'll have to pay the city to park there for several days but that's OK for the convenience.

We'll try to either eke out one more day at Mineral Creek or move to the ski area a day early, if it's all right with race management. Otherwise we'll have to move two times.

NEW HARDROCK START/FINISH

Hardrock race officials had to come up with a new start/finish area this year because the high school gym is being renovated. They chose the large parking area by the ski lodge at Kendall Mountain.

The tent in the photo above belongs to Rodger Wrublic; it's the one he used when he directed the popular Across the Years 24-, 48-, and 72-hour runs in the Phoenix area at his home, Nardini Manor.

When Rodger moved to Silverton he brought the tent with him and placed it near the ski lodge for use in the Hardrock race and for other local events. He can attach sides with windows and doors, if needed. He's already begun installing the appropriate flags he flew at ATY to represent the states and countries from which the race entrants come.

EUREKA CAMPING OPTIONS

Since we aren't sure if we can park at the ski area during race weekend we took another ride out CR 110 toward Eureka to look at camping options near the Maggie Gulch intersection:

 

There will be fewer RVs in the area after the holiday weekend so if we move out there in a few days there should be plenty of room for Roy's motorhome and our 5th-wheel coach.

LOOSE LLAMA

Sometimes when we drive out CR 110 we see several llamas in a fenced-in area. Today we were surprised to see one of the critters outside the fence:

 

That's not good. We didn't see anyone around and hope the it stayed out of the road until its owner returned.

CUNNINGHAM GULCH

We turned off CR 110 at Howardsville, another former mining enclave, and continued east for two or three miles to the dispersed camping area where the Cunningham aid station will be set up in a few days for the race.

Hardrock runners will come down switchbacks to the right of the waterfall (below) from Little Giant Peak (elev. 13,416'), cross Cunningham Creek, and enter the aid station. 

This weekend quite a few RVs are parked there:

That's just a few of them. The road is too rough for us to consider taking our camper back here but we were curious to see how many folks were hunkered down for the holiday.

We could drive back only another quarter mile through the gulch. We had to turn around before the snowed-in parking area at the abandoned mine and waterfall. I took this picture from the spur where we turned around:

Looking back toward the camping area

You can see the approximate location of the Cunningham aid station where the RVs are currently parked in the photo above.

I took more pictures as we drove back out of the gulch. This is one of the waterfalls coming off Green Mountain (elev. 13,049 feet):

 

Looking west toward McCumber Peak (13,322') and Tower Mountain (13,552')

View west from the Old Hundred mine parking lot on the "high" road

More and more dramatic clouds gathered over Silverton as we headed back to town. We got a little bit of rain this weekend, which helped to tame the dust in the campground temporarily.

ULTRA LEGEND

Both yesterday and today we visited with folks at the Forest Service office in town, partly to get more information about the 14-day camping rules and where they are in effect (both National Forest Service and BLM  lands). I found lots of interesting books and maps to peruse and we had several interesting people to talk with.

Barry, our CG host, was volunteering in the office both times we dropped in. So was ultra running legend Bob Boeder, who I've known since the early 1990s when he directed the Uwharrie trail ultras in North Carolina. After Bob retired he moved to Silverton. He still runs a little bit but no longer does ultras.

Bob's the author of at least two popular books about the Grand Slam and the Hardrock race. I was going to use a graphic quote at the top of this entry from Beyond the Marathon: the Grand Slam of Trail Ultrarunning where Bob describes his defining moment in the sport . . . but decided it was a little too graphic for some of my audience! It's a laugh-out-loud quote and one that Jim and I can relate to from many years of long-distance trail running.

You'll just have to read the book to find the paragraph or do a search for ultra running quotes by Bob. You'll know when you've found it.

NORTH TO ALASKA

I've already mentioned in this journal that we hope to spend next summer in Alaska, our first time in that state. It's the only state except Hawaii that I've never visited.

This is an adventure I've wanted to do for most of my adult life but it wasn't practical when I was working and living in the eastern part of the country my first 50 years. After I married Jim we focused on running ultra trail races during the summer and didn't want to miss any of them to go to Alaska. It's a long way to drive up there, even when we lived in Montana, and deserves several months to explore to make it cost-effective.

With all these considerations going to Alaska remained on the back burner, just one of many unique experiences on my life's bucket list of interesting things to do some day.

An RV driving on the Seward Hwy. in Alaska (photo credit: AlaskaStock)

Our lives are different now that neither of us can probably compete in trail runs any more. We are free to do whatever the heck we can afford to do next summer! (Actually, we've had that freedom since Jim retired in 2004.)

I have another compelling reason to go to Alaska now, too.

The first time I mentioned to my brother that Jim and I are planning to visit Alaska next summer, he said our mother always wanted to go there but never had a good opportunity before her death. No one else in my family has ever been remotely interested in Alaska, so that came as a happy surprise to me.

Maybe that's where I got my "Gypsy genes!" Knowing my mom wanted to visit Alaska makes the trip even more compelling to me.

Scenic mountain view from Silverton

Whenever we discover that someone has RV'd to Alaska we pick their brains about routes, places to camp, and must-do activities. The past few days we've found three couples in our campground who are chock full of useful information.

Jim met one couple, Neal and Trudy, while doing laundry yesterday. They also plan to take their first RV trip to Alaska next summer. Even though they haven't been up there yet they've done more research than we have and generously offered to let us borrow their 2011 copy of Milepost, the most popular travel planner for Alaska. We plan to order it because it’s so thorough. Later in the afternoon we both walked over to their RV by the creek and talked with them a while. The 800-page book will keep us busy until we have to return it to them on Tuesday. 

Rolling Mountain and the Twin Sisters, CT Seg. 25

Neal and Trudy have an interesting idea to make travel to Alaska easier in some regards -- they are seriously considering buying a used camper top for their truck and going up to Alaska in that instead of pulling their big 5^th-wheel. Part of the reason is economics – cheaper fuel and having more options for camping in smaller spaces. They could also drive on rougher roads than they can use if hauling a fiver.

Jim and I have heard of other folks doing that, then selling the camper top when they come back (or keeping it for other adventures). We've talked about storing the Cameo at a military installation somewhere out West before heading into Canada and Alaska with only a camper top. It's definitely an appealing concept economically, but I'm not sure either of us could live in such a small rig for three to four months.

Molas Lake and the Grenadier Range south of Silverton

While we were in the Forest Service office today Rick and Evelyn, full-time RVers we met our first day at South Mineral Creek campground, came in. They’ve been to Alaska so we asked them more questions about roads, weather, places to go, etc.  They are more active than the other folks we’ve talked with about Alaska so their suggestions are more likely to interest us. We also shared some information about good places to camp and hike in CO, ID, UT, and WY.

Summery flowers at the base of Kendall Mtn. in Silverton

After supper tonight we talked for the third or fourth time with another guy in our campground, Carl, who’s been to Alaska five times. His wife Donna and their Weimaraner dog, Foster, were with him this time when they walked past our camper so we invited them to sit a while and chat. While the dogs played with each other, they gave us all kinds of advice about what to see, when to go, etc.

Carl and Donna have taken both a 5th-wheel and a motorhome up there, and say getting large-enough spots to boondock isn’t a problem in either Canada or Alaska. I took some notes about advice they gave us.  

Marsh marigolds and Parry's primrose on CT Seg. 25

Jim’s getting pretty psyched about going to Alaska since he probably won’t be able to run any more ultras. He's been reading Mileposts this weekend and looking for more information on the internet. I brought some of our information about Alaska and western Canada with us (AAA tour book, camping guide, and maps) to read this summer. I've also been reading more from a good online resource we found several months ago called “North to Alaska” and reading three couples' online journals about their trips to Alaska in their Cameo 5th-wheels.

I doubt we'll make any camping reservations before arriving in Alaska except in Denali National Park. I simply have to go there and reservations for campsites in the park that are large enough for a 36-foot trailer are a necessity during the peak season.

Jim looked at the park website today to get an idea if there are any vacancies a year from now but we can't reserve a spot for 2012 until December 1. That gives us plenty of time to figure out dates and which campground(s) we want to visit. We’ll be doing a convoluted loop in one direction or the other in Alaska and Denali is on the far side of that loop. I wrote down several excellent suggestions from Carl and Donna about staying in Denali.

More Parry's primrose; I wonder if it grows in the northern Rockies, too?

Since there is so much to see and do in Alaska and NW Canada I consider even a three-to-four month first visit a trial run. Most people just barely scratch the surface on their first trip and want to go back to explore other places and/or spend more time in their favorite haunts.

When one door closes (in our case, ultra running) there are other doors just waiting to be opened . . .

Even though we're in the process of re-evaluating our plans for this summer based on Jim's inability to run the races he entered -- and we have some neat ideas -- we're excited about planning for next summer's adventures, too!

Next entry: not your typical 4th of July celebration -- hiking up to Clear Lake again

Happy trails,

Sue
"Runtrails & Company" - Sue Norwood, Jim O'Neil, and Cody the Ultra Lab

Previous       Next

© 2011 Sue Norwood and Jim O'Neil