A Climb for the Legs, Some Friends for the Heart, a Mountain for the Soul

My First Trail Run in the Guadalupe Mountains
April 15-18, 2010

“Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So... get on your way.”

- Dr. Seuss

Guadalupe Peak

It is difficult for me to comprehend that the highest point in the state of Texas, Guadalupe Peak standing at 8751 feet, was once an ocean reef. The ancient Permian Basin sea bed, which is now the vast plains of West Texas, is scattered with odd mesas and mountain chains abruptly jutting out from a seemingly flat earth surface across hundreds of miles of expanse. But the "Guads" are uniquely mystical. For three days I would follow in the footsteps of many other trail runners and hikers before me and scale the rocky trails that meander this majestic plateau. Why? Technically, to expose my legs to some long climbing that simply cannot be simulated anywhere less than a plane flight away from Austin in preparation for my Bighorn race in June. But, little did I know such a transcendental reason would reveal itself to me during the traversal with my friends.

Somewhere on HWY 62

But first, one must get thy butt there. Those who have never endeavored to drive across West Texas will not know what it is like to squint at a ruler straight highway disappearing over the horizon, set their cruise control on 90 MPH yet still feel as if they are crawling, contemplate whether their urinary bladder might outlast their vehicle's fuel consumption, and drive for eight hours across "flat" country yet gradually gain over 2000 feet in elevation. And be prepared for incidental costs; even though no off-roading is involved, the trip is hard on vehicles. Our Tejas Trails group lost one RV transmission (John Kuss), one pickup truck rear end (Joe P. a day earlier), and I had to replace our cracked minivan windshield upon return.

My traveling Sarcophagus

I was fortunate that Susannah lent me the much roomier Honda Odyssey minivan to use as my sleeping quarters for this trip. She made it clear to me, though, to get my butt back promptly on Sunday for our family trip to Disney World the following week (strategically scheduled by me as a "rest" week :-) ). And yes, I've spent many a night in a tent since I was young but, I've come to value a good night's sleep during these intensely physical excursions over "connecting with nature." Nature and I converse plenty during my waking hours. And SCORE again! The minivan features a 110 volt outlet in the back. So, I brought a few extra treasures along; namely, my foot massager and "The Thumper," which would soon be working on my swollen, protesting, legs, feet, and back. The Honda also has an "ECO" drive mode which it switches into at cruise speeds, allowing it to get excellent gas mileage on long drives like this trip.

A Long Drive

A big part of what makes this training trip such an enjoyable experience is the couple that organizes it; Joe and Joyce Prusaitis. They educate all participants on what to expect and bring, provide the amazing culinary cooking of Mark "Crash" Johnson, setup large tents at the base camp site for dinner and socializing, provide maps and options for various training objectives, and coordinate the run pairings. Because, it is not wise to venture off into these mountains alone (unless you're Roger Davis). I would be running with my friend Lino Mendiola (Lino and I plan on running Big Horn together), and new Canadian friend Guy Morin. Even though Lino had been nursing an injured ankle since his Jemez 50K, he is a natural running talent, and a joy to be around (not to mention his card tricks). We three turned out to be a great match.

Devil's Hall, Lino, and David

After heading out early Thursday morning from the "Y" in south Austin, and meeting for lunch in Van Horn; Lino, Alicia and Layla, and I arrived in our vehicles at the park together and helped setup camp. Lino and I decided to grab a short, flat four mile jog / hike to "Devil's Hall" to stretch out our legs after the drive, and pass the time before an awesome "Crash" spaghetti "carbo loading" dinner. This hike follows the base of the canyon and ends at a beautiful feature where you can reach with your outspread arms an touch two opposing cliff walls. I decided against the ~ 2 to 3 hour Guadalupe Peak hike opting to save my energy for the all-day run tomorrow, Friday. I planned to bag the peak the as a recovery hike / run on Saturday. We saw what were probably a couple of hawks cruising around; a hiker we met said they were Golden Eagles but, it's doubtful.

Devil's Hall Looking Up

And then many of my Tejas Trails running buddies start trickling in. At dinner under the two big tents, we discussed the next day's run. Joe P. stressed the following rules:

• This run is all about water; you need to carry at least one 100 OZ hydration pack with you because there is no water on top of the mountain plateau. We would happen to luck out on Friday, with it being slightly cool and foggy, no rain until Saturday. Others had been here when it was much hotter.
• You need stick with your buddy(ies) on this run. "If someone messes up on these trails, they can mess up real bad." I.e.: fall off of a cliff, get eaten by a mountain lion, or, most likely, get really, really, lost.
• Laid out were options for 30 to 40 miles, 28+ miles, 20 and less. Lino, Guy, and myself would be doing the 28+ option. At several points along the routes would be sign-in/out books. Don't miss them.
• For those of us doing 28 miles and more, Joe made it clear that, after the halfway point at the bottom of Dog Canyon, our only chance to refill on water and a good place to have lunch, and immediately after the subsequent climb back out of Dog Canyon (~ mile 16+ for us), would be the point where we would reevaluate our running day. :-) This would be true for me.

Our basic 28+ mile route would be: 1) head over to Bear Canyon from the camp trail head, 2) climb up to Pine Top, 3) check out the view at Hunter Peak (aka Pine Top), 4) around the Bowl Trail, cross the ridge and over to Bush Peak, 5) over to Blue Ridge and Tejas Trail, skipping the Marcus Trail loop where those crazy 30 to 40 milers would be heading, 6) down into Dog Canyon and the corral, 7) eat lunch and refill water, 8) climb back up out of Dog Canyon, 9) bitch about the climb out of Dog Canyon, 10) head straight down Tejas Trail back to camp... oh yeah, with a 11) final, unavoidable, everyone-seems-to-forget-about climb back up and over Pine Top through an enchanted forest to start the switch-backy descent down to camp.

And soon it was bedtime. I convinced Lino to sleep on an air mattress in his car as opposed to a tent; it worked out well for him. And in the blink of an eye, my iPhone alarm was singing, and I was off to the trail head in the dark, cool morning for a 6AM start. Others running less than 28 miles would be starting later. This was my gear setup:

• Hydration pack with one 100 OZ bladder filled with water; an additional empty bladder squeezed in there in case I had a blow-out or needed it for some other reason.
• Two 24 OZ hand-held bottles, one filled with water, one filled with Heed, both have one built-in bathroom kit. I've been training with handhelds so am quite accustomed to them now.
• Food: Two small turkey sandwiches, five gels, two trail mix baggies. I was lucky because this would turn out to be a slight underestimate of required calories.
• Rolled up rain jacket complexly attached to hydration pack.
• Wide brimmed hat to protect against the sun.
• Top: two thin layers, shirt and medium thick long sleeve running top, running gloves, a headlamp.
• Bottom: Regular compression and running shorts, and Brooks Cascadia 5s.
• Next time, I'm bringing a cigarette lighter, light weight solar blanket, and a pocket knife.

The climb up Bear

And we were off; slowly... except for two awesome athletes, Dalton Wilson and Melanie Fryar. Melanie is the current female 50 mile course record holder at Rocky Raccoon, has a chance to represent U.S. in the 100K distance at the next Olympics, and runs like a bunny rabbit over rocky trails. Yes, their definition of "slow" is a little different than mine. Right before the climb up Bear, the three of us caught up to Diana Heynen and Joyce Prusaitis; both incredibly talented, experienced endurance athletes and super classy ladies. We would end up running most of the morning together until Joyce and Diana turned off onto Marcus. And it was almost as if we had called each other on the phone the night before and color coordinated our outfits because, we were all wearing blue tops; causing the faster merged groups behind us to refer to us as the Blue Team versus the Grey Team (Mount Everest humor). I noticed that I had forgotten to start my GPS so I figured I would need to add about .4 to .5 miles to the resulting distance. We could hear our good friend John Sharp's voice pretty much all the way up the canyon, along with Gordon's periodic "Kaw!" Sharpie, a crazy fit ultra runner from San Antonio who has the physique of a body builder, is one of those people whose battery is recharged by conversation, and whose mind rarely pauses between topics ranging from Libertarian politics to economic theory. I heard Sharpie complain about never seeing any wildlife and all I could imagine, unbeknownst to him, was a wake of wild birds and mammals fleeing the forest far ahead of him. During the climb, Lino decided to playfully engage Sharpie in a debate about the current administration's policies and not five minutes later did Joe yell to Sharpie that he was putting him on a "word limit."

Top of Bear

~Mile 2.5: The early morning view was spectacular at the top of Bear, even though the valley below was cloud covered. Far off, a lone small mountain poked out above the cloud tops. Joyce said it looked like a shark fin gliding on the sea surface.

~Mile 3: We dropped our pack and bottles for the quick, sight-seeing loop up Hunter Peak. Joe, Gordon, Allen, Sharpie, Brett, Jon, and Bhavesh were already heading down. I tried to tackle Sharpie but he escaped using a tickle move. The elevation was 8368 feet, the second highest point in Texas, with the highest being Guadalupe Peak just across a couple of canyons. None of us three were experiencing any altitude sickness issues, and I found out later we were fortunate, since a few others in the group did.

Pine Top, or Hunter Peak

Diana, Joyce, Guy

~Mile 6: After we climbed Bush Peak, we took a snack break in the shade with Diana and Joyce. It was at this point that I made an observation that others concurred with after the run; I was hungrier than I expected to be at this point. And Lino, Guy, and I were flabbergasted at how long it was taking to cover the mileage; and we weren't doddling either! Later, after the run, my new friend and phenomenal ultra running athlete Allen Wrinkle, current record holder for the solo 203 mile Texas Independence Relay, would give me some simple, valuable advice (good advice always seems to be simple): "mountain miles are different." Most trail runners are already used to the "no consistent pace" difference from road running but, calorie consumption can accelerate rapidly during the ascents and descents on mountain trails. When you look at a course elevation profile, it is still hard to tell whether you will be averaging a 10 minute mile or 30 minute mile on some sections. You just need to be prepared for the worse.

Dog Canyon

~Mile 13: After Diana and Joyce turned off onto Marcus Trail; Lino, Guy and I kept a pretty steady pace to the top of the Tejas Trail descent into Dog Canyon. It was becoming apparent to me that Lino and Guy were climbing faster than me but, I was holding my own on the down hills. We met up with Alicia and Elizabeth whose 24 mile route brought them to this point quicker, and they followed us down. The Dog Canyon trail is the most exposed section of the entire route (no shade). Near the bottom, we saw Dalton and Melanie beginning their climb back up. They had already finished the extra Marcus loop on the 40 mile route and looked as fresh as they did at the start. We also saw Jonathan and Bhavesh, ahead of us on the 28 mile route, heading back up. We would notice in the sign out books that we were chasing them by about 30 minutes all day long.

~Mile 17: At the rangers station at the bottom of the canyon, there was a mule in the corral that I am convinced brayed solely at the lady runners. We sat down at the picnic bench to have lunch, where my calorie miscalculation started to become apparent to me. Even though we were over halfway done, I had half a turkey sandwich and a couple bags of trail mix left to fuel me through the rest of the run, including the massive climb back up Dog. And then Lino, my savior, pulled out of his pack a huge plastic bag of pasta with olive oil, left over from last night's Crash dinner, and said "there's no way I can eat all of this." Normally, I would have forced myself to live with my mistakes as a principle, to teach myself a lesson, and decline his generous offer. But, we were in the mountains! So, I ravenously crammed my mouth full with spaghetti noodles. Alicia also insisted that I try one of her homemade, spicy, vegetarian quesadillas; which was delicious. Right when we finished lunch, the Gray Team 30+ to 40 milers came tromping in, led by Joe, Gordon, Allen, and Brett, with Mike Sawyer not far behind (I've lost track of how many mountain races Mike Sawyer has knocked out; he's one tough runner). We sang happy birthday to Alicia, and Lino, Guy, myself, Alicia, and Elizabeth began the climb back up Dog.

"Mountains cannot be surmounted except by winding paths."

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

David, A long climb
out of Dog Canyon

The Dog climb was brutal for me. I started to fall behind. It did not feel like the calories were hitting my bloodstream yet. But, you just keep putting one foot in front of the other, "worry about your own damn self," don't worry where you are in relation to others, just keep moving forward. After a break, Gordon caught us; he was having a great day. At the top, I was relieved to stretch my legs out and actually run a relatively flat section.

Gordon, "resting"

~Mile 21.5: We came up to Gordon, taking a break waiting for Joe and the others at the 30+ to 40 miler turn toward McKittrick Canyon. He takes his resting quite seriously. Whew! Only about 6 more miles just cruising the Tejas Trail back down into camp. But then Joe arrived and said "no, you guys have a couple more climbs back up to Pine Top before the descent." Oh well, how hard could they be?

Lino napping in Pine Top forest

The back side of Pine Top is a beautiful forest and completely shaded. In fact, there were odd circles of hail in some shady spots, left over from a storm a few days earlier. We came to a "Y" in the trail that looked like two creek beds. It was almost indiscernible which way the trail went; we could not see any footprints, markers, etc. I would learn others would have similar problems at this point. Luckyily, we guessed right and found the trail resume further ahead, on what started the final climb. I think it was this long, final insult of a climb that ruined our legs for a fast descent into camp.

Climb back up to Pine Top

Pine Springs Canyon down to camp

~Mile 25.5: The descent on Tejas Trail down through Pine Springs Canyon toward camp would normally look like an absolute blast, with its fun switch backs, quick rollers, not-too-steep grades, etc. (This would be a bitch to climb, though.) And we did our best to run as much as we could, which turned out to be only about 3/4 of a mile. Our legs were completely shot. It turned into a slow jog at best the rest of the way down.

~Mile 29.somethin': And we finally were done, 11 hours somethin' for 29.somethin' miles. We took our "victory lap" in the dinner tent with friends like Crash, Jeanette, Diana O., Rob't, Dawn, Layla, Roger, Shannon, Ann, JoAnna, Dalton, Murali, and Melanie congratulating us. Damn! We were tired. I got cleaned up and sat in my chair with my bare feet on the foot massager plugged into the back of my minivan with a cold beer dangling from my hand. Other friends would trickle in from their runs as we got ready to devour an incredible Crash dinner, and recount the exhausting, exhilarating day. There is something extraordinary about sharing an experience like this with friends; moving. As I slung my aching body onto my cot futon to go to sleep that evening, I understood what Joe had meant by people "so desperately wanting to return to this place, with this group."

Finished! Lino, David, Guy

“Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountain is going home; that wildness is necessity; that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life.”

- John Muir

Here is my GPS playback of the route Lino, Guy, and I took. Add about .4 to .5 miles to the distance. My Garmin 310XT performed flawlessly (recently replaced my absolutely horrible Garmin 405). Some data points of interest:

Elevation Gain:  7,295 ft
Elevation Loss:  7,236 ft
Min Elevation:   5,780 ft
Max Elevation:  8,603 ft

David's Spa

Right when we sat down to dinner that evening, my coach Roger Davis came into the big tent completely dressed in black tights, a black cap, etc. We all joked that he looked like a Ninja. He had ran with Shannon earlier, who had experienced altitude sickness. We were all surprised to hear that he was planning to go up to Pine Top and over to Marcus to retrieve some of the sign in books, which meant a lone night run. We also knew he was itching for some more miles. But, the clouds were moving in, and more than a few of us were worried for him. Not that he'd get eaten by something; I'd like to see the cat or bear willing to try take down big Roger. But, these mountains were a formidable place, especially in weather. When I woke up at 2AM that night for a bathroom break, I swang by the tent and saw he had signed in around midnight, and would learn the next day that he had a run which he could only describe as "epic."

Guadalupe Peak Morning Recovery Run

It is always a good idea to follow a long run the next day with a "recovery run." It really helps to re-loosen and clear the acid out of the muscles. A typical formula says that it should be half the distance of the previous day but, as long as you do something. I had hoped to see the top of Guadalupe Peak before I left the park. Others were discussing various short runs. Groggily, Lino and I decided to bag the peak because we weren't sure how much more energy we would have the following day (Sunday), and we knew we would probably be in a hurry to get on the road anyways. We started the hike up with some extremely talented runners; Dawn Banka, Jonathan Hicks, and John Kuss. However, Lino and I knew our fatigued legs would be moving at our own pace. We had also been warned that Kuss would be tearing up the trail because he was incredibly pissed off that his RV transmission had broken on him the 2nd year in a row, on this trip, and forced him to miss yesterday's long run. Yep, he left a cloud of dust behind him. We saw early birds Emily H. and her hubby already on their way down.

View from top of Guadalupe Peak

Even though the clouds were closing in, the ~ 5.5 mile trail offered some spectacular views of the plains below. There were a lot of hikers but, very courteous and let us pass on the climb. Regardless, Lino and I struggled up this ~ 3 mile climb.

Mounted on the peak is a beautiful, stainless steel pyramid placed there in 1958 to commemorate the Pony Express mail service.

David, Jon, Dawn, Lino, John

Gordon joined us later on the peak while we were snacking and motivated Lino and I to follow him down; it was exactly what we needed. Gordon got moving downhill at an excellent pace, and he relished the duty of clearing out hikers in our way with outbursts like "Kaw!" and "Toot! Toot! Train coming through!" etc. One teenage boy froze in front of Gordon like a deer in headlights, and Gordon had to wrap him up in a huge bear hug, and gently deposit the youngster on the side of the trail. Poor little fella. And it was a good thing we were running down; rain and thunder were moving in fast. We passed JoAnna and Dalton on their way up. They would have an adventure in store for them being on the mountain in an electrical storm. We barely beat the storm to camp, as we climbed into our cars for a long, post recovery run nap.