With so many friends going off to do the Ragnar thing, I thought I needed to also run during the night. I had recovered well from Big Horn 100 last week, so I decided to go run the very tough Kat'cina Mosa 100K course with it's 17,000 feet of climbing. 20 or so miles are the same as Squaw Peak 50 but in the opposite the direction.
The official race starts in Hobble Creek Canyon. I started at Big Spring in South Fork Provo Canyon. This would mean that the toughest climb and descent would be in the final miles. I started at about 4 p.m. My pace was pretty easy, just enjoying the run. The climb up to Windy Pass was fine. The brush has really grown since two weeks ago and now is a bother on the single track sections, really slowing things down. I was able to stay on course the entire way. I run the race once and paced 25-40 miles three other times so I knew the course pretty well. But also, there is still flagging up from past years in several sections. Dusk hit me about a mile after Little Valley and right at that point a big black bear ran across the dirt road ahead of me about only 30 yards. It must have heard or seen me coming. Wow! That is the first bear I've run into while running in Utah. As it got darker I kept looking behind me, fearing that the bear could be tracking me. But it wasn't. In about another mile, I ran into a massive sheep herd. I no longer worried about the bear. If it was hungry, it would snag a sheep. The herd covered about a half mile and they weren't very happy about my green light. Soon dog barked. Great. I didn't notice them coming, but soon I was nudged from behind. There were two big white dogs who looked friendly. They kept nudging me, maybe herding me. But then one of them kept trying to nudge my left pocket. Then it clicked. That pocket had bacon in it. The dogs kept following me until I reached the edge of the herd and then they stopped to stay with their charges. As I passed the bath tub spring around 11 p.m. a family was camping nearby with a huge bon fire. They called out greetings. I'm sure they wondered what I was doing. I filled up and continued on. All was pretty uneventful until I started descending the narrow Dry canyon. It had been taken over by cattle and they were destroying the nice trail. They didn't like my light and would run down the trail ahead up me stirring up a massive cloud of dust. Most of the cattle eventually left the trail but not a cow with two calves. They insisted on staying on the trail. It was a real bother, constant dust cloud and I just couldn't get around them. After 1.5 miles, they finally became tired and stopped running. I tried to prod them off the trail, but the cow started to get protective and made movements to go after me. So we were at a standoff, they were just walking down the trail slowly. Finally the cow left the trail. The calves didn't want to, but finally followed the mom. I eventually reach Hobble Creek road. My shoes were full of dust. The cows had chewed the trail into soft dust. I had to stop for 15 minutes to clean the feet well. Because it hasn't rained in quite awhile, the course was very dusty. I would have to stop four times to clean my feet. Dawn arrived as I was climbing the road that goes to the top. I had only covered 25 miles during the shortest night of the year. The nearly full moon sure was great. But it was nice to have the sun rising. I was getting chilled and drowsy. I stopped twice to take short naps. The morning was beautiful and I was in no hurry. I enjoyed the morning and all the sights. I enjoyed the very tough climb up to the highest ridge above Big Spring Canyon, about 9,700 feet. The steep descent was tough on my tired legs but I finally made it back to my car, accomplishing the 100K+ It was a great adventure. I sure love running at night but can do with out the wildlife and farm stock.
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