Mt Hood - PCT 50

Pacific Coast Trail – Mt Hood 50 Mile Ultra



I recently traveled to Mt Hood Oregon to run the PCT Mt Hood Ultra on 26 July, 2008. Since I’d ran this race in 2005, this was my second trip to this race. The race starts at the Historical Clackamass Ranger Station, about 25 miles south of Mt Hood and runs north on the Pacific Coast Trail to Timberline Ski Resort, where the runners turn around and return to the start/finish line.




Originally, when I planned this race, Patricia and I were going to go to the Oregon coast for a week or so and catch the race on the way back. For several reasons, our plans were changed and I ended up going by myself. I left Plain City at noon Thursday and drove to the top of Deadman’s Pass, looking down on Pendelton, Oregon and spent the night. I rose early on Friday and after a great breakfast at the Mill’s Inn in Pendelton, I drove the last 250 miles to Mt. Hood. Soon after leaving Pendelton, you enter the Columbia River Gorge. The scenery is spectacular. When I make this drive, I always stop at several overlooks between The Dalles and Hood River to watch the windsurfers. Those dudes are nuts, but highly entertaining.

I arrived at Clackamass Campground by 2pm and had plenty of time to lie around, rehydrate and get ready for the next day’s race. Oregon is a special place in the summer. 24 hours earlier I’d left home and the temperature was
96 degrees. The temperature at the campground was a perfect 68.. Later that evening I’d be looking for a sweat shirt, but as always, I’d left mine at home. Race package pickup was at 7 PM so I cooked dinner (red beans and rice) and visited with several other folks getting ready for the run. Across the road from were an older couple, Jim and Marcy, from Mckee, Idaho. They were going to run the Timberline aid station. I had a very enjoyable discussion with these folks concerning their experiences running and supporting ultra runs.


As you can see from the race profile, this is not a terribly tough race. You get about 3100 elevation gain on the way out and pick up 1200 or so on the way back. Generally up-hill the first half and down on the return trip. I had mixed feelings about my goals for this race. I hadn’t raced for a while and this course is pretty fast. On the other hand, I was running Katicina Mosa 100K the next weekend and the Cascade Crest 100 one month later. After sleeping on it, I decided my goal was to do a nice easy 12 hour run versus the 10 hour 30 minute run “dumb Larry” wanted.

The next morning, the race directors (Monica and Olga – great ladies) offered an early start at 5:30 AM. Since 5:30 is 6:30 in Utah and I was up, I wondered down to the start line and took off with 30 other runners towards Mt. Hood. The first section of the race runs out to Little Crater Lake, 6.1 mles away for the first aid station. Shortly after leaving the start line, you run along the shoreline of Timothy Lake. Timothy Lake is a fairly big lake and the trail is going through old growth timber. This section of the trail is wonderful. Because of the pine trees, you’re running on a mat of pine needles. Nice and soft. Good thing, I think I fell three times before the first aid station.



Little Crater Lake

After a quick refill and a piece of watermelon, it was on to the next aid station, only 3.2 miles away. This section was the first of several climbs on the way to Timberline. While not steep, it did get your attention and focused you on the task at hand. Since it had only been 40 minutes, I just stopped and filled my water bottle with Heed and heeded back up the trail to the next aid station where the trail crossed US 26, about 5.2 miles away.



First View

The 5.2 miles were evenly split between a good climb and a good downhill on the other side. It was along this piece of trail, we got the first good look at Mt Hood in the morning sunshine. Great trail, wonderful volunteers and views to die for. Can it get much better than this?



Barlow Pass Trail

The aid station at Hway 26 was manned by the “Thongless Runner’s Society”. I’m not sure if this is an actual group or just a name selected by the aid station participants, but these folks were HIGH ENERGY. Music playing, food flying and the trees were lined with their underwear. Again, I’m not sure where they came from, but they certainly knew how to get runners in and out with a freshly charged set of batteries. You needed those batteries. The trail from this point to the turnaround at Timberline was mostly uphill. The trail went up over Barlow Pass to another aid station where the PCT crossed US 35, 4.6 miles away. Barlow Pass was the only real technical piece of trail on the entire course. Since it ran between two major hiways, it had been well used by horse traffic. Besides dealing with a pretty decent climb, the trail had long sections of bowling ball size rocks.



The Sandbox Section

Immediately after leaving the Barlow Pass aid station, you started up the side of Mt. Hood and the turn-around at Timberline 5.9 miles away. Most of this section is a climb with the last mile above timberline and a two mile sludge through the “Sandbox”. The sandbox was the last couple of miles to the turnaround. There was very little vegetation and consisted of equal parts of volcanic ash and sand. Tough footing and not much fun going up, but an absolute ball coming back down. Many places you struggled with the loose sand going up, but bounded back down and through the sand on the return trip. The first year I ran this race, I stopped and emptied the sand from my shoes at Timberline. This year, I just waited until I returned to Barlow Pass and dumped it out after a round trip. Saved a little time and still avoided blister issues.



Turn around

The turn-around aid station was just outside the main lodge at Timberline. Those folks who’ve ran the Hood to Coast relay, probably recognize this picture. This ski resort is the starting point for that relay race. It’s also a working ski resort 12 months of the year. During the summer, they provide lift served skiing on the glaciers above. It was an almost surreal mixture of young folks with snowboards, ultra runners and Japanese tourists thrown together on a warm Saturday afternoon in July.


The return trip back to Clackamass Lake was pretty uneventful. My plan was to run 12 hours. I left Timberline at 5 hours and 50 minutes and finished at 12 hours and 1 minute. The run back to Barlow Pass was a fast downhill. It seemed like I struggled going back over Barlow and dropping back into Hiway 26. The thongless runners helped pick me up, but the next section was a drudge. Seemed like I couldn’t maintain a decent pace between the 30 and 40 mile points. I”d guess I was 10 minutes behind a projected 12 hour finish at this point, but was able to gather my senses and make up the difference, mostly in the last six miles after leaving Little Crater.

AFTERTHOUGHTS

This still remains one of my favorite destination races. It combines a small field, great race directors, wonderful volunteers and unsurpassed scenery. I still need to make it back for another shot at a possible 50 mile PR. I also proved beyond a doubt that opiates and trail running aren’t a good mixture. The day before I left Ogden, I’d had a root canal. For some reason, the dentist couldn’t completely deaden the tooth so must of it was done with out the full benefit of Novocain. Geez, it was fun. Anyway, the dentist had given me a prescription for Loritab. When I got up Saturday, the tooth was throbbing and I really debated if I should take one of the pain killers. Obviously, I made the wrong choice and swallowed one with my morning can of soup. I didn’t notice much until the race started. I lost track at six the number of times I fell. I just couldn’t properly judge distances to rocks and proper foot work to avoid them. So if you’re ever tempted to take pain killers before running trails, leave the pill bottle at home.