Up and over Mt. Charleston, one really old tree but still shy of 100K

I am not sure what I was thinking when I planned out this 100K route last Friday afternoon.  It sure looked good on paper.  The plan was to start from the foot of Mt. Charleston at about 5,800 feet, run to the peak, come the down other side, traverse to the ski resort via Deer Springs road and continue to run though the Spring Mountains till I came out the other side at Coal Creek.  This would have given me my goal of 100 kilometers for the day.  It sounds a doable run, but not for me just yet - at least not in the 12 or so hours that I would like to complete it in.

I started at 5:00am at the junction of Kyle Canyon Road and Harris Springs road.  I took off with about 6 liters of water, 6 energy bars and 6 Gu packs anticipating at most 6 hours of running up and over Mt. Charleston, Nevada highest mountain at 11,918 feet. The sun was just coming up as I got started, the temperatures were in the low 70's, and I felt ready for this one. 

Harris Springs Road (I have spotted wild Burros in this area on previous days)

Three miles up the road I come to the turn of for Griffith Peak trail.  I will be passing by Griffith peak on the way to Mt. Charleston.  The sun is up now, and I got K.D. Lang Belting out Halleluiah on my headphones.

The start of Griffith peak trail.  This is 8 miles into the run which up until this point has been about a fifty -  fifty split between running and fast hiking because the road is so steep in places.  The start of Griffith peak trail is a nice, gentle climb that is very runnable.  The elevation here is about 8,000ft and the air is not too thin for me yet.

Ahhh...,but that runnable section ends about three miles further up he trail as I hit some heavy climbing.  I am always amazed at all the work that goes into making these trails.  God bless these hard working people.

Time for a quick look back at what has already been accomplished.  I am up around 11,000ft. now and all running and even hiking has become difficult because the air is so thin.  I have been slowed down to 30 minutes/mile in places.

After passing Griffith Peak the trail levels out again as it aims for mMt. Charleston.  I am still feeling strong and I am able to run again.  I am already 14 miles and 3 1/2 hours into this run.

Up above the tree line now and everything is hard but the sight of the goal gives strength.  This picture is taken at about 11,200 ft and looking directly at Mt. Charleston.

Five hours, 18 miles, 6000 feet of elevation (about 800 feet more than the Grand Canyon) and here I am standing in the howling wind with Old Glory

his is the view from the top looking down the north side.  That's the town of Mt. Charleston and Kyle Canyon in the distance.  You can see a piece of the steep trail leading down in the foreground.

Looking back at Mt. Charleston from the North Loop trail.  Much of the upper part of the North Loop trail is very steep and difficult to run even if you are heading down.  My progress to this point is over an hour behind where I hoped to be and I am already considering changing plans.

Hi my name is Rain Tree and I am the oldest thing living here in the Spring Mountains.  I am over 3,000 years old.  I am a bristlecone pine and some of our kind have been known to live to 4,900 years old.  I am located at the junction of the Mummy Springs Trail and North Loop Trail .

After Rain Tree, it is about 4 more miles down to Deer Springs Road where Amy is waiting for me with water and food.  When I get there I will have completed 29 miles.  At the road the plan was to turn left and continue westward.  However I will have to leave that to another day.  This coming August sounds good.  Instead, for today I will turn right, head down the road towards Mt. Charleston and back to my car.  When I get there I will have completed about 52 miles, or 83 kilometers just 17 short kilometers of my goal.  On a positive note, I felt really strong during the entire run. I did use the salt tabs for this run (about one 340 mg of sodium every 2 hours) and that seemed to alleviate some leg pain and I didn't experience any cramping.   I was sweating more freely the entireand when I got home I had lost only 2 pounds of water weight.  I felt I took better care of my hydration this time. Even in the final miles I was able to average about 10 to 12 minutes per mile.  I feel I am getting stronger at these longer distances and I am at a point now where I can comfortably keep running the entire day.  It's a good feeling.  Today I continue to replay and visualize yesterdays run.  There is something empowering about knowing that you have the ability to self propel yourself up and over these magnificent mountains.


Above This the data was gathered from My Garmin during the run. It stops at 45 miles because that is where the Garmin lost power.