TRAINING LEAD-UP
Well, I had one week to recover from the 100-mile / 36 hour USARA National Championships, before it was time to do it all over again at 2024 OCR World Championships. The rental bike crank radius had smoked my legs, and I had gotten in plenty of elevation gain on Snowshoe Mountain (4,848 in altitude) and surrounding areas. Snowshoe would be an altitude adjustment warmup for Mammoth Lakes, which I discovered would be at 7,881 feet of elevation.
Wednesday, Oct 2:
Yoga for Tired Legs & Yoga for When You're Sore with Adriene
CALIFORNIA
Thursday, Oct 3: Travel
Thursday, I started my journey out west. I flew Frontier for the low prices. I had an overnight layover in Denver, which meant I got to stay with my sister, before the four of us (my joined by my parents) continued on to San Jose.
We picked up the rental car, made a stop at Costco to stock up on groceries, and made the drive out to Mammoth Lakes, which involved going through the Yosemite area.
Friday, Oct 4: Check-in Day
After check-in, we looked for hikes in the area. There were plenty of options! You could make a whole trip centered around Mammoth Lakes area hiking. We went with Convict Lake, which is named after the lake where a group of escaped prisoners from Nevada ended up having a shoot-out with law enforcement in 1871. The loop around the lake is 5K, which was a decent distance... nothing crazy and pretty flat, fine the day before a hilly 15K race.
I picked up my race number, timing chip, and bracelet in the morning. We got a hotel right next to the parking area for the event, which was super convenient. The hotel included a good grab-and-go breakfast, which included eggs, banana bread, and yogurt. Very good.
There were a number of obstacles arranged closed to the start and finish area, so my dad and I checked those out.
There were some races taking place that day and every day that weekend, for different distances. I was glad that "Dragon's Back" was back, although it was re-named to "Triumph", based on the race map.
After check-in, we looked for hikes in the area. There were plenty of options! You could make a whole trip centered around Mammoth Lakes area hiking. We went with Convict Lake, which is named after the lake where a group of escaped prisoners from Nevada ended up having a shoot-out with law enforcement in 1871. The loop around the lake is 5K, which was a decent distance... nothing crazy and pretty flat, fine the day before a hilly 15K race.
We took our time making our way around. My mom likes to stop and take pictures. My sister likes to look for rocks.
We stopped by a NPS visitor center and then went back to the race village to see some more action.
There was a limbo contest (with GOODR sunglasses as a prize) that I participated in. I didn't win, though.
I also walked in the Parade of Nations. It's small and nothing like the one in the Olympics, haha, but we have fun with it and make the most of it.
Friday, Oct 5: 15K CHAMPIONSHIPS & McLeod Lake
I had won my spot in the Pro Wave as a result of my AG podium spot at the Fayetteville Spartan Ultra. It had been an unexpected surprise. I didn't expect to do well or even keep my band, based on my performances in 2017 at Blue Mountain, Ontario, Canada, and in London in 2018, but I'd soak in the experience and just enjoy being there and giving it what I had. Especially because I knew I was smoked from USARA Nationals the previous week, that helped to manage expectations and relieve some of the pressure. The atmosphere is always fun. The people who are there worked hard to be there.
The race starts with a big uphill. I know to walk the uphills, even if everyone else is running. Run your own race.
After a big uphill, we had a big downhill that took us back to the start area.
On the way down, we did a sideways rope obstacle that was very similar to one that I've played with at USNWC in the past, so I knew I could do it.
At the base, I got to do "Triumph" (formerly known as "Dragon's Back").
Time to go back up!
My obstacle completion streak wouldn't last long.
There was a low rig, which can be a nice thing for short racers because there's less of a risk that your limbs may touch the ground. Wing span is an advantage, though, and I had trouble reaching the next rig items. I re-tried, but I knew that each retry would just smoke me more, so I decided to give up my band and save some energy for all the remaining obstacles in the race.
It was a good move, since I would've lost my band at the next obstacle, which was a ramp wall. I got close once and had at least some fingers of one hand over the top, but it wasn't enough. I tried like 5X or something, but I couldn't get the timing or power or commitment right.
We went up along some very scenic trails. The views from the top of the mountain were great. The giant trees in the forest were pretty, too. It was enjoyable.
There were more obstacles near the top. Some were doable, and others were not. Once you lose your band, you just go for the experience and to try to manage your remaining energy to complete as many of the obstacles that you can. That means giving up early on some of the ones that may be lost causes, while still at least trying it a little bit to get a feel for it. You get to encounter some obstacles at this race that you don't often see, since they take obstacles and inspiration for obstacles from all the race series around the world. There was one, for example, that was a pipe straight across along the top, and you used two coat hanger-like things to get across (but with vertical grips instead of the hanger part of the coat hanger). I failed the first time but got it the second time.
At the peak of the mountain, there was a sandbag carry. There was a floating wall obstacle that was quite manageable this year. The top of the mountain is most of the way into the race, so you feel like it's all downhill from there.
There were a couple more obstacles on the way down... a very rocky barbed wire crawl, plus a heavy hose carry. There were a couple of rig-style obstacles that were suuuuuper high off the ground. You had to have quite a bit of strength or momentum to go uphill on the rigs, and if you did manage to get up that high, you'd better not drop, or else it's a long way down. I don't like it when obstacles heavily favor those with long wing spans. It is inevitable that people with longer wing spans will always have some advantage, but some of the obstacles seemed nearly impossible to even get started with, unless you could reach a certain distance, or else you had to have killer core muscles and body control to swing your way up like a gymnast. I know it's possible, because I did see some amazing women who still had their bands by the time they were back at the bottom. I'm not one of them, though.
When I got back to the base of the mountain, I kept thinking I was close to the finish, but the trails there went for a long time. Eventually, the trails did take us back to the finish area, where there was a gauntlet of obstacles. I gave "Gibbons" a couple of good tries, but I couldn't get past a more than a couple of them.
Skull Valley needed a big wing span. So did a few others in the area. Some are quite ridiculous, but some women, even shorter ones, made it!
I was glad that my family came to watch and support me. I was glad that I didn't get injured. I was glad that I had recovered enough from USARA Nationals to make it through the race, even if I didn't crush all the obstacles.
I finished 10.8 miles in 3:38:47 (20:15 ave), according to Garmin.
After the race, we stopped at the Twin Falls overlook...
and hiked around McLeod Lake on a 2 mile trail....
They have some unique scenery there and fun things to discover.
When we got back to the trailhead, we ran into a wedding at Horseshoe Lake! That would be a cool place to get married.
Sunday, Oct 6: Inyo Craters, Mono Lake, Tuolumne Meadows
On our way out from the Mammoth Lakes area, we first hit the Inyo Craters on a 1.2 mile hike.
After that, we saw Tufas at Mono Lake, with a 1-mile South Tufa Interpretive Trail. Really cool. The tufas grow as calcium-rich freshwater interacts with carbonates in the lake, forming limestone towers that come out of the water. They used to be underwater, but the lake levels have dropped due to man-made causes.
The lake water can't go anywhere, so all the minerals just stay there and get more concentrated. I can confirm that the water is salty!
On our way into Yosemite Valley, we stopped by Tuolumne Meadows to explore for a bit, since we wouldn't be passing through again without having to drive a long way back out east. That particular entrance visitor center was closed for the season, unfortunately, so we didn't know what we were looking at or for, or what good trails were in the area. We still made the most of it, though, wandering around for 3/4 a mile.
Once in Yosemite Valley, we stopped by the main visitor center for suggestions on trails for the coming days, grabbed dinner for my sister and mom, and then checked in at Curry Village, where we'd be staying in tent cabins.
Due to the threat of bears, you have to keep all of your food in metal vaults. You can't leave food in your car, since bears will try to break into the cars to get food. You don't even want to keep cosmetics in the cabins or cars, since those can smell like food to the bears.
Monday, Oct 7: Mariposa Grove & Glacier Point
Last time I went to Yosemite in 2015 with my dad, Mariposa Grove was closed. Since it was open this time, we prioritized visiting it. Sequoia trees are the largest by volume, and I learned that those are what's on the NPS crest and even the rangers' hats and belts!
Last time I went to Yosemite in 2015 with my dad, Mariposa Grove was closed. Since it was open this time, we prioritized visiting it. Sequoia trees are the largest by volume, and I learned that those are what's on the NPS crest and even the rangers' hats and belts!
You have to take a shuttle to get into the grove, to lessen the environmental impact of all the cars. There's a trail (a series of trails) that navigate through the grove. It used to be a paved trail, but they unpaved it to give sequoias a better chance of reproducing and growing. We covered 2.3 miles.
On our way back towards the valley, we drove up to Glacier Point, which was also probably closed last time I visited.
It was a good 2.4 mile hike, and there were nice 360 views of different parts of the valley from up there. What's crazy is that the famous waterfall was all dried up this time of year. The snow melt is what powers it, so the fall is when it's all dry and out of water.
Back to the village for another night of sleep! The convenient thing about staying within the park is that you don't have to drive extra to exit and re-enter the park each day, and you don't have to wait in line to enter the park. We were glad that they had some vacancies when we booked it. The hotels were booked (however much they would've cost). If you stay in Curry Village's cabins, the bathrooms are communal, so I opted not to shower while I was there, rather than dealing with that.
Tuesday, Oct 8: Yosemite Valley
We stayed in the valley the next day. It might've been better to swap the valley day and the southern day, since we ended up driving south to go to King's Canyon afterwards. Oh well.
We walked around part of Cook's Meadow and part of Valley Loop Trail, and then did a ranger-led tour around the same area.
We drove into Fresno afterwards.
Wednesday, Oct 9: King's Canyon NP
I was excited to get a new NPS passport stamp.
I was excited to get a new NPS passport stamp.
We did a ranger-led hike at Big Stump, which focused on the logging activities in the early days, before they realized the wood from Sequoia trees would only be good for things like pencils. It's cool how they let the rangers create programs about whatever they think is interesting.
Some loggers made a makeshift refrigerator by packing snow into dead trees, and it would stay cool for months.
We also learned about how they'd make feather beds out of forest fluff to help logs land on a soft cushion and reduce the risk of the log breaking into less useful pieces. Sometimes, they didn't quite hit the mark.
The hike was about 1.5 miles long.
We did the General Grant trail on our own, next. There was a cool fallen tree that you got to walk through.
When people first discovered Sequoias and even brought a segment in pieces to the world's fair, nobody believed that it was real, because it was so big.
Sequoias are good at surviving fires, since they drop their lower branches. Their walls are thick, too.
We drove through the northern part of King's Canyon, just to see it. There wasn't a whole lot there, but we saw a waterfall and did a little hike by a river.
The drive out there is supposed to be nice. It was fine, but it looks like so much of the other great scenery here out west.
We drove back to Fresno afterwards.
Thursday, Oct 10: Sequoia NP
Sequoia NP and Kings Canyon NP are run as one park, even though they are officially two parks. I wonder why they don't just merge them. You don't hear much about King's Canyon.
Sequoia NP and Kings Canyon NP are run as one park, even though they are officially two parks. I wonder why they don't just merge them. You don't hear much about King's Canyon.
We decided to do another day of trees, even though we had seen a lot of them at Mariposa Grove and King's Canyon. We didn't have time to do the two parks in one day, since it's a very long and winding drive from one park to the other. We had never been to Sequoia, and we were already here, so it made sense to still go.
We started by doing Big Trees Trail, which was nice and easy. We covered 1.75 miles.
Afterwards, we went to visit General Sherman on a 1.25 mile trail. This is the biggest tree in the world, by volume.
This was the night where the Northern Lights came around again. Friends across the country were posting about it, and we were close to the middle of nowhere at night, on our way to Pinnacles NP. I took my dad out to try to find them. We found a good spot in the orange groves, but we weren't able to see the lights like I had back in May in Iowa.
Friday, Oct 11: Pinnacles NP
The last park in our whirlwind tour was Pinnacles NP. We didn't even know it was there ahead of time, but I found it when I was looking for parks in the area during the trip. It made for a nice loop around that part of California.
It takes you through nature-made tunnels, which is cool. I'd be interested in going back one day. There were many other trails that we didn't get to see, that take you to some neat rock formations. You need time to finish the trails, and we got a relatively late start.
The first part of this 1.7 mile trail goes through the tunnels. The far end is at a neat random lake. The way back is exposed, but it has interesting scenery.
You can see the pinnacle formations in the distance.
Friday, Oct 11
We ended the trip back in San Jose, where my aunt lives.
We went to Santa Cruz, to see the big rock arches on the beach with all the birds on it.
There was a monarch butterfly trail nearby. It wasn't peak season, but we saw a few. They migrate long distances over several generations, which is nuts.
We also explored tide pools. The tide was decently low when we were there.
We drove to the wharf afterwards for a seafood lunch and a visit with the sea lions. There was a Thunderbird show, too.
We went to Seacliff afterwards. It's a boat that got stranded. The community pushed the government to keep it, rather than haul it away, since it was cool. Many birds stay there, too. I found some sea glass.
On our way home, a hose got stuck in the plane, after we had already boarded. The flight attendant announced that they had to get maintenance to remove the hose. In the meantime, we could use the restroom, but we wouldn't be able to flush. It took 3 hours... but just under exact amount of time after which they'd be required to give us a refund, it turns out. We sat on the plane for 3 hours, so we missed our connection in Denver to get back to CLT. Fortunately, we could stay at my sister's. I did end up having to take an extra day off of work, though.
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