Redfern 3 - Mountains 1

Yesterday (Saturday) I had the longest, toughest training run of the year and dare I say, the toughest run I have ever done in my life. I know I need to run mountain trails from here on out in order to prepare for the climbing and dirt trail aspect of the Pike's Peak Ascent so each week I have been finding good runs within a 3-hour drive from my home to do on Saturdays. And each week I have been getting progressively more aggressive with my choices.



Last week I ran up and over Mt Greylock in MA with a total ascent of 5,306'. This week I knew was going to be tougher but I wasn't sure how much tougher. I did not have detailed topo maps of the trail, but I did know that Slide Mtn was the highest peak in southtern NY at 4,186' and to get to Slide I had to run over two other 3,500' peaks (and back over them again to get back to my car). The other two mountains were Mt Wittenberg (3,780') and Cornell Mtn (3,860').



One thing I learned when I got there was that the real cool backpackers of the Catskills call Mt Wittenberg, The Wittenberg. So from now on I'm going to be cool and call it the same!



As usual I got up at 3:30am and was on the road for Phoenicia, NY at 4am. I arrived at the trailhead in Woodland Valley at about 6:30 and by the time I packed my running backpack and used the luxurious flushing toilets at the campsite one more time it was 7am before I was running for the hills. There were black bear warnings all over the place but since they are predominantly herbivores I wasn't concerened, I just needed to make sure I didn't surprise one or end up close to a cub if I even came across one at all. My plan would be to ascend The Wittenberg, run across the Bruins Causeway and ascend Cornell Mtn then descend the saddle and ascend Slide Mtn... rest... and return the way I came. I gave myself 2.5 hours to get to Slide Mtn and if I didn't get there I'd turn back.



The trail started out immediately steep and treacherous. Not treacherous like danger to life and limb, but more because the path was filled with narly roots jutting out of the ground and jagged rocks sticking up out of the ground at all angles... both of which made it easy to catch a toe and trip, and falling in this stuff would be disasterous. Running was very slow because I had to be very careful with foot placement. I remembered reading in the trails.com brief on this course about all of the rocks and boulders on the way up The Wittenberg so I assumed this is what they were talking about. The trails.com document also spoke of the many sheer ledges that had to be scaled along the way... literally climbing up near vertical walls of rock... COOL! I got to the intersection of the red trail (my trail) and the yellow trail and it was another 1.3 miles to the summit of The Wittenberg. My assumption was wrong, as I continued up I ended up in a literal boulder field where I had to climb over and around very large boulders on a steep slope. At the top of the slope I was quite tired and my legs were fatigued, I saw a big ledge ahead of me and I thought to myself... "I hope that's not one of the ledges I must scale since I'm already pretty tired from ascending the boulder field." I really didn't expect to climb it and truly expected the trail would go around it, but it didn't. I spent a minute or two planning out the best path based on hand/toe holds and cracks I could use hand-jams in. I climbed up the 10' ledge and continued on, but it was exhilarating having scaled a wall without ropes!



My pace was slower than I'd like but I was fully convinced this was going to be GREAT training since I knew I needed to strengthen my thighs and hip flexors after the Mt Washing race caused them to cramp up. The constant step ups over the boulders on steep slopes was going to be a great workout for the legs. It would also prepare me for the many water bars that I'd have to step over on the Barr trail up Pike's Peak.



When I got to the summit of The Wittenberg, I came across a group of hikers who had slept out on the ledge at the summit over night after hiking over Slide from the NJ side of the backcountry. Sounded like a blast! They slept under the stars with no tents and were making pancakes on their pocket rocket stove for breakfast. We spoke for a bit while I ate my energy bar and then I was off for Cornell Mtn. The view off the ledge must have been fabulous when the haze wasn't thick, I could only see outlines of the many Catskill peaks in the distance. I was surprised how far the descent was to the Bruins Causeway before climbing up to Cornell. I had read that this climb had the biggest ledges to scale, I looked forward to it with great anticipation. I got to the ledge and indeed there were two successive ledges that were nearly vertical. The first was a crotch so it was fairly simple to get holds while using the other wall for support. The second was higher and open but had plenty of handholds to scale it. A few minutes and I was over them both and on my way to the summit. I did not stop here since I was on a mission to get to Slide.



As I descended Cornell, I came to clearing and was absolutely blown away at what I found. As I looked out to the west I saw Slide Mtn and it was considerably higher than Cornell... 350' makes a surprisingly big difference. What was more shocking was the depth of the valley I had to desend into before climbing Slide! I though at that point that there was no way in the world I was going to be able to descend into and out of the valley to the summit of Slide in 40 minutes to make it under my self-imposed 2.5 hour limit. I decided to head on and see how far I could make it in those 40 minutes.

I was motivated... I kept pushing on down Cornell but it seemed to go on into the valley forever. Finally I started going up Slide and I was pushing harder than ever but feeling good, but time was running out. I checked my watch and I had 25 minutes. I kept on going past mud bogs, rocks and ledges towards the summit. Finally my time had run out, I saw a clearing ahead so I decided to climb to the clearing, rest and head back. To my surprise, the clearing was the summit! I made it to Slide Mtn in 2:31.

I met a nice older man from PA on the summit who likes to hike the Catskills during the summer as a rereation. We chatted while I drank, he took a picture for me and I wished him well and set on my way back to the car... down Slide, up Cornell, down Cornell, up Wittenberg and down Wittenberg to the trail head... YIKES!

By the time I reached the summit of The Wittenberg, I was exhausted. I ate my last energy bar, took a last picture and headed down. I had done all the climbing for the day and all I needed to do was decend the 3.6 miles back to the trailhead and my car. I ran down the mountain and could feel the exhaustion causing me to be less careful than usual, I still felt good mentally and bounding down the rocks and ledges was actually fun. At one point a group of much younger hikers cheered me on as I made quick work of the last ledge between me and the trailhead. That felt good and I kept up the quick pace. I was thinking about the name of my blog for the day... it would be "Redfern 3 - Mountains 0" since I hadn't had one fall today! Around about the time I was at the divergence of the yellow and red trails though, my exhaustion got the better or me, I hooked a toe on one of those jagged rocks I spoke of on the way up and crashed onto the rocks hard. My left knee was bleeding and gashed, my right knee was scraped, my hip was sore and scraped as was my right elbow, forearm and both palms. Immediately every muscle below my hips went into severe cramps and I was wrenching around on the ground to keep them from tightening up. I forced myself up fairly quickly because keeping moving in this type of situation is the best way to work out the pain and cramps and keep from getting completely immobilized. I knew nothing was broken so I just had to suck it up and get moving again.

Unfortunately moving in the right direction is always the best idea and that's not what happened. I ended up in a clearing that I was not familiar with and could not find the way out the other side, I limped back to where I entered the clearing and realized that I had wandered down the yellow trail... but for how long? I walked back up the trail slowly to make sure I did not miss the turn off... I walked about 0.2 miles before finding it. I was now very sore, very stiff and could not run on this treacherous rocky, rooty path. If I fell again I would surely get hurt even worse the second time so I decided I would have to walk the 2 miles back to the trail head. I did run when I found clearings from the rocks and roots but they were short-lived and very far and few in between. I have to say, that 2 miles was the longest, most excruciating 2 miles I have ever walked, ran or hiked! The terrain stunk and made it horrible for me. What had been a euphoric (yet exhausing) run for 11.3 miles had quickly degraded into pure misery for 2 miles. As I neared the trailhead I crossed a refreshing spring where I sat down, soaked my pack towel in the ice cold water and cleaned my wounds. The cold felt good on my throbbing knees.

Upon arriving at my car I cleaned myself up, ate the fruit and drank the FRS sports drink I had packed in a thermal bag, then put the ice packs on my knees while totaling up the days accomplishments, and what a day it was:

* 5 mountains summitted (Wittenberg and Cornell twice each and Slide)
* 13.3 miles traveled (the same as Pikes Peak!)
* 7,587 feet of climbing (wow! I'll be climbing 8,000 on Pikes Peak!)
* At least 5 ledges scaled in both directcions
* Tons of bounding over big boulders to strengthen those leg muscles!
* And one spectacular wipe out!

It was not a comfortable ride home for 3 hours and I was eating everything in site. I burned a ton of calories on that run and it was now time to replenish them!

Alas, I had to change the name of my blog entry from "Redfern 3 - Mountains 0" to "Redfern 3 - Mountains 1" Oh well...