White Grass to Cascade Canyon

I’ve been trying to make the most of my time in the sun visiting Jackson from the rainy north of Alaska. The weather has been perfect and the smoke of the summer cleared out for me. With several different partners I’ve spent the week exploring familiar and unfamiliar terrain while logging 24 hours of training time over the first 7 days. That’s about twice my best week this summer in Anchorage.

Yesterday marked the final beat down of my stay, joining Andy Dorais and Nate Brown for a 30-mile circumnavigation of the Tetons.  Although all of us have logged plenty of running miles this summer, Andy is arguably the only one with real running chops to his credit and it showed during the 6.5 hours on the trail. Nate suffered and I struggled with the altitude while Andy simply tolerated our slow pace.

Dropping in from the Phelps Lake overlook. This classic Teton run starts at the White Grass trailhead (Death Canyon) and heads 10 miles up to the Death Canyon Shelf via Fox Creek Pass. With the exception of the steep grunt up to the pass, this section is mostly runnable, even by a hack like me. None of us had been up there before so it was a treat to see so much new terrain. At the top, the trail joins the Crest Trail coming in from the south.

Below the Patrol Cabin

50 minutes in. Miles to go.

Curving south below the Shelf

Perfect fall runningNate wasn’t entirely thrilled with this section as his dead reckoning mountaineer’s Spidey sense told him we were heading south at one point, clearly moving in the wrong direction if we hoped to get by the Grand. Andy and I laughed it off until we crested Fox Creek Pass and saw the tip of the Grand seemingly another time zone away. This was not going to be easy.

Fox Creek Pass, looking south

On the Shelf. The sad reality of the Grand Teton in the distance. OMG!What was easy, relatively, was the essentially flat trail running along the Shelf. Amazing limestone cliffs to our left and stunning views everywhere else made the next several miles a joy. My legs were dead from the week of abuse so I forced us to walk from time to time. Andy tolerated it and Nate celebrated my decision to do so. Small streams along the way allowed bottle refills even in this summer’s dry conditions.

Andy, Death Canyon Shelf cruisingAfter entering Jedediah Smith Wilderness, we were soon dropping off the Shelf into Alaska Basin and making our way through mostly rolling terrain.

Next stop, Alaska BasinAnother climb popped us up within sight of Sunset Lake and within striking distance of Hurricane Pass. Sunset Lake below Hurricane PassThe climb up to the pass always takes longer than it should but the view of the range east makes it worth it. Andy had never been anywhere in the range besides Garnet Canyon and Mt. Moran so he was like a kid in a candy store.

A view worth running to

Pain worth dullingWe were 4 hours into it now and I was dreading the 11 miles of downhill still to come. It was time for a little experimentation. I have it on good word from some professional endurance athletes that a touch of narcotic can make the agony go away at times like these. I’ve eaten plenty of Advil over the years but hydrocodone had never been part of my nutrition plan. So, like the Guinea Pig that I am, I downed a Norco 5/325 and waited for what was to come.

Frankly, I noticed little in terms of my ability to run or balance or whatever. I certainly wasn’t stumbling along, thank goodness. But I did notice a fairly positive attitude and tolerable quad complaints. Not a bad trick. I guess I’m a doper like Lance now. Only difference is I’m confessing.

School Room Glacier and lakeThe 2+ hour descent went uneventfully, save for some cramps for Nate and a spectacular mosh pit dive (minus the fans) for Andy. Oops. Andy dodging bullets. Nate enjoying the entertainmentThe junkie (me) was the only one not to have issues. Luckily, Andy was fine and we continued on our way.

Easy running in the South Fork of Cascade CanyonOne last painful downhill along the horse trail to Jenny Lake brought us to the last real running to String Lake. It was nice to the see the bridge and the truck. My map had us at 26 miles but the GPS put as at 29.9. We completed the effort in 6:31 with a moving time of 5:50. A good runner could probably get it down to 4:30 or better.

Details

Once again, I put the Hoka Stinson EVOs through their paces. This is truly the terrain at which they excel.

For food, I was all Gu products, happily downing 17 gels and one pack of Chomps for a total of 1,690 kcals. I chased this with about 2 liters of water. This offset by the 4,000+ kcals I burnt along the way.Spent fuel

My Ultraspire Surge pack did the trick holding just enough clothing for the cool weather outing.