XPD - the final trek

We got to the ski club at Lake Tinaroo around 4:30 - 5:00pm on the 7th day.  I was a mess and my feet were killing me.  We wanted to get on the lake as quick as possible.  However, I was moving slowly.  I had to work on my feet - get them cleaned and re taped.  I was hoping to let them rest during the paddle.  While I was taking care of my feet (with the assistance of one of TA members,) Brian and Karl were getting the boats blown up and Jen was packing the boxes.  I was just moving slowly.  I felt better then I did at the cafe but was still not in very good shape.  The rest of the team wanted to finish the paddle and head straight into the trek.  I just wasn’t going to be able to do that and insisted that we sleep some before the trek.

Several teams came into the TA and left before we were able to get on the lake.  Just before we left, I noticed we had 4 mountain house packages in the box.  I spoke to Karl about whether we should take it.  He thought we had some in the next TA box.  Why I would listen to some one so sleep deprived just shows how sleep deprived I was.  Anyway, I didn’t bring the food.

We got on the water right at sunset.  After being past by several teams in the TA we were out of the top 20.  The paddle was uneventful except that Brian and I did crazy Ivans down the lake.  I had a very tough time keeping the kayak going in a straight line.  Jen navigated us to the take out where there was a nice fire.

Sure enough, we had very little food in the TA box, and no mountain house.  I had to settle for a can of tuna fish before I laid down.  We agreed to hit the trial at midnight.

We got up, packed up our packs for the final trek and hit the road about 12:30 am.  The trek started on a good fire road the climbed up the ridge towards Caines.  I was feeling much better after that short sleep.  According to the map, after getting to the top of the ridge and rounding a bend there should have been a trial head leading north.  About 12 kilometers in, around 3am we got to the spot I thought the trail should have been, but couldn’t find it.  We were at the right elevation, the trial turned as indicated on the map but we couldn’t find anything that looked like a trail.  We went back and forth, up and down the trail, but no luck.  We went back up the ridge and found a trail head with a tent of another team that was taking a nap.  We tried heading up the trail but it was going the wrong way and I found it on the map leading to a peak we didn’t want to go.  Leeches were falling out of the trees and I got one attached on my lip.  We didn’t go up the trail too far before we turned back, quietly sneaking around the tent without waking it’s occupants.

We were at a loss, so we studied the map some more.  Further down the trail, there was a trail on the wrong side of the road that was marked “overgrown.”  I thought, maybe it crossed the road.  As we were heading down the trail we ran into an all male team that had been out there for hours.  They did not look like they were in very good shape. Sure enough, there was a solid trail with nice blaze markers.  We took off moving well.  I was feeling pretty good at this point. 

We were doing well until we crossed a stream.  We picked up what we thought was the right trail.  We followed it for a while and all of a sudden dropped onto the road.  We had found the original trail head we had been looking for before.  It was completely overgrown and required a climb up to it.  The sun was just coming up.  So we turned around and trekked back to the stream.  The first trail we followed had nice blazes.  The trail we were now on had only yellow ribbon marking the way.  At this point, I was pretty sure I knew where on the map we were and was able to follow it as we moved forward.  From that point on, we made good time. The trial was not very good, completely overgrown.  Every once in a while we would lose the trail.  One team member would stand at the last ribbon till we found the next one.  That worked well, especially when there was a lot of tree fall. We later found out that this section caused a lot of teams a great deal of trouble.

Youtube – last jungle trek http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOCgWfkG_Ks  and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BToY1ZNt6c&feature=related

We had a very big climb up to a peak, then down along a ridge and finally came out to the intersection we were looking for.  This was the trail to the outlook where the next CP would be.  This was going to be a 2000 foot climb.

We got to this intersection around noon.  We took a quick 10 min lay down and then we were off.  There were two ways to the top - a shorter, steeper section, or a longer, more gradual path.  We picked the shorter path.  It was extremely steep.  Those Aussi’s are a tough breed, calling this a walking path. 

 A couple of hours of climbing and we were at the lookout.  It was a nice little clearing by a tower.  We got there around 3:00.  We took a bit of time to eat and work on our feet.  I was getting concerned that we were going to get stuck in the jungle in the dark. 

The next section was a 5 kilometer jungle bush whack.  I had been concerned about this section since I first saw it.  When we originally got the maps I had located a second route - one that was all on road, but was about 25 kilometers longer.

From the outlook CP (located at Kalphalim Rock) we dropped down into the jungle, attempting the bushwhack.  After 45 minutes, we hadn’t gotten anywhere and realized we were not on the ridge that we wanted to get on.  We got back up on the trail that lead us to the outlook.  We were looking for an entry to the correct ridge.  As we worked our way along the trail, looking for the ridge, we saw two teams show up.

At this point, given the lack of sunlight left, we started to talk about doing the longer “walk around” route.  Not only was I concerned about the slow going in the jungle, but I knew sleeping in the jungle with the leeches and other nasties would be very tough.  Also, given our physical state, I was concerned that someone might slip and get injured. We figured that the best we could do would be 1 kilometer an hour in the jungle, while we could do 5 kilometers an hour on the road.  We also figured that if it didn’t go well in the jungle we could be in the jungle for hours, while on the road, as long as we keep moving we would do fine.  So we agreed to take the longer route.   

The Kiwi girls and an all male team were with us at this point, but didn’t seem interested in working together.  They took off to somewhere, I don’t know where they went.  We headed down off the ridge back to the parking lot near the intersection we had been at several hours before.  We dropped down about 1700 feet and hit the parking lot just as the sun went down.  We did an hour lay down and got a little sleep before starting this long trek on the road.

The trek on the road was long and painful.  My feet were really hurting.  It appeared that everyone had bad feet and the trek was just a grind.  The road turned out to be much more hilly then I had expected.  Very steep up hills and steep down hills as we moved along.  Although it was painful we were making good time.  We headed West, then cut down some power lines north.  We found the main road heading East.  We were looking for the dam that crossed Lake Morris.  It seemed like it took us forever to get there.  As I was sleep walking (Brian was navigating) I kept thinking how could we miss a huge lake and dam.  As is always true in AR, you are never as far along as you think.  Finally, we got there and found the dam around 3 am.  We were beat so just laid down in the middle of the dam and slept for an hour.

It was a short walk from the dam to the turn off down to Crystal Cascade. The trail that dropped down to this very beautiful park was extremely steep and several hundred feet vertical - all switch backs.  We worked our way down and as the sun began to rise we were at the park. We walked past the CP marker in the dark and went all the way to the end of the park.  We cursed the race director and took a picture of the end of the gate thinking that some one may have stolen the flag.  As we were walking out of the park we saw the marker and gathered the CP. 

Now we were on the home stretch.  20 kilometers to the finish.  As we began to walk out of the park, a lady on a bike rode up to us.  She was very excited to see us and said she had come to the park hoping to find a team.  Like many of the locals, she had been following the race.   She, like many of the people, was very encouraging and urged us on.  During this last trek we had several cars pull over and the people get out and cheer us on.

Just before we left the park Karl jumped in one of the bathrooms and was greeted by a huge yellow spider, the size of his head.  Deeming that stall occupied he moved on.

Like horses smelling the barn, we were on a mission to the finish.  We had no idea if our walk around had changed our position, but we knew we were going to finish well in advance of the cut off ( a concern that I had had that entire leg.)

First we needed to trek east around a mountain range (we did have the option of climbing over the range; an option we soundly rejected.). We were trekking at a strong pace.  We cut though a neighborhood, through a sugarcane field and into a park.  We cut through a creek and around the end of the range.  At this point we had 10 kilometers of walking through the town.  For me this was the toughest section.  So close, yet such a long way on hot, hard pavement.  We stopped briefly at a gas station for ice cream and red bull.  We kept working our way to Carins.  I had misplaced the final map - the one of the city that showed the location of the final CP - on the north end of the Esplanade (about 5 minutes from the finish.) 

We had some trouble locating the CP.  The instructions said it was at a phone box but there was no phone box at the north end.  We found the closest phone box, got the number and took it to the finish line.

We found the finish at the pool at the Rydges.  We crossed the line at 11:30 am, just a few minutes shy of 8 full days after we started.    We were the 13th team overall and 11th in the Premier (Co-Ed) division.  In the last trek, between passing teams and drop outs, we moved up 7 position.  20 teams finished the full course fully ranked, 3 teams finished the full course unranked, 2 teams did a short course and 21 teams did not finish.

This was a great race for us.  For all of us it was the first time we had finished the long course of an expedition race fully ranking.  For me this was the hardest race, both physically and mentally, I have ever done.  The great support of my teammates got me through.

I came to his race hoping for an Eco-Challenge type expedition.  I got exactly what I was looking for.  It was hard, interesting, and exciting, with leeches and all. 

For more pictures see the gallery at www.Dirtyavocados.com.  For more video, go to youtube and search under Dirty Avocados

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 16th, 2010 at 4:41 pm and is filed under Race Reports, Team. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. [Permalink]

XPD - the final trek

We got to the ski club at Lake Tinaroo around 4:30 - 5:00pm on the 7th day.  I was a mess and my feet were killing me.  We wanted to get on the lake as quick as possible.  However, I was moving slowly.  I had to work on my feet - get them cleaned and re taped.  I was hoping to let them rest during the paddle.  While I was taking care of my feet (with the assistance of one of TA members,) Brian and Karl were getting the boats blown up and Jen was packing the boxes.  I was just moving slowly.  I felt better then I did at the cafe but was still not in very good shape.  The rest of the team wanted to finish the paddle and head straight into the trek.  I just wasn’t going to be able to do that and insisted that we sleep some before the trek.

Several teams came into the TA and left before we were able to get on the lake.  Just before we left, I noticed we had 4 mountain house packages in the box.  I spoke to Karl about whether we should take it.  He thought we had some in the next TA box.  Why I would listen to some one so sleep deprived just shows how sleep deprived I was.  Anyway, I didn’t bring the food.

We got on the water right at sunset.  After being past by several teams in the TA we were out of the top 20.  The paddle was uneventful except that Brian and I did crazy Ivans down the lake.  I had a very tough time keeping the kayak going in a straight line.  Jen navigated us to the take out where there was a nice fire.

Sure enough, we had very little food in the TA box, and no mountain house.  I had to settle for a can of tuna fish before I laid down.  We agreed to hit the trial at midnight.

We got up, packed up our packs for the final trek and hit the road about 12:30 am.  The trek started on a good fire road the climbed up the ridge towards Caines.  I was feeling much better after that short sleep.  According to the map, after getting to the top of the ridge and rounding a bend there should have been a trial head leading north.  About 12 kilometers in, around 3am we got to the spot I thought the trail should have been, but couldn’t find it.  We were at the right elevation, the trial turned as indicated on the map but we couldn’t find anything that looked like a trail.  We went back and forth, up and down the trail, but no luck.  We went back up the ridge and found a trail head with a tent of another team that was taking a nap.  We tried heading up the trail but it was going the wrong way and I found it on the map leading to a peak we didn’t want to go.  Leeches were falling out of the trees and I got one attached on my lip.  We didn’t go up the trail too far before we turned back, quietly sneaking around the tent without waking it’s occupants.

We were at a loss, so we studied the map some more.  Further down the trail, there was a trail on the wrong side of the road that was marked “overgrown.”  I thought, maybe it crossed the road.  As we were heading down the trail we ran into an all male team that had been out there for hours.  They did not look like they were in very good shape. Sure enough, there was a solid trail with nice blaze markers.  We took off moving well.  I was feeling pretty good at this point. 

We were doing well until we crossed a stream.  We picked up what we thought was the right trail.  We followed it for a while and all of a sudden dropped onto the road.  We had found the original trail head we had been looking for before.  It was completely overgrown and required a climb up to it.  The sun was just coming up.  So we turned around and trekked back to the stream.  The first trail we followed had nice blazes.  The trail we were now on had only yellow ribbon marking the way.  At this point, I was pretty sure I knew where on the map we were and was able to follow it as we moved forward.  From that point on, we made good time. The trial was not very good, completely overgrown.  Every once in a while we would lose the trail.  One team member would stand at the last ribbon till we found the next one.  That worked well, especially when there was a lot of tree fall. We later found out that this section caused a lot of teams a great deal of trouble.

Youtube – last jungle trek http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOCgWfkG_Ks  and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BToY1ZNt6c&feature=related

We had a very big climb up to a peak, then down along a ridge and finally came out to the intersection we were looking for.  This was the trail to the outlook where the next CP would be.  This was going to be a 2000 foot climb.

We got to this intersection around noon.  We took a quick 10 min lay down and then we were off.  There were two ways to the top - a shorter, steeper section, or a longer, more gradual path.  We picked the shorter path.  It was extremely steep.  Those Aussi’s are a tough breed, calling this a walking path. 

 A couple of hours of climbing and we were at the lookout.  It was a nice little clearing by a tower.  We got there around 3:00.  We took a bit of time to eat and work on our feet.  I was getting concerned that we were going to get stuck in the jungle in the dark. 

The next section was a 5 kilometer jungle bush whack.  I had been concerned about this section since I first saw it.  When we originally got the maps I had located a second route - one that was all on road, but was about 25 kilometers longer.

From the outlook CP (located at Kalphalim Rock) we dropped down into the jungle, attempting the bushwhack.  After 45 minutes, we hadn’t gotten anywhere and realized we were not on the ridge that we wanted to get on.  We got back up on the trail that lead us to the outlook.  We were looking for an entry to the correct ridge.  As we worked our way along the trail, looking for the ridge, we saw two teams show up.

At this point, given the lack of sunlight left, we started to talk about doing the longer “walk around” route.  Not only was I concerned about the slow going in the jungle, but I knew sleeping in the jungle with the leeches and other nasties would be very tough.  Also, given our physical state, I was concerned that someone might slip and get injured. We figured that the best we could do would be 1 kilometer an hour in the jungle, while we could do 5 kilometers an hour on the road.  We also figured that if it didn’t go well in the jungle we could be in the jungle for hours, while on the road, as long as we keep moving we would do fine.  So we agreed to take the longer route.   

The Kiwi girls and an all male team were with us at this point, but didn’t seem interested in working together.  They took off to somewhere, I don’t know where they went.  We headed down off the ridge back to the parking lot near the intersection we had been at several hours before.  We dropped down about 1700 feet and hit the parking lot just as the sun went down.  We did an hour lay down and got a little sleep before starting this long trek on the road.

The trek on the road was long and painful.  My feet were really hurting.  It appeared that everyone had bad feet and the trek was just a grind.  The road turned out to be much more hilly then I had expected.  Very steep up hills and steep down hills as we moved along.  Although it was painful we were making good time.  We headed West, then cut down some power lines north.  We found the main road heading East.  We were looking for the dam that crossed Lake Morris.  It seemed like it took us forever to get there.  As I was sleep walking (Brian was navigating) I kept thinking how could we miss a huge lake and dam.  As is always true in AR, you are never as far along as you think.  Finally, we got there and found the dam around 3 am.  We were beat so just laid down in the middle of the dam and slept for an hour.

It was a short walk from the dam to the turn off down to Crystal Cascade. The trail that dropped down to this very beautiful park was extremely steep and several hundred feet vertical - all switch backs.  We worked our way down and as the sun began to rise we were at the park. We walked past the CP marker in the dark and went all the way to the end of the park.  We cursed the race director and took a picture of the end of the gate thinking that some one may have stolen the flag.  As we were walking out of the park we saw the marker and gathered the CP. 

Now we were on the home stretch.  20 kilometers to the finish.  As we began to walk out of the park, a lady on a bike rode up to us.  She was very excited to see us and said she had come to the park hoping to find a team.  Like many of the locals, she had been following the race.   She, like many of the people, was very encouraging and urged us on.  During this last trek we had several cars pull over and the people get out and cheer us on.

Just before we left the park Karl jumped in one of the bathrooms and was greeted by a huge yellow spider, the size of his head.  Deeming that stall occupied he moved on.

Like horses smelling the barn, we were on a mission to the finish.  We had no idea if our walk around had changed our position, but we knew we were going to finish well in advance of the cut off ( a concern that I had had that entire leg.)

First we needed to trek east around a mountain range (we did have the option of climbing over the range; an option we soundly rejected.). We were trekking at a strong pace.  We cut though a neighborhood, through a sugarcane field and into a park.  We cut through a creek and around the end of the range.  At this point we had 10 kilometers of walking through the town.  For me this was the toughest section.  So close, yet such a long way on hot, hard pavement.  We stopped briefly at a gas station for ice cream and red bull.  We kept working our way to Carins.  I had misplaced the final map - the one of the city that showed the location of the final CP - on the north end of the Esplanade (about 5 minutes from the finish.) 

We had some trouble locating the CP.  The instructions said it was at a phone box but there was no phone box at the north end.  We found the closest phone box, got the number and took it to the finish line.

We found the finish at the pool at the Rydges.  We crossed the line at 11:30 am, just a few minutes shy of 8 full days after we started.    We were the 13th team overall and 11th in the Premier (Co-Ed) division.  In the last trek, between passing teams and drop outs, we moved up 7 position.  20 teams finished the full course fully ranked, 3 teams finished the full course unranked, 2 teams did a short course and 21 teams did not finish.

This was a great race for us.  For all of us it was the first time we had finished the long course of an expedition race fully ranking.  For me this was the hardest race, both physically and mentally, I have ever done.  The great support of my teammates got me through.

I came to his race hoping for an Eco-Challenge type expedition.  I got exactly what I was looking for.  It was hard, interesting, and exciting, with leeches and all. 

For more pictures see the gallery at www.Dirtyavocados.com.  For more video, go to youtube and search under Dirty Avocados

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 16th, 2010 at 4:41 pm and is filed under Race Reports, Team. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. [Permalink]