The Latest Adventures

Things have been quite busy here the last few weeks. In mid-August I completed the Kit Carson 24hr adventure race. I officially signed up solo but I ended up teaming up with Cyclepath and Racing With Giants and a couple other solo competitors. We traveled through the entire course has a huge 8 person team and we ended up as top finishers. Officially I placed 2nd in my division but I tied with the other soloists. It was a great time and even though I had some stomach issues (read: I was puking my guts out) later in the race it felt like more of an adventure than a race.

Labor Day weekend I headed up to Bend, Oregon to spend time with my several old college friends who now live on the west coast. We camped out at Smith Rock area and they were able to get in a lot of good climbing and I was able to rock out on the mountain bike. In the evening we relaxed around the campfire and one night we were able to have a pinata party! Another highlight from this trip is we went “caving” in a lava tube cave just south of Bend - touristy but great fun. On the way back my friends Roj and Tracey stopped in Crater Lake National Park. This was a surreal place and the views were fantastic. We hiked up Mt. Scott which is the highest peak in the park and they had a great time with photography.

Mid-September was spent getting in a ton of biking at the lake. On the second weekend in the month I headed up to do the Flume Trail with my buddy Jason. It was his first time on the Flume and he was impressed with the views of the lake from the trail. We also went around the backside of Marlette Lake and by the time we got back it was his longest mountain bike ride ever! A great achievement for a new rider. The next day my compadres, Cynthia and Karl from Team Cyclepath and a new friend Ken met me up at the Lake for some classic Tahoe mountain biking. We explored around and did part of the Tahoe Rim Trail from Brockway over to Watson Lake. This is my favorite section of the Rim Trail (probably because it’s the closest to drive to from Reno) and it was great to spend some time outdoors with my friends in a non-race situation.

The following weekend after I met up with them my Sacramento friend Wes and I decided to head up Granite Chief near Squaw Valley ski resort. The hike up was a boring trek through Squaw Valley ski resort but the hike down was a fun bushwhack down a creek drainage north of the resort. A good relaxing fun hike with great views on the peak. That weekend I was also able to get in some mountain biking up on the TRT/Fiberboard in preparation for upcoming racing.

This past weekend was the Big Blue Tahoe 12hr adventure race. My friends over on Team Racing With Giants asked me to take a team of new adventure racers out on the course and be their navigator and co-captain. I joined my new friends Austyn, Alison, and Heather on a team called RWG - Skirts’n'Dirt. This was a great team name because we were a primarily female team and also since Heather owns Atalanta, a company that produces athletic clothing for women. The actual race turned out to be a rather adventurous experience. The weather turned out to be quite heinous - the race started with hail and then oscillated between freezing rain and snow. On the kayak section the Coast Guard decided to shut down traffic on the lake and we all had to return to shore. Once we were on the bikes the wind and rain picked up and we were never quite able to warm up, even while riding the steep uphills away from the lake. We were becoming gravely hypothermic. Within a couple hours of trudging through this mess we decided that it was much more safe (and much more enjoyable) to call it a day and head to Starbucks for some hot caramel apple cider. After a very scary cold and wet downhill in the icy rain we informed the race directors that we were done for the day. We switched into dry clothes and decided that enjoying the storm from inside our rental cabin was the right idea! All in all, while I wouldn’t call the race “fun” I would say that it was an adventure and I think our new racers experienced a situation that they could learn from and move forward from. They did a great job dealing with the complex logistics of racing and also with staying calm in extreme situations. I’m sure they will be out again for the next one!

Well, that’s it for the adventures! I’ll possibly have pictures at some point and I’ll put them up online if I do.

Desolation Wilderness Adventure

This past couple days I was able to do an ultralight backpacking trek
through Desolation Wilderness near Tahoe. I had lofty goals of doing
several peaks on the Tahoe Peaks List
(http://www.randyfranklin.com/tahoepeaks/) but in the end I did 3 peaks:
Mt. Tallac, Dicks Peak, and Jacks Peak.

Since I decided to do this trip ultra-minimalist style I decided to leave
both the sleeping bag and the stove/potset at home. The temperatures were
decently warm enough to allow this approach but unfortunately bear
activity in the area necessitated the use of a portable bear cannister so
I wasn’t going quite as light as I hoped.

Friday morning after getting the requisite overnight permits from the
Forest Service I headed up toward Mt. Tallac on the Floating Island Trail.
It was a 5 mile easy plod up toward the summit and by the time I reached
the top there were already several dayhikers up there checking out the
great view of Lake Tahoe. I spent a few moments looking around for a
summit register but, amazingly give the high traffic, I didn’t find one. I
decided to take the Floating Leaf Trail down to Gilmore Lake with the
intention of taking the Pacific Crest Trail up to Dicks Pass and then up
to Dicks Peak. Everything went according to plan and I was even able to
purfiy up some water at Gilmore Lake. Heading up on the PCT was a long
dry hike but when I reached Dicks Pass I was awarded with some great
views of the Wilderness.

Once at the pass it was due west toward Dicks Peak. This is where it
started to turn into the nasty talus/scree that I would be dealing with
for the rest of the day. Dicks Peak had a minimal trail moving up through
a Class 2 section and after climbing through that I was soon at the top. I
hung out for a some time and looked through the summit register entries.
Dicks gets very little traffic and I was hoping to be the “July” entry so
I was slightly disappointed to see that someone had been there that
morning!

Anyway, it was probably 3 or 4 in the afternoon by the point and here is
where it started to get interesting. Jacks and Dicks Peak were connected
by a long ridge and it has been reported that this is a fun hike between
the two peaks. This was not very fun for me. I’m not sure if the heat was
getting to me or if I was getting worn out on the endless fields of talus
but whatever was going on I was really dragging on this section. Once I
got closer to base of the upper slope of Jacks I dropped my pack with the
intention that this peak would be an out-and-back. I headed up the slope
and the route turned quite vertical very quickly. It was reported that
there was a Class 2 route up Jacks but the only doable section I could
find seemed much more difficult (Class 3-4) but I think I was just
spooking myself out. Anyway, by the time I got to the top I did a cursory
glance around for a summit register but didn’t really stop for anything. I
couldn’t go down the same way I came up; it was way too dangerous. So I
spent the next hour or so sliding down a nasty scree and talus slope. This
was precarious but doable and finally I was back to near the ridge near
where I dropped my pack.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find my pack.

This where things got extra interesting. I remembered setting my pack
near an dead bristlecone pine tree. At the time it seemed like such an
obvious landmark but as chance would have it I didn’t really notice that
there were multiple bristlecone pine tree around the whole area. My pack
was my lifeline for food, water, and warmth so to be without it in the
early evening leaved cause for concern. I wandered around from tree to
tree and to this random shrubbery and so on but I couldn’t find anything.
I stopped for a bit to rest and think. I traveled halfway back to Dicks
Peak to retrace my exact route but I didn’t find anything. I ascended
partly up the bottom of the Jacks Peak route to see if I could see
anything from above but that didn’t provide any solutions either. I was
really getting frustrated, thirsty, and hungry at this point and the sun
wasn’t getting any higher. Part of my mind was already thinking about how
I would get through the night without my gear and dealing with logistics
upon return to my car (my car keys and identification were in my pack). I
think a couple hours had gone by when I just randomly stumbled across the
pack. No fan-fair, no ticker tape parade, just a simple “Well, that’s
good” celebrated the finding of my pack. I grabbed everything up and had
to move quick because I had to descend to the valley before the sun really
went down.

The descension was rough because it was a strange mix of vegetation,
rocks, scree, and trees. It was terrain that was impossible to come up an
efficient strategy for maneuvering through. On the map the slope looked
more gradual than it felt and as I headed down I made a mental note to
double-check the contour interval the next time I plan a cross-country
route.

The valley, named China Flat, was the location of the source of the
Rubicon River. It was also home to some very green and wet marshlands
which, in turn, turned out be the home approximately one billion
mosquitos. The mosquitos were a relentless force of bloodsucking shock and
awe. Seriousy, the United States military would do well paint these little
creatures red, white, and blue and let them loose against the insurgents
in Iraq and Afgahnistan. These things would find Osama bin Laden no
problemo.

Anyway, this was where I had planned to camp and for awhile I resigned
myself to my fate. It was already mostly dark by now and I found a rocky
granite section near the Rubicon River to set up camp and eat food. I was
getting bit a hundred times over and every so often I would shuffle my
t-shirt to see multiple mosquitos dart off and then return seconds later.
In an effort to deflect the mosquitos I ended up taking mud from the river
bank and rubbing it over all exposed skin to create a barrier from the
bloodsucking. This actually worked until the mud dried up or flaked off
however it wasn’t a final solution.

After I grabbed enough water to re-hydrate my instant meals and fill my
water bladder I decided that there was no way I could last through the
night with these things. I was going insane. I decided to pack up my stuff
and head for higher elevations where hopefully colder temperatures and
windy conditions would ward off the mosquitos. I donned my headlamp
and jumped onto a trail that ran through the valley. The mosquitos
followed along even as I sped up along the trail. Along with this came my
usual bear paranoia that accompanies me on these solo adventures as I
travel after dark. In order to avoid any potential bear encounters I tend
to make a lot of noise and in this case I had jingles from television
commercials in my head. I started feeling sorry for anyone who came across
this weary trekker with red bumps all over his face, a distraught look in
his eyes, and chanting “Get a little closer with Arrid Extra Dry!” over
and over again.

I head north through the valley and in my frantic jaunt I hoped not to get
lost at night. I had to do a couple river crossings which were more
annoying and cold than anything and then finally I stumpled across
Rockbound Pass Trail. This trail headed up west into higher elevations and
would set me up well for a possible attempt on Red Peak and other peaks in
the Crystal Range the next day. Finally as I climbed higher and higher the
temperatures cooled and the mosquito onslaught eased up. I could finally
rest. After eating my instant meal and finding a suitable location away
from camp for the bear cannister I slept hard.

The next morning I knew my trip was over. No more peaks. I was spent and I
was still fifteen miles into the backcountry. I spent some time preparing
breakfast of instant chili mac and oatmeal and water. I decided not to
bring a stove or potset on the trip to save weight and I think this was a
good decision. Eating the instant meals cold is very doable and not as bad
as I was expecting. The “Chicken and Rice” meal I had for dinner the
night before was relatively decent but the “Chili Mac” wasn’t too great.
The noodles don’t rehydrate very well unless they are placed in boiling
water. I made a mental note to keep this in mind for future expedition
adventure racing.

A similar test of my sleeping system worked out well. In lieu of the high
summer temperatures I decided to go without a sleeping bag. Instead I took
sleeping pad, bivy sack, silk bag liner, and an emergency space blanket.
This actually kept me relatively warm in the low temperatures (35-40
degrees at the elevation I was at?) and if worst came to worst I would
stuff the bivy sack with pine needles and dirt to improve the insulating
properties.

The next morning I really didn’t get moving until around 10:30am. I
checked out the maps and decided the best way to get out here was to go
through the China Flat valley (yes, the mosquitos again), over the top of
Mosquito Pass (aptly named), down to Lake Aloha, and then over to the PCT.
This would set me up for going up and over Mt. Tallac and then finally
toward Lake Tahoe and the car. This avoided the move elevation changes and
actually visiting Lake Aloha was worth it. I ended up having to grab water
at Aloha and then moved on towards Gilmore Lake. I had seen relatively few
people during the day until I neared Gilmore Lake which was the
destination of several day-hikers coming up from Echo Lakes. Seeing the
people was a nice change of pace and the silent competition of trying to
beat them up the next random hill increased my trudging pace.

Finally, I got to the start of Floating Leaf Trail and has to begin the
long ascent up to Mt. Tallac again. This was long and arduous and I was
getting tired of eating the energy gels I had brought along. At this point
it was five more miles back to the car but that seemed like it could’ve
been twenty miles. Near the top of Tallac I had made the decision not to
grab the summit for the second time and just rejoiced in the fact that it
was all downhill from there. Even though my feet were feeling like
blistered lead I hastened my descent off the hill and finally reached
Cathedral Lake (the halfway point between Mt. Tallac and my car) around
4:30pm. A couple more miles later and I was back at the car. The feeling
that you get when you come back to your car after days in the backcountry
is the best ever. I’ve come to learned appreciate civilization sometimes.

All in all, even with the frustrations of dealing with insects, losing my
pack, and not being in good enough shape to head onto more peaks I think
it was a good trip. I was able get in a lot of mileage (approx 32 miles),
three peaks on the Tahoe Peaks List, and I got to tweak my ultralight
systems. I did use my new Salomon Raid Race 300 pack and I’ve determined
this pack isn’t good with loads over 10-15 pounds. The way the pack is
designed the sternum strap pulls more on the left should than the right
shoulder. This makes for an uneven discomfort placed on the body.
Hopefully the next version of the Raid 300 pack will solve these problems.

That’s it! Possibly next summer I will make another trip to Desolation
Wilderness to top out on the rest of the peaks. More adventures to come!
The end!

Shasta - June 2007

Completed a successful summit of Mt. Shasta (14,172′) this past weekend! Good route, warm days, and solid snow for the the midnight start. Windy and cold above 13k but nothing insurmountable. I did have some appetite troubles and didn’t want to eat too much - next time I need to be more cognizant about keeping up with the calories. I didn’t have my camera with me but hopefully I’ll be able to grab some from my friends that came down from Seattle. Woot!

Tahoe Peaks

Been working on my Tahoe Peaks List most of this winter and I’ve made it up 12 Tahoe-area peaks so far! Mt. Anderson and Adams Peaks have been the most recent completions.

See my Tahoe Peaks listing here: http://www.randyfranklin.com/tahoepeaks/

Quick Update

Hi all,

Sorry for the lack of updates this summer. I’ve been very busy and have neglected my website. I’ve been posting a bit over on my team’s website at http://www.cyclepathar.org if you are really truly craving that Rando-love. :-)

Heading off to Moab, Utah for 250-300 miles of adventure racing pain here in a couple weeks. Hopefully I’ll find some time to update after that!

Peavine Peak

I was able to head up to the top of the local Reno mountain Peavine Peak (8266′) this past weekend with my friends Joel and Ritwik. There is still some snow at the top so it was an interesting time!

Peavine Peak Snow Crossing

Desatoya Peak - Churchill County, Nevada

My friend Joel and I summitted Desatoya Peak (both south and north peaks, technically) today. Finally, a successful summit bid! Desatoya south is considered a Nevada county highpoint at 9973ft and is pretty steep right out of the car until about 4/5ths of the way up. We were able to get in some good classic mountaineering practice complete with cutting steps, glissading, and postholing. Thankfully, no self-arresting! It was an exposed but safe route with some great views of the Toiyabe range to the east and of the central Sierras to the west (I believe we could even see Boundary Peak from the Desatoya summit!).

Pictures:
http://www.randyfranklin.com/pictures/desatoya_april_2006/

XPD

The race site is located at XPD.com.au.

It looks like Sleepmonsters is doing live race reporting over on their XPD page.
———————————–
I’ll be doing a race synopsis below using data scraped from Google Earth, XPD’s website, and SleepMonsters.com. Reports are spotty so take everything you read here with a grain of salt.

*Note* When I refer to the TAs I’m utilizing Sleepmonster’s definition that every checkpoint the team goes to it is considered a “TA”. We know this isn’t the case but either way you’ll notice the TA numbers jump non-incrementally.
———————————–

CP1 -CP3: Mountain Bike - 3hr54min - 32.3 miles - currently 40th place
From what I can tell this started at the beach and traveled south toward the inland forests. The elevation gain, on a road through farmland, was fairly minimal over the distance (500ft in 32 miles) so I’m rather suprised it took them nearly 4hrs. I have good feeling they’re are just settling into a groove - never having raced together before using the first section of the race to “get to know each other” is a wise decision.

Cool pic of the race start: http://www.xpd.com.au/race06/gallery/day1/35BE5373.jpg

TA3 - 41 minutes - 40th place
Looks like our team did a 41 minute transition and out for the kayaking section. Looks like all the teams are somewhat still together in a pack (except for AROC!) . I’d imagine at the end of the kayak section things will be shaken up a bit more.

CP3-CP5 - Whitewater Kayaking - 6hr20min - 16.7 miles - 40th place
This was trip was on the Arthur River to a take-out at the Kanunah Bridge Park. Arthur River looks fairly remote - and from what I read it’s possible that they may be picking their way through timber flows in the river. From the pictures it looks like easy whitewater - nothing to big to get concerned about.

TA5 - 42min - 40th Place

CP5-CP6 - Mountain Biking - 2hrs 20minutes - 16.2 miles - 40th place.
The mountain bike started out in the forests near the kayak take-out and it’s possible they got some singletrack or doubletrack in here. They then hit a road to head into TA6

TA6 - 1hr29minutes - 40th place - (Currently 6am in Tasmania)
One hour and a half to switch to trekking gear is a bit long. I have a slight feeling our team took a rest here and refueled on food. I’ve noticed that on the Sleepmonsters leaderboard the times get re-updated quite often so if that’s true I’ll repost here.

CP6-CP9 - Trekking - 45.3 miles - 24hrs18min
This is along the western coast of Tasmania. I have no doubt we’ll see the race standings shake up a bit here especially if there is any navigation involved. Our team will be do most of the trek in the daylight which is a great thing. They will see some spectacular views, I think. The trek starts out on a mostly flat road and then goes toward the coast. They then turn south and head into remote country - no roads around it looks like. They may decide to stay along the beach and if not at least the countryside will be flat with only a couple rivers to cross. Stay dry Terrazoom!

CP8 (not a TA) - Currently 37th place
Looks like an update - I think they are halfway through the trek right now. And it looks like they passed a few teams on the way. I believe it’ll take 10-14hrs for them to reach TA 9.

*Update* Long section! 24hrs of trekking is no walk in the park. Good job guys! I was correct about my assessment of them going from CP8 into TA9. It took about 12hrs to do that last half.

TA9 - 1hr16min - 34th place

CP9-CP10 - Flatwater Kayaking - 11.1 miles - 5hr50minutes -34th place
I’m not sure exactly sure of the timing but I believe they may hit the beginning of the kayak section in the dark and there may be a forced-dark zone where they have to stay put. Aside from that they also may decide to sleep before heading off on the paddle (remember the paddle is going to be upstream so it’ll take some work).

*Update it looks like they did not sleep at TA9 so hopefully we’ll see them getting some deserved rest at TA10*

TA10
Stay tuned.

CP10-CP15 -Mountain bike - 95 milesa
From what I can tell with Google Earth the mountain bike takes them back into the Tassie jungle on dirt roads. The elevation data reminds me of coastal california and the climbing necessary will be similar to biking around on the coastal hills. Should be an interesting time for Terrazoom. Stay tuned.

—————————————-
Unfortunately due to general life catching up with me I’ve been upable to keep up with Terrazoom and their race across Tasmania. Halfway through it looks like one teammember dropped due to blisters and the others continued on. They are now on Day 8 and have a short mixture of mountain biking, trekking, and kayaking to make to the end by Day 10. Go Terrazoom!!!!!
—————————————–

Yukon Arctic Ultra

The Yukon Arctic Ultra starts today. The YAU is race in the Yukon Territories of Canada. It follows the Yukon Trail and has a 100 mile variant and a 320-mile variant; the racers can choose to do the distance on foot, skis, or on a mountain bike. My friend Sally is racing the 100-mile variant on foot and is one of the two Americans racing so she’s got to make us proud! I trained with her a few weeks ago and she was a bit fearful of the sled weight that she would have to tug along the trail but I think she will do great once she gets a good pace going. Check out the website of the YAU to learn more. Also, it looks like Eventrate is doing race updates as they occur so you can keep track of Sally’s and the others’ successes.

*Update* Sally placed 3rd in the 100mile footrace!!!!!!! Amazing!

The BAAR Brawl

This past weekend I travelled to San Francisco area to participate in the BAAR Brawl. The Brawl is a near-free 24hour adventure racing training event. I was able to join up with Brandon again and joined up with Cynthia, John, and Hani for the first time to race as Team Cyclepath. At the race I was able to do the meet and greet with many good AR friends from the Bay Area including Grant, Mark, and Karl.

The race was both epic and beautiful - 65 miles in Marin Headlands and SF Bay in 15 hours or so. Open-ocean crossing over to Angel island in a sea kayak at night, startling sea lions in the water, and spying the backlit Golden Gate from the murky obsidian waters was pretty much spiritual. The biking was tough and long (all fireroads) and the trek was beautiful (up to just below the east peak of mt. tam). We were able to race fast and hard. I’m not sure how other teams did because people took different routes and skipped checkpoints but comparatively I believe that we went equivalent distance of many of the other teams. We ended up skipping a big chunk of the trek and all of the second mountain bike leg - this was a training event afterall!

I made two huge mistakes during my race:

  • Did not take a PFD on the kayak. Winter SF water doing open-ocean at
    night with an unfamiliar partner and unfamiliar boat without a PFD ranks
    pretty high on the list of Stupidest Things That Rando Has Done. Luckily most of the water was glassy and without any chop.
  • Was in a rush and screwed up my food bags….so I only had energy gels for an intended 24hrs - not enough calories really. Finding an oatmeal packet in the bottom of my pack from a previous trip was perhaps the most exhilerating feeling ever.

Anyway, even with the mistakes, it was a good event and a great course.

Brandon put up an event report over on Nerdsonice. Also there is a BAAR Brawl report thread over on AdventureRaceReports.com.

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