pic: OJG
The moment we pulled into the driveway… Wingo and I could hear yelling coming from
inside the cabin. We walked through the front door and were greeted by 3 jovial
faces standing around a half empty bottle of whiskey…
“Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey!!!”
I had missed the hell out of these people. It had been a
long time since we all had been up in the mountains or on the trail together
and I was really looking forward to a long adventurous birthday weekend running
SCAR with some of my best friends. SCAR (Smokies Challenge Adventure Run) is a
71 mile fun run along the Appalachian Trail traversing the entire length of the
Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The remoteness of the route (only 2 spots
to access aid: mile 32 and 40) paired with almost 19,000ft of climbing… makes
for a rather long, and challenging outing. Because of the leaf coverage on the
trail, the lack of water and the fickle/unpredictable autumn weather in the
Smoky Mtns… it’s not really recommended to do the route in October. However… I
really wanted to do the traverse at the height of the Fall season to get the
opportunity to see the beautiful colors of the trees.
The original game plan was for me to start the run at 4am…
but shortly after my 2nd whiskey drink and somewhere between Ole JG’s
Michael Jackson dance moves and the 2 Chainz Birthday Song… the start time got
pushed back to 730am. Thank God. Normally… I would insert a video of the 2
Chainz dance party we had… but due to the contract agreement upon entering the
cabin… I’m required by law not to post it. Though I do expect it to be leaked
eventually…
pic: OJG
We got to Fontana Dam right as the sun was coming up,
snapped a few pictures on the dam and I bid farewell to OJG and Humphrey.
pic: OJG
The air was crisp and the early morning sunlight illuminated
the forest and really brought out the warm yellows, reds and oranges in the
leaves.
The woods were hauntingly beautiful leading up to Mollies
Ridge Shelter…
The way the sunlight mixed with the smoky mountain air warmed my soul…
I made a quick stop at Mollie’s Ridge Shelter to put away my
jacket and to have a snack. I started noticing some hoar frost on the tops of
the trees as I made my way up through Spence Field. I stopped for a few minutes and talked with a
hiker who was intrigued as to why I was in shorts and a tshirt.
“Are you not cold son? Where ya heading?”
Though it was crazy windy and cold… the almost constant
climbing and a pair of gloves kept me warm and comfortable. He eventually
wished me a safe journey and I made my way towards Rocky Top.
Despite the zero visibility up on Rocky Top… there were
upwards of 10 people on the summit. I received quite a few puzzled looks when I
pulled a single blue, crème filled Airhead from my back pocket, gently placed it
on a rock, took a picture and ran off. This
was to honor Ashley’s (ashruns100s) birthday and her transition into adulthood.
Some crazy woman told her she had to give up candy when she turned old. I
obviously don’t believe in this hogwash since candy makes up close to 70% of my
daily caloric intake. I will continue pushing candy on people because that’s
what I am… “I’m a pusher. I push people.”
I made good time up to Rocky Top but after topping
Thunderhead Mountain things got slow. An overnight drizzle and heavy leaf
coverage had made the rock in this section unbearably slick. I didn’t feel
comfortable descending with any speed and didn’t want to risk getting hurt on
such a remote section of the trail so I took it slower through this section. The
wind had picked up again and was blowing lots of ice from the trees onto the
trail…
The wind was harsh. It took a lot out of me and beat me up
more than I can explain. The slow movement, high winds and a continuous feeling
of hunger broke my spirit a bit. I stayed relatively warm… but it was like no
matter how much I ate… I could never get full. My stomach was constantly growling. Though I never
bonked or felt bad for the entire run… I just couldn’t seem to satisfy my
hunger… which became more annoying than anything. The trail dried out by the
time I reached Derricks Knob. At this point I was behind schedule but none of
my text messages would send to give updates to my crew. At least I was on a
pretty trail…
I was starving by the time I started the approach to
Clingmans. I could almost taste the Arby’s roast beef sandwich that was going
to be waiting for me. I finally got enough of a signal to receive a phone call
from Hump. Due to the ridiculous amount of traffic/tourists visiting Clingmans…
parking was a nightmare. Hump and Wingo were at Newfound Gap (mile 40) and had
dropped off OJG and Matty Fierce at Clingmans to meet me with supplies. OJG and
MF had to get dropped off and run a mile up to Clingman’s because parking and
traffic was so bad!
OJG and Matty Fierce had assumed I had already passed
through Clingman’s Dome and was on my way down to Newfound Gap. They were
worried that they had missed me so they set off to Newfound Gap to catch me. Little
did they know that due to my epic slowness… I had JUST arrived at Clingmans…
1.5-2hrs behind my projected time. I climbed up to the walkway that lead up to
the dome, sat down and called Matty Fierce's phone. OJG and MF were already back at
Newfound! I had made the decision to conserve a little water in case aid wasn’t
there. In the back of my mind I had a suspicion that Clingmans was going to be
overrun with tourists and there was a real possibility of something like this
happening. Because of this… It wasn’t
really a big deal that this aid didn’t work out. I hopped back on the trail and
started making my way down to Newfound Gap. It felt good to actually RUN. The
first 32 miles had about 12,000ft of climbing… so it felt as though I hadn’t really
ran all day! My gleeful jaunt down to Newfound was interrupted by 3 guys
yelling into the woods. They said they had lost their friend and they had just
seen a bear. They proceeded to ask what they were supposed to do when they see
a bear. Even though it was getting dark… they seemed to care more about
learning about bear safety than about finding their friend…
I few moments later I saw OJG and Wingo heading towards me
bearing gifts! I scarfed down half an Arby’s roast beef sandwich and grabbed a fresh handheld before we
started back towards Newfound Gap. It wasn’t long before we had to throw on the
headlamps for the final miles to the car.
When we arrived at Newfound… I hopped in the back of the car,
opened a Coke and proceeded to demolish the other half of roast beef sandwich.
I re-lubed my feet and put on an extra base layer for the overnight portion. My
spirits had been down ever since Thunderhead Mtn… but seeing these guys turned
that right around! Once we got loaded up for the last 30ish mile section… we
set off into the night. Wingo had volunteered to drive my car to Davenport so
that we wouldn’t have to drive all the way back to Newfound Gap once we
finished. This would shave off 1.5hrs of extra driving afterwards. I felt bad that he had come all the way up
and only got to run 8ish miles of the route but very thankful for the support
and for him selflessly volunteering to make the logistics easier for everyone.
Somewhere between Newfound Gap and Charlies Bunion (aka
Charlies Bulge) I started to feel really bad that these guys came all the way
up to run mountains and weren’t getting to see any views. I started to apologize
but was immediately shut down. For the record… I’ve got some freaking amazing
friends.
Once we passed Charlies Bulge... I was in new territory. I
had never ran this portion of the Appalachian Trail before. The trail seemed
like it would be absolutely gorgeous during the daylight. We ran along the edge
of the cliff side with clear views of the city lights in the distance. Though
it was fun running the ridges… it was cold and extremely windy in these exposed
areas. The wind died every time we reentered the canopy. At one intersection we
veered off of the AT and started heading down to Kephart shelter. Luckily… we
caught the mistake and backtracked to the route before getting too far off
course. We chatted off and on throughout the night but there were a lot of
spans of just peaceful silence among the group. A good running group doesn’t always
have to be in constant conversation.
There’s beauty in the way a group can silently move through the mountains
together. Lots can be communicated through silence if you just listen. It seemed
as though almost every mountain we climbed there was an overlook with a view. I
was already getting excited to get back and run this section again during the
daylight. A long stretch of silence was broken when OJG’s beautiful singing voice
pierced the night air…
“Happy birthday day to
you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Zach. Happy birthday to you!”
At 12:00:01am OJG broke the silence again…
“It’s over. Your birthday is over. Just wanted to inform you.”
My birthday may have been over but we still had a solid +5hrs
left until we reached our car. After midnight… the sleepiness set in and
everything seemed to blend together. At some point Hump pointed out a beautiful
blood red moon peering through the trees and it instigated Blind Pilot’s “We Are the Tide” to play on repeat in
my head. At another point (somewhere around Mount Guyot maybe?) I managed to snag a patch of frosted/wet grass, proceeded to hit the ground and almost tumbled off the trail
down an embankment. Ce la vie.
I was so relieved when we reached the turn off to Mt Cammerer.
Knowing I only had 5.2 miles until I could stop moving and relax was very
reassuring… but what wasn’t very reassuring was the first 2 miles down. The
first 2 miles of this trail were filled with wide steps, loose rock and lots of
leaves. Matty Fierce was running comfortably down the trail and would pull ahead
only to slow down to pretend to be a scary shadow figure in the woods. He
brought some much needed comic relief at 4am. Thankfully it smoothed out and left
us with 3 pleasant downhill miles to the trail head. I stuck with Matty Fierce,
Hump and OJG for about a mile but I couldn’t keep their pace. I knew Matty Fierce
was pushing Hump to run hard on dead legs to help prep him for an upcoming
ultra in December and it made my heart happy to see Hump still getting after it
after 10hrs of running. I smiled as their headlamps quickly disappeared into
the early morning darkness. Though I was perfectly content with being alone for
my final slow slog down the mountain… OJG broke off from MF and Hump. I
welcomed his lie when he said…
“OJG is moving slow. I’ll follow you in.”
After 22hrs24mins my birthday fun run came to an end. There
was no finish line or finisher awards. Just hugs, fist bumps and a “good job
man” from some of the people that mean the world to me. The perfect way to ring
in year 31.
pic: Matty Fierce
We had an hour and half drive back to the cabin and THANK
GOD Wingo had decided to bring the 2nd car to the parking lot and
get some sleep so he could drive us back. I took off my shoes, climbed into the
backseat, curled up under my puffy and shot a text to Kati to let her know I was
finished and safe. The last thing I remember saying was…
“Guys I’m so sorry. I smell like absolute sh*t.”
The next thing I knew… I was waking up in a gas station
parking lot. Matty Fierce bought me what I now deem as the best damn chocolate
milk I have EVER had.
(unreal view form OJGs cabin of the ridgeline I ran | far left: Thunderhead Mt | far right: Clingmans)
The sun was up by the time we got to the cabin. We all
showered up and took a quick 1-1.5hr nap before heading down to the NOC for
some food and beers.
I seriously can’t thank these guys enough for making my
birthday weekend amazing. The only thing I asked for that I didn’t get for my
birthday? A BBH. But that's alright... there's always next year...
