Smokies Challenge Adventure Run
”It’s a rite of passage for southern trail runners.” – Jobie
I’ve heard him say that a couple of times. The first time I heard this recalled thinking “What is the SCAR?” and went to figure out. It’s covering the Appalachian Trail, AT, a distance of roughly 73 miles with 18,000’ of vertical in one push as the trail goes through the Smoky Mountain National Park. So I decided I wanted to get that done. I knew it wasn’t going to be something I just woke up and did and I knew I wasn’t going to be the fastest guy by a long stretch, but I wanted to see if I could get it done.
Training for SCAR
So I mentioned to a couple of friends my desire to go conquer the SCAR and several of them said ‘I’m in.’ By early spring of 2017 we had picked a date in the middle of July and we began to train, not all together but with the same goal in mind. My peek training consisted of three 70 mile weeks back to back with a specific focus on hills and climbing. While in the immediate Nashville area it’s hard to get more than 120’ of vertical per mile I was able to head out to Frozen Head State Park for a few training runs, here I can get about 200’ of vertical per mile and that makes a huge impact on my ability to climb.
I also had to figure out my nutrition and how I was going to carry it all. Yea, there are no ‘aid stations’. I have always used bullet burritos and Tanka Buffalo Jerky to that I added oatmeal cookies from Great Harvest Bakery and Spring Energy. Early on in the training I wasn’t completely sold on Spring Energy, but after a couple of long hard training runs at Frozen Head they proved themselves to be a huge shot of energy without any stomach issues! My Spring Energy go to flavors are Hill Aid, which is mango and has some caffeine in it. The other is Power Rush, which is plum; this one is my favorite not for flavor but because it gives me a long burn of energy. The jerky I use for the protein and fats and the burritos add the carbs to the protein and fats. The cookies are just quick energy that tastes great. I knew that I would need foods that would give me energy over a long period of time, proteins and fats are the best for me to accomplish that goal. The Spring Energy just balances it all out. As a part of my nutrition plan I had to think about hydration and electrolytes. I had been using Tailwind consistently without stomach issues; so long as I only mixed it ½ strength, fully strength and I get really bad stomach issues. So that took care of my electrolytes and a water purifier was going to take care of getting water on the trail. I had figured all of this out during those 70 mile weeks and practiced using them.
As training progressed injuries and sickness began to overtake the group. Serious stomach issues had a doctor telling one member not to run for about a month, they dropped out. Two others had developed foot issues such that one ended up dropping and the other had to become a pacer not being able to do the full route. Still another member ended up dropping out due to some family stuff that had announced two months before we were to start. By the time it came to go I was the last man standing and I decided I wasn’t going to waste all this training and not go.
I had put in the time training and talked with several local guys who had done SCAR. I felt reasonably sure that I could get it done, but I had no idea how long it would take me to finish. I did have a loose goal.
Which direction to go?
This question became quite the discussion in our group as we prepared for the run. A part of the group wanted to go south and the other wanted to go north. Some background, the whole route is a climb to Clingmans Dome, the half way point and then a decent after that point. Heading south the climb up to Clingmans is an overall easier grade while heading
north gets you through bear country first. Depending on what time you decide to start these factors as well as technicality of the different sections all begin to play a part in one’s choice. So long before folks started dropping out the decision was made to head south and to start at 7am. With this information I knew from previous journeys in the Smokies that this would give me a very technical downhill not long after Clingmans and put me in bear country after night fall. Next time I’m going to head north starting at roughly the same time.
It’s time
With the drops from the group I was scrambling a bit to get dropped off and have my truck at the end of the run. Mind you I’ve never done this before and I’m about to head out on the SCAR. The week of the run I’m still working out the logistical details of getting there and figuring out if anyone is going to join me. I convince my daughter to follow me to Fontana Dam to drop off my truck, this is where I’m going to finish my run. She then drove me up to the other end where the next day I was going to start at Davenport Gap. While I’m working this out one of my Dirtbag Trail Club friends, Becca Jones, tells me that they will meet me at Newfound Gap and run with me over night to Fontana Dam, this brought great comfort to my wife along with the loner of another friends Spot GPS.
So my daughter and I get to the northern end of the Smokies and I pack all my gear into my old Salomon vest, it’s the best vest I’ve ever used for any event. I’ve been watching the clouds and see them hanging low over the tops of the mountains. So that night after dinner we head over to Wal-Mart and I pick up a cheap $5 white poncho just in case it rains while I’m out there, it ended up being the best $5 I’ve ever spent. Like I’ve said I’ve never done this before so I have no idea where Davenport Gap really is located even with Google Maps.
When we leave the hotel in the morning and get to where the AT crosses I-40 I see what are the trail markers for the AT and figure this has to be the place, I was wrong. I ended up starting at a place called “The Little Pigeon River Crossing” this added 1.5 miles to my journey. It was basically a climb and decent before Davenport Gap, but it was beautiful. The trail was covered in low growing ferns, lichen and other plants. The trail itself was a bit wet, kind of like the woods after a rain that drains off well, just damp; not muddy and slick. When I arrive at Davenport Gap and figure out that it is Davenport Gap, I just chuckle to myself and move on down the trail. From the start of the trail until I reach Tri-Corner shelter the terrain was mainly roots, small rocks and up. As I got closer to Tri-Corner the thunder began to increase in frequency and volume, but it wasn’t raining. I passed a few hikers heading the other way and inquired after rain, but they hadn’t had any. I never ran into many people, from the start to Newfound Gap I think I came across maybe 12 folks. Tri-Corner was one of my planned stops for water and to eat, it was here that the rain started; I continued to hear thunder, but never saw any flashes of light. I took about 10 minutes to stop and eat, drink and refill my water supply. Before leaving I dawned my $5 poncho, which I would keep on until I reached Newfound Gap. It was during this section that I’m sure I was quite the sight, I just don’t fit the stereo typical hiker let alone a trail runner. I came across a hiker heading the other way and we chatted about signs of bear, but before they spoke to me I called out to let them know I saw them. Apparently I was hard to see with the clouds hanging low on the trail, thus catching them off guard. Oops, this happened one other time as I neared Newfound Gap. I passed the Boulevard Trail, which takes you out to Mt. LeConte from the AT, and came across some hikers taking a break. From the Boulevard Trial into Newfound Gap was a bunch of ‘bouldering’, having to work your way around large boulders on a decent. I knew from past experience that I was getting close to Newfound and was pushing to get there. Nine and a half hours after I started and roughly 32 miles later I came into Newfound Gap with my now signature pig call. Becca pops out of her car and calls me over. She has brought a variety of food of which I make short work of some of it. She gets her gear together and about 30 minutes later we are off. We leave her car parked and locked at Newfound an head to Clingmans Dome, I’m hopeful that we can get there by night fall. As we move to Clingmans Dome we talk about our journeys to Newfound Gap and develop a strategy for dealing with wild animals after dark. As the trail passes by Clingmans Dome we stop to take a break, I needed to eat. Up until this point I had been doing a great job of eating every 30 minutes, now not so much. It had now been at least an hour since I had eaten anything, later I would go as long as two or three hours without taking in any calories. Not long after passing Clingmans Dome the sun went down and with it went my pace. The distance from Clingmans Dome to Fontana Dam is about 40 miles, the first 20 of it is a general downhill but with plenty of climbs. This section also has its fair share of technical trail to navigate, so after the sun went down we ended up slowing way down. The weather during this section was good the rain eventually stopped not long after we passed Clingmans Dome. In the early hours of the morning I started to get chilled so I put my poncho back on to keep in my body heat. The only problem I had with the poncho was that if it wasn’t in the right spot packed into my vest it put extra strain on my shoulders, still the best $5 I’ve ever spent. There are several shelters on this part of the trail, about one every 5 miles or so. As we
traveled this section we encountered hikers bedding down, bear scat, and noises that we just weren’t sure about. At one point somewhere between midnight and 2am we heard something like a snort not too far from the trail. Based upon our earlier plan we started making noise, a lot of noise and tried to be as loud as we could be; then we came upon a sign that said the next shelter was less than a ½ mile away. Sound carries really well at night, so then I became concerned about walking up anyone in the shelter and we quieted down a bit. This would end up repeating itself several times over the course of the night, we never ended up seeing any animals but we’re guessing that at least one of those noises was a bear. I think the best story of the night came around 2 or 3 am, when we stopped at a stream crossing the trail and refilled our water. I hadn’t eaten anything in at least an hour and half or longer. We get up from refilling our water supply and begin to walk off and all of a sudden I can’t walk straight. It was the drunk walk. I was swerving all over the trail in a delirious sort of way. Becca says “Sit down. You need to eat.” So we took an extra 10 minutes while I ate, this particular stop ended up being about 20 minutes as I tried to regroup. The sun finally came up, it was a beautiful morning with clear skies. The worst story of the trip was after sun up and we were finally obviously headed down. I hadn’t planned on my feet being so sore and all the grit that had gotten into my shoes and rubbing. I had brought a backup pair of socks, but they were my least favorite. Becca convinced me to change into those socks. So we stopped for another 20 minutes while I changed socks and ate again, still not eating regularly. I’m guessing we had less than 10 miles to go at this point. By the time we arrived at the truck my ankles had been rubbed raw by the grit collecting between my socks and skin. Yea, I learned something there, only carry the socks you like better yet only buy the socks you like. This last section was runnable but a quad killer, we would run until our quads hurt then walked a bit. We repeated this until we made it down to the road. When we hit the road we moved a bit better but Becca decided she would do better going bare foot. We made it in just over 29 hours. We sat down and ate splitting some chocolate milk, stout and whatever food I had in the cooler in the truck. And just like that the adventure was over. I knew at that point I would be back to go the other way. Yea, I’d do it again! All that was left was to drive Becca back to Newfound Gap so she could drive back to Nashville, having done that I stayed at Newfound Gap and took a much needed nap. I’m very grateful to Becca for coming out and covering over 40 miles through the night!
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