REPORT: Unsupported Joshua Tree Traverse

Christof Teuscher

This is old stuff and my initial time has long been beaten. See Joshua Tree Traverse FKT page for more info.

On Fri, Nov 7, 2014, I set out for an unsupported attempt of the Joshua Tree traverse. I thought this was going to be a rather easy “37.3mi walk in the desert.” I was quite wrong. While neither the distance nor the trails seemed scary, the lack of water was as an element that made me nervous. Yet, it turned out the real difficulty was not something I had planned and trained for.

Ursina dropped me off at the Black Rock Campground shortly before 7pm. It was pitch black dark by then. Conditions were supposed to be ideal: mid 50ies, clear skies, light winds, and practically full moon. Even though I was racing the Silver Falls 50km ultra the weekend before, I had tapered reasonable well and felt pretty strong.

The air felt cold, so I put on arm warmers, gloves, and packed an additional thin layer just in case. Then I turned on the SPOT, the GPS, the headlamp, and embraced the fear.

jtt_signOnly 37.3mi to go…

I knew that the first 5 miles would be uphill and I had mentally prepared for that. But I had neither planned nor trained for soft sand, which was what I encountered from the very beginning on. I should have read this trip report better: “Think running in loose sand uphill in the dark for a couple hours to start your day. We had to remind ourselves to take it mellow and save our energy for later in the day.“

The first 5 miles sucked up a lot of my energy. Needless to say that the fully-loaded pack didn’t help to make this stretch easier. The climb wasn’t steep by any means, so hiking was not an option. After a while, I simply had to accept that going slower was a must if I wanted to be able to complete this challenge successfully in a reasonable amount of time.

As always, it takes a while to feel “at home” on a trail. Especially at night, you first focus your attention on non-essential things that distract your vision. Dead Joshua trees were one of these things.  They kinda look scary at night if they are all crumbled up on the ground.  Cacti is another thing you get reminded the hard way to watch out for. But once you get into the zone, you can generally focus on executing your mission in a much more fluid and automatic way.

jtt_treeA typical view of what I saw of the park at night.

Navigation wasn’t difficult at all until the very end. You had to pay attention, but there were signs everywhere. I always make sure that I know where I am. It’s worth stopping for a minute to check the map. I carried color copies of the Joshua Tree National Geographic map and that served me well. The trail also has mile markers. I profoundly hated these because you always think you are further than you are, but then get reminded that you only just did another meager mile. After a few miles, I made a conscious effort not to read them anymore.

Throughout the run, I had trouble regulating my body temperature. I was either too hot or freezing. The temperature would sometimes change within a few hundred feet dramatically. Sometimes there was a rather strong and hot wind, sometimes there was no wind at all but the air felt like in a fridge. Each time I decided to either put on or remove the arm warmers I regretted it in the next few minutes. The Ambit2 log below shows that the temperature varied between about 50F and 74F.

jtt_temp

Once I got over the first climb, the trail became more technical in parts. At Juniper Flats (mile 20) I checked the pace table (see below) and realized that I had made reasonably good time despite the soft sand. The trail had gotten more packed and my pack was getting lighter too. As planned, I had consumed about half of my water supplies by then. I got more comfortable, knowing that I wasn’t completely off with my predictions.

At mile 30 I did some math and guesstimated that I could finish under 7 hours. Sadly, at mile 35.5 or so I lost the trail an ended up in a labyrinth of washes. The map did not help. I back-tracked and tried to find the trail where it ended, but was not successful.  That cost me precious time. I was very glad I had the route saved on the Ambit2. After turning on the navigation mode, I followed the GPS track and was able to make decent progress. I found the trail again, but less than half-a-mile before the finish only. By then it was past 7 hours.

I finally saw the light of a headlamp and soon Ursina, who had followed my SPOT and had arrived at the North Entrance trailhead right on time. I finished the run exhausted in 7:12:50, 37min faster then the current OKT/FKT, which was self-supported, not unsupported.

We drove back to Desert Hot Springs and were in bed shortly after 3am.

I did not see a single person during my entire run. Only a few coyotes accompanied me for some time. They stayed friendly and so did I. The water supplies worked out perfectly. I had a few sips left only. As always, I carried too many calories.

In summary: this was a great adventure that turned out to be more challenging than anticipated. I was hoping to finish in 6h or less, yet, the soft sand foiled this plan.

Some data and links:

Gear list:

  • Salomon ultra vest
  • Brooks PureGrit 3 trail shoes
  • Emergency/first aid kit
  • Lip balm
  • Emergency blanket
  • Salomon compression shorts
  • Salomon compression shirt
  • Long-sleeved 2nd layer
  • Patagonia wind-breaker
  • Gloves
  • Arm-warmers
  • Buff
  • GoPro
  • SPOT transponder (no extra batteries)
  • Petzl Myo-RXP headlamp with extra sets of 3 AA batteries
  • Petzl E+LITE emergency headlamp
  • Suunto Ambit2
  • Map
  • Estimated pack weight: 6.5 – 7 lbs (with water and food)

Water and fuel that I carried:

  • 2.25l/76oz of water
  • 400cal of Tailwind
  • 11 gels (9 consumed) = 990cal
  • 1 PowerBar Wafer (not consumed)
  • 4 Honey Stinger Waffles (1 consumed) = 170cal
  • 2 fig bars (1 consumed) = 220cal
  • TOTAL CONSUMED: 1,780cal
  • HOURLY:
    • 245cal
    • 310ml/10.5oz

 The course:

jtt

Pace table:

See Strava for actual splits: http://www.strava.com/activities/216759716

jtt_pace_table

NEWS: Unsupported Joshua Tree Traverse Attempt

Christof Teuscher

Tonight I will attempt an unsupported Joshua Tree traverse. The route is 37.3 mi long with about 3,200ft of elevation gain and 4,300ft of elevation loss. It starts at the Black Rock Campground, traverses the park, and ends at the North Entrance Station. So where’s the challenge? We’ll get to that.

jtt

Time to leave now, get out of this room, go somewhere, anywhere, sharpen this feeling of happiness and freedom, stretch your limbs, fill your eyes, be awake, wider awake, vividly awake in every sense and every pore.  — Stefan Zweig

The current Only-Known Time (OKT)/Fastest-Known Time (FKT) is 7h49min. The group run was self-supported; they had at least one supply point at Juniper Flats (mile 20). Their report is available here http://www.enduranceguy.com/2012/06/03/jtree-traverse-running-across-joshua-tree-national-park. It was also mentioned here: http://running.competitor.com/2014/09/photos/8-epic-running-adventures-americas-national-parks_113218

My attempt will be completely unsupported.

Unsupported means you have no external support of any kind. Typically, this means that you must carry all your supplies right from the start, except any water that can be obtained along the way from natural sources. This approach has also been termed “alpine style”. The longest trip I’m aware of using this style is Coup’s 20-day thru-hike of the Colorado Trail. For most people, carrying enough food for more than a few days to one week will be prohibitive. Unsupported also means unaccompanied!

A major challenge on this traverse is not the distance per se but the lack of water. I will have to carry all my water supplies besides fuel and other essential gear. I guess this could be called “unsupported+.” I will not rely on any resupply points (e.g., cached food and water) and will not have any external support (e.g., crew). Naturally, these constraints will considerably slow me down.

The plan is to start tonight, Fri, Nov 7, at 7pm (PST). You can follow my SPOT satellite beacon at: http://bit.ly/JTTraverse

The reduce my need for water, I will do the run entirely throughout the night, when the temperatures are expected to be in the low to mid 50ies. Sadly, I won’t see much of the scenery. Running in the dark in addition to the navigation challenges will further slow me down. And yes, I have enough headlamp batteries! Hmm, do I? The good news is that the moon should be amazing.

During training runs in central Oregon, which offers similar terrain and climate, I carefully fine-tuned my fuel and water needs. I will carry 2.2 liters/74oz of water and 1,750 calories of fuel. That’s just enough to keep me going for up to 8 hours in the worst case. After all, superhuman Kilian Jornet did the Denali ascend-descend record this year in 11h48min with 1 liter of water only, so I should be fine.

Let the pain, fear, and misery begin!

sandLonely twig afraid of last hour

“I like going far. I’ve been trained to keep going, even when it’s hard. When it hurts. When it sucks. When I don’t want to. I look past it. Relentless forward progress to the finish. Call it what you want: stubbornness, endurance, determination, guts. Deep down, I don’t know how to give up. And it’s always worth it in the end.” — Unknown