On Wed, Mar 17, 2021, I made a 1st solo and self-supported record attempt to complete a 284mi double Kokopelli’s Trail traverse (see announcement). That was plan A, then there was a snowstorm, which led to a plan B. Later, a plan C and even a plan D was cooked up. None of them worked. While there were still letters left at 171mi, no plan seemed viable anymore and I had to quit.
This illustrates how thing went.
The movie
The plan B
The weekend before my planned start a massive spring snowstorm wrecked havoc to my original plans. The storm dumped over a foot of fresh snow on the ground above about 6,000ft. The La Sal Mountain Loop State Scenic Backway was closed.
As a consequence, I redesigned the entire approach and came up with a plan B:
- The start was delayed for a day to allow for some of the snow to melt and to let another weather front pass.
- Instead of starting in Moab, I started in the middle of the course at Dewey bridge. The plan was to do two out-and-backs from there.
- I did the low elevation (and snow-free) part from Dewey bridge to Loma and back first (148mi). That allowed for more snow to melt before getting into the high elevation parts between Dewey and Moab (132mi).
- I stashed snowshoes and winter gear for the high elevation parts.
284mi Kokopelli’s Trail double.
Dropping supplies
As you can see from the image gallery below, dropping supplies was in itself already an interesting and challenging endeavor.
