After my initial unsupported double traverse from Mar 2016, I was entirely sure I would never ever do it again. That was then. But as time passes, you forget the bad and what you remember are selected idealized memories: gorgeous desert views, amazing night skies, smooth trails.
As I was looking for some good, long, and tough training opportunities and an excuse to go to the Californian desert, I figured I might as well go back and see if I could perhaps improve my own time (19:23:37), and perhaps even beat Jason Hardrath’s impressive time (18:17:16).
Preparation
Once I pick a challenge, I tend to get obsessed about it. So I went back to all my collected data from all the single and double Joshua Tree traverses I ever did. I fed that into a new spreadsheet and spent a few hours analyzing the data to see if and where there was room for improvement.
Of course there almost always is. So I came up with an improved plan for another unsupported double traverse, where I would carry all my water, calories, and gear.
The basic idea was simple: go lighter, with less water, and thus go faster. It’s ultimately about trade-offs and about how much risk you are willing to take. Also, how much you are willing to suffer. In addition, I carefully looked at the day and night temps and picked a 5pm start so that I could benefit as much as possible from cooler temps.
I started with:
- 5,000ml/169oz of water, so 1 liter less than during the first attempt.
- 4,000cal, so 2,000cal less than during the first attempt.
As last time – and as Ashly and Jason did – I was planning to employ what I call a “cache-and-carry” technique, which means I will start with all of my water and supplies, but will cache some at strategic points on the way out for the return.
Last but not least, I decided to not make a movie because, well, making movies as you run is time-consuming.
The first 2 miles
I started at 5:00pm sharp. It was sunny and in the low 60s only because it was very windy. The pack felt insanely heavy.
The first 6 or so miles are very sandy and uphill. And by sand I mean the very soft type of sand that gets you nowhere and tires you out because most people – including myself – are not used to moving on that surface.
At pretty much exactly mile 2 my shorts were suddenly wet. Since I had just peed, that couldn’t be the reason. My second thought was: “Oh crap, a bottle is leaking!” It was worse. The clip that closes and holds the bladder had come loose and the bladder was crouching open and half empty in my pack. I had lost about 1l of water. In addition, all my extra layers, gloves, hat, were drenched. I had not packed them in a waterproof bag because I did not expect any rain.
1 liter less fluids on an already tight water budget was close to a worst case, I figured. But going back to the trailhead and refill the bladder sounded worse than suffering from dehydration. So I decided to continue. Thankfully, I was at least able to dry my layers before the sun went down, so that was one less worry to have.
I continued my journey into the night and through a desert that I had never seen so green and blooming.
To the other end
Once in a while throughout the early night I checked my pace and was pleased to see that I was more or less on time, at least I was faster than on my first attempt.
The temps were in the low 40s with quite strong winds in most places. I had to wear layers, gloves, and a hat all night. But the it was otherwise an ideal temperature for running.
As much as possible, I conserved water and only took sips when I felt I really needed to.
The night sky was beyond gorgeous. I crossed a few hikers, all moving without headlamps to enjoy the night.
The long and sandy downhill to the North Trailhead was, well, long and sandy. It’s also easy to lose the trail in that wash toward the end, especially at night. I speak from experience.
I reached the turnaround point at mile 37.4 in 7h 35min and was rather surprised by that. Without any break, I turned around and started the long and steady uphill grind. Because my pack was a lot lighter now, I was able to run quite well.
The only thing that bothered me were a unknown number of Cholla cacti spines in my toes that I had earned because I accidentally kicked one of those unfriendly plants at night. I had tweezers with me, but I deemed it too time-consuming and tedious to make an attempt to remove these foreign objects right there.
Back to the beginning
The rest of the night was rather uneventful. Thankfully, perhaps. I moved, and then some more.
In the early morning I had to put on all my layers. Temps in some valleys felt more like in the low 30s. Finally the sun rose and gave me some new energy. At that point, I did a bit of complex math and figured I should be able to finish sometime between 16 and 17 hours.
While I started to feel very tired and rather broken, I could also see the end, taste the beer, and smell the pizza. So I pushed as hard as I could until I finally was there. It sounds easy, but it’s not, especially toward the end.
The watch showed 16:19:30, about 3h faster than on my initial double traverse and about 2h faster than Jason. More risk, less water, less calories, did pay off this time. But it may not always. It tends to be a fine line.
All in all, it was excellent training. And I’m absolutely certain I will never do this again.
Data for the data-hungry
- Elapsed time: 16:19:30
- Total distance: 74.6 miles
- Elevation gain/loss: 7,228ft
- Start date/time: Fri, Apr 12, 2019, 5pm
- Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/2287280362/overview
- SPOT track: http://bit.ly/JTDTFKT
- Joshua Tree traverse FKTs: https://fastestknowntime.com/route/joshua-tree-traverse-ca
