RALSTAR

Ok how does one describe the Ralstar. It’s not a race or event it’s not a just a run or hike. It’s not just a bike ride. All in all I’d say it’s an extremely wild adventure. You take a guy who is tough enough to dismember his own appendage to save his life this fellow comes up with an idea to hike Humphrey’s peak in flagstaff. Wow big deal. Right so he adds on a 70+ mile road bike ride to the Grand Canyon and while there why not hike down to the Colorado river on the South Kaibab trail and back up the Bright Angel trail. All in one glorious day. Well Aaron Ralston came up with idea a few years back and he completed the first 2 attempts then didn't do it again for a few years. A coworker of mine who once worked with Aaron was enamored with the whole adventure and somehow convinced 6 others that this would be a fun way to spend a beautiful fall day. Me always being up for adventure thought it sounded great but instead of riding the road i though hey there are some awesome sections of the Arizona trail that i have been wanting to try and they go right to the canyon and start at the Humphrey’s trailhead. HMMMMM Well I’ll do the Ralstar challenge but I’ll do it DIRTY.

SOOO that’s what i decided to try and do. On Friday at 9:30 pm my wonderful wife and kids dropped me off at the AZ Snow bowl to stash my bike and gear. i then headed up the 5.25 mile hike to the summit of Humphrey’s Peak. At 12,633 ft. its Arizona’s highest point.  All i can say is WOW I’ve hiked this trail a number of times but this is the first time in the dark and it was amazing. The moon was setting the stars were shining and feeling of solitude was surreal. I took too many breaks to look at sky and to listen to the silence but before i knew it i had reached the summit. I hit some patches of ice and snow but nothing major. At the top i shut off my lamp and sat in total silence in the dark. I was amazed at how many lights i could see down on the forest floor. I seemed for hundreds of miles in every direction there were shimmering street lights, porch lamps and car headlights. Up in the sky the milky way was clearer then i had ever seen it. Stars were shooting, satellites were racing and it was time for me to get moving I was freezing my ass off! I headed down the mountain at a brisk pace until i started hitting slick ice patches after a couple of falls i slowed down and took a more cautious approach. I made it most of the way down the mountain when I ran into the pack of fellow Ralstars we chatted for a few minutes then went our separate directions whishing each other a safe fun journey.

I made it down the mountain and to my bike and gear 3:15 am and for some reason I could not hurry and gather my gear. What should have been a quick 10 min clothes change and snack took me over 30 min.  But I tried to eat something but i really couldn't so I took a couple of sips of a protein shake and a few jelly beans they were sitting really bad. I sat around for a few more minutes packed my bag hoped on my bike and started going. I made it to the edge of Hart Prairie when all of a sudden the tall grass around me woke up. I was standing in the middle of a rather large herd of deer. There were a couple huge bucks and they all seem pretty weirded out that there was a strange person in their bedroom. After a few hundreds yards of cross country rambling I made it to the AZ trail. And what a sweet piece of single track it is. I bet it is absolutely beautiful, too bad i rode all of the sweet single track in the dark. I made it to the Babbitt Ranch in the dark and witnessed one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen, a huge meteor came flashing and exploding through the northern sky. With 3 big flashes and enormous but silent explosion it lit up the whole area, it was amazing. The Babbitt ranch section of the AZT to the Grand Canyon is mostly 2 track jeep trails with washboard and fist size gravel. But what the trail lacks the wildlife totally makes up for it. I saw hundreds of elk with some amazingly huge bulls. Coyotes deer foxes were running everywhere.   I made it to Moqui station forgot to take a pic and hoped on the final section of single track and it kicked my ass. Nothing but rough rollers and elevation gain for 14 or so miles to the 64 highway. All in all the bike ride was good, the trail starts out amazingly and finishes so so. Instead of taking the AZT to Tusyan I opted to take the Grand View exit to make to Yaki point.

Well now it's 11:30 am and I’m riding highway 64 along the rim of the Grand Canyon. I don’t have any pics because my camera was dead. Becky and the Kids met me at the Grand View look out point and we headed to Yaki point to wait for the rest of the crew. I rode 68 miles in 7 hours.At this point i was throwing in the towel i was done no mas finished. The last few miles on the AZT really took it out of me. I also hadn't taken in any calories since my stop at the Snow Bowl. I sat down and relaxed in a lawn chair along the side of the highway drank some more Muscle Milk and ate 1/4 of a banana. We waited there for what seemed like forever when a 2:00 the rest of the Ralstars came in. All came in ready to exchange their cycling gear for hiking gear. One rider, Tammy came in a little worse for wear. She took a hard crash at the Tusyan round-about and was pretty banged up and bloodied. But being the tough one that she is she cleaned up her wounds changed her clothes and was ready to go. At that point so was I. I put on my hiking gear and took off with the rest of the crew it was 2:30 and we were headed in to the canyon. I wasn't feeling great but I was not going to come all of this way and not finish the challenge. We strolled down the South Kaibab trail and made it to the river by 5pm.

At the water station on the north side of the I refilled my bottles, removed my compression socks because they were tearing up my feet. My heels were wrecked. I taped them put some dry socks on started the long slog up Bright Angel Trail. After a few miles in i was starting to feel the effects of my calorie deficit I was drinking Cytomax and various other drinks but that was not enough. I tried taking gels and they finally started to stay down. I started taking one every 30 min. or so until i got out of the canyon. Anyway going into full bonk down in the canyon is something I do not recommend. I powered through it but it sucked. I walked slowly the last 4.5 miles took me 2.5 hours and they were brutally long hours. I finished at 10pm exactly 24 hours from when I started. It was brutal painful and wonderful. Just what an adventure should be.