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Mt. Disappointment 50K 2011 Training Run Part II

first published July 31, 2011 & last updated December 4, 2019 Gary Valle

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Descending to West Fork on the Silver Moccasin Trail

Note: The Mt. Disappointment Endurance Run is now the Angeles National Forest Trail Race.

The plan earlier in the week had been to do a day trip to the Sierra Saturday or Sunday and run the Cottonwood – New Army Pass loop, but computer models had shown a monsoonal flow developing, and a look at a satellite image Friday afternoon confirmed the forecast. Friday evening Whitney Portal was hit by a flash flood with water and mud reported up to waist deep in the campground. Runoff from the t-storms was increased by rain melting higher elevation snow, and by the ground already being wet from the prolonged melt of this year’s record-setting snowpack.

Computer forecasts indicated thunderstorms would likely continue in the mountains and deserts of Southern California through the weekend. Saturday I ran a few miles in the morning and then around lunchtime checked the weather in the Sierra. Strong thunderstorms had developed in the Southern Sierra, and a flash flood warning had been issued for the eastern slopes of the Sierra in the vicinity of Cottonwood Lakes Basin. Time to switch to plan B.

Plan B was to do a training run on the Mt. Disappointment 50K course. Mt. D is a figure-8 course, where each loop of the eight contributes about 16 miles and 3000′ or so of elevation gain/loss. Earlier this July there was a training run from Mt. Wilson on the Valley Forge – West Fork – Kenyon Devore part of the eight. Today we did another part of the figure-8 starting at Shortcut Saddle, running down the Silver Moccasin Trail to West Fork, then up to Newcomb Saddle, and then completed the loop to Shortcut on Edison Road. In the 50K, this loop would start at West Fork, but the sequence of trails would be the same.

Along with the race-ending climb up Kenyon Devore to Mt. Wilson, the climb out from the West Fork San Gabriel River to Shortcut Saddle on Edison Road is one of the more “memorable” sections of the Mt. Disappointment course. At least Kenyon Devore has some shade. Even on a blustery Spring day the 5.5 mile climb up Edison Road (2N23) can be a warm one, and in direct sun in the heat of Summer it can be downright scorching. Not so today — a layer of monsoon clouds, a fresh breeze, and an occasional drop or two of rain kept the temperature on the ascent disturbingly reasonable.

The run worked out great, but may have been a bit misleading in terms of preparing for Mt. D. It’s unlikely we’ll have a giant sun shade for the race like we did today!

Note: Weather stations on Mt. Wilson and at Clear Creek can be used to get an idea of what temperatures are running in the vicinity of the race course. Note that the temeprature specified is measured in the shade. In my experience the “fuel temperature” is a better indicator of the temperature in the sun. The fuel temperature is included in the Clear Creek listing.

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Trail Runners Describe Reactions to Poodle-dog Bush

first published July 29, 2011 & last updated December 27, 2022 Gary Valle

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Turricula (Poodle-dog bush) along the Valley Forge Trail. July 16, 2011

In a real-world test of Poodle-dog bush* exposure, during a recent training run at Mt. Wilson, approximately 30 runners ran a mile-plus section of trail overgrown with the plant. Reactions varied from none at all, to at least one runner who had a strong reaction similar to my first bout with Poodle-dog bush several weeks ago.

Here are some runner comments:

“I can’t believe it, but I had very little reaction. Just a few little bumps. You saw how careful I was trying to be. Maybe not man-handling it helps.”

“Not much sleep for the last two days…arms, legs, and abdomen burn way worse than Poison Oak. By nightfall the blisters break and ooze.”

“I finally had a mild reaction today, red rashes that turned into very small blisters…”

“Absolutely nothing happened, I’m either not allergic to it, or the soap & brush took the top layers of skin off and the poison with it.”

“I’ve got the stuff in my left eyelid (I must have rubbed my eye after hand contact with T. while carefully trying to part it as I inched my way down VF); I’ve got it on my stomach at waist band and lower, and I’m waiting for my legs, although I may get lucky there.”

Since I’d had a strong reaction before, I expected the worst. Fortunately, my reaction was relatively minor. Like several other runners, I had a same-day irritation/inflammation along the waistband of my running shorts. In addition, the top of one ankle and a small area on the inside of one arm developed a very mild rash. It was barely noticeable and cleared up completely in about five days.

There are several possible reasons I didn’t have a strong reaction this time. Even though contact was unavoidable, I walked in areas where the Poodle-dog bush was the densest, and I attempted to avoid the plant as much as possible. This time around my legs and arms were not covered with the sticky goo from the plant. Even so, as soon as I was out of the area with Poodle-dog bush, I stopped at a creek and washed off my legs and arms. I also washed again at the end of the run.

Another reason I might have reacted differently is the age of the plants. As Poodle-dog bush matures, the lower leaves wither and fall. (This gives the plant the appearance of the groomed tail of a poodle.) There’s anecdotal evidence that as the plant dries out the almost microscopic hairs that cover the leaves, stems and flowers are easily broken and shed, and can contribute to the irritation/inflammation the plant causes. It seems plausible that these hairs could be an irritant, or might even act like a minuscule time-release capsule of the plant’s active compounds.

Note: The trail was the Valley Forge Trail. Trail work is scheduled on this trail the next two weekends.

*The taxonomic name for Turricula parryi (Poodle-dog bush) has changed to Eriodictyon parryi. The Jepson Manual: Vascular Plants of California, Second Edition (2012) has returned Turricula to the genus Eriodictyon, as originally described by Gray. According to the Wikipedia entry for Turricula (April 11, 2012), “… molecular phylogenetic analysis carried out by Ferguson (1998) confirms that Turricula should be treated as a separate genus within a clade (Ferguson does not use the term “subfamily”) that includes Eriodictyon, and also the genera Nama and Wigandia; Eriodictyon is the genus to which Turricula is closest in molecular terms, and is its sister taxon.” I use “Turricula” and “Poodle-dog bush” interchangeably as a common name.

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Mt. Disappointment 50K 2011 Training Run

first published July 16, 2011 & last updated May 3, 2019 Gary Valle

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Valley Forge Trail (Before scheduled trail work)

Note: The Mt. Disappointment Endurance Run is now the Angeles National Forest Trail Race.

This year the Mt. Disappointment 50K course will be the most difficult to date — 33.1 miles with an elevation gain/loss of 6195′ according to course info. And that isn’t a fanciful elevation gain, exaggerated to hype the race. Ask any Mt. Dis runner, it’s a real number that has left both the experienced and uninitiated crawling up the Kenyon Devore Trail at the end of the race.

To introduce us to the changes in the 2011 course, Gary & Pam Hilliard and Fausto & Cindy Rowlan arranged today’s training run — complete with course markings and an aid station. Pam and Cindy took care of the aid station at West Fork, and Fausto marked the course. (Thank you!!)

The 50K course is similar to last year’s, but instead of running all the way down to Red Box on the Mt. Wilson Road, at about mile 2.5 it turns right onto the Valley Forge Trail and descends 2.7 miles to the Gabrielino Trail. The course then turns UP canyon and follows the Gabrielino Trail 1.6 miles to Red Box Road. From this point, the 50K course is the same as in 2010. The combination of bonus elevation gain, bonus distance, and additional technical trail could increase times in the middle of the pack by 30-40 minutes or more.

On today’s training run we did the first 11 miles of the 50K course down to West Fork, then followed the last 5 miles of the course up the Gabrielino and Kenyon Devore trails to the top of Mt. Wilson. The training run was a little less than half the length, and a little more than half the elevation gain of the 50K course. Working up Kenyon Devore, even having done it numerous times, I was shaking my head and asking myself, “and how is this going to feel after 29 miles?”

About 30 runners participated, many of them sandwiching the training run between races and other difficult runs. Conversations ranged from whether you need to do long training runs to do ultras, to favorite gels and drinks. But one runner’s story surpassed all others. He was in a wheelchair from age 6 to age 19, had corrective surgery, and since then has run nearly 200 marathons or ultras — including a 50K the weekend before the training run!

Note: The title photo is of the Valley Forge Trail.

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San Gabriel Mountains Running Adventure

first published July 10, 2011 & last updated April 25, 2018 Gary Valle

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Manzanita Trail below Vincent Gap

Some runs in the San Gabriels are more adventurous than others, and I’d mentioned to Devy that on this run we would likely have to deal with rock slides, washed out sections of trail, an annoying amount of bugs, and warm — if not hot — temperatures. We might even run into a bear. Devy is the owner of Andes Adventures, and having cut his trail running teeth exploring Peru’s Cordilleras Blanca and Huayhuash, his response was “sounds like fun, let’s go!”

The loop is a favorite, combining sections of the High Desert National Recreation Trail and Pacific Crest Trail. The route starts at Islip Saddle (6650′), descends to South Fork Campground (4560′), then climbs all the way back up the summit of Mt. Baden-Powell (9,399′). From Baden-Powell it returns to Islip Saddle on the PCT. It’s 23.5 miles of scenic single track trail with a cumulative elevation gain/loss of around 5700′. Done as part of a normal week of running, and with stops along the way, it usually takes about the same time to do this course as a hilly 50K race.

The South Fork and Manzanita trails are part of the High Desert National Recreation Trail. The 5.25 mile long South Fork Trail descends the rugged canyon of the South Fork of Big Pine Creek. Due to the tortured geology of the area — the San Andreas fault zone is nearby — the trail is in a constant state of change. Each time I’ve run it, its condition has been a bit different. It has many rocky sections, and at various points along the trail it is necessary to cross the debris from small rock slides.

According to the nearby Valyermo RAWS the temperature was around 80 degrees when we rolled into South Fork Campground. Not too bad. It would be near 100 later in the day, and it’s not uncommon for temps to hit the 90’s here by 8:00 or 9:00 in the morning. The (unmarked) Manzanita segment of the High Desert National Recreation Trail starts on the east side of the campground and in about 5.6 miles leads to Vincent Gap (6565′).

The news of the day was the condition of the Manzanita Trail. Sections of this trail have been washed out for several years, and after December’s record-setting rainfall it seemed the trail could only be worse. Surprise, surprise, the trail was mostly repaired! We didn’t even have to use tree roots for handholds!

Vincent Gap is at about mile 11 on the route, and about 2200′ into the 5000′ climb up Baden-Powell from the desert. As you might expect on a nice Summer weekend the PCT up Baden-Powell was very busy. In part because we wanted to save some for the outstanding running between Baden-Powell and Islip, and in part because we couldn’t go any faster, the pace was pretty leisurely going up the peak.

Ah… the water at Little Jimmy Spring… Like last week, still so cold I thought it was going to give me an ice cream headache.

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Perils of Winter, Surprises of Summer

first published July 3, 2011 & last updated April 8, 2017 Gary Valle

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Mt. Baldy from Mt. Baden-Powell

Storm-damaged Lodgepole Pine and Mt. Baldy

I was at the turnaround point of an out and back run from Islip Saddle (6650′) to Mt. Baden-Powell (9,399′), and had descended a short distance down the south ridge of Baden-Powell to enjoy the ridge top view. It had been a good run so far. It was windier and cooler than expected, but that was a good thing. Temps in the valleys were forecast to top 100 degrees today.

I’d been surprised to find no snow on Baden-Powell. In good snow years, remnants of snow will typically last until at least the 4th of July. There was a patch here and there last year, and sizeable drifts in 2005. This year a little remained on the north face of Mt. Baldy, but that was it.

Even if no snow remained, there was evidence it had been a tough winter. It looked like an unusually severe ice storm had struck the area. Normally resistant to such damage, a stout lodgepole pine had had two of its limbs ripped from its trunk, peeling away a thick layer of bark and cambium. On the other side of the peak, near the Wally Waldron tree, an apparently healthy limber pine had collapsed.

If I had been surprised to find no snow on Baden-Powell, I was even more surprised to find no one on the summit. That wouldn’t last. A number of hikers were working their way toward the peak from Islip Saddle and Dawson Saddle, and I was sure others were on the way up from Vincent Gap.

After visiting the Wally Waldron tree, and chatting briefly with a hiker, I turned eastward on the PCT — next stop Throop Peak!

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After the Station Fire: Silver Moccasin Trail Work

first published June 18, 2011 & last updated February 19, 2019 Gary Valle

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Trail work on the Silver Moccasin Trail in Shortcut Canyon

If you have fond memories of the rustic running in Shortcut Canyon during last year’s Mt. Disappointment 50K, hold on to those memories because this year you’re going to be running on a bona fide, genuine trail.

Under the direction of trail maintenance guru Gary Hilliard, R.D. of the Angeles National Forest Trail Race (formerly Mt. Disappointment), 19 hard-working volunteers closed the final gap in this badly overgrown and damaged section of the Silver Moccasin Trail. Burned in the 2009 Station Fire, floods ravaged the canyon, and then soil conditions and above average rainfall combined to produce teeming plant growth.

Volunteers recovered most of the original trail, removing fallen limbs and trees, clearing overgrowth and debris, and restoring sections damaged by erosion and flooding. Large patches of stinging nettle, and some turricula (Poodle-dog bush) and poison oak were also removed from the trail.

See the trail work schedule on the Angeles National Forest Trail Race web site for the remaining trail work dates.

Here are a few additional photographs: