Saturday March 11 – Sunday March 12:
After hiking and running all
day, I ate dinner and headed over to the Chumash Trailhead near Mugu Point.
There I linked up with the Dirtbag Runners to support the Coyote Backbone
Ultramarathon at the mile 86.5 aid station. We set up the aid station around
8pm but didn’t see a single runner until 1am Sunday morning when Tomokazu Ihara,
from Japan, came flying down the trail from Mugu Peak. Ihara looked extremely
fresh for someone who had just ran 86.5 miles with a gain of roughly 15,000
feet. Surprisingly he had done so with nothing more than a single hand-held
bottle. He ate some snacks, refilled his water bottle and was headed back up
the trail just 9 minutes later. We found out later that he had won with a time
of 21:47:13. Roughly 30 minutes later, Andrew Glaze came in to refuel. He too
looked surprisingly fresh. We had to wait 4 more hours before seeing another
light coming down from the summit. This time it was Marshall Howland followed
by Derrick Carr and Gregory Frye. About another hour passed and finally as the
sun came up we got word to pack up as all other 100 mile entrants had dropped
from the race.
After packing up we drove back
to the finish line at LaJolla Group Campground. There I had the pleasure to
meet Luis Escobar. Yes…“The Luis Escobar” of Born to Run fame. It was then that
I was officially blessed into the Dirtbag family with the passing around of a
bottle of Fireball! We watched as runners continued to come in finishing both
the 68 mile and 100 mile courses. The official results for the 100 mile were as
follows: Tomokazu Ihara (Japan) 21:47:13, Andrew Glaze (CA) 23:38:38, Marshall Howland
(CA) 26:25:36, Derrick Carr (VA) 27:18:57, and Gregory Frye (CA) 27:20:08. I
hung out the rest of the day with my new tribal family, eating, drinking,
laughing and sharing stories of trails past. Once everything was packed up we
had to vacate the campgrounds as Park Ranger Perez needed to lock the gates for
the night. When I told her that I needed to find a free place to car-camp for
the night she suggested parking on the shore at Mugu Point. This was great
advice as it was absolutely beautiful. I ate a couple sandwiches and washed
them down with some more Guinness and Fireball as I listened to Zeppelin music
and watched the moonlight glistening off the water as the waves rhythmically
crashed into the rocks below. It was a great end to an amazing day and a half.
When I finally slid into my sleeping bag I was asleep almost instantly.
Monday March 13:
When I awoke at 7am I looked
out the back window and couldn’t see the ocean which was barely 30 feet away. A
thick fog bank, reminiscent of John Carpenter’s 1980 horror film The Fog had
rolled in overnight blanketing everything. I slipped back into my sleeping bag
figuring an extra hour might give the fog time to burn off. Ok, I really just
wanted another hour sleep but the fog gave me a good excuse. The fog was just
as thick at 8am so I got up and headed back over to Chumash Trailhead so I
could climb Mugu Peak before heading back to LAX for my 2pm flight back to NJ. The
Chumash Trail gains approximately 1000’ in the first 0.9 miles before finally
leveling off somewhat just below the 1266’ summit. This was the same section of
trail the 100 milers had to run up after our aid station Sunday morning. I had
a new found respect for what they must have been feeling. From the summit I had
great views of the other mountain tops but not much else as the thick fog bank
still covered everything below. After returning to my vehicle I reluctantly
headed south toward Los Angeles. Luckily, I stopped off at Vintage Grocers across
from Zuma Beach to get a salad and to check the status of my flight. The
American Airlines support person apologized numerous times as she informed me
that all flights back to Philadelphia were cancelled due to a snow and ice
storm back home. It seemed I was stuck in sunny California another day, darn!
The morning fog as seen from Mugu Peak.
John Carpenter’s The Fog (1980).
Instantly I got my maps out
and planned out the rest of my day. I ate quickly and drove to nearby Zuma
Ridge Trailhead. I filled my pack with snacks and water and up I climbed for
nearly 4.5 miles before cresting at Buzzards Roost Ranch at just over 2400’
elevation. I found a really cool spiral rock formation someone had built on the
peak.
After hanging out at Buzzard's Roost for about an hour I ran back down to the car and
headed north to my next destination, Rocky Oaks Park. Rocky Oaks is tiny
compared to the other parks I had visited the previous days but it was still
fun exploring. I left the parking lot and ran to the west along a trail that
ends with a sign warning that you are entering private property. At that point
I found some large rocks piled on top of each other that had formed a low
tunnel with a stream passing through it. After crawling through, because it was
there, I followed the Rocky Oaks Loop Trail to the Overlook which sits just
slightly over 1860’. From there I followed the loop around a small pond and
then returned along the beautiful Glade Trail. All together it was just barely
over a 3 mile loop.
From there I drove along the Mulholland Highway to Woodland
Hills where I was able to fulfill my craving for tacos. I camped in the
McDonalds parking lot until it was time to go to LAX. Unfortunately, flights to
Philadelphia had resumed so my trip had to come to an end. It was a short trip
but I jammed a lot into it and had a great time doing so. I explored new
trails, bagged some peaks, and met some fantastic people along the way. I
definitely plan to Dirtbag my way around the Santa Monica Mountains again in
the near future. I hope you enjoyed this blog and I highly recommend
car-camping the Santa Monicas if you get the chance. Here's a few more memories from the race. Until next time, keep it dirty!
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