I heard about this race last year and as soon as I went to their web site, saw the pics and course description, I knew I wanted to give it a go.  I signed up for it pretty early and about two weeks after I had signed up I got a message from Northern Harrier (Al) to see if I wanted to team up on the Devil's Backbone near Bozeman (his DD had to bow out).  I looked at the date of the Backbone and it was just a week from the Beaverhead.  I told Al that I had already signed up for the Beaverhead, but otherwise I would have loved to.  A couple of days after that, got another message from Al that he had signed up for the Beaverhead as well  and that he was going to keep his registration for the DB and that I should join him for that as well .

Met up w/ Al in Salmon and he kindly was bearing gifts- some homemade maple syrup and a six pack of Spotted Cow.  Fortunately I won a nice race hat at the pre-race meeting that Al had been eyeballing, so I was able to reciprocate (however it should be duly noted that Al drank half the six pack the night after the race ).

They provided a shuttle from Salmon to our start at Lemhi Pass, it left at 4:40 sharp which thought was a little early for a 7:00 AM start.  After the 1.5 hour drive up 15-20 long switchbacks on a gravel road, we figured they knew what they were doing.  We got our bibs, took care of last minute business and before we knew it, the gun went off.  Lemhi Pass sits at 7400' and the course gains 1500' in a little over 2 miles.  Al wasn't acclimated to the elevation (he informed Madison was @ 900') and waved me on.

They provided splits from last years race (it's first year) that showed the fastest split, the slowest and the average for each aid station, my goal was to try to close as "average" as I could.  A mid pack finish is the very best I can hope for in a race and have only done it a couple of times.  I also had a goal to teach ultrasignup a little lesson, they predicted my finish at 12:17 and I wanted to prove them wrong.

course layout w/ aid stations

The first 14 miles were mostly in the timber, but with an occasional good view to soak in.

A lot of was runnable and I was able to keep close to "average" splits for the first two aid stations.  I've changed my nutrition, dropping gels, cubes, mixes and have gone a little more natural.  I brought rolled dates and dried sweet potatoes and plain water.  The aid stations I ate peanut butter and honey sandwiches, fruit and would refill my 1.5 liter bladder.

I got in with two runners, Dennis who had also worked for a Fish & Game outfit (Idaho) and was 67 years young (evidently he has several Hardrock finishes and numerous other running honors) and Emily from Boise who does some RDing in the Bosie area (and also has several 100's notched already).  It was fun chatting with these folks and it made the time seem to fly by, we were also making decent time.  We got to a Forest Service sign that said Gold Stone Pass 2 miles, I looked at my watch and thought we are going to be well ahead of "average".  That is until I turned a corner and saw a series of several steep and rocky climbs just ahead (we could see little colored dots that we knew were runners on course).  When we got to Gold Stone (18.5 miles) we were just "average" again, oh well.  We also lost a lot of precious elevation which only meant one thing- more climbing!  Our next stop was Janke Lake and from hear on were in the heart of the Beaverhead Mountains.  Beautiful views every direction, but the course also got really tough, really quick.

We arrived at Janke Lake aid station just ahead of "average"- yeah!  They had fresh pineapple (amongst lots of other good stuff) that was just heavenly.  I should mention that up to this point the weather was very nice, considering just a week ago they (Salmon) was suffering from the same heat wave we had.  Probably in the low 70's with some cloud cover- not bad.

The next section was only 4 miles to the Bohannon Ck aid station, but it would turn out to be the toughest and slowest section of the entire course.  Up to this point we had followed the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) that runs from Mexico to Canada.  The trail dropped into Montana for several miles to avoid a really rugged section, we however were to go through this trailless, rugged section.  And to add to the fun, the wind came up gusting to 40+ mph and then hail (ouch) and then rain, but fortunately the lightning was hitting around us, but not near us.

it's really hard to describe how difficult this section was, the rain really made things much worse as the rock became slick- it's also moving; it was difficult going up or on the level, descending was nightmarish!  I fell several times (spilled some blood) and the spill was usually combined with a massive cramp in both calves up into my lower hams, enough so that I couldn't get up- only keep my legs straight until they let go- was not a pretty sight.

every time I made a climb of a peak I thought this was it, but then I would look over and see a colored dot- this was repeated numerous times and I swore I had already covered 10+ miles in this stretch, not four.

finally I came to some warning tape across the ridge that signaled a descent into Bohannon Creek

I was really glad we didn't have to ascend Center Mountain

now I was thinking, I've got this thing licked drop down to the aid station and cruise to the finish, shit I should know there are never happy happy endings in ultras 

the "descent" to the aid station was more like a free fall, no official trail, maybe an old game trail at best- I was grabbing onto trees to slow me down, but still managed to slip/fall several times.  I was following the course flags down and they were leading down this little finger ridge, I didn't see another flag ahead, but thought this finger was the way down- well it was a way down, but not the right way down (I believe the "trail" switchbacked where I lost it).  I got into the biggest jackpot of blowdown (had to have been an avalanche fallout) you can imagine.  It was really bad, I could see the aid station but no good way to get to it without dropping down further.  Finally I got though the blowdown and then had to negotiate a steep talus slope.  I finally got to the aid station (had to climb up to it) and scared the jeebus out of the aid workers, wondering where the hell I had come from- obviously not from the right direction   That probably ate a good 20 minutes of wasted effort, but this aid station hauled up a generator and a blender and whipped up some scrumptious smoothies!  A couple of smoothies and I was on my way.  I'm thinking all down hill from here, which was correct, but while not quite a freefall it was damned steep going down (and rocky!)

Seven miles to go and somehow mustered the energy to run the entire seven, ignoring more quads which were screaming bloody murder.  Finally after a short eternity, I saw the finish, just in time to beat the 11 hour mark.

I'll let Al tell his tale.  I do know that he was too hashed to grab a burger and a beer afterwards, but slowly gained back some strength and was able to drink half that six pack of Spotted Cow later 

The race was really well organized (to every detail).  The scenery rivals anywhere in the West.  The course was very challenging.  I'd highly recommend to anyone looking for something a little different than your average trail race.

danke

I knew it was going to be a tough course, but will be the first to admit that the off trail section was much more difficult than I expected- I'll know what to expect next time 

Sounds and looks like a great run, added bonus of bushwhacking too.  Gotta love those color dots off in the distance showing you just what you're in for.  Congratulations on besting that darn ultrasignup predictor.

Funny about your three lost Spotted Cows.

Wow. That sounds like a great event. Congratulations. I love those mountains. I got to spend some time in/on/and around the Continental Divide Trial quite a bit further south this past spring in New Mexico. I had a couple of unbelievable runs up in the mountains. I want to go back.

I am glad you beat the ultrasignup predictor. Although, the predictor really believes in me on some races.

Thanks all. I'll remember that Irish proverb 

AT- most of the course was between 8-10000', high enough that you noticed some effect (more so for Al coming from a lower elevation)

When someone says something like how hard can a 50k be, it's only a few miles more than a marathon it seems they should be shown to this starting line. Just a few more miles. LOL. I didn't realize ultrasignup had a race predictor. Sounds like you taught them something. Congrats and thanks for the photos and the race report!

thanks all!

they posted up results, 94 entrants in the 55k- 12 DNF's (I actually thought there would have been more)- I finished 47, so exactly mid-pack- I know we have a lot of fast folks here and would be unhappy w/ a mid-pack finish, but that is really exciting for me  as usually I'm at the back.  It turns out if I hadn't made that mistake getting to the last aid station, it wouldn't have changed a damn thing- maybe one place, so even that didn't hurt!

Nice Job warden..looks beautiful and except for the storm the weather looks awesome.  Bring some extra beer for Satruday and have fun.