City of Rocks Ultra Run 51 Mile

Saturday, June 3, 2023      Almo, ID

Five weeks before I did the Box of Rox 50 miler, so I moved on to a City of them...

DD said she knew the race director of a horse ride up in Idaho that wanted to add some foot races to the weekend activities and asked if she would like to help out with some input.  DD than asked if I could be her subcontractor. Of course I said sure. The ride has a few distances each day on Fri, Sat and Sun, and they planned to add foot races of 50 miles, 50k and marathon on Sat. So we gave input on cutoff times, aid station intervals, a few rules to list, etc. Plus we suggested some info to add to the website on the run-surface breakdown (single track, double track, dirt roads, etc.) and the amount of shade and full sun, all typical things that runners like to know ahead of time.  They already had most of the info ready especially the difficult things on the course layout, maps, elevation charts, aid station hydration/food, etc., etc. Although we had never been to the area we could get an idea of the terrain from looking at Google maps and their planned course layouts. Anyway after providing some input, we both thought it’d be fun to actually show up and do the run. Plus DD was going to see if she could also find a horse to ride on Sunday, because… well… why not? We flew into Salt Lake City, rented a car and headed the 2.5 hours north.  Once at the tiny town of Almo, ID we took a look around at the views and were all smiles.

First look at the area and part of the trail.

We checked into our Airbnb yurt and then went to the race and helped out a bit at the Friday Ride and some run aid station prep (we made a lot of PB&J sandwiches) and then had some dinner provided to the riders/runners, which was good because the nearest open restaurant was probably a hour’s drive away.  Then up the next day for our 5AM start.  We were both starting out in the 50 mile, however DD did note that she was thinking that she’d change over to the 50k, which was allowed as per the race rules, but we figured we’d cross that bridge when we got there.  We did plan on doing first part of the run together and just have fun, kind of go the first 7 miles and up the 2,000 ft climb.  Once over the top, we cruised the smooth downhill to the first aid station at about mile 9. The views on the far side of the hill were as great as they were going up with the rolling hills dotted by the huge rock formations all over the place. Trotting along we decided to hang together for a while longer. The footing itself was smooth and really nice to run on.  No ankle-busting rocks or toe-bashing roots like a lot of places.

Ready to start.

I should add that the area that most of the run is held on is the City of Rocks Natural Reserve and later near the end of the 50 miler it goes thru Castle Rocks State Park. Another landmark in the area that we ran on at times were portions of the historic California Trail, famously used during the great western migrations and the 1849 California gold rush. A cool bit of history, and understandable why the old timers named the area a City of Rocks when they first saw it.

Anyway, back to present times and our run, after the aid station we went by some prime rock-climbing areas where people were getting stuff together to start some vertical adventures. Just looking straight up those rock faces was certainly daunting. We then hit some long stretches of straight dirt roads where we did some easy running or walking depending on the gently rolling hills while taking in the sparse vistas but still with longer views of the hills and ever present rock outcroppings. At about this time and 8 miles later after getting to the second aid station in the shadow of the Twin Sisters rock formation, DD finally convinced me to go on ahead of her and that she had decided to go down to the 50k.  So I very slowly eased out ahead.  She’d later show me a photo she took where you could see me off in the distance if you zoomed in.

Some dirt roads with a view.

Plodding along.

So I just sort of grinded on, at times along the dirt roads, at times in the single track just plodding along up and down the rollers, some shade from rocks or trees, some shade from clouds rolling by, but mostly a lot of full sun. Fortunately we had a pretty cool day with morning temps in the upper 40s and afternoon high of about 65.  Before too long and after about 26 miles I made it back to the central camp where I reloaded on Gels applied some more sunscreen, etc. I also grabbed the cooler out of the car so DD would have easy access to some cold soda and stuff when she headed out on her second loop (always love to crew the kiddos). Then I headed out on my second half loop.  This loop has some overlap with the first by backtracking on some of the trails, but then the last 15 or so miles went a different direction up to the State Park. By this time it was late afternoon so the temps were lowering again making the slow jog feel somewhat ok, at least I had a little run left in the legs. So miles 37 to 40 were out to the park, miles 40 to 45 were the final 1,000 ft up down and around the Castle Rocks, followed by the last miles 45 to 50 back to camp and the finish.

Sweet trail in the rocks.

So I did finally get to the finish in 14 hours, 50 minutes and 34 seconds in 5th place overall, but also last place overall. DD also finished the 50k in 5th place overall, and also last place overall. Very successful weekend runs.

Unfortunately DD’s horse ride fell through and she didn’t get to ride the next day. But we again enjoyed volunteering at the Sunday ride before heading back to Salt Lake City and the fight home the next day. Well that’s it, thanks for reading.

The big finish.

The real finish.

Great question, here's a comparison. I took the Mogollon elev chart and superimposed the City of Rocks elev on top. (I know...  "Typical Engineer..." )

Looks like I need to do a little more stair climbing to get ready for September    .

Nice report! And pretty cool that you and your DD were able to help get the inaugural races up and running (pun intended).  Beautiful area!

Those elevation profiles - oofha!

And hey - is that an old school Nathan vest you're wearing???  Looks like the 2 I've had for years and use during my predawn runs.  They'll probably rot off my body before I part with them.

Thanks everyone, it was a fun weekend and the first-time (run) race directors did a great job.  They did tell us that the runners were much “easier” than the riders. 

Yes, we were happy with the weather, especially when the white puffy clouds came by and gave us shade.  Some pretty intense thunder storms with heavy rains hit the day before and after, but not while we were running.

Fatozzig – yes that’s my old Nathan hydropak, I think I’ve had it for about 15+ years and lots of miles, and it still going strong. Just had to replace the bladder a couple of times (currently using a 2L CamelBak bladder in it).