Arizona Monster 300 - Inaugural Race

Arizona Monster 300 Shakeout w/ Gabe 🤠

Taper miles after recording the Distance to Empty Podcast - Arizona Monster 300 Course Preview

Core / Mobility Workout with 30 min Sauna

Core / Mobility Workout

2020 PCT Partners Series, Round #3 with Christopher Ferrier / Self-Supported 100k Recap 

This was a very tough Pacific Crest Trail point to point run that ended up being a solid 51 mile DNF... Chris and I had this run scheduled for months because of it being the weekend of the Angeles Crest 100 mile race, we both were planning to run that race but it ended up getting cancelled due to COVID19. This PCT run was originally set to start at Midnight on Friday but the forecast for Saturday changed from a high of 98 to 106 just 5 days before, so we made a last minute decision to move it up to 7:30pm with the hope of finishing on Saturday morning to avoid the heat... We stashed three food/water caches along the route as we made our way towards the start, the first cache was at mile 15, Mill Creek Summit, the second cache was at mile 40, Indian Canyon Trailhead and the third cache was at Mile 52, Agua Dulce. 

The start was at the Three Points Trailhead at Hwy 2 and the 100k would take us 62 Miles North on the Pacific Crest Trail to Bouquet Canyon Road in Santa Clarita. We started the run a few minutes early at 7:20pm as the sun was setting on a very nice evening and the trail out of Three Points was in really good shape. We were very careful to pace the run properly from the start, especially since we had blown up on the last few PCT adventures 😆... The sun went down within the first few miles as we climbed up Mt. Pacifico, the views of an almost full moon and the desert lights were amazing, I don’t think the run could’ve started out any better, we were feeling great, pacing very well and were having a great time as each mile passed by. We arrived at our first cache at the Mill Creek Summit trailhead a little ahead of schedule and spent 12 minutes eating some food and reloading our packs for the next section.

This is where we both began the portion of the PCT that we had never run before (miles 15-52), this 25 mile section from Mill Creek Summit to Indian Canyon Trailhead was very remote but it was so amazing to go through in the middle of the night. The noise from all the wildlife was as loud as I’ve ever heard, it was so beautiful to be out in the forest throughout the night with our lights on and not a care in the world for a short moment in time. This was also a very difficult section of trail for us, it was rugged and there were many miles of bushwhacking that took a lot out of us, so tough that it ended up taking us the until dawn to complete.... The sun was rising as we began to approach the Indian Canyon Trailhead, or so we thought. Both of us had run out of fluids and our watch data had us very close to the trailhead where our cache was waiting for us. We got to the bottom of the hill only to find out that there was another large climb and descent before we’d reach the trailhead, approximately 4 tough miles which was a huge blow to both of us. We kept marching on and finally made it to the trailhead, excited to get to our cache as we were both very depleted. This is where I think we both began to realize that we were in some trouble. The sun was already up, it was getting warm out and we were heading into the high desert portion of this run with 22+ miles of completely exposed PCT trail ahead of us...

So we arrive at our Indian Canyon TH cache and I find that my water is still frozen... Like a dope I had decided during the week to freeze my bottles for the 2nd and 3rd caches thinking that the water would be cold when I got to them. We had stashed our caches well over 12 hours ago and the overnight low was in the low 70’s, seemed like a great idea, right?? Thankfully Chris had some extra water to help load our packs and I had to carry that frozen bottle for the next section since we had already ran out just a short time ago 🤦🏻‍♂️... Note: In hindsight, I’d freeze one bottle and have extra unfrozen bottle at each cache. 

So off we went out of Indian Canyon, it was 7:50am and the sun was shining brightly as we started the high desert portion of our run. This section was beautiful but completely exposed, I believe that the climb out of the Indian Canyon TH was 3-4 miles long and it seemed to last forever. Thankfully I had my frozen bottle of water, it was a pain to carry at first but it ended up saving us for the next 12 miles to Agua Dulce, thank the Lord! We finally reached the PCT tunnel that goes under the 14 fwy, pretty cool that it’s the shape of the PCT logo. We exited the tunnel and were amazed by the Vasquez Rock section that followed, it was so beautiful. I’ve driven by on the 14 fwy many times and never even knew that it was there, that’s what makes these types of runs so much fun. It was hot and we were struggling, but were amazed at what we were seeing around every corner 🙌🏼. At this point we saw a PCT sign that showed us that it was 13 miles to Bouquet Canyon Rd, our finish line. A few miles later we hit the road in the town of Agua Dulce, it was 10:30am and it was getting hotter by the minute as we snuck up on mile 50. Chris and I were talking about what was ahead of us when he started to feel the effects of the heat and needed to sit down. We crossed the street and found some shade in a driveway, Chris sat down and took in some electrolytes, a gel and some fluids but ended up needing to lay down for a few minutes. That’s when we began to talk about our options, there was a very long climb out of Agua Dulce,  the hill faces the sun and it was still charcoal black from being burned up in a recent fire. He began feeling a bit better so we got back on the PCT and headed towards our last cache. We got to another shady area one mile later and took a seat on a short sidewalk wall. That’s when we made the decision to end our adventure. We weighed the costs of trying to get over the last big climb in the heat and it just wasn’t worth it, we made the decision together and it was definitely the right call on this day... So I downloaded the Uber app and became a new customer so we could get a ride back to the car at Bouquet Canyon. 

It’s definitely not the glorious end that we were looking forward to but it was another great adventure for Chris and I, and I’m very thankful to the Lord for helping us to end it before something bad happened. These runs are always a blessing and a learning experience, I think we learned more on this run in failure than we would’ve had we finished. 

Up Next: PCT50k on 8/22 🤠

Equipment/Food Notes:
Pack: Orange Mud 12L Pack with a 2L bladder and two 600ML Soft Flasks (110 ounces). My favorite new OM pack
Food: HoneyStinger Waffles, HS Vanilla and Orange Gels, Spring Energy Speednut Gels, Bacon, HoneyStinger Lemon/Ginger Chews, Strawberries, 1 Banana and Oranges
Hydration FLUID Nutrition Fresh Citrus, FLUID Protein Shake Pre-Run & FLUID Recovery Post Run
Shorts: rabbit FKT 5” shorts
Shirt: Orange Mud PCT Series
Socks: XOSKIN Toe Socks
Compression Shorts: XOSKIN 
Hat: SNB Trucker / Orange Mud Sun Cap
Squirrels Nut Butter + SNB Happy Toes (both are amazing)
Shoes: Altra Olympus 3.5
GoPro Hero7 
Fenix LED Headlight
UltraSpire Waist LED Light 


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Chad Bruce

Partners PCT 100k DNF w/Christopher Ferrier

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Arizona Monster 300 - Inaugural Race

Arizona Monster 300 Shakeout w/ Gabe 🤠

Taper miles after recording the Distance to Empty Podcast - Arizona Monster 300 Course Preview

Core / Mobility Workout with 30 min Sauna

Core / Mobility Workout

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