Western States 100 Trail - Part 3

After three days of rest I felt like having another go at the Western States Trail.  I set off after coffee on Thursday (29 October) for French Meadows where I planned to run back up the trail to my prior stopping place just down from Red Star Ridge (where the Soda Springs Road crosses the trail).  

It is a long drive out to French Meadows of around 2 hours.  It  crosses from the Foresthill Ridge down to the bottom of the North Fork of the American River and then back up to Mosquito Ridge.  The North Fork Canyon is a most impressive sight.  It is primarily forested but it is dramatically steep and incredibly immense with this rather fine tarmac road winding down one side and up the other.  What an awe inspiring sight.

The dam at French Meadows

I didn't get on the trail until 10:00 am and it was already getting warm (as opposed to the previous venture when it was fairly cool all day).  The first part of the trail from here is uphill and a bit of a slog.  I passed some hunters - one a young guy with bow and arrows - the other an old couple with rifles, they must have been around 80.  I chatted with the couple for a while and I showed him my photo of a paw print from my previous run. With supreme confidence he confirmed it as a coyote, a large coyote.  Not a mountain lion, not even a bobcat.  What a relief.

The view to the East from the top of the ridge

The trail continued up to the top of the ridge and then pretty much followed the ridge line, undulating up and down along the way.   The trail was very dusty and rubbly so while some of it was ok running there was a lot of picking the way through rocks and a lot of dust,  It appears people take motorbikes up on the trail, they shouldn’t they are banned, and these really tear up the trail particularly around the hairpin bends of a switchback leaving them this time of year as a heap of fine dust.  Probably better than what happens in the rainy season.

Mainly Trees on this section

As usual around 8 miles out I start getting tired, wondering if I can make it, and then when I get to my turnaround I have a great sense of relief.  The fatigue continues (depending on the grade of the trail) for a while until I finally get my energy back 3 of 4 miles from the car.  I think my last 2 miles were the fastest of the day.  Every time I do this I say to myself I don’t need to do this again, it is misery, I am too old for this, but then there is a sense of satisfaction upon completing it that is hard to beat.

Forest regrowth

There were some sections of regrowth after a fire some years back.  It is amazing how the forest grows back after the devastation of a fire.  The forest floor was carpeted with small fir trees about 4 or 5 ft tall.

The dusty terrain caused my shoes to fill with dust and that got really painful after a while.  I had to stop three times to empty my shoes and beat out my socks before continuing.  That became a real chore after a while but the relief with dust free shoes was well worth it.

Back at the car I was really filthy - arms, legs, feet all covered in dust.  I did the best I could to clean off before changing clothes for the drive home. 

Stopping in Foresthill for something cold to drink I went into the gas station where I was the only one wearing a mask.  Just what you would expect in this land of Trump signs.