UltraPedestrian Wilderness Challenge: Easy Pass

     "Holy Shit!", one of us yelled, as a deer appeared out of the darkness, directly in front of the
headlight beams. Luckily, we were going plenty slow and slowed to a stop, waiting for what seemed like an eternity before the deer ambled off. It was 4:45 a.m. and I was riding along with John Barrickman and Scott Railton as we headed towards the Easy Pass Trailhead. We had done a key swap with Chris Bellevie and had just left him at the opposite end of out route, the Colonial Creek Campground along the Thunder Arm of the Skagit River.
     Thankfully, I wasn't driving during the deer encounter as I was running on fumed by that point. I had been unsuccessful at arranging a shuttle to do this route and when I heard about the key swap several days prior, I jumped at the chance. The only hitch was how insanely early everyone wanted to meet up. I figured no sleep was better than too little so I stayed up late and shortly after one in the morning departed Bellevue for the North Cascades.
     By the time we pulled up to the TH I felt as though I was going to pass out from exhaustion. Despite us all driving to the TH together, we would all say our goodbyes and goodlucks there as we would all be going at different paces. As it was still dark, I popped my headlamp beam on, shook hands, and hit the trail.
     The first mile and a half or so was pretty uneventful. The trail climbed at a pretty descent grade, crossing the occasional stream, forded by log bridges, or in some case, just logs. As I was moving the quickest, I had the honor of getting to remove the bajillion spider webs that spanned width of the trail via coniferous anchor points. The dark forest would not last long though and soon enough I would break out in to the open and see the first and only significant climb of the day.
     Just after emerging from the woods, I stared up a my day's objective. Easy Pass. From here on out, it was a monster talus and boulder field that led up to the pass, switch backing just enough to keep it hard, just not back breaking.

     About a quarter way up the slope, I realized it had gotten light enough that I not longer needed my head lamp. The dawn light was beginning to creep it's way along higher points of the mountain ranges and it wouldn't be long until the sun was visible.
     Just as I was admiring the wall of light moving along the upper slopes, I was scared silly by a raucous noise and movement both in front of me, as well as in my periphery. Once I got my wits back, I realized I had accidentally crept up on a gaggle of grouslings. It was hilarious watching them scatter about the rocks, perceiving me to be a threat. Their tiny little underdeveloped wings would only allow for a couple meters of flight at best before returning back to earth, bouncing off the granite and flapping wildly. I passed by quickly, not wanting to disturb them any further.
     Before I knew it I was getting near the top, but not before turning around and seeing John several switch backs below m. We waved and said hello, and then I continued up to the saddle and Easy Pass.

   My timing could not have been more perfect as the moment that I reached the high point, the sun pierced the mountain's horizon line behind me, blanketing everything in front of me with dawn light. I couldn't help but sit there taking picture after picture. And that's when I saw the moon. It was just sitting there, barely above a large mountain right in front of me. And it was even more spectacular as it was not it's normal color. I'm colorblind and therefor can't describe it but it was something special! Moon or not though I was here on a mission. I took a few more pics, packed up camera, and dropped down into a series of switchbacks that would quickly get me down to the valley below.
     The switch backs, though fun, were actually a bit dangerous due to soil erosion. On more than one occasion my foot slipped off and I would go for a short tumble. I would finally get to the bottom though and aside from a couple scratches and legs and shoes soaked from morning dew, I was in good shape.
     The next fifteen plus miles were amazing, though much of it was blurry. At this point the sun was up and I hadn't slept since the previous morning. I was on serious autopilot as I navigated the never ending roller coaster that was the trail back to Thunder Arm.

    That is one of the few things I do remember. That no matter how hard I tried, I simply could not get a solid stretch of running together. The trail was eternally rolling. So much so that I actually started to wonder if I was descending. In addition to that, I also got scared by a dear, lost for several minutes, met two back country trail workers, saw the infamous new double-bridge, and ran in to Chris, heading in the opposite direction.
     As I got down to the last few miles I remember just wanting to be done. Like the tail end of a 100, you know you are going to make it, the hard part is behind you, but there are still a couple more stupid miles to travel just to spite you. Fortunately, as I got closer and closer, more and more people began to appear. It was now full on morning and these were campers who had recently awoken and were now beginning to enjoy the day.

     The human sighting became more and more frequent and before I knew it, I popped out at the TH. I was so surprised to be done that it took me a second to remember to turn my watch off. I looked around, noticing a few people looking at me, perhaps wondering why I was huffing and puffing and sweating during breakfast time.
     I walked back to the car, stripped off my gear, and walked over to Lake Diablo. It was painfully cold at first touch but I didn't care. It was perfectly still and had that emerald tint that only comes with glacial melt. I gingerly got in, sat for a couple minutes, and then got up and returned to the car. It wasn't even 10:45 am. To put a cherry on top of my surreal, sleep deprived adventure, I was treated to an air show by the Blue Angels on my return drive home as it was Seafair Sunday. Crazy, just crazy.

The Details,
     Time: 5:36:52
     Style: Solo, Self Contained (Nothing was
     sourced, including water).
     Fuel: 200 calories (Black Cherry Clif Bloc
     4x50cal)
     Fluid: 15 ounces (tap water)
     Gear: Montrail Fluid Feel shoes, Drymax
     socks, North Face "Better than Naked Long
     Haul" shorts, North Face "Better than Naked"
     Singlet, Seven Hills visor, RayBan sunglasses
     Suunto Ambit II watch, Hydroflask 15 ounce
     soft flask. Ultimate Direction "Anton Krupicka
     vest", Nikon AW110 camera.