Okanogan Outlaw Fun Run

Next weekend (saturday june 27th) is the the Okanogan Outlaw Fun Run! This is an informal training run on the course of a 50 mile race i hope to get approved for 2010. The route goes through remote high country in the Okanogan National Forest and spends the majority of the time above 6000 feet and goes as high as 8242 at the summit of Tiffany Mountain. the 50 mile course has atleast 10,000 feet of elevation gain and is often on technical ridge top trails. it can be hot at times and often there is little or no shade. water is also scarce and you should be prepared to carry enough water to get you from each drop bag or to get water from the few creeks you cross along the way (the longest dry section is between mile 19 and 33. there will be no creeks or springs and it's the highest part of the run). folks wanting to run but not all 50 miles are also welcome to run (and would be a big help with some of the logistics--see below!) to any of road crossings and stop there.

This is not a race. there is no entry fee. no aid. no search and rescue volunteers waiting around. you will need to take care of yourself if something happens. there are only three road crossings, at mile 15.3, 33.0 and 44.0 and at all times you're atleast an hour's drive from civilization. we will have drop bags and hopefully an unmanned vehicle (with keys hidden) parked at each road crossing just in case something goes wrong. but you really need to be aware of the risk of such a remote and difficult training run. and you need to bring you're own green trails maps for the course: Doe Mountain #52, Coleman Peak #20, Horseshoe Basin #21, twisp #84 and Tiffany Mountain #53.

Friday evening we will meet at the finish at the lightning creek trailhead, off of upper beaver creek rd (see driving directions below) which is about a 15-20 minute drive from Twisp. we'll organize the drop bags and coordinate which vehicles will be left at the road crossings and which vehicle/s will shuttle us to the start and which vehicle/s will stay at the finish to drive folks back to their cars after we're all done running. i'll have three medium sized coolers, with ice, to put our water jugs in and anything else to be kept cold.

we'll need atleast 5 cars to be able to do all of the shuttling and to have a car at each road crossing. so far my car and one other have been offered so we need three more. if we have less than 5 total cars available we'll still have drop bags and water at each road crossing but we won't be able to have an "emergency car" at each road crossing or if we don't have a car there obviously the shorter distance runners can't stop there. the rough plan is to meet friday evening, shuttle the emergency cars and the supplies to each of the road crossings and then camp at the finish friday nite. we'll then get up early, around 5am and drive over to the start and get running! then after everyone finishes we'll repeat the process of shuttling everyone to their cars. and obviously if a shorter distance runner stops at one of the road crossings they'll drive the car back after all the other runners have come through.

please email me at jvarner1313@yahoo.com to let me know you're planning on running, and which distance and if you're vehicle is available and if so how many folks can it carry. also let me know what time you plan to arrive friday, it would be great if everyone could arrive by 7 or 8pm so we're not all up very late doing the shuttling which will probably take about three hours if we're going to all three road crossings.

Driving directions to the finish (where we meet friday evening): Lightning Creek Trailhead (see greentrails map: twisp #84)

go south of the town of twisp on hwy 20
in 2.5 miles turn left to stay on hwy 20 and go towards loup loup pass
go 3.1 miles and turn left onto beaver creek rd (rd 1637)
in 5.9 miles go through the intersection with rd 4225 continue straight
in 0.33 mile turn right into the unsigned lightning creek trailhead/unoffical camp

Cle Elum Ridge 25k!

hi everyone

i'm excited to announce that for the first time at cle elum there will be a 25k option! i'm still waiting for final approval from the forest service on the new route so i'm not going to post all the details yet. stay tuned for more info and real soon we'll have the registration available too so you can sign up!

thanks!