94km Juan de Fuca Double by Randy Duncan
How this run came to be:
Now into my third year of running ultras, I’ve often been inspired by the musings of Gary Robbins. His adventures, especially the WCT – JDF combination were mind-boggling. My philosophy of: “Never let fear or common-sense get in the way of a really crazy idea” led me to considering the JDF as an out n’ back or double of 94km. This seemed plausible, or so I thought… So really, it’s all Gary’s fault.
Less than two weeks after my best 50miler at Capitol Peaks in Olympia WA, I decided the JDF was going to happen. Mentally stoked from the race, legs felt good and no PF issues in right foot, May 7th was the day/night. Didn’t care what the tides were doing, just intended on dealing with whatever. I knew big tides weren’t ‘til July so no worries.
Left Victoria Thurs night stopping at China Beach to stash more food for the intended turnaround. On to Port Renfrew and Botanical Beach arriving around 9pm with plans to crash for two hours then up for a midnight start. Why would I start at midnight???? Night running seemed inevitable as I was anticipating 18-20hrs to cover the 94K. Better night running with fresh legs was the thought. Plus I love running at night as it’s so quiet and surreal.
I’m awake before my watch at 1130 and start gearing up. It’s a beautiful starry night with no clouds; it’s going to be a great day. Lots of duct tape and body glide on feet, fully expecting then to be wet throughout the whole day. On go the tri shorts, which keep the chaffing at bay. Injinji toe socks stuffed into my favourite Montrail Hardrocks. Pre-2009 models I might add, I like the protection; too bad they changed the shoe and the sole in the newer models. I’m wearing a tri singlet with a long sleeve merino wool shirt and vest; I like to be warm and I know the temps will drop closer to 3am. For light I have the Petzel Myo XP on my head, it’s a great light and the battery pack doesn’t bother me. I also have two lights attached to the cross straps of my Gregory pack. No light in hand as I like the Nathan handhelds for hydration so both hands are busy. The handhelds, filled with E-Load, also protect the hands during falls, which are inevitable. In the pack I’m carrying bear spray, MSR water filter, extra clothes, first aid gear, a flare, two knives and lots of calories: Gu gels, Honey Stinger chews (yummy), Clif bars, PB & honey sandwich (es) almonds/dates, jujubes, choc espresso beans, etc.
Finally I’m ready and without much further thought, I dive down the trailhead. The first K from the parking lot is downhill and fast. Take it easy and watch the path, I remind myself, this is the easiest portion of the whole trail and the K’s slide by, Plenty of mud to contend with and some innocent looking patches are knee deep; stops you pretty quick.
There are lots of wood and roots: All wet and all dangerous. I recall from previous outings that wood stepping-stones are not your friend and taking the mud rather than anything wood is a good idea. First 2hrs go by quickly and I’m having a blast covering 15K. Later this will seem like a tempo run. Staying focused, as every foot strike can be a bad one, I awaken my first critter. The bear is in the salal beside the trail, I’m guessing my headlamps woke it and his movement and noise woke me. I stop on the spot, drop my bottles and go for a knife. Remembering my bear course, I make myself big and loud, this all happens very quickly and I spot the bear climbing a tree. Now I think: “CUB” soooo where’s mom? I scoop my bottles and high tail it down the trail, hitting zone 4 HR. This turns out to be my only animal sighting. I was okay with that.
Then I hit Sombrio Beach, Compared to the others, Sombrio is far more runable and I find I’m on it longer than expected. Checking a sign shows I entered the beach early as there is a high tide bypass. As I pass by a few tents, I’m sure my feet crunching the gravel must have been an interesting sound at that time of the morning. It gave me a few seconds of entertainment then it was back to scouring the trees for the trailhead markers.
I leave Sombrio and remember that there are some nasty spots with steep drops, so keeping focused in the dark a must. The trail to Chin Beach has been worked on so any fallen trees have been cleared and the trail is in good shape. Now I’m entering the meat of this trail. Sombrio-Chin-Bear is the toughest section (IMO). This is where I take my worst spill at about 25K. Tree root running sideways through the mud and I didn’t catch it. My left foot lands on a slippery root and down I go.
My left knee slams into the root but the right knee twists as I try to stabilize, the left one hurts causing some select narrative and the right one is okay, or so I thought, as it comes back to haunt me later on. I make it to Chin and take some pics as the moon is in the East sky and just a tinge of morning light starting.
Chin is great as the beach is short and soon I’m passing the emergency shelter heading into what I consider the hardest 12 K of the trail, Chin to Bear Beach. Lots of damage here and switchbacks aren’t yet repaired, so you have to make your own way up/down; always looking for remnants of the trail to make sure you’re heading in the right direction. Finally daybreaks, and I can turn the lights off, amazingly I never got sidetracked/lost during the night and that’s a happy thing. Shortly before 7am I make Bear Beach and apparently it’s high tide. As I expected, the shoreline is still accessible. I’m positive they named the beach “Bear” because it is a bear to cross. Nothing but large rock to walk on and the beach goes on forever. I’m guessing a mile maybe 2 K. Gary would know.
Now into the easier section to Mystic Beach and it feels like I’m almost home. At Mystic I finally run into people and now it’s a 2K climb up to the China Beach trailhead and my food stash. They’ve done some work on the stairs closer to the beach so it’s an easier climb than in the past.
I pop out onto the parking lot just after 9am, so that’s 9 hrs end to end, I refill my bottles from the stash and reload on food. It’s nice not to have to mess with the filter. Funny how lazy you get when tired and taking the pack off just seems like too much hassle. I forced myself to use the filter out on the trail even though the temptation to just dip the bottles into the creek is almost overwhelming.
Pack back on, bottles in hand and now the mental work starts. Another 47K. I break the trail down into “aid stations”: only thinking about the next location, mentally ignoring the rest. Mystic is great as it’s downhill and only 2 K, unfortunately, this is where the twisted right knee really starts getting sore and the right leg gets hard to bend and lift. Great, I still have 45K to go. I do my best to ignore it and plug away at the trail. Occasionally meeting people on the trail is a great distraction not to mention a good reason to take a break!!
Back at Bear Beach and on the rocks again, this is the closest to a mental meltdown I have; I love the trail but I hate that freaking beach!!! After what seems to be an eternity I make the trailhead again and the knee is not happy. The next 12K back to Chin is a mental blur; I remember next to nothing except how hard I worked the switchbacks. I’m convinced the trail is steeper this way!! Cardiac drift is in full swing and my HR way too high, staying on top of my fuelling/hydration is priority # 1. With shattered legs I make it back to Chin and I look lovingly at the Emergency shelter; the bare floor oh so inviting. I think; get your ass moving that’s three “aid stations” down and Sombrio is next.
Mentally, this gets easier knowing that Sombrio back to the start is the easiest section, this section even gives you a piece of service road to run on and it seems fast. Speed is a relative term at this point. I really have to pay attention the last couple of K’s back to Sombrio. This is that steep nasty section along the water and one trip… Finally I make the beach and Sombrio never looked so good. There are people here as Sombrio is easily accessible from the parking lot, but I don’t linger too long. All I can think about is covering the beach to get back on the trail and it’s the home stretch.
It’s 3:30 now with 18K to go and I’m a man on a mission to get this done. Like the proverbial “horse heading back to the barn” I move as fast as I can. The mud is frustrating as my core is tired, my legs are tired and my head is getting there too. I really start to look for the Km markers now. Finally, I get to the last Km and it’s all uphill. I try to run it but have to keep alternating with walking. At last the parking lot and my truck never looked so good. It’s now just after 6:30 and I’ve been out for 18.5 hrs. My day is done!!!!!!!!!
It always amazes me how fast we can forget a suffer-fest of pain. So here I sit ready to give the Vancouver 100 a shot. It will be an interesting comparison; 100K of Baden Powell to 94 K of Juan de Fuca.
I think I know which one is tougher but that will remain to be seen.
Randy Duncan