From: "Janice Cahalane" 
Subject: Fw: Barkley Report - the long awaited 
Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2004 17:58:58 +0000 
      

Jim's race report was great.  I always wonder what those front runners are 
doing.  But now here's a race report from the back of the crowed...  (this 
was the report I sent to our local adventure racing group)


The thirty or so racers were little separated in groups going up the first 
hill - elevation gain of about 1,500 feet.  Planning on a long race no one 
hurried ahead.  Hugo and I had previously made a trip to Frozen Head to 
scout the course and knew the way to the first book.   The first turn off of 
the trail toward the top of the hill could have been tricky, but I think 
everyone saw the trail of people making the turn.  I believe the trail up to 
the top was a little over a mile, was well defined and the slope was not to 
steep with switchbacks all the way up, leading one to believe that this race 
may not be as tough as they say.  I also wondered if cutting up the hill 
would have been faster, though not allowed - we were supposed to stay 
on-trail.  At the top of the first hill a few racers sped quickly past us 
making a fast descent and disappeared forever. The descent of about 1,600 
feet was a little steeper that the ascent and the trail began to be a little 
fuzzy at points, but there were still plenty of racers around to look to see 
where they were going.  It was also a little over a mile down the hill to 
book One.  Finding book one was good - exactly were we found last years book 
during our scouting session.  It was the book I donated to the race "Be an 
Expert with Map and Compass".  We later learned that the title of the books 
were a preview of what was to come in the next section.  In finding book two 
ya had to have known the course, or been some kinda super expert with map 
and compass, or following someone who was either of the two things 
previously mentioned.

On to book Two.  The map showed that we'd be going up to Bald Knob, an 
ascent of 1,800 feet, then down almost 1,000 feet then up about 600ish feet, 
all over about a four-mile span.  Easy right? Well, not really, some of the 
trails were somewhat invisible and non-existent.  During our scouting 
section we never found book two, but were lost on Bald Knob.  We had lost 
the trail and just decided to bushwhack over scores of fallen trees and 
through the thorn clusters up the big hill, which we thought was where the 
second book was.  But it wasn't.  During the race we were able to hang onto 
one of the racers ahead of us for a while till he led us to the trail we 
never found during our scouting session.  Well, Hugo hung onto him; 
occasionally calling back to me to try to keep me on trail.  But of course I 
went off trail so my fight up the hill to try to keep up with Hugo and the 
other runner was made more difficult which left me even further behind, 
which answered my question as to whether it would be faster to just run 
straight up the hill.  Hugo kept calling me so I just bushwhacked up the 
side of the hill towards him.  Close to the top three more racers trotted 
easily by me on a nice smooth trail. At this point I was a huffin and a 
puffin and gasping (oh, I wish Jillygoat and her asthma spray was here), and 
I also had the beginnings of a blister so I had to stop and catch my breath 
and slap some duct tape on.  Then we were off again, with Hugo carrying my 
pack for a little while so I could recover, but without our runner guide.  
But we managed to stay on trail to the top of Bald Knob, exactly where we 
made it to during our scouting session, though following the trail at least 
some of the time was a lot more pleasant than bushwhacking the entire time 
as we did on our scouting session.

At the top of Bald Knob, we sat and looked around for a spell, not because 
of the beauty of the scenery or because we were tired, but because we were 
at the same point our journey ended during our scouting session, which ended 
because we had no idea where to go.  There were no trails that were supposed 
to be there.  I know that our situation was likely to reoccur and plan on 
just shooting a damn bearing and bushwhack the other mile of so to book two, 
which we started to do.  We were part way down the side of the hill when 
Hugo heard another racer at the top of the hill, so we ran back up the side 
of the hill and we ran down the other racer who got us back on trail.  This 
guy knew the course well, very well.  Rollin is an older guy, and an 
experienced ultra-marathoner.  We also saw another racer and our group 
became four.  We followed our new guide, Rollin, to Book Two entitled "Is My 
Child Overtired?"

Next was the Water Station, which was about a half a mile away on a gentle 
slight descent, located at the end of a dirt road back to civilization.  
Unfortunately, we found only a half jug of water for the four of us.  We 
weren't too worried because we did have iodine tablets if we needed.  I was 
also not too worried because I knew if we got lost out there and our group 
of four had to cannibalize someone to survive the unlucky winner would have 
been our fourth runner.  We couldn't eat Rollin our guide, or we'd never 
find our way out of there.  Hugo and I are tight and we'll always protect 
each other, so both of us were safe.  The fourth guy though, was looking the 
weaker of the group so it'd be him. But then came along the park department 
people to drop off water.  We filled up.  Then our fourth decided to catch a 
ride back to civilization.  Oh well, there went our fallback food supply.

Then we were back into the bushes to follow Rollin to Book Three, which was 
only about a half a mile 400 feet above our previous location.  We may have 
even found Book Three on our own, without our guide, eventually but it was 
nice not to be lost.  Book Three was entitled "Miles From Nowhere", and 
that's were we were going.

On to Book four about a mile, down about 1,000 feet. Now here, the race 
director didn't even pretend that there was a trail to be found, so we knew 
this one would be tough to find on our own.  More accurate - totally 
impossible.  I even doubt the mighty Joe B. could have found his way here.  
However, our guide was GOOD. He had scouted each of the checkpoints for 
weeks prior to the race.  He was point on with all the directions, such as 
"well be making a left at a big fallen tree across the way turn and go down 
the hill and they'll be a rusty barrel, we'll turn there an' then travel 
along the creek to a stone wall." he knew the course very well and traveled 
a good speed going down the hills, but being older, was a little slower on 
the up hill. But we had no chance of finding these books without him so we 
stuck together.  Book Four "Limits Of Pain" must have referred to - pain in 
the butt, complements of the Butt Slide to come.

Now to Book Five. First down something called "Leonard's Butt Slide".  I 
don't know why it's named "Leonard" but I know why it's called "Butt Slide". 
  Slippidy slide, Weeeeeeeee.  Gosh, can't wait to do that again.  Then we 
did have to walk part of the 500 foot descent to the "trail" though.  The 
only trouble was that there were so many little deer "trails" - which one 
would we take?  Good thing Rollin was there who led us a little over a mile 
to Book Five along a relatively flat route after the 500 foot decent, but 
still totally impossible to find for someone who had not thoroughly scouted 
the course.  Book Five was entitled "Ascent Into Hell" Well that was 
accurate too. But now I was feeling very good, we had slowed up alot and I 
was breathing ok and it was warm out.  Everything was going ok, except we 
were concerned about making the cut-off time, but at least one loop looked 
like it was gonna be a done deal.

Onto Book Six, Hugo's favorite hill "Little Hell" - "ah yes...Little Hell, a 
mere half mile somehow squashed into a near vertical ascent...how do those 
rocks stay in place?  wondered Hugo aloud (more than once).  About 1,500 
feet in half a mile was steep.  But we weren't going too fast.  We had to 
stick with our guide, which made the amount of time our feet were bent 
upward almost touching our shins a little too much for Hugo's Achilles 
tendon.  At this point he had a choice: 1. to drop this race, which had lots 
more big hills in store, or 2. stay in this race and blow the race season.  
So he made the wise choice to drop. I wasn't gonna let Hugo try to make it 
back on his own.  We really didn't know if the "trail" we planned on taking 
in, was a real trail or not.   It was not so disappointing to drop here 
because although Rollin was a great guy, and it was nice of him letting us 
follow him around and all, it didn't feel like a race just following someone 
around.  And at the pace we were going we didn't think we'd make the cut-off 
for the second loop anyway.  Also it's a good thing I dropped too.  My 
breathing got worse after the race, and I'm still far from being 100%, who 
knows how bad things would have gotten. (Doctor's appointment on Friday - 
Barkley finally made me give in and I'm getting the inhaler)  Hugo Achilles 
tendon is almost all better.  Still no all out on hills for another week or 
so though.

To sum up - Barkley is super tough on the nav - too tough - ya gotta do some 
scouting, also somewhat challenging on the hills, but nothing most of us 
haven't seen before, bring an inhaler even if you don't have asthma, and 
stretch stretch stretch those tendons before this little race.  We got very 
lucky on the nice warm weather - It woulda been a much tougher time if it 
hadn't been so nice.

The attached map shows the CP's from 2001.  Most points are the same except 
for book five and six I think.

Frozen Head State Park, TN