Badwater 146

The adventure started in Los Angeles with the crew trickling in on different flights. Luke Rafferty, videographer for the trip, was the first to fly in, and we went directly to a presentation to a group of students at Mar Vista Family Center on Wednesday afternoon. On Thursday, Holly Cunningham arrived in the late afternoon, followed by Victoria Jones and Madisyn Heistand at around midnight.

Thanks to the hospitality and generosity of General Manager Liz Hall, Kristin and I got to stay at the Inn at Playa Del Rey in a beautiful room overlooking the Ballona Wetlands and the Pacific Ocean. After a good night sleep we had breakfast at the house and packed up the essentials for the upcoming trip. We started the trip with a minivan and Kristin’s MINI Cooper. Madisyn, Victoria, Luke and myself headed out in the minivan around noon on our way to Lone Pine. Holly, my 11-month old son Hudson, and Kristin headed up a few hours later. That evening we all arrived in Independence around 6:00pm after a large Costco run for food and a nice drive to get acquainted with each other.

The mini van arrived first, with the MINI Cooper arriving within a half an hour afterwards. Darla Workman and her husband Mike Van Doran were there by 7:00pm and the last couple to drive into town was Maria Walton and Daniel Nelson at 7:30pm. It was great to have everyone together, and we soon went through final preparations for the run.

We had rotisserie chicken, green beans, and macaroni & cheese for dinner while we loaded our packs, started the tracking units, watched the Rotary Polio videos, and had a team meeting with introductions and prayer before the big event. We managed to get everything all wrapped up by about 10:30pm, and I was off to bed until 2:30am.

Saturday, August 5

I woke up one minute before my alarm at 2:29am and quickly hopped into the shower. I got dressed, loaded up all my running equipment and as we were all getting ready to load up in the van I see Hudson being rocked on the porch by Grandma Holly. I go over to him as he is just beaming with his usual smile and tell him, “Hudson it’s early, you’re not supposed to be up”. I kissed him on the cheek goodbye and told him I loved him and we were on our way to Badwater Basin. The drive went well with Mike Van Doran at the wheel and we managed to arrive 30 minutes before 6:00am, our planned start time. That gave us time to put on all our running gear, tape up our feet, put on all necessary lubricants, sun protection and other running accessories. Daniel, Maria, and I said a prayer at the Badwater sign (282 ft. below sea-level) and at 6:05am we were on our way.

As the course went on, I broke it down into small pieces. The first section was 17 miles from Badwater Basin to Furnace Creek. During this stretch is where we did the most running for the event. Every mile or two we would jog for about 30 seconds to a minute and then would proceed back to the fast paced walking/hiking. Wilson Benitez, Rotary District Breakfast Chair, and his wife met us out on the course. He was overly engaged with the whole adventure, and I’m so grateful for his support of me at the breakfast, on the course, and in some of the upcoming events. At Furnace Creek we arrived at around 10:30am after about 4 and a half hours on course and organized a Facebook Live with the Rotarians who were having a morning pajama and mimosa party. It gave me time to jump in the pool and take some time to assess how all the equipment was holding up. It was at this time that Susan Ely joined our group. Her flight had arrived at about 2:00am Friday night in LAX so I left a key for our house so she could get a quick night sleep and then use the Honda that I left to make her way out to Badwater. It was a relief to see that all the details had worked out with this plan. So far the hats, sleeves, nylons around the neck with ice and amazing crew were holding up well. We were ready for our next leg in the journey.

The next big checkpoint was at the end of the desert at mile 42 as we arrived just after 9:00pm at Stovepipe Wells and after a 30-minute break, began the climb up to Townes Pass. Maria, Daniel and I had been pacing each other back and forth all day and enjoying each other companies as well as sharing stories in the desert heat which had risen up to 114 degrees that day. We were fortunate that we had a lower than average temperature, although still noticeably hot. As the evening started to arrive, the heat seemed to increase as it almost felt like we had a light breeze through most of the day that kept us cool. At Stovepipe Wells I paid the four dollars for use of the pool and took another shower and dip in the pool before heading back out on the road. This was the point where our group started spreading apart. Daniel hadn’t slept much the few days leading up to the run, and I was still feeling fairly fresh and really wanted to get to the top of Townes Pass before stopping for the night.

From Stove Pipe Wells I picked up the pace and started trekking up the almost 5,000 foot climb over 16 miles to Townes Pass. My lower back was starting to hurt and my feet were a little sore but nothing major yet. I just kept thinking positive thoughts, praying frequently, singing songs to myself and going as far as I could, as fast as I could comfortably go, for as long as my body would let me. Towards the end of the climb, Victoria Jones paced me for about 4 miles while Susan Ely was in the car taking photographs, and Mike Van Doran drove. We saw a female runner heading in the opposite direction that had started at Whitney Portal that morning and gone up and down the mountain and was on her way to Badwater Basin. The highest to lowest sounded like a nice way to do this route although I was told later that she would have to pull from her attempt at Furnace Creek just 17 miles short of her goal. We arrived at the summit just before 4:00am and Susan made me a little bed on the side of the road with a camping pad, sleeping bag and pillow and left me with a jug of water before heading off to check on the other runners. I woke up just after 5:30am and got ready to hit the road again. Maria and Daniel had just gotten up as well and were approximately 2-3 miles behind. I didn’t want to waste the cooler morning air, so I was on my way.

The next section was the 14-mile section into Panamint Springs. The downhill was tougher than I would have thought and this was where I first started walking on the opposite side of the street to help ensure that my hips didn’t get to out of alignment because of the canter on the road that makes it slightly uneven. There was a short period during shift change where I got left on the course for approximately 20 minutes, which was enough to run out of my water bottle and get my ice on my neck to pretty much completely melt. Instead of stressing out or getting angry, I found a sign which allowed for a bit of shade and sat down and enjoyed the very flat valley scenery between the two hills and waited the 5-10 minutes for the van to get there. I was proud of myself for keeping my composure and making a wise self-preservation decision when the plans had a little hiccup.

I arrived into Panamint Springs and the 72-mile mark now being close to the half way point of the race at noon on Sunday. I had received a Facebook message from Luis Escobar telling me to make sure I got one of the popsicles from the store there. My wife Kristin and niece Madisyn made sure that happened.

The next checkpoint was Father Crowleys Pass at mile 80. During this section was the only time during the trip where we experienced heavy wind and a light rain pelting us from the West. Madisyn and I walked a section of this and the climb back out of the valley went smoothly and the colder air with the rain was a welcome treat. We reached the top of the pass sometime around 6:00pm and it was that point that Sean Flanagan and his wife Tara joined our crew.

The next few sections run together a little in terms of checkpoints. Sean who was my crew chief for the Race Across America last year pretty much didn’t leave my side from that point until the Mt. Whitney portal. Our first checkpoint was the 100-mile mark which we passed near a junction and where I took a nice little hour and a half nap on the side of the road. I’m not sure if I actually fell asleep but I likely was out for about half an hour, hard to tell.   Then it was 114 to celebrate the high temperature on the first day. The high of day 2 only got up to 107, as we were a little bit higher in elevation. By the time we hit the 114-mile mark I was pretty exhausted again. The plan was to make it to Beeler and then take an hour break but a swarm of mosquitos and horse flies changed that plan. I got eaten up by mosquitos and literally probably squished 30-40 within a 3-mile section. Sean got bitten by the horse flies pretty severely, however somehow they decided to avoid me. We took a break and I laid down for about half an hour inside the air conditioned minivan and enjoyed a little time closing my eyes.

One of the more memorable moments of the trip was when Brian Sarvis showed up on the course on the way into Lone Pine. Brian is a Rotarian from Santa Barbara that I was paired with a few months ago as we crewed Chris Clemens and the 4-person RAAM team as they crossed the country. Seeing Brian and his giant smile was like seeing a long lost brother, and we instantly picked up where we left off a few months ago.

We arrived into Lone Pine at approximately 10:00am on Tuesday morning with 12 miles to go to the Whitney portal. I took some time to stop in the grass and take a half an hour nap and then was on my way up the Portal Rd. This next section was where I ran into the most trouble of the entire trip. Once I started climbing my calves started cramping up a bit and my Achilles heal started to get inflamed. I tried anything and everything I could to alleviate it, but was not having any relief. I walked backwards a great deal, had Darla and others massage it out, used creams, stretched it but to no avail.   The climb had taken me almost four hours longer than expected with all the stops and attempts to fix the problem.

With about four miles to go at 5:30pm, I called up JoDee Ahmann, my life coach and very close friend. JoDee had been with me the whole 12-day journey last year on Race Across America and we completed that solo ride in honor of her daughter Christina who passed away of Brain Cancer. We were able to raise over $27,000 for 3000 Miles to a Cure, an organization that raises money for Brain Cancer research. I told JoDee the situation and the struggle I was going through and that if I didn’t find a solution that I was going to have to bag the trip up Mt. Whitney. For me, safety is always first and if I was unable to figure out a cure for the inflammation it just wasn’t going to be safe to continue. For this trip, we were raising money for Polio Eradication and I had challenged the Rotarians to donate $11, which included $1 for every mile past the 135 miles from Badwater Basin to Mt. Whitney Portal. As I was talking to JoDee, Victoria Jones came up to the van and she offered to tape up my ankles. Among her talents she has training as a physical therapist and I happened to have an old role of athletic tape that I had carried around with me for the past almost 10 years and never used. I prayed for a solution and God answered in the form of Victoria and her skillsets. I told JoDee we had something that might work and to pray for the best.

As I began to walk again I didn’t feel any pain at first. I slowly picked up the pace walking with my Mother-in-Law Holly. As I kept moving I still didn’t feel any pain in my heels and I slowly increased the pace to the point where Holly had to call it a day pacing with me. I was grateful for the time that I got to spend with Holly and so glad to have her on crew yet again. I had my crew chief Madisyn Heistand and Sean Flanagan walk with me the last 3 miles or so up to the Portal and this was the first time on the whole trip where I felt like I was in flow. I felt ecstatic, radiating joy and feeling the connection to my crew, the Rotarians that I knew were supporting me from around Los Angeles and beyond, and being a part of this epic journey that many legends in the ultra community have traveled on before me. It’s humbling to be able to cross such beautiful and yet treacherous terrain. It’s not easy by any means and yet it is where I come alive the most. I’ve gotten in the habit of telling people that I am very comfortable being uncomfortable and that for some reason when things get really tough that’s where I light up, find that internal focus on the task at hand and reach a plain of consciousness and level of awareness, appreciation and determination that I don’t come close to reaching during my normal life. I would almost call it a glimpse at enlightenment, a spiritual high, or simply clarity. As we pressed these last few miles the three of us quickened our pace and within no time we had the Portal in view. I took a quick break to change into my End Polio Now Rotary shirt for the finish photo at the portal and according to my wife we hit the top at 10:44pm. I had officially finished the 135-mile crossing!!!

My goal if I was in even remotely decent physical shape when I reached the Mt. Whitney portal was to make a summit attempt. How could I possibly go from the lowest point in the United States and have a view of the highest point and not make that final push to the summit. I was “This Close”.

From there I did a quick finishing interview with Luke for him to send to the Rotarians and let them know that I had made it to the Portal successfully. I iced my feet and showered myself off as best as I could and took a couple of hours rest. In the morning I woke up and spent about an hour getting myself in the best shape possible for the Mt. Whitney ascent. I had Victoria Jones release all the blisters as best as I could and re-tape my ankles and feet for the new day ahead. We hit the trail at 4:30am, which was four hours past when we had planned, but we were on our way. For the Mt. Whitney climb my wife Kristin DeCou was with us. She had completed the Mt. Whitney climb years before at the end of the John Muir Trail hike that she did while living in Santa Barbara. I also had Brian Sarvis who was my main guide and I charged with the responsibility of keeping me safe and moving as fast and far as I could possibly go and just pray that was enough to get me to the summit. Brian had been camping at the portal the last 2 nights so he was already acclimated and ready to go. We also had Victoria Jones and Susan Ely. Susan took some amazing photos on our way up the mountain and had been such a joy this whole trip not just because of her photography skills but just her kind nature and adventurous spirit.

The day on Mt. Whitney is hands down the toughest physical and mental day of my life. RAAM as a whole was tougher than Badwater but no single day on RAAM compared to what I went through during the 20 hours of that climb up and down the mountain. The first 7 hours or so went pretty smoothly. We navigated about half a dozen water crossings including a log crossing, multiple rock jumps and one that I have no idea how we would make it across these small sticks and a rock face that met up with the water but somehow on the other side we were all dry.

The first checkpoint on the climb was Lone Pine Lake, which on the trip up seemed to come up very quickly even though it’s 2.5 miles into the hike. The next checkpoint, which I believe was at 3 miles, is the Whitney zone. This is where there is a sign that reminds hikers that you need permits beyond this point, which thankfully our group had secured nine thanks again to Brian Sarvis. The next checkpoint not to far down the way is Outpost Camp, which is where many hikers stop for the night if they are doing a two day. We crossed over the little creek as we entered and were on our way up towards the 97 or so switchbacks. After Outpost Camp we passed by Mirror Lake and then to Trail Camp where the highest number of campers were located that we had seen. It was striking how many were outside of their tents and hanging out. Likely the lack of mosquitos and beautiful weather was a factor. The 97 or 99 switchbacks, depending on how you count them went well for most of our group. About half way up we had the privilege of running into Epic Bill Bradley as he was on his way to returning back to Badwater Basin on his Quad attempt on the Badwater course! A bit later a couple who was just finishing the John Muir Trail insisted on donating money to Polio and our cause and I gave the one of our End Polio Now bracelets and they donated $20 to the cause which with the Bill and Melinda Gates 2-1 match means an extra $60 towards the cause. About 2/3 the way up the switchbacks Susan started to not feel that great and was slowing a little. We decided that it would be best for her to head back to Trail Camp and we would meet her on the way down. At that point we thought we would get to the summit sometime around 1:00pm or so and meet up with her maybe around 3 or 4 at the latest.

We finally got to the top of the switchbacks and went across a gap towards the Whitney Summit. The last 1.9 miles doesn’t seem like it would be that tough but this section took us close to 3 hours to cover. Another factor was also water. We hadn’t calculated how slowly we were going to be moving and fortunately for us there was snow across the main trail and we were able to filter some water out even at this high altitude to get enough to keep us out of the danger range. At this point we were also out of all of our “good” food so it was trail mix, jerky, and a few packs of nuts and gummy bear packs to sustain us. We officially made it to the summit at 3:08pm and took some photos, signed the log in book, and I left one of my End Polio Now Bracelets in the box. We had minimal reception so I took the time to call Sean and let him know our situation. I was sending Victoria and Kristin down as a pair so that they could get off the mountain ASAP. There were some clouds coming in but they didn’t look too serious but wanted to play it safe. We let Sean know that Susan had split from our group and was going to wait for us at the Trail Camp but because we were coming down so late might decide to head all the way out in which case she would need a ride from the Mt. Whitney Portal. I also told him that Brian and I would be going out together and moving slow but our intent was to make it out that evening if possible. I was exhausted, moving slowly, and my feet were pretty beat up but I felt confident in my ability to navigate the 11 miles down the mountain.

We finally started off the summit at around 4:00pm. Kristin and Victoria headed off ahead and Brian and me tailed behind them. I wanted to go as far and fast as I could possibly go with the clouds coming in just in case and really pushed it to get off the summit quickly. It took us about 2 hours to get back down to the crossing where we started the decent of the 99 switchbacks, but I’ll take it. We were moving. From there the switchbacks seemed to go on forever, but I kept thinking about making it as far as I could before the sunset and the trail got dark. On this section I felt like I was moving pretty fast as well although I could feel my time perception stretching. (Basically every mile felt like 3-5 miles). Sure enough as the sun was setting and the sky was darkening we were closing in on the bottom of the switchbacks. I hadn’t made it all the way to the bottom of them but close enough that I was feeling pretty good about myself. Brian and me were both pretty exhausted at that point but we kept plodding along. As we arrived in the Trail Camp I told Brian I wanted to lay down and get a little rest. He obliged and we both lay in the dirt for about 10-15 minutes. That’s about the time it took for my temperature to cool off and for me to start shivering. I leaned over and startled Brian who thought that my hand nudging his side might be some sort of animal. I asked him if we could keep hiking and he said, of course.

We got up, and loaded ourselves back up and were back on track. The further along the course we went the slower time seemed to go. Each mile might have well been 5 miles because it seemed like it was. We hiked, and hiked, and climbed down steps over and over in a seemingly unending cadence. A few hours later I believe we were somewhere along the meadows and we repeated the same 10-15 minute nap, me shivering, and then nudging Brian who in a slurred sleepy voice said, keep walking, yes let’s do that. This pattern continued and we had another stop around Mirror Lake, and then our final 10-15 minute power nap at Outpost Camp.

From there it seemed like we were just a little ways from the Portal, even though we knew we still had about four miles to go which in our current mental state might as well have been a 50k fresh. Never the less we trekked into the dark. Crossing those same half dozen crossings we had hit on the way up, managing to not get wet once again. On one memorable crossing I remember those silly logs across a waterway. I looked at them, took a deep breath and reminded myself to just keep moving. In my mind I had a vision of me falling off of them and laying on my back in the pool of water below just laughing my butt off because what else could you do at that point. Thankfully my balance, and focus paid off and we successfully navigated our way across.

I remember seeing the sign entering the Whitney Zone and was shocked at how short of a distance we had traveled. The same feeling hit me when we hit the Lone Pine Lake sign. We ran into a group of hikers on their way out and one seemed to be struggling from altitude issues. Brian mentioned that we were still about 2.5 miles from the Portal, and they were in disbelief thinking they only had about a mile to go. They must have been feeling similarly to the way we were.

In that final stretch my phone finally picked reception back up. I put in navigation directions on Google maps walking directions and found that we were 1.0 mile from the Portal (0.3 as the bird flies but wouldn’t think of cutting off trail at this point). I put my phone in my pocket and Brian and me walked and walked and rounded a bend and kept walking. I thought for sure we had covered at least half a mile and yet when I looked down at my phone to see our progress the mileage on the screen read 0.9… So close and yet this was still going to be a push to the finish.

Eventually we came to that square entrance feature and walked through with the signs and descriptions on each side handing for hikers to see and read as they are starting their journey. We saw the cars in the distance and made our way to Brian’s SUV and were officially done with our journey right around 12:10am. We high fived and got our stuff situated and went to go start the car and as fate would have it there was no sound. Brian’s response was oh no… He had this happen in the past and after fidgeting with his Lexus with over 200,000 miles on it was able to get it going again. We tried multiple keys, switched buttons on and off, rocked the SUV from outside. Eventually I called and made arrangements for Luke to come and get us, having to walk a bit to where I could get cell reception. After I got back to the vehicle we tinkered with it a few more times and were able to get it going. I called up the team and Luke and Madisyn were able to head back with minimal distance traveled.

I remember getting back to the AirBNB in Independence and seeing the look on my wife’s face. We had arrived less than an hour after Victoria and her at the trail head and she said, “I know how tough you are and knew you would make it down, I just had no idea how you would do it. It seemed impossible”. The Mt. Whitney climb would be tough when you are fresh and thankfully we had pulled it off after crossing the 135 miles from the lowest point in Badwater Basin and were now officially safe and sound back at base come. I found out that Susan had connected with this great group of people at the lake that had escorted her down the mountain and even waited at the trailhead until our group could pick her up. While she was waiting a black bear crossed her path and of course left her alone but added a little additional excitement to her trip.

In the morning we all got up and packed up the place and headed to the Totem Café in Lone Pine. I Facebook messaged Badwater Ben (Ben Jones) on the way on the off chance that he might be able to meet us at the restaurant. We all piled in and sure enough he made an appearance. We had the blessing of getting a signed copy of his book about how to crew for Badwater, probably could have used that previous to the event. We also had the blessing of seeing Maria Walton and Daniel Nelson who just happen to be there at the same time. They had made it the 135 miles to the Mt. Whitney Portal and decided to stop their trek there. I hadn’t touched bases with them since. It was nice to have the crew be able to get closure with them and was a great way to close out our time at the base of Mt. Whitney. Hudson had the privilege of getting a picture with Badwater Ben, who held him for about 15 minutes while our group ate our breakfasts. Another celebrity encounter for my 11-month old son that he’ll probably never appreciate as much as I do.

One of the things that kept me going that last day was my dear friend, Joe Garcia. I wanted my crew to have the privilege of meeting Joe Garcia and have a face to go along with the cause of Polio Eradication. I would describe Joe as joyful, kind, and extremely smart and I wanted especially my niece Madisyn to meet him. As we left Lone Pine we filled the vehicles with gas, and I called ahead to Joe’s family to see if we could all stop by. We headed that way and were able to do a video interview with Luke, have Susan take some photographs and had a wonderful time recounting our time on the Badwater course and all the support and celebrations going on around this endeavor.

The journey is over and the miles have all been tracked from the lowest to highest and yet the battle for Polio Eradication continues on. The goal is 3 years with zero cases. We have I believe 8 cases so far this year and within a few years hopefully we will start that clock to get through those 3 years. With the power of Rotary and the Bill and Melinda Gates 2-1 match on our funds raised we are currently on track to exceed our $250,000 fundraising goal and the final numbers will be revealed on October 28^th at the Foundation Celebration Million Dollar Dinner in Downtown LA where Kristin, Hudson and I will be VIP guests for the evening.

I’m so grateful for everyone who was involved in all aspects of this adventure and can’t wait to get into new adventures in the future, weather I am the, “tip of the spear” as I like to call it like on this event or crewing for others and being a part of the entourage such as next summer with Chris Clemens, Ryan Jean, David Valenzuela and others make their Badwater epic journey a reality.