2016 ITERA, PART TWO
The first part of the hike through the famous Maumturk mountain range was on the Warren (?) Way, a hiking path that acted more like a streambed for about three miles, steering us through a swampy morass of spongy terrain. Then we popped out on a dirt road and, surrounded by beautiful mountains, hiked about 10K on the flat, straight road. We kept up a pretty good pace, but it still wasn’t enough to prevent us from getting passed by the top two or three full-course teams, who had completed some additional mountain CPs.
At the end of the road, we made a 90 degree turn right and headed up a pass through some ruggedly beautiful mountains. Rob Howard of SleepMonsters was waiting near in the pass and snapped some pictures of us topping out after a 500 meter climb. We scampered down and into the TA, following a short interlude about 1K out at a thick blackberry patch.
The TA was full of teams sleeping, eating and getting stuff packed in dry bags in anticipation of the next leg, a 75-kilometer paddle on Laugh Corrib. We arrived at about 2 p.m. and Kate started cooking while Cliff did our mandatory blog entry. Here’s what he wrote:
Blog from S2-3 transition
Cap'n Cliff checking in, about 2 p.m. on Thursday. Race has gotten better every moment. We had a very rough paddle as the boat Claire and I was in was a leaker, and the extra water in the hull eventually made the boat practically unmanoeverable. The last 4k or so was pretty scary, and in the last 1k we capsized twice. Fun kayaking otherwise! Claire was a bit chilled after our dips in the Atlantic, so we took a bit of time to warm her up, then headed out on our trek greeted by a beautiful sunset over the ocean. Met up with about 5 teams on the modified trek and had a good time trying to figure out how to cross streams and stay within race rules on walking the beach. Got to our boats around 1:30, crossed the channel by 3:15 and then found out we had to rush to make a 5 a.m. cutoff for leaving the TA. We may have logged one of the fastest times on that 6K run out of all the teams, but a poor call by Cliff (following arrows for another race) led us away from the TA as we were within a tenth of a mile. Sadness followed as we reached the TA minutes after it had closed. Some crying ensued, then a little sleep for most of the team. But Cliff stayed up, met with RD James, and worked out a deal to stay ranked on short course if we left by 8 a.m. Wake-up, quick pack and beautiful hike thru the Bens. Looking forward to another paddle out to an island for an old-school camping experience! hi to everyone who's following us - you are willing us ahead!
From the blog post, you can see that our plan was to camp out on one of the islands in Loch Corrib. We got out of the TA by 3:15 and on the water by 3:30 - pretty good time for a transition. Coincidentally this was the only time we were to use our portage trolleys in the whole race, despite all the headaches they gave us before the race. The first part of the paddle, along an inland channel, was silky smooth and very fast. Coming into the main part of the lake, we encountered a light headwind, but nothing too bad, and to keep the sleepmonsters at bay we occupied ourselves by playing “I Spy” while paddling past old castle ruins, sheep and the occasional house.
About 10K into the paddle, we stopped for a break and three of the top teams paddled past us. We managed to catch back up to the trailing team, which turned out to be Columbia Ireland, and tried to hang on to their wake for as long as we could...we managed for a couple of hours, but by 9:30 it was getting dark and we were getting tired. We started looking for an island suitable for camping, and found one perhaps a little sooner than we should have stopped. But with the darkness came an uptick in the wind, and with the breeze blowing about 30 knots, we called it a day and pulled ashore, watching Columbia paddle into the darkness to the east. We made three delicious dinners, including a mushroom risotto and a pasta alfredo, and gorged ourselves, then bedded down in a tent that was surprisingly comfortable, even though it was a three-person tent and we were sleeping on rocks. But it was a cool night so the body heat felt good, and they were little rocks and conformed to our body shapes. Kate set the alarm for 3:30 a.m. and we fell fast asleep.
At the end of the road, we made a 90 degree turn right and headed up a pass through some ruggedly beautiful mountains. Rob Howard of SleepMonsters was waiting near in the pass and snapped some pictures of us topping out after a 500 meter climb. We scampered down and into the TA, following a short interlude about 1K out at a thick blackberry patch.
The TA was full of teams sleeping, eating and getting stuff packed in dry bags in anticipation of the next leg, a 75-kilometer paddle on Laugh Corrib. We arrived at about 2 p.m. and Kate started cooking while Cliff did our mandatory blog entry. Here’s what he wrote:
Blog from S2-3 transition
Cap'n Cliff checking in, about 2 p.m. on Thursday. Race has gotten better every moment. We had a very rough paddle as the boat Claire and I was in was a leaker, and the extra water in the hull eventually made the boat practically unmanoeverable. The last 4k or so was pretty scary, and in the last 1k we capsized twice. Fun kayaking otherwise! Claire was a bit chilled after our dips in the Atlantic, so we took a bit of time to warm her up, then headed out on our trek greeted by a beautiful sunset over the ocean. Met up with about 5 teams on the modified trek and had a good time trying to figure out how to cross streams and stay within race rules on walking the beach. Got to our boats around 1:30, crossed the channel by 3:15 and then found out we had to rush to make a 5 a.m. cutoff for leaving the TA. We may have logged one of the fastest times on that 6K run out of all the teams, but a poor call by Cliff (following arrows for another race) led us away from the TA as we were within a tenth of a mile. Sadness followed as we reached the TA minutes after it had closed. Some crying ensued, then a little sleep for most of the team. But Cliff stayed up, met with RD James, and worked out a deal to stay ranked on short course if we left by 8 a.m. Wake-up, quick pack and beautiful hike thru the Bens. Looking forward to another paddle out to an island for an old-school camping experience! hi to everyone who's following us - you are willing us ahead!
From the blog post, you can see that our plan was to camp out on one of the islands in Loch Corrib. We got out of the TA by 3:15 and on the water by 3:30 - pretty good time for a transition. Coincidentally this was the only time we were to use our portage trolleys in the whole race, despite all the headaches they gave us before the race. The first part of the paddle, along an inland channel, was silky smooth and very fast. Coming into the main part of the lake, we encountered a light headwind, but nothing too bad, and to keep the sleepmonsters at bay we occupied ourselves by playing “I Spy” while paddling past old castle ruins, sheep and the occasional house.
About 10K into the paddle, we stopped for a break and three of the top teams paddled past us. We managed to catch back up to the trailing team, which turned out to be Columbia Ireland, and tried to hang on to their wake for as long as we could...we managed for a couple of hours, but by 9:30 it was getting dark and we were getting tired. We started looking for an island suitable for camping, and found one perhaps a little sooner than we should have stopped. But with the darkness came an uptick in the wind, and with the breeze blowing about 30 knots, we called it a day and pulled ashore, watching Columbia paddle into the darkness to the east. We made three delicious dinners, including a mushroom risotto and a pasta alfredo, and gorged ourselves, then bedded down in a tent that was surprisingly comfortable, even though it was a three-person tent and we were sleeping on rocks. But it was a cool night so the body heat felt good, and they were little rocks and conformed to our body shapes. Kate set the alarm for 3:30 a.m. and we fell fast asleep.
CONTINUED...
OR GO BACK...
