Evolution Valley Loop

The Evolution Valley 100k is not well known outside the running community of the Owens Valley. I first heard of it when I did the Bishop High Sierra 50k, my first race, a few years ago. 55 miles self supported through some of the most beautiful areas of the Sierras sounded right up my alley, although well out of my league at the time. This summer I felt I had the experience and endurance to complete it. Usually this route is done in a horseshoe, but I decided to make it a true loop leaving and ending from my campsite. This ended up adding about 14 miles to the round trip totaling a convenient 69 miles. I left with the following items in my small pack:

arms sleeves, windbreaker, long sleeved shirt, gloves, warm hat, visor, 14 gels, salt pills, iodine and neutralizer, Nuun, a couple packs of Starbucks Via, a large cookie, and 3 cheesy rolls.

I left my campsite at 4am August Friday the 13th. Returned at about 4:30 Saturday the 14th. I was on the traditional route for about 20.5 hours with 4 miserable hours along the roads linking the trails. This was a great adventure and I tried to take my time and enjoyed it very much. Most hikers I ran into couldn't believe how I got so far out there with so little. Many were doing to the same loop, but in 5-7 days. On the final decent just after midnight from Bishop Pass I ran into a group of people just starting the same loop but in the opposite direction. Amazingly I knew one of them, the ever lovely Catra Corbett who in addition to her sexy punk look, is a hard core ultrarunner/thru hiker. It was pretty funny seeing them close to the end of my adventure and the beginning of theirs.

I took quite a few photos and there are too many to insert so here is a link to album.

http://picasaweb.google.com/tradshad/EvolutionLoop?authkey=Gv1sRgCNzLupuajNbWWw&feat=directlink

[caption id="attachment_271" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Map of Loop"][/caption]