Batona 100 50 FKT Report
Executive Summary
A beautiful night! But 3.1 miles / 40+ minutes of navigation errors (spacing out and missing turns) got me behind my planned arrival time at
Ong's Hat. I was counting on joining the Batona 50 race for support there, but got too far behind to take advantage of the (so I hear) awesome aid, and I didn't have the supplies in place to make it back on my own. So I bailed after completion of the one way hike. I guess I have a self-supported FKT for the trail (don't see another one mentioned anywhere), as I ended up doing it with nothing but self-support: 13hr:05min:50sec. Certainly nothing to write home about, as I was pacing for twice the distance.
GPS Track:
https://attackpoint.org/sessiondata.jsp?sessionid=...Some Details
With the help of my dad (thanks, Dad!), on Friday afternoon I dropped off a few supplies at four points along the trail, had a nice dinner at Doyle's Pour House in Tuckerton, NJ, and then headed out at 6:30pm from the southern terminus of the Batona Trail.
Southern TerminusIt was a stunning night in the Pine Barrens! Totally silent, with zero wind and crystal clear skies. A surprisingly-bright quarter moon that lasted for a while. Dry, dry conditions for the trail!
Just past BatstoI generally made good, mellow time in anticipation of the out-and-back. But my concentration was lacking. I'm used to running with just enough concentration to not miss a streamered course, not a trail blazed trail, so I had a number of missed turns. Eventually these added up to 40+ minutes of lost time, and 3.1 miles of added length. As I missed these turns and had to backtrack, I tried to up my pace, and got angry at myself and a bit frantic, until at about mile 42 I realized I wouldn't make the race start. I also fell pretty hard on roots around then, and decided to take that as a wake up call, and begin to take it easy on myself and just get the one way done in a relaxed manner.
Almost 1/2 WayAfter about 3am it got colder than expected ... the water in my refill jugs was slushing up! Putting those icy soft flasks into my vest pack was challenging. Once I slowed down, I was cold until I got home many hours later and took a 30-minute hot soak. Ahh! I also had some rib bruising (pretty painful!) from the fall, and the bouncing (I guess) of the soft flasks in my vest. I'm not sure what the fix is for that (too loose? Too tight?) besides going with a back bladder.
There were some cool, spooky moments! A silent, gliding barn owl. The too-close-set gray-green trunks of cedars in their swamps surrounding and leaning towards me, menacingly. The muffled splash of ... something ... in a black, otherwise ripple-less pond. The single enormous brown oak leaf that a trick of the light turned in to a leathery, brooding face. Quite the adrenaline rush on that one.
Apple Pie Hill Fire TowerThe only people I saw were in cars on the occasional road that I passed. No idea what they were doing on some of those roads at 2, 3, and 4 in the morning, and I'm kind of glad I never found out. And then the Batona 50 racers, who all passed me only a couple of miles out of
Ong's Hat. They looked so fresh and happy! I almost changed my mind and kept going, but knew I'd never see them again, so decided on discretion.
All-in-all a great learning experience, and challenging navigation and self-supported run in lovely conditions. I wish I had made the race start, but there's always next year!
Northern Terminus (actually from the day before)