One of our team members, Barb Blackburn, wrote up a comprehensive and humorous race report from our recent 3-day raid in Wisconsin. I’ve included it below, enjoy!
Established in 1957, the Black River State Forest encompasses approximately 68,000 acres of public land in Jackson County. The area’s geology helps make the Black River State Forest unique among the state forests. The property lies at the edge of the glaciated central plains, east of the “driftless” area of Wisconsin. Hiking to the top of Castle Mound provides views of the former bed of glacial Lake Wisconsin, as well as the unglaciated buttes, sandstone hills and castellated bluffs that dot the vast forest landscape.
The Fat Otter Raid 3-day race was held near Black River Falls, Wisconsin in the Black River State Forest. I was originally entered with my teammate Heff to run it as a 2-person team. A few days before the race, Heff had to withdraw. I e-mailed every racer I knew…and sent group messages out to the orienteering club, adventure racing group and the race director looking for a teammate. Just when I was about to give up my search, Dave from Team Trakkers called to talk about the possibility of racing on their team. After a few phone conversations and e-mails, I was very excited to find out I’d be joining their team! Our “Team Trakkers” (right to left) included Dave (team lead and superman navigator), Dennis (mountain biking king and paddling guru) and me (expert eater?).
The race started at noon Thursday and the cutoff time to finish was noon on Sunday. The estimated mileages were 75 miles on foot (trek, run, orienteer), 175 miles on bike (single track, road, 2-track) and 55 miles of paddling aluminum canoes. The race was unsupported (no support crew needed) so we each had specific sized bins that would be transported for us to each transition area. My bin was full of required gear, trail food and most importantly, Mountain Dew and cans of soup (to eat in the transition).
The race would be divided into multiple sections of trekking, biking and paddling. We were not provided details or maps until we arrived at each section of the race. The teams would be ranked based on the number of checkpoints obtained in the shortest amount of time. There were mandatory and optional checkpoints for each section. If you did not obtain the mandatory checkpoints, you would not be ranked with teams that did.
We arrived at the race start for pre-race gear check around 8 am on Thursday. After our gear check we were given the first of many maps to come. Dave had generously agreed to let a 2-person team tag along with us since they were unsure about navigation. So Dave plotted our first set of checkpoints while instructing the other team on map plotting.
Race Start – Noon Thursday
It was a hot and sunny start. The first race section was a Prologue (basically a short event to spread out the teams – a loop out and back to the start). The Prologue consisted of a land navigation section about 15 miles long with 4 check points that were to be obtained in any order. We were allowed to leave our packs for this section only – so we each had a bottle of water in our hands and no other gear. We took off running at a pretty good pace, as did other teams. We were surprised to be the only team taking off in one direction – but we figured other teams were getting the checkpoints in a different order than us. We came to the area we were sure there’d be a checkpoint and looked for a few minutes. We decided to move on to the next checkpoint and try to find it on the way back to the race start. We got the next checkpoint quickly and then moved on to another. Again, we were certain we had the right location but no checkpoint was to be found. After Dennis and I collaborated with Dave on the map, I suggested we check the plot location. Turns out a couple of checkpoints were plotted wrong; an easy mistake transposing the UTM coordinates. (Dave was probably distracted by assisting the other team or maybe it was the attractive young woman on the other team ) We re-plotted the points and were on our way. It was hot and sunny and we didn’t bring enough water since we were out longer than expected. One of the members of the 2-person team was having difficulty with the heat, so we slowed the pace a little. We finished the Prologue about 60 minutes behind the lead teams. We transitioned quickly (I pulled at least 10 wood ticks from my ankles) and were on our bikes for the ride to the Castle Mounds land navigation section.
On the Bikes – 3:30 pm Thursday
It was a 3-hour ride on some very hilly roads. Our tag-along team was having trouble keeping up. They offered to let us go ahead…they would try to find another team to help them along.
Land Navigation – 7 pm Thursday
We arrived at Castle Mound Park at 7 pm and were greeted by the friendly race volunteer and his two 3-legged dogs.
We filled up on water and ate some food. Dave plotted the points – there were 5 checkpoints, only 1 was mandatory. Even though it was getting dark (which makes land navigation difficult) we decided to get 4 of the 5 checkpoints. The first two were on and near some steep cliffs. To get the next two points we had to run out of the park, through town, through a trailer park and then into a wooded area that looked like a place for serial killers to take their victims. It was dark and the woods were dense. A creek ran through the area and there were intermittent and faint trails. The checkpoints were not easy to find, but after a few attempts and Dennis’s excellent rabbitting, we got the points and headed back to the park.
Bike to Lake Arbutus – 10:30 pm Thursday
It was now 10:30 pm. We got our next set of maps and Dave plotted our course. I pulled another 10 or 15 wood ticks from legs. We were back on our bikes for a couple of hours headed to Lake Arbutus. Along the way we stopped at a gas station and had delicious microwave sandwiches and Mountain Dew (aka Magic Racing Juice).
River Traverse – 12:30 am Friday
The next section was a traverse across the river and the south end of Lake Arbutus. Dave went first and made it across in record time (according to the ropes volunteers). I was next…I had help hooking my pulley to the rope (I was too short to reach it). I pushed off and flew across about half way. It was then a hand-over-hand backwards pull up to the other side. When I got there Dave had to help me disconnect…again I was too short and not heavy enough to weigh the rope down, my feet didn’t reach the platform/tree stump on the other side. Dennis was next and zipped across like a pro. We then did a short run to the paddle start.
Lake Arbutus Paddle – 1:30 am Friday
The three of us were required to be in one aluminum canoe. It was cold and very dark (cloud cover obstructing the half moon) and there was some light rain. I sat in the middle of the canoe while Dave and Dennis paddled (I felt like Queen Nefertiti). There were 4 checkpoints – only 1 was mandatory. We decided to get 2 checkpoints. The first checkpoint was difficult to find…it was up a small tributary for which we had trouble finding the mouth. The second point was easier to find. An hour and a half of paddling and we were back on dry land. We changed gear, ate food and Dave plotted our next course (oh, and I found more ticks).
Epic Trek and Rappel – 4:30 am Friday
We left the paddle transition area at 4:30 am for what was listed on our map as the “epic” trek. It was over 20 miles of travel on foot on gravel ATV trails and roads. It was raining and we were still cold from our paddle.
Dennis and I had asked Dave a various times during the race how much further to the next point…his response was always “a couple of miles”. It was always a lot further than a couple of miles! We joked that those must be “Wisconsin Miles” which are much longer than regular miles.
Part way through the trek, we had a rappel on Wildcat Mountain. We arrived at what appeared to be the rappel, but didn’t find it. This time we went straight for the map and checked the point. It was plotted wrong…we were on a hill just south of the hill with the rappel. Instead of heading back out to the trail, we scrambled down the hill, across a swamp and climbed up the actual hill at Wildcat Mountain.
Dave and Dennis were first down the ropes. I hooked up and started backing over the edge…but I suddenly slipped on the wet carpet that was protecting the rope. I was now hanging upside down! I had my brake hand in place holding my position and Dennis was on belay to stop me – so I was safe. It took a couple of minutes to get back upright…I had to slowly lower myself so I could get my feet planted on the cliff.
Levis Mounds Single Track – 2:00 pm Friday
We arrived at the location of the mountain bike single-track section. The race volunteers greeted us with a bon fire and hot soup – it was the best! We changed our socks/shoes and took our first nap of the race. We were 26 hours into the race and it was time to get some sleep. I laid on a picnic table and zonked out for 20 minutes. I got up and quickly ate a can of Chunky soup and guzzled a Mountain Dew (I did that at every transition). Now it was time to get out on the mountain bike course.
We were given a map with a highlighted route to follow. There were 3 checkpoints placed at secret locations. We’d have to bike the entire route to find them. The biking was very technical – lots of sharp turns, up and down steep hills, bridges, obstacles and rocks. (I was regretting having a belly full of creamy soup and 24 ounces of Mountain Dew.) Leaves covered the trail which made it very slippery. There were narrow trails that ran across very high summits – it is not a place to be if you are afraid of heights. I was very nervous…and actually wiped out on a downhill section. I got a pretty big gash on my inner thigh, but it didn’t bother me too much for the rest of the race. It took us almost 4 hours to complete the course. We got the next map, ate more food (more soup!), removed more ticks, geared up and were on our way.
Bike ride to the Epic Paddle – 10:30 pm Friday
We took off on our bikes about 10:30 pm. It was getting cold and there was a foggy mist in the air. We biked a couple of hours until we found a piece of public land where we could take another nap. It was a fishing access parking area. It was low-lying near a body of water that looked like a swamp. We unrolled our emergency blankets/bivy sacks (basically a big tube of thin, but stiff, poly material). I put on all the clothes I brought – fleece jacket, rain jacket, gloves and hat. I left my wet shoes on and climbed into the tube. I pulled the tube completely over my head (so rain and fog wouldn’t bother me) and left a small opening at the top so I wouldn’t suffocate. I could feel a couple of ticks crawling on me…but I fell sound asleep immediately. I woke up about 20 minutes later and I was shaking uncontrollably. The inside of the bag was completely wet with condensation from the rain/fog, my breathing inside the bag and my wet shoes. It was like a stinky swamp steam room – but extremely cold. I tried to move around to warm up – but the bag was making really loud crinkly noises and I was trying not to wake Dave and Dennis. We had hoped to get an hour of sleep. I repositioned the bag so my head was out and the bag was tight around my neck (hoping to get some heat to build up inside). I closed my eyes and tried to get some more sleep…but the shaking kept me from falling back asleep (my teeth were chattering). After what I think was an hour I had to get up and move around – I needed to warm up and I couldn’t worry about waking the guys. Turns out Dennis had the same problem…but Dave said he was toasty warm.
We quickly gathered our stuff and got back on the bikes (I think it was about 2 am by now). The rainy fog was making it impossible for me to see through my glasses so I had to take them off (btw, they are prescription). My bike headlight was getting dim. It was a miserable ride. We rode until the sunrise when we arrived in Black River Falls (that was a lot of Wisconsin Miles!). We got to our favorite gas station about 4:45 am. The sign on the door indicated they opened at 5 am. We were just fine with camping out and waiting for them to open so we could have some hot food. There were 3 other cars of locals also waiting for the doors to open – I’m not sure why it was so popular. The store clerk saw all of us waiting and opened the doors early (she might have regretted that after she smelled us!). We were happy to use a bathroom with running water and to get food, coffee and of course Mountain Dew. We got our sandwiches microwaved and sat at one of the two tables they had setup in the store (a pseudo dining area). I quickly ate my sandwich and then went back for another! A family sat at the table next to us (they were literally inches away – my back was hitting the back of the person behind me). I’m sure we made their breakfast a little undesirable by our smell. They were speaking in another language – I would have like to have known what they were saying I still think it’s strange that they would pick the gas station for their out-to-eat breakfast (there were many restaurants within a couple of miles on the highway).
Epic Paddle – 6:30 am Saturday
We left the gas station and biked a mile or two to the start of the “Epic” Paddle. We weren’t given any details on the paddle section until we arrived. We got the map and the race volunteer explained that the paddle was about 34 miles down the Black River. He went on in detail about how the river current is running about 3 miles per hour and that we should be able to leisurely paddle to increase our speed to at least 6 miles per hour. He estimated it would take us 5-6 hours. We asked what other teams had done it in…none had completed it yet so he didn’t know. This was the same volunteer that told teams it would only take 1.5 hours to complete the Bruce Mound navigation (and it took most almost 3 hours). Needless to say, he was again off on his estimates! It took us about 9 hours to complete…the fastest team did it in 8.5 hours and the slowest in 11 hours. We chocked it up to “Wisconsin Miles”.
It was cloudy and cool, so we put on all of our warm clothes and rain gear for the paddle. We were provided with life vests and one seat cushion. Both Dennis and Dave had sore butts from all the biking…so Dennis used the seat cushion, Dave sat on his life vest and I used a home-made seat I brought (3 kneeling pads duct-taped together).
We got on the river and the current was non-existent…there was no “3 miles per hour” happening. The water was dark (hence, the Black River) and was very shallow. We had to navigate through many sandbars, getting stuck quite often.
About an hour into the paddle the sun came out. It got quite hot and humid. We stopped twice on the shore to take a bathroom break and give our butts a rest…and remove more ticks. We were extremely tired and the constant rhythm of the paddles and the movement of the boat put us all into a trance. I switched places with Dave a couple of times so he could have a break and try to sleep. It was not easy to sleep sitting up in the bottom of the canoe without leaning to one side and tipping the boat. But Dave managed to fall asleep a couple of times. There were lots of tourists paddling the river with rental kayaks and canoes. We were very jealous of their day on the water with coolers of beer! I’m sure we were a sight to see… Dave was passed out in the middle of the boat – he had on his bright red headband, sunglasses, race shirt and bike shorts. It was like Weekend at Bernies! I’m sure people thought he was passed out drunk. One woman was looking concerned as we passed by…but I told her we brought him along as an anchor. She laughed.
There was one optional checkpoint on the paddle. It was on a cliff along a tributary into the river. It was a beautiful site – a narrow canyon that seemed to disappear back into the wilderness. Dave got out and climbed his way up the cliff to get the point. He was really moving fast up some precarious ledges – Dennis told him to slow down and not get hurt. Dave made it up and back quickly and we were on our way again.
After about 4 hours we kept asking Dave “how many more miles”…and you know the response by now…”only a couple of miles” (Wisconsin Miles!). At this point we were still under the impression the paddle would only take 5-6 hours. So Dave studied the map and calculated our current speed and gave us the bad news. The paddle would take over 9 hours and we were only half way through!
We got stuck on sandbars many times…when Dave was in the middle of the boat we were stern-heavy and got stuck more often. Dennis decided to stand up and paddle (to give his butt a break and to spot the sandbars). It actually worked well – but we had to be very careful not to make any sudden moves and tip. We had wondered how teams behind us that would have to do the paddle in the dark would navigate the sandbars.
At about 4:00 pm we were so happy to see the canoe take-out – Dennis joked that he was going to kiss the ground when we arrived. We arrived at the River View Inn in North Bend. As we were changing gear for our next section (biking) the race volunteer told us the bar just up the hill served hamburgers. We bee-lined it to the bar! It was the typical Wisconsin bar. There were about 15 stools at the bar and 3 high-top tables. There were about 5 people in the place and they were very curious about what we were doing. Dave brought the maps to plot while we ate. We had pizza and beer – Leinies Honey Weiss (when in Wisconsin you must partake of the State’s famous brew). I also had a chicken sandwich and fries with my pizza and beer (after all, I am the self-proclaimed expert eater on the team).
Bike – 5:00 pm Saturday
Now it was a bike back to the location of our vehicles (the first time we would loop back to the start). We were not real excited about more sitting… It was a fast 4 hour ride on mostly paved roads with rolling hills. We donned our headlamps and bike lights at dark.
Back to the Start Location – 9:00 pm Saturday
We were happy to arrive back at the race start location. We were able to sit in our vehicles and had access to our cooler with turkey sandwiches, Gatorade and cold Mountain Dew! We ate, changed out some socks/clothes and got our next race instructions. The first challenge was an optional on-foot navigation using an aerial photo to get 3 checkpoints. We decided to skip the optional section. Much to our dismay, the next section was MORE BIKING!
Bike Loop – 10:00 pm Saturday
This bike section was a loop to get up to 5 checkpoints – only 1 checkpoint was mandatory. Since our race strategy was to get mostly mandatory checkpoints, we biked out and back to the closest one. It took us about 1.5 hours.
Land Navigation – 12:30 pm Sunday
The next and last section was a loop land navigation section. It was in the area of the single-track mountain bike trails with steep climbs with ridges and ravines. There were 10 checkpoints – only 1 mandatory checkpoint. We were pretty brain dead at this point. The navigation became more difficult. The first checkpoint we attempted we plotted wrong…we searched up and down the steep hills and ravines with no luck. At one point we made our way out of the park onto a road to re-attack the point. I shined my headlamp into the field across the road and saw red glowing eyes. I’m pretty sure those were bear eyes…
Once we realized the point was plotted wrong, we moved on to the next checkpoint. We bushwacked a little to get the point, and found it with relative ease. We had a team discussion on whether we should continue to get optional checkpoints or head back to the finish. We had accomplished our original goal of finishing the entire race (no short course!). Any points we obtained might move us up in the ranking – but would not put us in a top three position. Dave was hoping to get home to see his family (he had a 7 hour drive) and I had a 3 hour drive to get Dennis to the Minneapolis airport (if we continued to the time cutoff – we would have to leave immediately from the race to the airport with no rest or shower). So the decision was made to head back and finish the race. We were the first team to finish (we finished 8 hours ahead of most teams). We took 4th place in our division and 7th place overall.
Established in 1957, the Black River State Forest encompasses approximately 68,000 acres of public land in Jackson County. The area’s geology helps make the Black River State Forest unique among the state forests. The property lies at the edge of the glaciated central plains, east of the “driftless” area of Wisconsin. Hiking to the top of Castle Mound provides views of the former bed of glacial Lake Wisconsin, as well as the unglaciated buttes, sandstone hills and castellated bluffs that dot the vast forest landscape.
Left to Right Barb, Dennis, and Dave
The race started at noon Thursday and the cutoff time to finish was noon on Sunday. The estimated mileages were 75 miles on foot (trek, run, orienteer), 175 miles on bike (single track, road, 2-track) and 55 miles of paddling aluminum canoes. The race was unsupported (no support crew needed) so we each had specific sized bins that would be transported for us to each transition area. My bin was full of required gear, trail food and most importantly, Mountain Dew and cans of soup (to eat in the transition).
The race would be divided into multiple sections of trekking, biking and paddling. We were not provided details or maps until we arrived at each section of the race. The teams would be ranked based on the number of checkpoints obtained in the shortest amount of time. There were mandatory and optional checkpoints for each section. If you did not obtain the mandatory checkpoints, you would not be ranked with teams that did.Race Start – Noon Thursday
It was a hot and sunny start. The first race section was a Prologue (basically a short event to spread out the teams – a loop out and back to the start). The Prologue consisted of a land navigation section about 15 miles long with 4 check points that were to be obtained in any order. We were allowed to leave our packs for this section only – so we each had a bottle of water in our hands and no other gear. We took off running at a pretty good pace, as did other teams. We were surprised to be the only team taking off in one direction – but we figured other teams were getting the checkpoints in a different order than us. We came to the area we were sure there’d be a checkpoint and looked for a few minutes. We decided to move on to the next checkpoint and try to find it on the way back to the race start. We got the next checkpoint quickly and then moved on to another. Again, we were certain we had the right location but no checkpoint was to be found. After Dennis and I collaborated with Dave on the map, I suggested we check the plot location. Turns out a couple of checkpoints were plotted wrong; an easy mistake transposing the UTM coordinates. (Dave was probably distracted by assisting the other team or maybe it was the attractive young woman on the other team ) We re-plotted the points and were on our way. It was hot and sunny and we didn’t bring enough water since we were out longer than expected. One of the members of the 2-person team was having difficulty with the heat, so we slowed the pace a little. We finished the Prologue about 60 minutes behind the lead teams. We transitioned quickly (I pulled at least 10 wood ticks from my ankles) and were on our bikes for the ride to the Castle Mounds land navigation section.
On the Bikes – 3:30 pm Thursday
It was a 3-hour ride on some very hilly roads. Our tag-along team was having trouble keeping up. They offered to let us go ahead…they would try to find another team to help them along.
Land Navigation – 7 pm Thursday
We arrived at Castle Mound Park at 7 pm and were greeted by the friendly race volunteer and his two 3-legged dogs.
We filled up on water and ate some food. Dave plotted the points – there were 5 checkpoints, only 1 was mandatory. Even though it was getting dark (which makes land navigation difficult) we decided to get 4 of the 5 checkpoints. The first two were on and near some steep cliffs. To get the next two points we had to run out of the park, through town, through a trailer park and then into a wooded area that looked like a place for serial killers to take their victims. It was dark and the woods were dense. A creek ran through the area and there were intermittent and faint trails. The checkpoints were not easy to find, but after a few attempts and Dennis’s excellent rabbitting, we got the points and headed back to the park.
Bike to Lake Arbutus – 10:30 pm Thursday
It was now 10:30 pm. We got our next set of maps and Dave plotted our course. I pulled another 10 or 15 wood ticks from legs. We were back on our bikes for a couple of hours headed to Lake Arbutus. Along the way we stopped at a gas station and had delicious microwave sandwiches and Mountain Dew (aka Magic Racing Juice).
River Traverse – 12:30 am Friday
The next section was a traverse across the river and the south end of Lake Arbutus. Dave went first and made it across in record time (according to the ropes volunteers). I was next…I had help hooking my pulley to the rope (I was too short to reach it). I pushed off and flew across about half way. It was then a hand-over-hand backwards pull up to the other side. When I got there Dave had to help me disconnect…again I was too short and not heavy enough to weigh the rope down, my feet didn’t reach the platform/tree stump on the other side. Dennis was next and zipped across like a pro. We then did a short run to the paddle start.
Lake Arbutus Paddle – 1:30 am Friday
The three of us were required to be in one aluminum canoe. It was cold and very dark (cloud cover obstructing the half moon) and there was some light rain. I sat in the middle of the canoe while Dave and Dennis paddled (I felt like Queen Nefertiti). There were 4 checkpoints – only 1 was mandatory. We decided to get 2 checkpoints. The first checkpoint was difficult to find…it was up a small tributary for which we had trouble finding the mouth. The second point was easier to find. An hour and a half of paddling and we were back on dry land. We changed gear, ate food and Dave plotted our next course (oh, and I found more ticks).
Epic Trek and Rappel – 4:30 am Friday
We left the paddle transition area at 4:30 am for what was listed on our map as the “epic” trek. It was over 20 miles of travel on foot on gravel ATV trails and roads. It was raining and we were still cold from our paddle.Dennis and I had asked Dave a various times during the race how much further to the next point…his response was always “a couple of miles”. It was always a lot further than a couple of miles! We joked that those must be “Wisconsin Miles” which are much longer than regular miles.
Dave and Dennis were first down the ropes. I hooked up and started backing over the edge…but I suddenly slipped on the wet carpet that was protecting the rope. I was now hanging upside down! I had my brake hand in place holding my position and Dennis was on belay to stop me – so I was safe. It took a couple of minutes to get back upright…I had to slowly lower myself so I could get my feet planted on the cliff.
Levis Mounds Single Track – 2:00 pm FridayWe were given a map with a highlighted route to follow. There were 3 checkpoints placed at secret locations. We’d have to bike the entire route to find them. The biking was very technical – lots of sharp turns, up and down steep hills, bridges, obstacles and rocks. (I was regretting having a belly full of creamy soup and 24 ounces of Mountain Dew.) Leaves covered the trail which made it very slippery. There were narrow trails that ran across very high summits – it is not a place to be if you are afraid of heights. I was very nervous…and actually wiped out on a downhill section. I got a pretty big gash on my inner thigh, but it didn’t bother me too much for the rest of the race. It took us almost 4 hours to complete the course. We got the next map, ate more food (more soup!), removed more ticks, geared up and were on our way.
Bike ride to the Epic Paddle – 10:30 pm Friday
We took off on our bikes about 10:30 pm. It was getting cold and there was a foggy mist in the air. We biked a couple of hours until we found a piece of public land where we could take another nap. It was a fishing access parking area. It was low-lying near a body of water that looked like a swamp. We unrolled our emergency blankets/bivy sacks (basically a big tube of thin, but stiff, poly material). I put on all the clothes I brought – fleece jacket, rain jacket, gloves and hat. I left my wet shoes on and climbed into the tube. I pulled the tube completely over my head (so rain and fog wouldn’t bother me) and left a small opening at the top so I wouldn’t suffocate. I could feel a couple of ticks crawling on me…but I fell sound asleep immediately. I woke up about 20 minutes later and I was shaking uncontrollably. The inside of the bag was completely wet with condensation from the rain/fog, my breathing inside the bag and my wet shoes. It was like a stinky swamp steam room – but extremely cold. I tried to move around to warm up – but the bag was making really loud crinkly noises and I was trying not to wake Dave and Dennis. We had hoped to get an hour of sleep. I repositioned the bag so my head was out and the bag was tight around my neck (hoping to get some heat to build up inside). I closed my eyes and tried to get some more sleep…but the shaking kept me from falling back asleep (my teeth were chattering). After what I think was an hour I had to get up and move around – I needed to warm up and I couldn’t worry about waking the guys. Turns out Dennis had the same problem…but Dave said he was toasty warm.
After almost 2 days of racing...gear boxes are from Heaven!
Epic Paddle – 6:30 am Saturday
We left the gas station and biked a mile or two to the start of the “Epic” Paddle. We weren’t given any details on the paddle section until we arrived. We got the map and the race volunteer explained that the paddle was about 34 miles down the Black River. He went on in detail about how the river current is running about 3 miles per hour and that we should be able to leisurely paddle to increase our speed to at least 6 miles per hour. He estimated it would take us 5-6 hours. We asked what other teams had done it in…none had completed it yet so he didn’t know. This was the same volunteer that told teams it would only take 1.5 hours to complete the Bruce Mound navigation (and it took most almost 3 hours). Needless to say, he was again off on his estimates! It took us about 9 hours to complete…the fastest team did it in 8.5 hours and the slowest in 11 hours. We chocked it up to “Wisconsin Miles”.
It was cloudy and cool, so we put on all of our warm clothes and rain gear for the paddle. We were provided with life vests and one seat cushion. Both Dennis and Dave had sore butts from all the biking…so Dennis used the seat cushion, Dave sat on his life vest and I used a home-made seat I brought (3 kneeling pads duct-taped together).About an hour into the paddle the sun came out. It got quite hot and humid. We stopped twice on the shore to take a bathroom break and give our butts a rest…and remove more ticks. We were extremely tired and the constant rhythm of the paddles and the movement of the boat put us all into a trance. I switched places with Dave a couple of times so he could have a break and try to sleep. It was not easy to sleep sitting up in the bottom of the canoe without leaning to one side and tipping the boat. But Dave managed to fall asleep a couple of times. There were lots of tourists paddling the river with rental kayaks and canoes. We were very jealous of their day on the water with coolers of beer! I’m sure we were a sight to see… Dave was passed out in the middle of the boat – he had on his bright red headband, sunglasses, race shirt and bike shorts. It was like Weekend at Bernies! I’m sure people thought he was passed out drunk. One woman was looking concerned as we passed by…but I told her we brought him along as an anchor. She laughed.
There was one optional checkpoint on the paddle. It was on a cliff along a tributary into the river. It was a beautiful site – a narrow canyon that seemed to disappear back into the wilderness. Dave got out and climbed his way up the cliff to get the point. He was really moving fast up some precarious ledges – Dennis told him to slow down and not get hurt. Dave made it up and back quickly and we were on our way again.
After about 4 hours we kept asking Dave “how many more miles”…and you know the response by now…”only a couple of miles” (Wisconsin Miles!). At this point we were still under the impression the paddle would only take 5-6 hours. So Dave studied the map and calculated our current speed and gave us the bad news. The paddle would take over 9 hours and we were only half way through!
We got stuck on sandbars many times…when Dave was in the middle of the boat we were stern-heavy and got stuck more often. Dennis decided to stand up and paddle (to give his butt a break and to spot the sandbars). It actually worked well – but we had to be very careful not to make any sudden moves and tip. We had wondered how teams behind us that would have to do the paddle in the dark would navigate the sandbars.
At about 4:00 pm we were so happy to see the canoe take-out – Dennis joked that he was going to kiss the ground when we arrived. We arrived at the River View Inn in North Bend. As we were changing gear for our next section (biking) the race volunteer told us the bar just up the hill served hamburgers. We bee-lined it to the bar! It was the typical Wisconsin bar. There were about 15 stools at the bar and 3 high-top tables. There were about 5 people in the place and they were very curious about what we were doing. Dave brought the maps to plot while we ate. We had pizza and beer – Leinies Honey Weiss (when in Wisconsin you must partake of the State’s famous brew). I also had a chicken sandwich and fries with my pizza and beer (after all, I am the self-proclaimed expert eater on the team).
Bike – 5:00 pm Saturday
Now it was a bike back to the location of our vehicles (the first time we would loop back to the start). We were not real excited about more sitting… It was a fast 4 hour ride on mostly paved roads with rolling hills. We donned our headlamps and bike lights at dark.
Back to the Start Location – 9:00 pm Saturday
We were happy to arrive back at the race start location. We were able to sit in our vehicles and had access to our cooler with turkey sandwiches, Gatorade and cold Mountain Dew! We ate, changed out some socks/clothes and got our next race instructions. The first challenge was an optional on-foot navigation using an aerial photo to get 3 checkpoints. We decided to skip the optional section. Much to our dismay, the next section was MORE BIKING!
Bike Loop – 10:00 pm Saturday
This bike section was a loop to get up to 5 checkpoints – only 1 checkpoint was mandatory. Since our race strategy was to get mostly mandatory checkpoints, we biked out and back to the closest one. It took us about 1.5 hours.
Land Navigation – 12:30 pm Sunday
The next and last section was a loop land navigation section. It was in the area of the single-track mountain bike trails with steep climbs with ridges and ravines. There were 10 checkpoints – only 1 mandatory checkpoint. We were pretty brain dead at this point. The navigation became more difficult. The first checkpoint we attempted we plotted wrong…we searched up and down the steep hills and ravines with no luck. At one point we made our way out of the park onto a road to re-attack the point. I shined my headlamp into the field across the road and saw red glowing eyes. I’m pretty sure those were bear eyes…
Once we realized the point was plotted wrong, we moved on to the next checkpoint. We bushwacked a little to get the point, and found it with relative ease. We had a team discussion on whether we should continue to get optional checkpoints or head back to the finish. We had accomplished our original goal of finishing the entire race (no short course!). Any points we obtained might move us up in the ranking – but would not put us in a top three position. Dave was hoping to get home to see his family (he had a 7 hour drive) and I had a 3 hour drive to get Dennis to the Minneapolis airport (if we continued to the time cutoff – we would have to leave immediately from the race to the airport with no rest or shower). So the decision was made to head back and finish the race. We were the first team to finish (we finished 8 hours ahead of most teams). We took 4th place in our division and 7th place overall.
