FCFAR 2005

This race took place at Fall Creek Falls State Park, the most beautiful of all Tennessee state parks with three major falls; Fall Creek, Cane Creek, and Piney Creek Falls within a few miles of each other. We were racing with our teammate from Blue Ridge and SOAR and son-in-law, Jeremy. Zach’s brother Paul and his wife Debbie were our support crew again this year. On Friday night an unwelcome rain paid us a visit ensuring muddy trails the next day. On Saturday morning before the race started we had to drop our canoe off at the marina then drive to the other side of the lake for the 7am start at the Inn. After we dropped off our canoe, race officials pushed all the canoes into the lake and capsized them.

 The race started with a short run then a swim across Fall Creek Lake from the Inn to the marina, a distance of about a quarter mile. To make it more difficult we had to carry all of our mandatory gear and paddles with us. We had expected this and were well prepared as we had our packs and other gear in dry bags. Once we reached our capsized canoe we had to upright it in the water before we could start paddling. We were the second to last team to get the water out of our canoe and start the paddle section. The paddle was about three miles long and traversed from end to end of the lake. The three lake CPs were reachable from the boat. By the time we arrived back at the marina we had passed about half a dozen teams.

 From the marina we headed out on a three mile run that took us around the golf course, down a road to Youth Campground #1 then to a trail to Cane Creek. Here we had to retrieve a bottle from the water that had a list with the rest of our CPs inside. We had the option of getting the bottle then getting out of the water at that point to plot the CPs or swimming down the river to the take out and then plotting our CPs. We put on our PFDs, put our gear and shoes into our dry bags and jumped into the creek and started swimming. We swam and swam and swam for an hour before reaching the take out. The water was cold but there were several other teams swimming with us that we could talk with along the way as a distraction. Finally, we reached the muddy take out, got our gear together and headed out on another short run to the next TA which was at the stables.

We reached the TA and finally opened the bottle with the rest of the course instructions. There were about 15 small pieces of paper inside with each CP listed on a separate piece but not in any particular order. While we were changing to our bikes, Paul sorted the papers and plotted the bike section for us. There were five CP on this rogaine section; so we could find then in any order we wanted. The race director had intended this to be a much more difficult and longer section with most of the riding on trails. Adventure racers tend to look for the best way which in this case was on the paved roads so that’s the way we all went. There was a lot of up and down on hills but the CPs were easy to find and the 15-mile bike went quickly. At one CP Jeremy climbed a fire tower to punch the passport.

We were staying at the Inn on the “hiker special” package which has rooms at a lower rate and provides great sandwiches for lunch. While we were biking Paul and Debbie picked up our sandwiches and met us at the final TA. As we devoured the sandwiches we changed to our hike gear and added our climbing gear to our packs and Paul plotted the final Cps for the last leg of the race. This would take us into and out of the gorge and to the climbing section where we would rappel into the gorge and ascent out. First we had to bushwhack down an overgrown power line for over a mile. For this we put on our gators to keep our legs from getting scratched on briars. Fortunately, we were not the first team through and there was a sort of trail we could follow. When we reach the end of the bushwhack Jeremy noticed the team in front of us had their bike helmets for the climbing section and we didn’t. In our haste to move out of the TA we forgot our helmets. We stood stunned for a few minutes deciding what to do. Zach decided that we’d keep moving forward and see what happens. At that point we thought we would not be able to climb. As we walked the road to the Cable Trail which would take down into the gorge for the “bouldering” section we heard Paul calling to us. He and Debbie had amazingly decided to hike to an overlook to see us in the gorge. We yelled we forgot our helmets. So, that major problem was miraculously rectified and our spirits picked up considerably.

The climb down the cable trail was slow due to the steepness of the trail. It’s called the Cable Trail because there is a cable along the way for assistance. The "bouldering" section started down stream from Cane Creek Falls. We were required to stay in the creek bed below the high water mark which made for interesting and slow travel. Some sections of the creek bed were dry and the travel wasn't too bad. It was just a matter of selecting rocks that were stable. Several times we had to wade across the creek which, of course, got our shoes wet and made the bouldering a little more slippery. We traveled about a kilometer and reached the gorge CP. The race director was there and he warned us to check our map as many teams had already missed the turn into Fall Creek. The entrance into Fall Creek Gorge is well hidden, but we were looking for it and saw a small stream coming out of the left side of the gorge. As we were discussing whether this was the correct place to turn into Fall Creek several teams came from downstream. They had been turned around by a ranger who told them they were going the wrong way. Now we know we were in the right place. After 100 meter we were suddenly out of the trees and brambles and in the gorge. A short way down Zach spotted the CP on the side of the gorge above us. We climbed up to punch the CP and take the trail out of the gorge. Where was Jeremy? We called and called his name to no avail. After 10 minutes we saw him running back toward us. He had been a little ahead and didn’t see us climb to the CP and went all the way to the falls.
 
We made the steep climb out of the gorge on the trail then made a two mile sprint with several other teams to get to the rappel since the order we arrived at the rappel would determine our final place inn the race. We wanted to stay ahead of another TrailBlazers team right behind us and were trying to pass two other teams a short distance ahead of us. We caught one of the teams on the trail down to the rappel.

We had about a ten minute rest before our turn to rappel. The rappel was about 200 feet straight down. Jeremy went first followed by Cathy and then Zach. We were using figure eights as a rappel device and by the time we reached bottom the figure eights were so hot we couldn’t even touch them with out rappel gloves. From the bottom it was a short hike and climb over to the ascent. Unfortunately, there were five other teams in front of us and two of these teams had no idea what they were doing and took a painfully long time to make the ascent. We waited an hour before starting the ascent. Since we had practiced, we able to complete it at a good pace. When we reached the top we reached the finish line. As we walked up the trail we saw Paul waiting for us to come down the road. Somehow he had missed us when we started the rappel and thought we were still on the course. It took us about nine hours to finish the race including the hour we waited to ascend. We finished 13th overall and 8th in the coed division. There was no master’s division.