High Country AR 2002

This race took place in the same area as last fall's race, around the Ocoee River in Tennessee, near the 1996 Olympics whitewater venue. Our team consisted of Jon, Kristin, Cathy, and Zach, the same as last year with Di and Mike Dillon supporting. Very similar to last fall’s race a cold front came in a couple days before the race and bought unseasonably cool weather and lots of rain. The night before and morning of the race it was a monsoon, raining four inches in a day. The rain came down in buckets right up to the start of the race when it turned into a sprinkle and soon stopped, but the damage was done and the course was very wet making it much slower than expected.

 We knew nothing about the course until the start other than to expect the usual trekking, rafting, biking, rappelling, and navigating. The race started with an eight mile run/trek with some significant climbs and one bushwhacking section that brought us to the rappel. Zach was the most experienced rappeller and went first to act as a belay (the person who keeps the others from falling). It was Cathy’s first major rappel and after a few moments of uncertainty she easily made the 80-foot descent. Once we were all at the bottom we had a mile downhill trek to the river where we expected to cross on a traverse. This did not happen. Instead at the checkpoint we were informed the river was unsafe to cross and were diverted to a bridge crossing which added another 5-miles to the trek. Once we got to the place we were suppose to cross the river it was a four mile trek up a mountain with a 2500 foot elevation gain to our first transition point. Six and a half hours after the start we finished the 18-20 mile run/trek in 12th place.


At the transition we learned that the rafting section was cancelled due to unsafe conditions and we needed to be at the kayaking section by 630 pm to be allowed to continue. The water volume was 20 times greater than usual. We later learned that a non-guided rafter was killed and two seriously injured trying to run the river that day.

We transitioned to our mountain bikes for a very wet, muddy, and hilly 25-mile ride. It started with a 3-mile downhill muddy and slippery ride. At the bottom our bikes and we were covered with mud and we realized we had missed a turn. We were able to get back on track after about 45 minutes of biking. When we arrived at the correct road we had a four-mile uphill ride facing us. In addition to our new bikes we used a towing system to help Kristin and Cathy make some hill climbs. At the top we were rewarded with a great 4.3 mile down hill run that brought us to another checkpoint. Our 45 minute mistake only cost us three places. Later we learned we were the last team to be allowed out of this checkpoint.


We biked for about eight miles on paved roads with lots of hills. Then we were back on forest service road that had a hill that we never thought would never end. When we reached the top it only got worse. There were several miles of the trail from hell. There were two very muddy and narrow tracks in three-foot tall grass. Outside the two tracks were large rocks that were not friendly to bikes. It was not fun. This trail stopped on top of a mountain and we had to bikewhack down the mountain to the next transition. Cathy found what looked like a downhill trail going in the right direction. As we started down the hill we were joined by two teams that had lost members, so we had eight people and their bikes going down this very difficult route. We reached a small stream and Zach picked up a trail that led to a larger stream. On the other side of the stream he found an abandoned trail which would eventually lead to the river and our transition point. This trail was very overgrown and required many crossings back and forth plus climbing over and under many fallen trees. This section brought back memories of last year’s bike whacking, parts of which we didn’t want to repeat.


Finally we reached the transition, seven hours after we started the bike. We missed the cut off and we not allowed to continue on the kayaking section on the lake. This was the second race we did not finish; last year’s High Country was the first. Only eight teams finished the race and we were the 10th intact team and the fourth 4-person coed to reach this last transition area. Will we try again to finish in the fall 2002 edition??