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Big Horn Wild and Scenic 50 Mile Trail Race                                                       Dayton, Wyoming                                               June 15, 2002                                                   by Linda Hurd

To My Friends and Family:   BigHorn50 Miler was my second 50 mile race. It meant a lot to me to run this race on Fathers Day weekend.  The BigHorns were my Dad's favorite  and he visited this part of Wyoming every fall in the 60's and early 70's to hunt antelope and deer.  Our last family summer vacation to Wyoming was in 1975. We would always spend some time visiting with Ralph & Edith Griffin , the owners of the hunting ranch near Gilette before heading on to Yellowstone and other points north & west..  This was my first visit back to the state since then and it was a very sentimental experience. I wish my Dad could have been on this trip with me.  I thought about him a lot during the race.

A year ago , I decided that the BigHorn Wild & Scenic Trail Race would be one of the out of state events I would attend in 2002. Fortunately for me, a running club that I belong to in Houston (Bayou City Road Runners) selected BigHorn trail races for its annual summer group trip. We had a group of 15 people on this fun trip. There were four different distances to choose from: 30km, 50km, 50Mi, and 100Mi.   One person in our group did the 30km event, twelve entered the 50km event and two of us signed up for the 50mile event. Below is a group photo that was taken Friday evening at the Junior high school in Sheridan WY where we picked up our race packets and attended a pre-race briefing.

Photo 1: Standing (L to R): Rosie, Ivy, Ramona, Gina, Wes, Geoffrey, Michelle, Linda, and JR.              Sitting  (L to  R) : Jim, Tim, April, Christoph, Ursula and Roger

The 50 mile race (actually 52 miles long) was a point-to-point course  (see  2D topo map and elevation profile ) and the race started at 6:00am at Porcupine Campground. We caught a bus at 4am in Dayton that took us up to Porcupine.  Being early in the morning and at about 8800 ft elevation, the temperature at the 50 mile race start was chilly. There was still snow on the ground in spots. I felt rested and well prepared mentally and physically for this race. I was also able to meet Sue Norwood and Jim O'Neill here .......both had been very helpful in answering questions via email exchange that I had had about the course  in the weeks preceeding the race. Porcupine was also the 48 mile turnaround point for the 100 mile course, which had started a few miles outside of Dayton at 2:00pm on the day before. The folks running the 100 mile had to be in and out of this aid station before our 50 mile race started at 6am.

Photo2: Linda and Wes waiting for the race to start:

Photo 3: The field of runners for the 50 mile race.

Photo 5: After about the first mile, we begin a long downhill section which lasts ~16 miles. I took this photo looking back at the trail section I had just traversed. It was somewhere in this section I would get off the trail and lose some time  .   I reached the first aidstation at the 4 mile point in 60 minutes!

Photo 4:  The first 1 mile or so uphill and we ran through patches  of snow on the trails.  It was in this first mile that the alititude affected me the most. Running through the snow was so much fun!

Photo 6: Descending through a section with dead trees. I took this photo looking back ... other runners can be seen descending  the trail in this photo..

Photo 7:  Almost through  of the Land of Dead Trees, we are approaching a new vista.

Photo 9  :  The runner in the  photo approaching the same grove of aspen trees is Kevin Card of Alberta Canada. In this section of the course we played leap frog, and would run together on and off between here and the 17 mile mark.  As it would turn  out, we  would run  the last 33-34 miles of the course together. (Note again the canyon wall in background.)

Photo  8 :  And what a scenic vista it  turned out to be ! In the valley ahead is a grove of Aspen trees. Also note the canyon wall formation in the background. It will become more evident in some upcoming photos.

Photo  10 :  This photo of a stream crossing is significant.  Looking closely, a runner can be seen on left side  forging his way across this stream. (white shirt, dark shorts, camelbak).  Kevin and I were running together in this section when this runner ahead of us just barrels  across the stream and rocks and   practically falls down  in  the stream. . And I said to Kevin, "I wish I had not seen that... there must be a better place to cross the stream than where that guy just crossed".....  Having run this course 5 times before, Kevin suddenly recognizes this spot and says he thinks there is a small footbridge just down to the right about 50 feet or so . This turned out to be the case. And as the runner ahead is recovering from his comical crossing, he watches us cross the footbridge and says to us "I guess I should have looked around a little more before crossing".  Ha ha... we all had a good laugh.

Photo  11 : Fields and meadows  full of beautiful wildflowers!  This course had so many wildflowers it was amazing.  This photo was taken looking back at the area we had just traversed... We have now travelled beyond that interesting canyon wall formation.

Photo 12  : A close-up photo of the pretty wildflowers along the trail.

Photo 13 :  The trail has been descending alongside the Little Big Horn River to our right. On our left , the canyon wall   has been getting taller as we descend.  We are now approaching a section of the course called "The Narrows" which will eventually lead us to the FootBridge Aid Station at the 17 mile mark. The trail is rocky in this section and technical. I take my first fall of the day somewhere around 14 -15 miles.

As we approached the Footbridge aidstation at mile 17,  Kevin had told me he did not plan to stay long in this aid station. Our first drop bags were at this aid station.    So I told him to have a good race as I probably would not see him again since I was planning to spend 5-10 minutes here. I changed shoes and socks and reapplied vaseline to my feet. I had already started losing one toenail, but the feet were still in overall goodshape.  As I was preparing to leave this station, Wes was arriving. Upon departing this aid station, the trail crossed the Little BigHorn River and start the long steep ascent   back up the canyon on the other side of river.

Go to  Page 2 of Big Horn Photos