Deception Pass 50K
The race got underway from Deception Pass State Park at 0800 on January 31st under cloudy skies with a light rain and temperatures in the low 40s. We started from the West Point Amphitheater and followed the paved road along Cranberry Lake. Several mergansers and ducks glided across the lake as the mass of runners passed by. The course turned into the campground towards North Beach before crossing under highway 20 via Discovery trail.
From the Discovery trail, the course turned onto the Lower Forest trail which passes through old growth Western Redcedars and Douglas Firs with an understory of rhododendron, salal, and sword fern. I continued to the summit of Goose Rock at 479 feet, which is the highest point on the course. This is also the longest sustained climb, gaining 400 feet with a 13% gradient. This is not a long climb by any stretch of the imagination but Deception Pass 50K still packs 4744 feet of climbing into a continuously undulating course. I tend to prefer flat courses or mountainous courses with long sustained climbs over 2000 feet. Therefore, intermediate hilly courses like Deception Pass are not my preferred style, but I like to challenge myself in different ways. The summit has distinctive rock slabs with twisting madrone trees and views of the sound to the west. After the switchbacking descent to Cornet Bay, the course takes the Goose Rock perimeter trail, which circumnavigates Goose Rock. The Madrone trees create a unique tunnel with filtered views of Deception Pass.
After passing under the famous Deception Pass Bridge the course goes over it. The 1486 foot long bridge offers stunning views while towering 55 meters above Deception Pass. Once over the bridge the course requires hurdling the guard rail followed by a descent to the Lottie Bay Isthmus or Tombolo (at least I think it is). A Tombolo is a deposition of sediment that attaches an island to the mainland. From here the route requires a quick lollipop loop around Lottie Point. Upon return to the Tombolo we looped around Lighthouse Point. I would consider Lighthouse point a tied island. The south end of the island has large fir trees, but this quickly changes to jagged cliffs with short grasses near the western borders. After completing the counter clockwise loop the course continues along the PNW Scenic trail to Bowman Bay Road. I nearly fell on this slippery trail section but managed to stay on my feet. The road transitioned to a trail and looped around Rosario Head (another tied island). I was able to see my closest pursuer after I completed loop and then continued on to the Bowman Bay aid station (mile 9.5 1:17:24).
After finishing up the northern portion of the race the course passed back over the Deception Pass bridge to Goose Rock. My legs were still feeling fresh as I summited Goose Rock for the second time via the opposite direction. After studying the map and topography I knew the second half of the race looked easier. I also knew that the south side of the state park was much less popular, so there would be fewer hikers to encounter that might slow my pace. After passing through Cornet Bay campground the course turned out of the state park via Cornet Bay Road. This road passed by a number of houses before reaching the marina and Cornet aid station (mile 14.7 2:00:10). This aid station was lively and full of friends which was great for morale. From this aid station the course then consisted of two repeated 6 mile loops around Hoypus Point. Hoypus Point is mostly forested without waterfront views. Leaving the aid station the course continues down the Cornet Bay Road until the West Hoypus trail which ascends into the forest. From there, the course continues along the CCC Crossing and East Hoypus trail which are fairly smooth and fast. However, after the turn onto the Fireside trail the route became steep topping out at 450 feet. The sharp descent was equally steep and muddy making for difficult footing.
I continued to struggle with my pace because the Forest Grove and Fern Gully trails narrowed even further and sharply ascended to another highpoint of 460 feet at the Old Hoypus Hill Logging Road. Once I made it to the logging road I was finally able to briefly quicken the pace again, but North Fork and Little Alder trail were muddy and slow. Once the course transitioned onto the West Hoypus trail I was excited that loop one was coming to a close. I reached the Cornet aid station at mile 21.0 in 2:48:10. I was able to see second place behind me and I was relieved to see that I had extended the gap. The second loop was unremarkable, in fact it felt exactly like the first loop, only 1 minute 43 seconds slower. The first Hoypus loop took me 46:38 (7:43 per mile) and the second loop took me 48:21 (8:01 per mile). I reached the Cornet aid station the third time in 3:38:00 (mile 27.3).
With three miles to go and aspirations of breaking four hours, I continued down Cornet Bay Road in my quest to reach North Beach in 21 minutes. I veered off the road onto Discovery trail which kicked up another 150 feet and crossed under highway 20. From the Discovery junction I took the North Beach trail into the finish area. Unfortunately, this last mile was not very fast. The trail passed over jagged rock with infringing salal and the final stretch was on loose sand. I crossed the line in 1st place with a time of 4:01:47. This was one of the first 50K races that I negative split, running the first 15.1 miles in 2:03:36 and the second in 1:58:11. This course highlights the best of Deception Pass and is a must do race for anyone in the Pacific Northwest. Thanks to Rainshadow for putting on another amazing event, thanks to all the volunteers, and thanks to dad and Maryann for joining me on the trip.
