The Bigfoot 200….a forest fire in it’s path!

Three days before start of the Bigfoot 200 mile, 40 mile, and 20 mile races, a forest fire that had started the previous day had burned 4,500 acres in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest where a lot of it will be held.   

Today, the day before the race, the fire was still growing and is 0% contained.

Our daughter, Candice, created the Bigfoot 200.  She is the founder and owner of Destination Trail, which now has four endurance races that range from 200 to 300 miles throughout the Pacific Northwest and the Southwest.

Here is a description, from her Destination Trail website, of the Bigfoot 200—this spectacular point to point foot race travels for 200 miles encircling Mt. St. Helens, to Mt. Adams, and ending at a small town south of Mt. Rainier:

Photos of the Bigfoot….

With this description and the photos, you can see why all of Candice’s 200+ mile races are sold out a year ahead of time, and why all of them have wait lists.  You will understand why 200 runners from all over the world, with their families, pacers, and crew, are all gathered in the middle of the Cascade Mountains today----they have trained for months and are super excited to do their best, running on the extensive network of trails through mountains and forests for 200 miles.  They all know that some of them won’t finish the race, but they all want to have the experience of trying.  And more than that they want to test their own bodies.  And they want to be part of this family of ultra runners.

 

We have known many of them, and talked extensively with many more of them.  For many of them this will be an experience that they will always remember--the incredible adventure of running 200+ miles.  It is a very powerful and meaningful experience in their lives.....and Candice and her crew and volunteers have given them this. 

 

To help these runners have this amazing experience, Candice has an amazing staff and over 100 volunteers that show up for each of Candice’s races.  They have all traveled during the past week to Randle, Washington, to set up all that is required for this race to be a success….and to be safe for the runners.

Here is just part of what all these volunteers and staff do to make all these Destination Trail runs are a success….and fun for each of the runners:

Yes, definitely fun for the runners too!  Here is the photo booth at one of the Bigfoot aid stations last year….

It’s also a blast for the volunteers to be part of this running community.  We know.  We’ve volunteered at three of Candice’s races and it’s on our calendar to volunteer for two more races this year—the Moab 240 and the inaugural 300 mile Arizona Monster.  We can hardly wait!

Here we are two years ago, as volunteers doing the "merch” at the Moab 240:

With our daughter, who had a moment to spend with us when she wasn’t giving hugs and congratulating the racers as they crossed the finish line.

Currently, the raging Williams Mining Fire and dense smoke is currently on the west side of Mt. Adams, and was in danger of preventing the Bigfoot this year.  The Forest Service closed and evacuated much of the National Forest near Mt. Adams….which is on the course of the Bigfoot 200.  

The Forest Service contacted Candice two days ago to let her know that they were cancelling the forest permits for much of course of the race.

Permitting to hold a race in the National Forests, Wilderness Areas, National Park and Monuments is a really big deal.  It takes months and months of submitting plans to the government agencies, rerouting, negotiating, and face-to-face meetings to explain how Destination Trail will run a race that basically “leaves no trace” in our valuable Public Lands.  And also how Candice’s crew and volunteers will insure that the racers will be safe, with a minimal risk of needing rescue missions.

Three days before the start of the Bigfoot 200 this year the Forest permits were rescinded.  All of the staff and volunteers and most of the runners and their crew had arrived on location by that time.  The refrigerator trucks filled with food to feed over 400 people for over a week had arrived, the thirteen aid/rest/sleep stations were being set up in remote areas of the National Forest.   This is an event that the racers sent in their registrations to over a year ago, and were lucky enough to have their name drawn in the lottery.  And the racers had trained and trained ever since they were admitted into the race.  

Again, racers who enter Candice’s races, are from all over the world—USA, Canada, Europe, Asia, South America…. 

Candice and her staff had to decide if the race needed to be canceled, or if they could reroute the course….AND get the new course approved by the Forest Service in two days.

They revised the Bigfoot 200 course overnight.  The Forest Service expedited the permit process, approved the new course, and the staff and volunteers rushed out to do the course marking necessary for the new route.

THE WILL RACE GO ON!!!

It’s not the course that the runners were expecting, but everyone is thankful and excited. They will get to run the 2024 Bigfoot 200.

Start of the 2024 Bigfoot 200!

What inspires Candice to create these ultra-marathons?  Why does she put the time and work into designing new 200+ mile races every few years?  Why and how does she gather this running community around her to help the sport grow and flourish?

We think that the answer to these questions is simple….she knows what it feels like to experience the joy and anguish when you run through the mountains, deserts, lakes, coastlines, and forests—-i.e., when you complete a race, when you become ill, injure yourself, or DNF (do not finish) a race.  She has experienced it all—the pain, the hallucinations, the hard work, how you need to dig deep into yourself, the friendships that develop when you help others to keep going when they think you have nothing left inside….and how this keeps you going too.

Candice knows how her races give great meaning to those who line up at the start line of each of her races—with all their hopes and fears.  And she knows how each runner leaves every race with memories that they will have for the rest of their lives.  She knows this because she is a runner too.  She has been a runner all her life.  She knows what it means to be an ultra-runner.

Proof of this is that last week she signed up to run the HURT 100, the endurance run through the mountains above Honolulu, Hawaii.  She signed up for this race that will be held in five months, even though she is recovering from two serious bike accidents….and recovering from extensive foot surgery.  By January she still be in the early stages of training and will still be strengthening her “new foot.”  

This will be her 8th HURT 100.  It has great meaning to her, and always will, no matter how many times she runs this difficult course. It's the experience she gives to all of the hundreds of runners in the races she creates.

Candice is part of the HURT 100 Family.  Just as her staff, volunteers (including us), and those her run her races are part of the Destination Trail Family.

She gives people something that is hard to get elsewhere.  A life-time memory.