I was suddenly woken up from my fitful sleep, it’s 2:30am. A mosquito has felt it necessary to harass me, me covered in mosquito repellant, sealed in my car and desperate to get a few grateful hours of sleep. Then I saw the sun, this sun was floating just off the horizon of distant hills and mountains, a sun bathed in a steel orange glow cast from the clouds of a wildfire burning over 50 miles away, it was stunning, it was the summer solstice.
A few friends of mine and myself have taken it upon ourselves to run the Pinnell Mountain trail, a 28ish mile trail roughly 107 miles Northeast of Fairbanks, Alaska. I myself not being much of a morning person elected to car camp at the far trailhead of the point to point trail Eagle Summit in the hopes of getting a few more hours of sleep rather than getting up at 6:00am and doing the two hour drive the next day. It made sense after all as we need to leave a car at this trailhead so we can drive back down to the starting trailhead at 12 Mile Summit.
Snuggled deep in my bag the newest rain cell drifted overhead sending the mosquitos and flies still inside the car into a frenzy. Sleep however was the issue and tomorrow I’ll need every ounce of alertness to run this demanding, technical trail. With that I drifted off to the sounds of heavy rain drops colliding with the roof of the car and rebellious mosquitos and other flying things trapped inside desperate to be outside and making their case heard loudly, finally I slept.
In the morning and several cups of coffee later I welcomed my friends as we casually exchanged gear, my gear in Erica’s car and their gear in my car for the end of the run clothing change. Without wasting time we were off, making the 27 mile drive back to 12 Mile Summit to begin what we anticipated to be an incredible day of adventure and running.
After a group picture at the trailhead we set off unceremoniously speed hiking up the boardwalk for the first bit to conserve energy as we gradually gained elevation over the next mile. The Pinnell Mountain Trail is not the most runnable trail, rocks dominate the landscape, small rocks, big rocks, hidden rocks, all manner of rocks seemingly existing for one purpose, to aid with your collision with the ground. Running these Alaskan trails are beautiful tundra covered arctic landscapes as far as the eye can see and the Pinnell Mountain trail defines beauty.