2022 Hardrock Sweeping

Last year, I knew I wanted to participate in the Hardrock 100, and I also knew I wouldn't be participating as a runner, so I signed up to volunteer. I was set to help sweep the course on Saturday, but left after work on Wednesday to start the trip.

Getting out of town, I found a pretty well maintained dirt road with dispersed camping that joins Monument over to Woodland Park, Mount Herman Road. While not a dream camping location, it was a nice place to find for a quick overnight.

The next day was just about getting down to Silverton, seeing what the setup was like for the event (and expected of me as a volunteer, I knew driving people around, but the details were becoming more relevant as the day approached).

A quick breakfast before getting on the road, and then a beautiful drive down to Silverton.

Silverton is a wonderful little down. As we used to joke about small towns having one stoplight, Silverton only has one paved road. I found THE ROCK (placed at the start/finish line, runners that successfully complete the course within time, kiss the rock after finishing). Also, there are endless businesses that hint of a past era.

On Thursday (Day 2, travel to Silverton), I went to learn more about my responsibilities and a few odds and ends. I ended up finding Brian, who was running the Engineer Pass aid station. As I didn't have plans on Friday, I offered to help setup (but couldn't stay due to my other volunteer commitments). So, an earlier morning than I planned, a bit of coffee, and then a quick walk over to see the start of the Hardrock 100.

Time to head up Engineer Pass. Didn't take many pictures on the way up as I was following Brian, and we had work to do once we got up there. I didn't take many pictures on the road as it's narrow (only some places to stop and not be in the way), and stopping on the way up wasn't in the schedule.

Once on top of Engineer Pass, it was time to grab some packs, head down to the Engineer Pass Aid Station, where runners would come through after a bit over 50 miles of running and hiking on their quest to complete (or win) the Hardrock 100.

Their camping area was overflowing with wildflowers, and a view back up to Engineer Pass shows how far they haul in the food, water, first aid, and their own gear (as the crew has to camp here as well as support runners).

Brian has an odd attachment to a rather large (30'x40') tarp that we had to get setup for shelter for the aid station crew and runners (but Brian was the one climbing the tree to get it setup). Also, we (they mostly, but I helped a bit) don't haul water to this aid station, instead it's filtered from a nearby spring (but it's still a bit of a hike when you have to carry the water back, so kudos to the work this crew has to do both in setup and ongoing work to support the runners).

After helping out, and then sitting down for a bit, it was time for me to leave them to their work so I could get back down Engineer Pass and find a snack (I hadn't had lunch and it was later in the afternoon by now). Also, I knew I had an early start the next day. I was able to get a few more pictures on the way down, including some of an old mining town, Animas Forks.

As the day came to a close, a quick picture from camp, and a track from driving up Engineer Pass.

Now that my unplanned volunteer day was done, and it was time to get to the job at hand...another early start and trying to find the people (ended up being a person due to circumstances) that were going to run the course picking up course markings while I drove around and napped. Roger and I connected about 6:30AM, and we were off.

I dropped Roger (amazing gentleman that has completed the Hardrock 100 3 times, with his first completion happening when he was 60 years old) off at the KT aid station, and I headed up Ophir Pass to meet Roger after he completed the first section of trail sweeping.

The Ophir Pass marking is kind of hidden, but a quick shot was in order before heading down the single-lane, slate, shelf road.

Then it was time to park and wait for Roger (he was doing the hard work while I just drove my truck really fun and pretty places.). After parking in another beautiful spot, I found Roger coming up the trail with his bag of course markings. And speaking of course markings, a quick track oof the drive over Ophir Pass. This wrapped up the trip, just a quick crash in camp for the final night, and back to Denver.