Hoity Toity Cellars

07/29/2025

In a race like these— you go around the clock. Some racers will try and get some sleep each day, others wait until they almost drop. The big problem is falling asleep. The check point sometimes will have a few air mattresses and blankets for you,—- but I find that I’m so wound up on adrenaline that it’s difficult to sleep for any length of time when i finally get to one. What usually happens is I end up going till I’m literally exhausted and than lay down for a dirt nap— they don’t recommend this at all— especially out west in grizzly country— but heh— what do you expect. On Tues night I was leading a group of 4 other racers around this large 40 km loop that seemed to go on forever. The guys were just beat. I found a large flat rock area about the size of a living room, and we all took off our packs and took a quick 30-40 min nap right there. The sky was clear, warm temps and no rain— perfect for a nap!!!
The pic below is of a sleeping tent with 6 mattresses set out.

07/29/2025

Check point 12—
By the 50- 60 hr mark, I was burning oil—-hallucinations were setting in thick— man, you start seeing things you ain’t never seen before-I had a total of 60 minutes sleep so far. By Wednesday evening, as darkness was setting in— a huge thunder storm was rolling in off of the mighty Lake Superior— by 10 pm the sky’s opened up and down it came. For 2 hours straight— that storm lashed its fury at us. LIGHTENING and thunder like you’ve never seen before— we could almost hike along with no head lamps- it was that bright from the flashes. There was myself and three buddies. Hellucinations — now that’s something I’ve got experience with. In fact virtually all trail runners have them. The combination of long periods of heavy physical exertion— coupled with little sleep— darkness, and maybe a bit of mother nature’s wrath can produce the ideal hallucinating situation. By midnight my buddies were able to get me to check point 12– where they promptly turned me over to the sole occupant and than promptly headed back out for the next 44 km leg of the trail.

07/28/2025

When you’re in the wild, you gotta expect life to be a little different. Cinnamon raisin bagel with peanut butter and dill pickles for the win. Something strange turned out amazing!

That’s ultrarunning.

07/28/2025

You get 96 hours to cover over 200 miles of some pretty rough Canadian Shield. With the heavy rains and extreme flooding, several bridges and roads have been washed out. Hyw 17 was closed in both directions for a few days. In the back country we sometimes would be on snowmobile trails with several of their bridges gone astray. Lots of mud— lots of flooded areas.

07/27/2025

This is a once in a life time race— only 20 people—all considered to be “graduate” level trail runners. Situated in the heart of the Canadian Shield. 200 miles in length—a non stop—96 hours to the finish.

07/27/2025

July 21/2025
North by northeast of Sault Saint Marie, resides the mighty Agawa! A huge canyon extending from the north shores of superior up towards James Bay, the place of spirits.
20 trail racers from all over North America have come together for the inaugral 200 mile trail race in eastern Canada. This is the Canadian Shield— about as tough as it gets.
The start line—

07/20/2025

07/20/2025

Whoa—- back in the saddle! Another 200 miler assault. This time it’s up the Agawa canyon, straight north of Sault Saint Marie. — The SOO 200. This is the first time for this race — EVER— the race starts Monday morning at 8 am. We’ve got 96 hrs to cover 200 miles of bush trails. There have been huge washouts in the last few days— lots of course changed due to missing bridges. As it sits right now— there is only 21 of us left in the race.
On the way here, we camped a couple of nights on st Joseph island— what a find. Than on to pancake bay on superior.
Nervous as hell— been almost 2 years since my last 200 miler. 2 years older!!