William Blake wrote, “The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom”. I believe this was an early review of the Mt Baldy Run to the Top. Approximately eight miles of excess with a 4,000 ft climb and a finish line right above the tree line at 10,064 ft. I am not sure about the wisdom part.
Let me tell you right off, you want to do this race! You need to do this race! You might be thinking that you can’t run all the way up a mountain. Not to worry. Everybody walks. That is a given. You are going to walk. It is just a question of when. Even if you could run the whole thing, there are places you want to stop and look. That is all part of this experience.
The race is on Labor Day every year. The starting line is in the parking lot of the ski lift. You are surrounded by mountains and you can just feel that this is going to be a wonderful experience. What are you normally doing at this time on a Monday?
The race starts with a steep downhill. After about a half mile, it turns and it is all uphill from there. If you look carefully within the first mile, there is a nice waterfall off to the side. It is worth seeing. The first part is a nice wide fire road of mostly dirt with the first water stop at 2 miles.
After that it is more fire roads with great views off to the side. In places, you can see the trail below you with people still on it. It starts to spread out here with more people walking. Above you, the ski lift crosses and you can get encouragement from people riding that (Thanks Dennis). Then you are at the Ski Lodge at mile 4 and another water stop.
Then it gets serious. There is about a half mile that is really steep (this is where I had to walk) leading to the single track section. The trail clings to the side of the mountain in places with a nice scary drop off to one side. Run that part fast, it is more fun. There is a reason it is called Devil’s Backbone. Don’t worry about the dizzy feeling, plenty more of that ahead. There are a couple of flat parts that are nice and a few rocky spots that you have to slow down on.
The single track portion is great. There is always someone walking which means everyone behind them has an excuse to walk and blame it on the guy in front.
The final 2 miles (actually probably only 1) is the toughest. This part gets rocky and at times is more of a hike or rock climb than a race. Worst of all you can see the top of Baldy right there in front of you and it doesn’t seem to be getting any closer.
But then the trail gets good and there is about 100 feet to the top. Everyone is watching, the finish line is there and it is time to run up the final hill.
When you finish, you are on top of Mt San Antonio (aka Mt Baldy). You are on the highest mountain in the area and you can see everywhere. What an incredible finish. It is not just a race, it is an experience. The problem is, how are you going to top this?
After you have walked around a bit, talked to all the AREC people (there are usually a lot), had some water and oranges and taken some pictures, it is time to head back down. Everyone walks/jogs the 4 miles back to the ski lift for the awards. Then you get a free ride down the ski lift and you are back at your car and it all seems like a wild dream.