The Chattanooga Mountains Stage Race begins on Friday and, knee-willing, I will be at the start. I’m not sure how much of a race it will be for me – I just want to get through all 3 days with my knee intact (the plan is for this to be a prep for the White River 50 at the end of July). The other thing I hope to survive is the heat. It’s been just plain nasty – and this weekend’s scouting mission up on Signal was the perfect practice for such suffering.
We were on the trail by 8:30am, planning for 2.5 hrs. We started from Signal Point, planning to run all but the Suck Creek Gorge and school sections. Things got off to a bad start when we couldn’t find the trailhead, so we hopped on the road until the next intersection with the trail at Rainbow Lake. (I later found out we will follow the road; why the map shows differently I don’t know.) Once on the trail, we ran around… and apparently around some more, as we nearly did a complete loop. The trails criss cross a lot, so we couldn’t keep track of precisely where we were. (And the map was so minimal that even the resourceful ex-AR navigator in me had no way to orient it to my compass). Apparently gut feeling wasn’t working, but some nice folks we met on trail got us moving in the right direction. Once I saw a familiar red blaze, I felt better… that is, until it was so overgrown and laden with slippery rocks that we all felt surely this was not the race course. We persevered and eventually hit a FSR that led us to where the Edward’s Point Rd aid station will be. (I also later found out that this was, in fact, the one and only race route. Wow. This will break souls. and maybe ankles.)
From here, we were at least 30 minutes behind schedule if not more, so we stuck to a familiar jeep road that would bisect this part of the forest and take us right to Edward’s Point (pictured above). Emily actually hadn’t been here before, so it was cool showing such a beautiful spot to someone new. We then hopped on the Cumberland Trail and ran that back to Signal Point. While a bit brushy, the growth wasn’t too bad and a decent pace was kept. (Until the final climb out to where the aid station will be, at the top of umpteen wooden stairs.)
The temperatures were ridiculous – the heat index well over 100 – so a dip in the cool waters of a nearby waterfall were definitely appreciated. Unfortunately this luxury will NOT be a part of the race course 
