For their 2002 Pickett Adventure Race, Riversports was only accepting entries from three person teams. Luckily in June I’d met Mark when he was leading a SMHC trip off trail up Mt. Leconte. Mark is a strong runner and mountain biker, and also had some rock climbing experience, so he had the right skill set for the Pickett races.
We
showed up at Pickett SP on Friday night for a gear check, I assumed we stayed
at the group camp again. In the morning, we did a short shuttle for our bikes,
and picked up our maps at 7AM for the 8AM start. The course was completely new,
but the style very similar to 2001. The order was run, bike, rappel, orienteering,
then a short bike ride back.
To
start we ran out of the group camp across TN 154 onto Spraughs Ridge Road. At a
turn off marked by a pumpkin we headed cross country down into Rock Creek and onto
the John Muir Trail. CP 1 was an unmanned punch hanging above the creek. This
was the narrow canyon section of Rock Creek, and we all got jammed together
where a beaver dam had flooded the valley floor. At least we weren’t carrying
the bikes this time! Luckily the racers could spread out after that. 
East side of the 2002 Pickett Adventure Race Map.
We
ran past the John Muir Trail Trailhead on Blackhouse Mtn. Road to onto a less
developed part of the Muir Trail, then finally hiked cross country to pick up
our bikes at the intersection with Wagon Gap Road. The bike route was mostly
wet and sandy roadway with a few side trips to checkpoints. A couple CP’s had minimal
clues and were tough to find. But basically, we rode the Redmon Loop to clear
four CP’s, and added a long out and back leg to the Yellow Doors Overlook and
CP 6. This was remarkably nice gravel riding in an area unknown to local
mountain bikers. Unfortunately, the area was found later by the local ATV
riders, and has suffered from overuse since.
There
was a difficult descent down a steep rocky route to Little South Fork (Little
Rock Creek in my notes). One rider had fallen here, and needed to be hauled
out. On the climb out we first noticed Steven slowing down due to cramping in
his calf muscles. The out and back leg to the Yellow Doors was next, and we
could see that five teams were well ahead of the rest. We were 11th
at the turnaround and managed to hold this place all the way to the rappel,
despite some relatively slow biking. 
West side of the 2002 Pickett Adventure Race Map.
The
rappel site was off of Blackhouse Mtn Road on private property above Johnson
Branch. Despite having three ropes to use, the teams got all bunched up waiting
to rappel. We waited about 30 minutes for our turn. I was about 3rd
in line when all of sudden one of the race people called for someone using a
figure 8 descender, and next thing I knew I was up next.
There
was about a 25’ drop to a shelf then a 150’ overhang with a completely free
rappel. I was essentially too scared to look down, and descended super slowly.
A woman on my right got her bib caught in her descending device. She called for
a rescue, but then was able to rappel through it. Somehow our team reunited at
the bottom of the rappel, and Mark took the lead on our navigating segment. We
would end up circling around and below what is now (2025) the northern end of
the Pouge Creek trail system.
Mark
took a bearing, and we headed up a steep cross country slope. Steven was now
moving very slowly. I had to do a quick scramble up a rock crack to gather CP 8.
We gave Steven some salt tablets and water, but he immediately threw those up. Still,
he was game to finish and forged on. Our pace was slow and steady, and we lost
little ground to the other teams that we still clumped together with from the
waiting in lines at the rappel.
Mark
did the route finding as we traced a counter along the base of an awesome
series of cliffs (now part of Pouge Creek). Steven was sick again at CP9, but
we were nearly out of the woods (literally) by then, and still in around 11th
place. We had to run back on the road to fetch our bikes at the CP before
the rappel, and a couple of teams caught us there. We tried to push hard on the
bikes, but Steven once stopped hard enough that Mark almost rammed him.
We
ended up in 9:08 and 17th out of 25 finisher teams and 28 starters.
11 teams finished within 17 minutes of each other. The distance measured with
my Topo! software was 25.7 miles. With all his effort and sickness Steven was
nearly done. He’d gotten sick one last time after the finish. I ended up
driving him home to Knoxville, and then Mark drove me back to my house.
I
don’t have a record of any other Riversports races at Pickett. As much fun as
these races were to ride, the logistics involved must have complex with course
monitors, gear shuttles and the like. Our group would team up again to do one
more Riversports race at Fall Creek Falls in 2003, but it seems the race series
did not last long after that season. 
My Topo! version of the 2002 Pickett Adventure Race Map.
