Brian
Gajus organized this running camp to help prepare runners for the first edition
of his No Business 100-mile trail race (nobusiness100.com) that was coming up
in October in the Big South Fork. The format was a Saturday trail run, then
dinner, lodging, and breakfast at Charit
Creek Lodge in the park, followed by another trail run on Sunday. Stephanie
drove up with Ron and I, and local runners Tim, Doug, and Alondra participated. There
were 21 runners total, not including Brian who had a stomach bug that weekend.
Campers at Charit Creek Lodge (Photo from Brian).
On
Saturday we started at the Fork Ridge Trailhead above Charit and ran a west
side loop out to Twin Arches, Jakes Place, Middle Creek Loop, and back via Laurel
Creek to Blackhorse Branch, to return to the trailhead and then hike down to Charit.
My role was to sweep with the slower group of runners. There were lots of dropouts,
especially at the water station on Fork Ridge Road where people could easily
short cut back on the road. But the running was great and so was the scenery.
It was cool along Laurel Creek and the water felt good on my feet as we made
many crossings.
My
back of the pack runners needed the training camp. A couple of them weren’t in
good shape, and some others just needed more trail running experience. Although
the weather was tolerable for us locals, it was still a long, hot, and humid
day. My group had a pair of runners who only planned on running on Saturday,
and another runner who had gotten a Western States 100 invite after captaining
an aid station there.
I
could see that horses were still using the Foot Travel Only section of Laurel
Creek Trail to make a loop between a pair of non-system horse trails. The rest
of Laurel Creek was slow going on lesser used trail.
Charit
Creek Lodge had made several upgrades since my last visit. Thank God that
included a shower and sheets and blankets on the beds. Dinner was excellent,
but I took no notes on the menu beyond my two beers. The tired group got swept
inside by a rainstorm that rolled in at dusk. We were lodged in one of the
large bunkbed cabins.
Our
route on Sunday was on the east side. We ran Station Camp Creek to the Muir
Trail, to the Alfred Smith Grave, to Duncan Hollow and presumably on Jacks
Ridge and Blackhouse Branch back to the Lodge. Saturday’s run had obviously
taken a toll, and Sunday was still hot and more humid. We only had nine
starters, though many had only signed up for one day. Three runners turned back
where Station Camp Creek Trail reached the river. On contrast to my 2016 scouting
run with Brian (BSF Scout), Station Camp was now
badly trashed by horse groups. But the foot travel only Muir Trail was
fantastic running. We saw no other hikers all day. Brian had a water drop at
the Alfred Smith Grave near the start of the Grand Gap Loop. Stephanie and one
other runner stopped there.
I
quit at Duncan Hollow and jumped into Brian’s vehicle when I realized that I
was now at the back of the pack. Ron and two others (Tim? and Alondra?) took
the Bypass Road back and were the only ones to finish. Ron reported that the
Bypass Trail was in good shape. We all met back up at the Fork Ridge Trailhead.
We had about a two-hour drive back to Stepanie’s place in West Knoxville.
My
Trails Illustrated maps indicated that the runs were 19.6 and 18.0 miles long,
but the conditions were tough enough that I claimed credit for Brian’s official
distances. I did not take a GPS track or any pictures. I did not record times
for either run, though I think day 1 took my group 8 hours.
Alondra
and Tim would go on to place first and third in the inaugural No Business 100
in 2017. The 2017 race had 36 finishers. In contrast, the latest 2025 version
had 192 finishers with another 80 or so DNFs.
