Lost Souls Challenge

 The 2021 Lost Souls Challenge was awesome! This year was a little bit different, and there were some fun twists along the way. You still had 100 days to complete 50 routes to be deemed a 'Lost Soul,' but this time there were a total of 67 routes, and 11 secret missions. The first person done with 50 routes was crowned the King/Queen of the Lost Souls, but whoever completes all 67 routes plus the 11 secret missions in the 100 days got a 'Tougher Than a $2 Steak' award, and received a cool knife. The twelve areas where the routes were located this year were Greenbelts, Henry & Taylor, Snakebites, Paved Paradise, Hillbillies, Badlands, West Tex, Heart of Tex, Fall Creek, Wolverine, Kelly Mountain, Palisades. Here we go!

Old Tex:

Mark, Steph, and I kicked off the challenge on opening day with Old Tex. We got ourselves in a bit of a muddy predicament. Dan had warned me not to go out to that area after a rainstorm, but who am I to listen. 😂 The road was great until the final descent, and then it got really bad, really fast. There was nothing we could do at that point, but pray we didn't get stuck. We couldn't turn around on the big downhill. We barley managed to get the truck off to the side of the road at the start of the route location. We had no idea how we were gonna get back out of there. We thought getting back up the big hill would be impossible. Oh, and did I mention there is no cell service out there? We decided to just go ahead and do the route, and maybe the sun would dry the mud out a little bit while we were out running. 

You can't tell how deep the tire tracks are from the picture, but it wasn't good.

The tires were so caked with mud that they had zero traction left.

The route was beautiful this time of year. Very green.

We felt like we were running with 10 pound weights on each shoe. 😂

The valley we ran down.

We made it to the river, which was the turn around spot.

after a lot of maneuvering, we did manage to get the truck turned around. We had to drive it in the grassy meadow area. With Mark's mad driving skills, we were also able to make it up the hill, but barely! We knew that it was going to be a great challenge, if this was the adventure we started it off with! We drove straight to a car wash, and cleaned Mark's truck, and our shoes. What a HUGE mess!

😂😂😂

Alridge:

Dan organized a kickoff run up Taylor Mountain Peak the evening that the challenge got started. We planned on going, but since it's quite a drive for us, we decided to go early and get another route done while we were already out there. We did Alridge.

I made a cute cow friend!

The lookout and turn around point.
Jenn-Michelle-Tricia-Steph-Mark

Taylor Mountain Peak:

There was a great turnout for Dan's kick off up Taylor Mountain Peak. I'm one of the few people who really loves this route. It's a tough climb, but the views are so amazing.

Stating up the 1,600 foot climb!

I love this picture; if you look closely, you can see a string of people all the way down the trail.

We went at a good time of the year for the blooming flowers.

My traditional picture.

Our big group at the top. Paul even hiked up it with his baby on his back!

My favorite Lost Souls buddy!

Three routes done on the first day is not too shabby!

Greenbelt:

I had a nice solo run around the Greenbelt on a beautiful day for route number four.

Idaho Canal:

I love this route for an in town option, but I knew I wanted to get it done early in the season before the heat of summer hit. It's a hot one. Jenn and I did it together, and had a beautiful, brisk morning.

The turn around point.

Cute little babies!

Sandy Downs:

Steph and I knocked Sandy Downs off our list when we had to do it for the Grit League Trail Series. Two birds with one stone. Woot! Woot!

Can't miss a chance to play on the swing!

Boat Launch Park:

Steph and I needed a nice easy run before we headed to Bryce Canyon for our 60K, so we did this one together.

Pretty morning!

I love all the babies in the spring!

Antelope Creek & Baldy:

A lot of people didn't do Baldy last year, because it was a little farther away, and they were worried about getting lost. It was the last route Mark and I did last year to win the Lost Souls, and we loved it! We made a group run for these two routes this year, and we loved them again!

A beaver dam along Antelope Creek. 

This whole area is beautiful in the spring. We did it at the perfect time.

A week earlier, we saw the pinkish start of pinecones while we were in Bryce Canyon. I had never seen this color before, and thought it was so cool. Then here we are a week later, and we see them again on Baldy. So cool!

Mark on top of Baldy.

Tricia-Mark

We had a great group!

The Tetons peeking up in the distance.

I love this picture of Jen and Mark running down the hill.

Fun fact about Mark. When we signed up for the Lost Souls Challenge this year, he said we weren't going to try to win it this year. He just wanted to leisurely get the routes done without the craziness, and pressure of how we did it last year. I told him that was fine with me. I didn't want anything to mess up my Beaverhead training anyways. Once we finished our Bryce Canyon Ultra, he realized I still had a big race I was working toward, but he was done until August. He decided about the time of this run that he was going to win the Lost Souls. Hahaha, so much for not being crazy about it this year. I was still sticking to my training plan, but I was all in to help Mark win it!

Freeman Park:

We took the pups for a walk to see the Memorial Day flag display at Freeman Park and got that route done while we were there. This was my 10th route!

My cute little, old ladies!

Reeses loved the water!

Blacktail Road:

I loved this route! One of my favorites for two reasons; first, we went early in the morning, so we were just in time to watch the sunrise over the lake. Second, Jeff organized to do a HIIT workout back up the hill, and I'm a sucker for a good hill workout.

Love these pictures of John, Mark, and Jeff running down the hill.

So pretty!

The turn around point at the water.

😍😍😍

Porter Canal/Snake River Landing:

We had a bonus Trail Series at the Dam Island on this night, but there was a gap between when Steph got off work, and when the Trail Series started, so I met her for the Porter Canal Route. Mark was off busting out a bunch of routes on his own so he could take the lead.

It was so hot!

Dam Island:

The Dam Island covered our Trail Series and a Lost Souls route. Yay for busting out two things!

Look who we found! He ran with us for a minute, then he was off to get another route done.

My favorite crazy friend!

Big Elk Creek:

Mark and I were camped up Indian Creek, so we planned on getting a lot of the Palisades area and Fall Creek area done in one weekend. The Palisades routes are my favorite, and I love Big Elk Creek! We set up camp Thursday afternoon, and then headed up Big Elk during the hottest part of the day. Dan had posted two of the secret missions at this point. One was the Danger Noodle Patrol. You had to find and take a picture of a snake. We often see water snakes on Big Elk, so we were keeping our fingers crossed. The other was the Yellow Submarine Secret Mission. There were three creeks we had to dunk in. Big Elk was one of them. This was the very beginning of June, so not only was the water running fast, but it was freezing! Like the cold that hurts your feet when you step in it, and takes your breath away. I'm a big baby when it comes it cold water, so I was pretty worried about this one! The hike was awesome though! We had a beautiful day with amazing flowers the whole way!

So many flowers were blooming up there!

I loved these yellow ones.

Mule ears everywhere!

The snow bridge.

Dry Canyon was the turn around point, but we had to dunk first. Do I look nervous, because I was!

Hahahaha!

It was so cold, but I was SO proud of myself!

Hahahaha, "Dan, I hate you!"

1/3 of the dunks done, and we knew this would be the hardest one!

Such a pretty day. We actually felt great on the way back, because we were all refreshed and cooled off from our dunk.

Then the icing on the cake; we found our danger noodles. We found two of them, so we didn't even have to share. Danger Noodle Secret Mission complete!

Spring Run & Blowout:

I love these routes! We made a group run post for these, and ended up with some of my favorite people!

So green and lots of flowers on Spring run!

Stacey-Tricia-Michelle-Georgina

Made it to the cabin. This concludes the Spring Run route, and starts the Blowout route.

We did this again later in the season, and all that snow was gone.

Blowout Canyon

Sheep Creek:

Right when we finished Spring Run and Blowout, we headed to Sheep Creek. We thought this would be a quick one, but we got more than we bargained for. There was a big avalanche and it made for a very slow trek over and through lots of downed trees, and a very big uphill climb on top of the snow. 

The trail started out looking very beautiful, like this....

And this....

Then quickly turned to this....

and this.

This snow climb seemed to never end!

We almost called it quits and turned around, but I'm so glad we didn't!

This was our destination, and it was very pretty!

Yay, so glad we made it!

We were a little worried about the way back down. There was a lot of falling on the snow, and getting scraped up by the debris, but it was a lot faster than the way up!

Fall Creek Area:

We spent a Saturday, and got all the Fall Creek routes done. It was a 25 mile day, and we were hot and exhausted by the time we were done!

Lookout:

I loved this route last year, and I loved it again this year.

The final hill to the top.

Tricia-Ryan-Michelle-Mark

Can't beat the view!

Dead Horse:

I loved this one too! It looked like someone landscaped it for us with all the wildflowers and views. This was my 20th route!

Yellow flowers lined the road we went up.

The top had a great view of the Tetons in the distance.

We made it!

So many flowers!

Little Currant Hollow & Echo Canyon:

We had our second dunk for the Yellow Submarine Challenge in Little Currant. It was cold, but not nearly as bad as Big Elk two days before. We went up Little Currant Hollow and down Echo Canyon. You know it's gonna be bad when the forest service makes Dan warn us that Little Currant is not a maintained trail. Hahaha, it was a lot of bushwacking to get to the top! The run down Echo Canyon was great though.

Dunk #2!

Mark's dunk.

Ryan went home, so the rest of the routes were just the three of us.

Heading up Little Currant.

We saw a fresh bear track in the mud. 😳

Made it to the top!

The cairn at the top of Echo.

Almost done!

Fallover:

This was a new trail to me, and I loved it! We were so tired by this point, and it had a lot of climbing, so we just hiked it. Glad we stuck it out and finished the whole area in one day.

I loved the trail through the trees. This would be a pretty one in the fall.

The trail pops you out in the Conant Valley. What a fun surprise!

The turn around bridge!

It was so hot! We didn't even care that the creek was full of moss. We got in to cool off anyways.

We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day.

Done with all of Fall Creek! 👊

Blackhawk Road:

No picture. I just did this one on my own one morning.

Henry Creek & Grandpa Henry's:

The Monday night Women's Runs incorporated routes into the plan for the summer. For this one, we did Henry Creek Road and Grandpa Henry's. This is not an easy route! We had 20 awesome ladies show up, and all 20 of them made it to the top! It was also Amanda's birthday celebration run!

Yay for birthday celebrations!

The whole climb is pretty much this steep!

Check out all these rad ladies!

Great views from the top!

Everyone made it to the cairn!

Dan also released the 'I Need to Speak to the Manager' Secret Mission. We had to get to 7 cairns. The one on top of Grandpa Henry's was our first one!

Maw Maw Clowards:

Jeff organized an early morning group run on Maw Maw Clowards, and that is the last submarine dunk Mark and I needed, so we joined the group. 

Fun group!

Jeff took this great picture of us running down the hill with a pretty sunrise.

On our way to the creek crossing.

Hahaha, Nate had to carry Miles across. Cute little pup!

Josh, Carney, and Mark climbing to the ridge.

The turn around point!

We dunked on our way back. Yellow Submarine Secret Mission is now complete.

Taylor Mountain Road & Henry Canyon:

We did Maw Maw Clowards in the morning, and then after Mark got off work, we went out with Stacey and Steph and did Taylor Mountain Road, and Henry Canyon. These completed 30 routes for me!

I saw a cute deer on Henry Canyon.

Sunny's Other Side:

I did this one by myself on a VERY windy day! I was running up the hill with a 25 mph head wind. When I was about 1/4 mile from the top, some guys in a truck stopped and asked what I was running from. 😂 

Taylor Creek Upper & Taylor Creek Lower:

We did these two routes the day we got home from our Oregon Coast vacation. It was soooooo hot!

I made friends with 4 horses on these ones.

Trail of Bones-Coyotes Infinite Loop-Dragon's Back-Old Kepp:

The Women's Run came through big on this night! We got four routes done!

Trail of Bones

Coyote's Infinite Loop

We saw a giant snake. Luckily not a rattler, but it sure made all the ladies jump!

Jen Saunders took this picture, and I LOVE it so much!

Climbing at the start of Dragon's Back.

Dragon's Back

We found the second cairn of our 'I Need to Speak to the Manager' challenge.

Climbing down from Dragon's Back.

Crossing the creek at the end.

Such a fun night!

A few of us piled in Jen Saunder's truck and she dropped us off so we could run down Old Kepp. We watched the sun set the whole way down.

This was a great Monday night with awesome ladies, busting out four routes. 

Ozone & Trail Hollow:

Michelle and I met early one morning to do Ozone and Trail Hollow. The 5:00 am start was worth it, because we had the BEST sunrise!

The sun rising over the Tetons. 

😍😍😍

The turn around gate at the end of Trail Hollow.

Kid's Fishing Pond:

I did Trail Hollow and Ozone in the morning and this one that evening with Mark. This is 40 routes for me!

Tautphaus Park:

Steph and I ran this for the Trail Series, and it also counted as a route.

Buck Road & Lincoln Hill Loop:

I posted a group run for this one, because these routes are pretty boring. Grateful to have company to make it fun!

We had a good size group for Buck Road.

Just five of us ladies kept going to get the Lincoln Hill Loop done (Georgina was in front of us).
Michelle-Tricia-Cheryl-Kristin

Jensen's Grove:

Did this by myself as an easy recovery walk after my 27 miler in Boise.

Little Kelly's:

There's never a dull moment on the Women's Runs. We encountered a big bull right on the trail! He wasn't about to move for us.

A fun group!

This big daddy wasn't gonna move no matter what we tried!

We just had to hurry by him on a side trail. I carried a big stick just in case. 😂

Georgina went around the bull and ended up in a mud bog. 😂

We made it to the turn around point.

Celebrated Georgina's birthday after the run!

Firth Nature Park & The Butte:

I did both of these by myself. I did the Nature Park, and then drove straight to the Butte. Mark had already done both of them earlier in the challenge.

Fisher Bottom:

I love this route! Mark and I went during an evening, hoping to find an animal for my Big Foot Hunter Secret Mission. 

You have to make it to the river going one way.

You have to make it to the old homestead going the other way.

We got so lucky! We found deer for my Bigfoot Hunter Secret Mission. Mark already had his from seeing a deer in the Tex Creek area.

Pretty sky!

Ryder/Heritage Park:

I did this one for the Trail Series, and it ended up being my 50th route for Lost Souls. It's official, I'm a Lost Soul! My goal from the beginning was to complete every route and every secret mission in the 100 days, so I still have a lot left to do!

Old Meadow:

We did Old Meadow early in the morning. We started at 5:30 so people could be back in time for work.

We had a HUGE moon!

The water was soooo low!

Pretty sky!

Amanda-Wallace-Tricia-Stacey-Mat-Carrie-Mark

Bone Road:

Mark shuttled this route for me so I would only have to go one way. I actually loved it. I put my headphones in, played my music loud, and ran fast (for me). It was a great way to get my frustrations out. I was stressed about some stuff that was going on with our building permits in Ririe. I felt much better when I was done.

Sidewinder & Wolf Flats:

Two routes done, plus two more cairns found!

Big Stinky off of Sidewinder!

Michelle-Mat-Jenn-Larissa-Tricia-Mark

Stinky #2!

It's a lot of bushwhacking to get to this one!

After we finished our cairn hunt, Jenn drove to the end of Wolf Flats and waited for me, Michelle, and Mark to finish the route, so she could drive us back to our cars. That made it so we only had to run it one way. Hallelujah!

 Kepp's Ridge & Kepp's Road:

Another Women's Run, and another two routes done!

Climbing up to the ridge.

Our fun group on the ridge.

Coming off the ridge to the road.

Finishing up on Kepp's Road.

Kelly Mountain Peak:

Boy did Kelly Canyon cooperate on this night! Michelle had never been up there, so she came with us. The flowers and sky were amazing! And to top it off, we had an incredible sunset on the way home.

At the top of Kelly Mountain.

Michelle-Tricia-Mark

Great views!

😍😍😍

Holy smokes! The flowers!

The perfect way to end our evening.

Lookout:

Another awesome night in Kelly Canyon!

Lookout Point

Lots of flowers!

For the Indiana Bones Secret Mission, you had to find old rusty wire, a bullet shell, an old bottle or can, and an old piece of farm equipment. I found my old, rusty wire on Lookout.

Dan Goes to Hell on a Sunday & Big Horse to Watchman:

We did these two routes and found our last three cairns. That completes the 'I Need to Speak to a Manager' Secret Mission. I also found an old bottle on Dan goes to Hell, and an old piece of farm equipment on Big Horse to Watchman for the Indiana Bones Secret Mission.

The first cairn on Dan Goes to Hell on a Sunday.

Cheryl-Michelle-Steph-Jenn-Tricia-Mark

The second cairn on Dan Goes to Hell on a Sunday.

The gang!

The cairn on Big Horse to Watchman.

Pretty flower.

Horse With No Name & Deer Park Canal:

We checked off these two routes, and this also completed my Indiana Bones Secret Mission. I found a bullet shell on Horse with No Name.

Horse with No Name.

The old rock house.

The turn around point at the river for Deer Park Canal.

A cute little cairn in the water.

Buckskin Morgan/Rolly Polly:

July is my favorite time in Kelly Canyon. The flowers lined our trail for this one.

So pretty!

Indian Paintbrush on the rolly pollys.

Steph-Tricia-Mark

Little Elk:

We did a big run for this one. It was an 18.5 miler, but just the beginning counted for the Little Elk route. I already blogged about the rest of the run earlier.

Flowers were pretty going up Little Elk,

Some of the group.

Mark and I with Mt. Baird behind us.

White Columbine.

At the top of Little Elk, looking back down toward the reservoir.

Jen-Mat-Carrie-Steph-Tricia

Some of my favorite peeps all in one picture.

Sandy Wash & Jones Well:

We didn't love these two routes, but we knew we had to just bust them out. 

There was a pretty sunset though.

Wolverine:

The Narrows/40 Horse Cave-Dirty Little Secret-Taylor Creek South-Double W Divide:

We made a group event and decided to get the rest of Wolverine done all at once. We were out there until well after dark, but we did it! It's always lots more fun with friends.

The first one we did was the Narrows/40 Horse Cave.

We ran up the Narrows, and now just had to get to that cave to finish the route.

Climbing to the cave.

Inside the cave.

We had quite a group on this one.

Dirty Little Secret was next. This one cracked me up. A whole lot of crazy bushwhacking to find the clearing at the top.

This was our 'trail.'

We made it! We went a different way back down. Much better!

Taylor Creek South is always a favorite. We all piled in Mark's truck and got dropped off at the top so we only had to run the fun downhill.

The view from the top of this one is great!

Double W Divide is great too. We did the same thing, and got a ride to the top, so we could just run the 4 mile downhill. It was especially fun in the dark! We finished at 11:00 at night.

Starting in the dark!

So fun to run down in the dark.

We had a big moon and a pretty sky.

Michelle-Tricia-Mark
This was the final route the three of us needed to have completed them all. Now we just had the secret missions left to finish. We were also the first 3 Lost Souls finishers. It was fun, because we did a lot of them together. 

Peak Bagger Secret Mission:

Dan posted a new secret mission each week. To get Peak Bagger, you had to get to the top of Mt. Borah, Mt. Baird, Taylor Mountain Peak, or Kelly Mountain. Mark and I redid Kelly Mountain.

Peak Bagger complete!

Coronation Run:

Remember how I said that after our Bryce Canyon Ultra, Mark decided he was going to win the Lost Souls? Well he sure did! Whahoooo! Mark was the very first one done with 50 routes! Michelle was the second one done, and I was the third. So fun since we did so many routes together. Dan organized a coronation run at the Kid's Fishing Pond. Mark was crowned with the coolest crown! So fun!

All hail King Mark! 👑
Tricia-Steph-Jen-Mark

Night Owl Secret Mission:

This may have been my favorite secret mission! So funny! You had to be out on a route between 1:37am and 3:00am. As soon as Dan posted it, a chat got started with the women runners. Georgina really wanted to win this one, so we decided to do it that night. For some unknown reason (oh wait, it's because we're nuts) we chose the Butte to do this one on. It's hard, and it's far away!

We found the cutest salamander in the Butte parking lot.

We didn't know we had scorpions here. I guess you find things out when you run in the middle of the night.

At the top of the Butte at 1:37 am!

I love these like minded, crazy ladies! I regret nothing! I'm happy to report that Georgina was the winner, and Amanda brought her a nice headdress to celebrate. 😂
Amanda-Georgina-Tricia-Stacey-Steph

Barefoot Bandit Secret Mission:

This one wasn't my favorite. We had to run a route barefoot. Mark, Steph, and I did Freeman Park because it's short and has a lot of grass. Beware of the pine needles!

Barefoot Bandit complete!

Unicorn Secret Mission:

I know I said the Night Owl was my favorite secret mission, but that was before Dan released the Unicorn Secret Mission. Now, this became my favorite. In order to win it, you had to be the first one to run the Greenbelt route starting at 10:00 am on a Thursday, dressed in a costume. Right smack in the middle of Youth Jam! 😂 The women started chatting again, and this time Amanda wanted to win the silly hat. A clown, a pirate, and a shark ran around the river, getting lots of crazy looks, comments, honks, etc...someone even asked us if we lost a bet. 😂 The kids at the Youth Jam loved us though!

Stacey-Tricia-Amanda

We documented our route. The falls...

The water tower...

Pancheri Bridge

Georgina was working the youth Jam, so we brought her a unicorn head to wear. 😂 Amanda was the winner of the Unicorn Secret Mission! Woot! Woot!

Elevation Secret Mission:

I don't remember when we finished this secret mission, but we got it done. We had to get 10,000 feet of vertical gain on various routes. We're always climbing, so this one wasn't hard for us.

Picasso of Joggers Secret Mission:

This was a fun one! We had to spell out IFTR (Idaho Falls Trail Runners) with our Strava maps.

This was my map.

This was Mark's map.

My goal when we started the Lost Souls Challenge was to complete every route and every secret mission, and not use any 'out of area' routes. The Picasso of Joggers Secret Mission was my very last one! I completed 67 routes, and 11 secret missions for 78 routes! That earned me the 'Tougher Than a $2 Steak' award, which was a cool knife I wanted to win for Mason. I was the first one to complete them all! I think 5 or 6  people ended up completing all 78 of them.

Mark's Routes:

Mark did a lot of routes on his own, because he was trying to win it. He isn't great at taking pictures, but he did take a few, and he had some experiences that need to be remembered.

Since I did Little Kelly's with the women, Mark and Mat went out and did it together.

Mark had to get a few routes fast to win it, so he went out to do the Tex Creek area. It is a HUGE rattle snake area, so we try not to run out there in the summer. He knew that this was the only area where he could get the number of routes he needed to finish the challenge in a short amount of time. There were a lot of short routes that hooked together. He got buzzed my a couple going to the cairn on Dragon's Back, so he was already freaked out. Then he came within inches of stepping right on one! Oh my gosh, he freaked!

Dragon's Back cairn.

Here is the lovely guy he almost stepped on! He called me so freaked out! He still had a ways to go to get off the ridge too. Totally worth it though, because he finished all his routes that night, and became the King of the Lost Souls! 

The next morning he woke up early and went to do Grandpa Henry's, just in case there was anything wrong with one of his routes. He just wanted to make sure he sealed the deal. He found another rattle snake! He is not a fan!

His friend on Grandpa Henry's!

He made it to the cairn!

Mark just wanted to win the challenge, he didn't care if he got all the routes and secret missions done. But he ended up being so close, I told him he might as well finish them all. He had the Night Owl and Unicorn Secret Missions left. I told him to just combine them, and run around the river in the middle of the night in a costume. He did! He ran around the river at 1:30 in the morning, by himself, dressed like a hot dog! Oh my gosh, when I got his picture, I was DYING! He got some pretty fun cat calls! 😂

This right here, is my favorite moment of the entire challenge! That takes a confident man! 😂

I love this challenge so much! I think it is so fun and clever! It's awesome to discover new places to run, have direction and motivation for your workouts, and get out of your comfort zone. It also brings our whole running community together. My favorite part about it is meeting new people. Last year I made tons of really great friends from the challenge, and this year the same thing happened. Anytime I was planning on more than one or two routes at a time, I would create an event, and invite anyone and everyone along. So fun to make new friends, and it's always better with company. We have the BEST running community, and I think it's people like Dan, and all his crazy ideas, and Amanda, for organizing our women's runs that bring our community together and keep it inclusive, fun, and exciting. I can't wait till next year!