Tahoe Ragnar Recap
- Holly Opatz
- Sep 14, 2023
- 16 min read
When I first heard of Ragnar races, I thought “Wow what a wild adventure that would be. I’d love to do one someday” but I didn’t think I’d ever be able to round up a full team of people that shared my joy for type 2 fun. You know, the kind of ‘fun’ where you basically hate your life the entire time you’re doing the thing, but then look back at the experience and think, “That was amazing! Let’s do it again!" So when my friend brought up the Tahoe Ragnar in a group chat one day, my immediate thought was “YES! It’s happening!” Turns out I got pretty lucky with my Ragnar Team of TaHOEs.
If you’re unfamiliar with the concept of Ragnar, it’s important to know that there are two different types: Road Relays and Trail Relays, the Tahoe Ragnar being the later of the two. Here’s how the Trail Ragnars work in a nutshell: You gather up a team of eight people. You set up a campsite in a scenic location. You take turns running three loops of trails, covering over 120 miles of distance. Each teammate runs each of the three loops once. If your leg of the race happens to fall during the middle of the night, good luck - you’re still running in the darkness with the bears. If you want to drink modelos or shoot tequila in between your loops - no one is stopping you. You probably won’t sleep much. You’ll be covered in mud and dirt. You may just sit in the same sweaty running clothes over the course of two days and nights of camping - but we aren’t judging. We’re all here for the love of type 2 fun.
If you’re a type 2 fun lover yourself and thinking the Tahoe Ragnar may be next to check off your running passport, here’s everything you need to know:
Gathering a Team
A typical ragnar team will require eight people in order for each person to run each of the three loops once to
cover the complete race distance. However, you could opt to do a team half this size, obligating each team member to run each loop twice. We were not that ambitious though and luckily were able to recruit an eight person, all women’s team from our local running group. Each team is also required to either pay an additional cost for a team volunteer or provide their own. A few of us gals had no problem voluntelling our boyfriends for this position, but I’ll argue they got a pretty good bargain for free camping in Tahoe and a share in the festivities without any of the physical efforts, aside from directing parking lot traffic.
Despite our male volunteer team additions, we still kept our team name, the Bearnaked Ladies. This eventually evolved into the Beernaked Ladies after a few modelos our first night camping, then quickly escalated into the TaHOEs, as we affectionately nicknamed ourselves… The point I’m trying to make is, don’t be afraid to get creative with your team name! But also note that the race is split into divisions depending on the makeup of each team: Co-ed, men’s and women’s. This may be something to consider if you’re really going for the ‘W’ but if you haven’t figured it out yet, we were just here for a good time.
Packing List
Shout out to our Team Captain Stephanie for being Uber organized and putting together a packing list for us in an excel spreadsheet. This was super nice to be able to collaborate as a team for who was bringing what as far as group items went. A few things to consider when packing: plan for a variety of temperatures. It had been a year of crazy snowfall, so we weren’t really sure what to fully expect weather-wise, especially after receiving an advisory that parts of the mountain were still snow capped in July and that crampons - yes, the shoe attachments Mount Everest climbers use - might not be a bad idea. The days, however, were hot when the sun was shining, topping off around 80 degrees, but at night the temps did dip into the mid 50s, which feels nearly freezing when you’re sweat-soaked and cooling down from your night loop.
Another thing to note: there are no open fires allowed at the campsites, whether they be for warming up, comradery or cooking. In fact, cooking with heat at camp was banned altogether. Wanting to respect the rules despite Smokey the Bear’s ‘LOW’ fire warning that week, we opted for a lot of picnic-type foods. You are allowed to bring camp stoves down to the main lodge patio for cooking and also can enjoy some organized campfires with s’mores roasting supplies included. The lodge also does offer some hot foods for purchase if you’re not feeling cooking. The best lodge perk however, was the fresh, hot coffee brewed every morning and night, which was provided for free as long as you came prepared with your own coffee receptacle. The runner-up for best lodge amenity was the beer garden with several tap varieties and generous operating hours from 9 AM to 10 PM each day of the race. Yet, there aren’t any restrictions against bringing in your own alcohol either, hence, the second-place award for this feature. In the end, we took advantage of all the different camping, eating and drinking opportunities. Some of the essentials to prepare for them all included:
Group Items
Tents - enough for all team members
Coolers
Cooking utensils
Camping Chairs
Battery String Lights
Speaker
Games/Cards
EZ Up
Paper Plates
Plastic Eating Utensils
Walkie-Talkies
Camp Stove
Paper Towels
Individual Items
Sleeping Bag
Sleeping Pad
Pillow
Blanket
Headlamp
Trail Running shoes
Running outfits x3**
Comfy clothes and shoes for camp***
Portable Charger
Water bottle
Coffee Cup
Food and drinks
Fruits - Bananas, Apples, Oranges, grapes
Dry Snacks - Beef Jerky, granola bars, pretzels, gold fish, nuts
Veggies and Hummus
Bagels w/ cream cheese, jam, almond butter
Sandwich items - Bread, meat, cheese, mustard, mayo,
Pasta - noodles, pesto, marinara sauce
Premade salad kits
Gatorade
Beer
Seltzers
Water****
*Ended up being for fun. Cell service was great all around.
**I packed two for colder weather, two for warmer depending on what time of day I’d be running my loops at
***Sweatshirt, sweatpants, light winter coat, mittens and warm hat! It got cold at night even in July. Having a pair of easy sandals was also nice during the day to stretch out the feet.
****There are water towers at the lodge to fill your bottles or hydration vests up with. However, it was nice to have a couple gallons at our campsite for convenience .
Getting to The Tahoe Trail Ragnar
The Race itself actually takes place just outside of Lake Tahoe proper at the Snowbowl ski resort. I was a little disappointed to learn that there would be no actual views of Lake Tahoe during the race, but we factored that into our trip as a whole, ensuring we left time to go spend at the infamously massive clear blue lake. Just 35 minute outside of North Lake Tahoe, your options for getting here include a classic roadtrip, as my group opted for, or you could fly into a nearby airport and rent a car.
But I love me a California road-trip. It also helped that my car was currently in the shop which ended up being fortunate, considering that we got to take my fancy loaner car instead. That was an unexpected luxury and a way cheaper option, splitting the already decent gas mileage prices between our four person caravan. The race started on a Friday afternoon, but campground check in started as early as 3 PM the day prior. Knowing that we would be embarking on a 9 hour drive up from San Diego, we decided to break up the adventure a bit in order to arrive before it got dark Thursday night. So instead of rushing and fighting LA traffic that Thursday, we left that Wednesday evening before, and spent the night at the Juniper Springs Resort in Mammoth lakes. Despite our best pedal-to-the-metal efforts, we didn’t make it to this cozy retreat until hours past my typical 9 PM bedtime.
While getting to Mammoth at midnight certainly wasn’t ideal, I couldn’t contain my excitement for waking up in the mountains the next morning, so much so that I didn’t mind only getting three hours of sleep to be the first one awake that day. It was so worth it for that special moment of peace. Watching the sunrise over the mountains on our balcony. The fresh air. No traffic sounds. Birds chirping. The pine trees and freshly brewed coffee scents wafting my nostrils, awaking my sleep deprived soul. It was also my first time in Mammoth and I was determined to make something of it and explore a bit. Fumbling with my laces due to a combination of caffeine overload and lack of REM, I strapped on my running shoes and muddled out the door for a few solo miles. Though the elevation killed me and the lack of sleep took a toll later in the trip, still - worth it.
We took our time that day making our way up to Tahoe, which was still about a four hour drive in total from Mammoth. It didn’t feel long at all breaking it up that way however. Some of our stops included a hike around from Twin Lakes to Lake Mary, a cruise around June Lake, complete with a coffee shop stop at the Lift. We spied some incredible waterfalls, stopped for a short walk to a park outside of Mono Lake (not swimmable) and pulled into the historic town of Bridgeport for a burger at a roadside stand called, The Barn. We eventually snuck around Nevada to at last catch the beautiful Lake Tahoe on the most perfectly sunny afternoon. But with perfect weather, comes everyone else who wants to enjoy it. The town center of North Lake Tahoe was packed. At first I was a little disappointed when I saw on our GPS that our campground was another 40 minutes away from the lake, but after sitting in that thick thick traffic, I was glad to be getting a bit further away from it all.
Setting Up Camp
After finally making it to our destination, we were excited to finally be able to stretch out and relax and enjoy the golden hour setting in. Not so fast though, we soon learned. We ended up having our work cut out for us setting up our camp site as it turned out. The reserved camping areas are decent hike from the parking lot, and by decent hike, I mean maybe a quarter mile at most - but in flip flops and inappropriately packed camping gear. In hindsight, we should have tried to arrive right when the camping area opened at 3 PM to have our first pick at where to setup, but at least arriving at 5 PM saved us from the heat. We were instructed to unload our cars a specified transition zone in the ski resort parking lot, then carry all of our gear up the ski hill. Though it was a bunny hill, this proved to be a lot more difficult with the muddy conditions leftover from the recent snow melt, yet still hot, and buggy. But - type two fun! I repeated to myself over and over again while lugging our third massive cooler up the mountain side. We tried our best to pick a site out of the mud and away from the relay transition zone, which had music playing loudly at most hours of the day; these choices however, put us further away from the lodge. Space near the ski lodge that the other two annoyances were sparse. To land this ideal campsite, I do think it would be worth it to arrive earlier the first day. We ended up spending a lot of our downtime at the lodge whether it was for food, running water, cheering on our teammates, or the beer garden, so to have had the luxury of not having to hike up and down the bunny hill multiple times a day would have been fantastic. We did our best to make our camp area cozy though. We set up plenty of lawn chairs, our own speakers for music, and an EZ-up for shade as well as for a place holder for our string lights, which, let’s be honest, were more for ambiance than any real light provision.
The Actual Running Part
We spent well over 48-hours at the Ragnar event, yet just barely three of those hours were spent running. But since that’s what this multi-day extravaganza is truly centered around - here’s a lowdown on what truly qualifies this camping adventure as type two fun.
First things first - there are three loops. A green loop, which is supposedly. easiest, a yellow loop, which is mid-level, and a red loop which is to be considered the most difficult. While the difficulty rating is calculated considering the distance and elevation gain of each loop, I truly believe the difficulty rating came down to which order you ran them in and what time of day each leg happened to land for you. If you were really trying to be strategic, you could try to stack your team order based on everyone's strengths, however, we for the most part randomly assigned ourselves. There was the one team member that requested to be the ninth runner, and unwilling ended up our anchor. Joke’s on her. That being said, you are given a number amongst your team of eight, and expected to run in that particular order to ensure every individual runs each of the various loops once. No repeats. No skipping loops or runners. No making the best runner do the red loop three times or letting your honorary team beer drinker run green loops only. I guess there was no race organizer honestly checking this, but good luck trying to negotiate anything other with your teammates.
One negotiation you may be able to win though, is a start time adjustment. We were scheduled to start in the last wave. This was assigned based on our estimated finish time, which was calculated based upon our total 10K times. Apparently the math said we were going to be fast enough to finish on the quicker end. Your team’s start time is then determined based upon your estimated finish time so that all teams will finish around the same time. Therefore, we were put in the last starting wave, which wasn’t supposed to take off until 2 PM Friday. That type of waiting around anxiety does not sit well with runners, as you may know. So, we got up early Friday morning to speak personally with the start line coordinator instead and requested to move up our start time. Lucky us! We got bumped up to 11 AM! Which seemed great at the time, until I started to do more math. I soon realized that as runner number four in the line up, this would put my first loop at peak heat, my hardest loop in the middle of the night, and I might even get a second dark leg to finish it off. Welp, that unfortunate line up had to happen for someone and it was looking like that someone was going to be me.
The Green Loop
Starting at 2pm at a toasty 80 degrees, I took off like wildfire, with the green snap-bracelet wrapped around my wrist, as a reminder to stay on the “Green” marked trails. I thought this was a little silly at the time, but little did I know how helpful these reminders would be once the dusk came and the lack of sleep started to catch up. There was a ton of adrenaline around everyone’s first leg. We were all gathered at the transition area to cheer each other on as the team bib was passed from runner to runner. Taking the bib from my proceeding teammate, I started off with a sprint, feeling like a deer prancing in the woods. I was shocked by the lack of people I encountered on the trail, only heightening my fear of running into a bear. With the lack of people, I also didn’t feel guilty playing my music out loud through my phone speaker in hopes to warn away any wildlife, or at least give a warning other than my trail shoes quietly stomping away at the soft earthen grounds. Since I’m not trying to be “one of those people '' that disturbs nature, I would pause my music as I came upon other runners. At that point, there was also more bear bait to choose from and I was determined not to be that tastier looking dinner.
The 3.6 mile trail itself was well marked and mostly shaded. The trail winds through the woods, along a creek, past some wildflower meadows.. absolutely beautiful. But of course, right as the shade gave way to an open fire road, blasted by the afternoon sun, the elevation gain hit. Type two fun, type two fun…. The fire road and elevation gain back to the transition area was without a doubt the most challenging part of the green loop, and little did I know that this segment was to be included in every single loop (I guess it would have helped if I reviewed the maps at all prior, so learn from my struggle, here you go: https://www.runragnar.com/event-detail/trail/tahoe_ca#course) but the rush of running downhill back to the ski lodge, with the music booming and your teammates cheering, there’s the FUN in the type two.
The Red Loop
Either my sleepy brain math was completely off, or we were actually kind of crushing it as a team, because my red loop, which I originally calculated to be running in the middle of the night, ended up taking off right as the sun set. But I had 6.4 miles worth of trails to watch that sun go down, and she set fast. About two miles in, I was in the pitch dark. Just me, my headlamp and running vest of survival items. The main essential one being my running playlist. Definitely an excusable time to play music out in nature. Especially since I didn’t see a single soul for 4 miles. COME GET ME BEARS. Once my fear of getting attacked by forest creatures and axe murderers subsided, I was able to actually relax a bit and enjoy the solitude. I settled into my run, picked up the pace a bit and began to feel really empowered and, well for lack of a more fitting term, completely badass. What an incredible adventure to be out here, traveling by the moonlight (with the help of a little LED light) exploring a new place. It was exhilarating to wind around the trails, as if on a quest or a secret mission, like the hunter-gather times of my supposed long-gone ancestors, though all I was really looking for was the finish line where a warm pasta dinner was waiting for me.
Just as I was starting to enjoy the thrill of being alone in the woods at night, I came across an aid station and soon remembered how grateful I was to have other humans out here with medical supplies should anything adverse dare happen. Just past this oasis came the mud. And not just little puddles here and there - those had already been encountered plenty - I mean, calf-deep, sink-hole type mud traps. Then of course, since misery loves company, the steepest of elevation gain switch backs, oh and then one and only bottleneck of other runners encountered. I wouldn’t have been that bitter for the opportunity to slow my heartrate a bit while stuck in this human bug line, but it was getting cold and breezy, which is a horrible combo when you’re wet with sweat and caked in mud. But I made it through, as you might have predicted considering I am here, living to write about it. Not only did I survive though, I managed to exclaim, and genuinely mean it, “that was so much FUN” as I passed off the bib to our next night time runner.
After my completing my red loop, I scarfed down some now-cold pasta upon returning to a mostly sleeping team campsite. I wanted in on the z’s, so didn’t even bother changing out of my sweaty clothes - big mistake. I was so cold that entire night despite breaking out my mittens, winter hat and puffer jacket. My one saving grace was probably the sock change. I cannot recommend overpacking socks enough. The sweat alone was enough to warrant a change, but the mud is an inexcusable filth to snuggle into your sleeping bag at night. Once I did finally fall asleep though - it was solid, but only awarded me a 30 sleep score on my garmin watch considering it was only 3 hours in length.
The Yellow Loop
What should have been another nighttime loop according to more poor math skills, ended up being a glorious sunrise loop that I was nearly half dead for. I underestimated our team’s ability to crush the first two loops, and completely overestimated our nighttime navigation skills. Had I adjusted for all the appropriate variables in this math equation, I could have set my alarm for 4 AM versus the 2:30 AM that I instead did, following 2.5 hours worth of consistent alarm snoozing. When that 2:30 AM alarm went off, I checked my phone expecting to see a text in our group chat that the runner before me had just taken off. Instead, we were just finishing up runner 1 in the order. So me being runner 4, had 3 more runners to wait. I was so nervous about missing my spot though that I just kept snoozing that alarm.. waiting for texts….
I finally took off on my last leg just before 5 AM - the 5.5 mile yellow loop of intermediate difficulty, but wow did that 5.5 miles feel like 50. Thank god for the hot coffee at the lodge that was brewed just in time, yet still, was my body ever done for. In total, I only ran just over 10 miles leading up to this, which felt laughable to be that exhausted from in comparison to the marathon I had just ran a few months prior. But that just goes to show the importance of good sleep. By everyone’s third loop, the race adrenaline had vanished. We were all beaten down. Tired. Desperate for a shower. I don’t think anyone was judging that these last loops were more walking than they were running. So with this mindset, I took it real easy. Enjoyed my last few miles. Took more pictures. Embraced the mud puddles. Waved ‘good morning’ to other runners in passing. It was blissful. The perfect ending to an exhausting bout of type two fun. I crossed the finish line on that last loop, more fatigued and filthy than I had ever felt in my life and thought to myself, I would definitely do that again.
The Celebration
Knowing a hot shower, guilt-free cold beer and soft bed were in my near future, I joyfully helped pack up camp in between cheering on our last few teammates. Turns out, there is an unwritten rule in trail relay events that requires all teammates to cross the finish line together with their anchor runner. I thoroughly enjoyed this rule, especially hearing the finish line director announce “AND CROSSING THE FINISH LINE, WE HAVE SOME BEARNAKED LADIES.” We then collected our medals, which were really more “Woodals'' yet arguably the most functional race prize I’d ever received with its hidden bottle opener. Then of course, we cheers’ed a celebratory beer from the garden tap, courtesy of our team anchor. While we enjoyed our time at the Ragnar event grounds, we did not hesitate to hightail it out of there for a celebration on the lake - but of course, food first.
We ended up heading back over to Nevada for some much needed lunch at Tunnel Creek Cafe in Incline Village. It was a great casual spot with tap beer, lots of outdoor seating and yard games. We were even able to catch a live band playing out in the cafe garden. The better catch, though, was the free bus picking up hopeful swimmers at the stop right outside the restaurant and dropping them at Hidden Beach, which truly was an otherwise out-of-view little nook of Lake Tahoe. “What a great find!” We rejoiced, packed in the crammed, but air-conditioned public transport. On theme with all the weather oddities, the infamously, bone-chillingly, cold Lake Tahoe was warm. I’m not talking bath water, but it was refreshingly swimmable-without-risking-hypothermia-warm. Most of us jumped right in with minor hesitation. Others, dare I say, the lame individuals chilled on shore watching the rest of us swim about the crystal clear waters and dive off lake boulders. It was the perfect end to a great weekend.
Not that the weekend ended there - just that our luck did. Turns out the wonderful free Lake Tahoe bus does NOT pick its previous passengers back up from the beach to return them to their respective vehicle parkings. After waiting nearly forty minutes and google searching on spotty cell service every Tahoe bus timetable we could find, we finally accepted that we would be traveling back by foot, which was about the last thing we wanted to do after running a collective hundred-some miles with stomachs full of lunch and blistered feet. Thankfully there was a nicely paved, mile-long path that took us right back to the restaurant and afforded us some pretty spectacular views - views I held in my mind as I fell asleep that night, admittedly, very lamely before 9 PM, in my luxurious airbnb cabin bed as the rest of the Tahoe’s played drinking games, finishing off our campsite modelo’s - at last enjoying some type one fun.
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