Hiya Backboners! Per the recently updated summary table at the bottom of this page, there are eight aid stations along the Backbone Trail Ultra course that will be generously supplied with enough vittles to keep you moving along the course and avoid the “hangry” (hungry + angry) state of mind.  Standard ultra fare – bananas, PBJ, boiled potatoes with salt, chips, pretzels, nuts, something sweet, jelly beans, Peeps, electrolytes and a variety of beverages – will be supplemented in later miles by somewhat less conventional hot fixins dished out by our creative aid station cap’ns.

Words of wisdom: while the distances between aid may not seem staggering on paper (or a web page), these are some long hard miles. Be sure to set out from each aid station with more than enough calories and liquids than you think you will need to see you to the next oasis.

While crews and pacers are not allowed out on the course itself, we have designated aid stations (see table) that are accessible to those who wish to encourage you at various points along the way. Please tie any such support persons to ropes long enough to keep them within the general aid station area so they don’t risk your participant status by wandering beyond the aid station proper.

Event headquarters are at the La Jolla Canyon group campground in Point Mugu State Park near the Ray Miller trailhead, and staff there are your best resource for updates on runner status and location. That being said, they will be heavily immersed in keeping tabs on the team, so please be respectful of their workload. They are there for the long haul, so be sure to lavish them with tokens of your gratitude.

Important note: the open/close and cutoff times listed are still preliminary, as they are subject to final review by the various state parks agencies. We don’t anticipate any, but will send out an update if changes are required. (click image for printable version)

To help deepen your soon-to-be-intimate relationship with the Backbone Trail, we have a whole page full of mappage, starting with an updated version of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation area map (with the Backbone Trail noted, natch.) There’s also a less detailed but more specific Coyote Backbone Ultra course map noting aid station locations, as well as highly-detailed section-by-section topographical course maps (be sure to scroll down so you don’t miss them.) All of ’em can be downloaded as .pdfs so you can get to know them on your own time and in your own special way.

Click on the image below to get started. Enjoy!

You can pick your friends but you can’t pick your family. A hearty welcome to our recently conscripted relations, TuTu Rigby and SkyDiamond Kryuchkova!

And to those of you who haven’t yet signed up for the annual family bowling reunion or pre-game dinner with the clan, you can do so on Ultra Signup here.

A hearty Coyote welcome to our latest players, MoshPit Peterson and Knees Morgan, both from Californ-eye-yay. We’re so glad to have you on the team!

The full list of official Backboners is here. We’re getting excited!!!

The Coyote Backbone Trail Ultra is a point-to-point event. Bus transportation will be provided from the finish area at the Ray Miller trailhead in Pt. Mugu State park to the start at Will Rogers State Park.

Hello Backboners!

Please note that there is a February 1st deadline to act on your deepest fears and cancel your 2013 Coyote Backbone Trail entry. Those backing out on or before that date will a full refund of their participation donation, minus a $25 processing fee. Entry fees for those signing up to play, or bowing outta’ the game, after February 1st will be considered a generous contribution to the hijinks of the remaining pranksters. They thank you in advance.

And don’t forget about the free-and-open-to-all training runs. Details on those can be found here. Please be sure to RSVP as indicated.

Awwwhoooo! See you on the Backbone!

That’s Gingerbread Young, along with her posse Vulcan Polley, Hurdle Holmes, and Wedge Black. Yo, yo, yo, welcome to the par-tay, people! The rest of the crew’s listed here. See you on the Backbone!

Hi hoes, hi hoes, it’s off to work you go. Here’s your chance to give back(bone): the Santa Monica Mountains Trail Council will lead a trail maintenance day this Saturday, January 19th from 8:30 to 2:00. Details and map to the meeting spot can be found here; please RSVP to the group leader as noted. Better than a trip through Butt Crack Rock for making you feel more virtuous.

Future Backboners (we hope!) do their part.

The pipeline for entering just got unsquoze… those slow to sign up now have more chances to get in, woo-HOO!!

A hearty Coyote Backbone welcome to the recently unsquozen: Cococino Dones, BlueFin McMonagle, Piston Ortell, Pyrite Warren, Squeeky Phan, Junko Swan, 6Pack Schutz, and Blisteroon Morrison. Good to have you off the bench! Full list of entrants is here.

Now that you’re committed, or your friends and family are wishing you were, don’t forget about the training runs we have scheduled. Full details on those here.

A few drops means we have been able to offer official entrant status to a lucky  few from our wait list. We are sorry some of you won’t be able to make it, but every time a door bangs shut a window flies open for a coyote to climb through –  or something like that. Welcome to the latest bunch of pranksters who will be out running in our fields: SandFlee Singer, Argonut Seabury, Sparkles Vlach, Cringe Mann, and Salamander Moehl. The current team roster can be found here.