The beam from Sam's backup headlamp—now shared between two runners—cuts through the night in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness as he and Jack Bynum push through over 60 miles of what was supposed to be a 45-mile day. It's 1 AM in July 2024, and the summer night has brought an unexpected mountain chill. "How many RecPaks do you have left?" Jack calls out, his wet socks and mushed shoes squishing through the trail. They've been moving for 21 hours straight, their ambitious mountain run transformed into an unexpected push when their "logical" route choice added an extra 23 miles to their journey.

Meet the Runners

Sam Traylor: NOLS Educator and Mountain Guide

Sam Traylor is an outdoor educator and mountain guide for the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS). Based in Washington, he teaches mountaineering, rock climbing, sea kayaking, and skiing. Through long format expeditions and technical skills like mountaineering, skiing, sea kayak and more. Sam helps students thrive in the outdoors while building community and developing both personal and technical capabilities in the backcountry. While he can teach almost anything, if he could choose just one sport for life, it would be trail running - he cherishes the simplicity of lacing up sneakers and moving through wild spaces, something he never takes for granted.

Jack Bynum: Remote Expedition Leader

Jack runs índigo Alpine guides and has dedicated the past decade to guiding and exploring the world's most remote corners. Through human-powered travel - whether by bike, sea kayak, foot, raft, or skis - he's covered over 20,000 miles of terrain. His achievements include becoming the youngest person to solo Denali and establishing first ascents on multiple 6,000-meter peaks in the Himalayas. His 2016 solo ascent of Bhandar Lek earned recognition as one of the year's 20 most significant global ascents by the prestigious Piolet d'Or. While Seattle serves as his basecamp, Jack spends much of his time leading expeditions worldwide or pursuing personal objectives in the mountains.

Nutrition in the Mountains

This morning, Sam reaches into his minimalist running pack—a setup that seemed perfectly dialed at 4 AM when they started. "Just one out of four!" he shouts back. They've been using their Steripen to filter alpine streams and mix the RecPak, but now they're just two runners deep in the Cascades, navigating through the night with dwindling supplies.

I packed four RecPaks for what I thought would be a solid 12-hour push in the mountains. After years of trying to choke down energy bars and sandwiches during long days on the trail, I've learned the hard way that solid food can be a real struggle—especially when you're moving fast through technical terrain. There's nothing worse than feeling that heavy brick in your stomach while trying to navigate an exposed ridgeline, or having to take extended breaks just to force down some calories. Jack and I needed something we could actually process while keeping our momentum. The liquid format of RecPak turned out to be perfect—just filter some alpine water, shake, and drink. No sitting down, no digestive issues, no loss of rhythm. When you're deep in the mountains and every hour of daylight counts, that efficiency makes all the difference. Looking back on our unexpected 63-mile day, I'm grateful we had nutrition we could truly rely on when things got serious.

The Journey Begins

The day had started at Cathedral Pass trailhead (3,400 ft), when both runners set out to test their summer training with what was meant to be a 40-mile trail run—already pushing their previous distance limits. With a promising weather window ahead, they opted for an alpine start at 4 AM. Mid-summer conditions meant minimal snow, and fields of Indian paintbrush stretched toward Mount Rainier's commanding silhouette. By mile 35, they'd consumed 1,400 calories of RecPak and found that flow state that only comes after hours of continuous mountain movement. That's when they checked their GPS.

When Plans Change

From 4 AM to 7 PM, they'd stayed on pace for their 40-mile goal. But the surprise push tested their limits. "Twenty-three more miles?" Sam recalls "We just looked at each other knowing we had to get it done." Their planned route had morphed into a 63-mile epic with over 15,000 feet of elevation gain. The final 22 miles dragged on as mountain passes slowed their pace to 2.5 miles per hour. Now, deep into the night, Sam tears open his fourth and final RecPak. Add water, shake, drink. just efficient nutrition when they need it most.

Jack's headlamp suddenly catches something—not another trail marker, but the wooden sign marking their final descent. After 23 hours of continuous movement, they're finally going to make it. At 3 AM, they stumble back to their cabin, 23 hours after setting out. Their GPS watches confirm 63 miles—a distance that seemed impossible at dawn.