Ras Vaughan

Ras Vaughan, also known as UltraPedestrian Ras, is a backpacker who became a back-of-the-packer. But twenty years ago Ras couldn't even cover a mile on the trail without being doubled over with debilitating back pain, gasping for breath. Reaching a weight of two hundred and sixty pounds at his heaviest, Ras was what you would call, "Indoorsy." It wasn't uncommon for him to eat a half gallon of ice cream or a family sized bag of tortilla chips and a two liter bottle of soda in a single serving. He was eating himself to death, and would have succeeded if not for his wife Kathy, who kept encouraging him to go hiking with her. One day she proposed that as a family, with their 7 year old daughter Angela, they hike the 93 mile Wonderland Trail, which encircles the base of Mount Rainier. That first thru-hike was an incredible challenge, and it took them 21 days to complete it, but it flipped a switch inside Ras. He fell in love with the trail and with the experience of testing his mettle in beautiful and challenging places. Having seen trail runners on the Wonderland, Ras and Kathy were amazed by how easily they seemed to cover amazing distances, and they themselves aspired to being able to do so. They made changes to their diet, eliminating eggs and dairy, and began living a more simple life off the grid in rural Northcentral Washington, in the Okanogan Highlands. Days of long, hard physical work and evenings spent hiking and running gradually conditioned both Ras' body and mind until he turned to the trail running race scene to begin answering the question marks in his head. Could he run 25k? In 2010, at the Spokane River Run, he answered that question with an emphatic, "Yes!" That was quickly followed with the successful completion of 50k, 50 mile, and 100 mile races. When Ras heard of a new 200 mile race being organized in Washington in 2012 he thought to himself, "That sounds impossible. I better sign up." With his successful completion of the inaugural Pigtails Challenge 200 miler, Ras started looking beyond supported races to challenge his concept of what is possible. In late summer of 2012, Ras became the first person to complete a Double Wonderland, running the 93 mile Wonderland Trail clockwise, then resupplying and completing the trail a second time in the opposite direction. His goal was to experience the trail in as complete a manner as possible, taking into account how the character of the trail changes depending on the direction of travel. Without knowing it at the time, Ras had begun a movement: Only Known Times. Rather than trying to put up the Fastest Known Time on an established route, Ras focused on putting up new routes or iteration of existing routes that had never been done. In 2013 Ras became the first person to complete six crossings of the Grand Canyon in a single push. In 2014 he became the first person to cross the state of Washington on foot completely unsupported, carrying all of his gear and food from the very beginning, with no resupply, carrying all of his trash to the end, only taking water from natural sources, and only eating from the supplies he carried, eschewing foraging. (This stands as the longest unsupported foot journey ever completed according to this unsupported ethic.) In 2015 Ras, along with Richard Kresser, traversed the summit of Mount Rainier in unsupported style, including carrying 40 lbs of mountaineering gear for 35+ miles in a route they dubbed the Cowlitz Connection. In the fall of that same year Ras and his wife Kathy became the first people to ever yo-yo the 800 mile long Arizona National Scenic Trail, for a total of over 1600 miles over mountains and through deserts, enduring a range of temperatures from a sweltering 110 degrees when they began at the south end to 10 degrees and snowing during the second leg of their journey. In July of 2016 Ras, along with Gavin Woody, completed the first Kettle Crest 15, using the 45 mile long Kettle Crest National Scenic Trail to link together bagging the 15 named peaks along the Kettle Crest. Later that July Ras, again with Gavin Woody, became the first known people to complete the Mount Rainier Infinity Loop. The route, designed by legendary Seattle speed climber Chad Kellogg, included two traverses of the Rainier summit linked via the Wonderland Trail in opposite directions, this forming a sideways figure eight, or infinity sign. Ras has also completed more than 50 ultramarathons, including six 100 mile races and six 200 mile races. Ras is happiest when he is on the trail pushing his limits with his beloved wife Kathy as Team UltraPedestrian.