By Davy Crockett  An ultramarathon held in 1911, The Mount Baker Race, was America’s first mountain trail ultramarathon. It was held in the state of Washington on a volcano, Mount Baker, located in the North Cascade mountains above the city of Bellingham. This historic forward-thinking race required participants to run between 28-32 miles and climb more than 10,000 feet through forests, over snow trails, across glaciers, and up to the wind-blown summit overlooking the Puget Sound to the west. This very early mountain trail ultra, held for only three years, involved drama, danger, and near tragedies. It also included a unique feature never to be seen again in ultras. Those in 1911 explained, “The race is most unusual, combining not only mountain climbing but automobile racing and racing by special railway train as well.” Runners would race from Bellingham to their choice of trailhead, run to the summit of Mount Baker and back, and then speed back to town using cars or the train. The race organizers emphasized, “This is not over some ideal racecourse but over rocks and ice and snow, with an element of risk to chance.” Wow! Yes, it was exciting and dangerous. Mount Baker Mount Baker is the third highest mountain in the state of Washington at 10,781 feet. It is located about 30 miles east of the city of Bellingham and is the second-most thermally active volcano in the Cascades after Mount St. Helens.  In geological time, Mount Baker is a baby, perhaps 40,000 years old. Its summit grew about 12,000 years ago, but it has remained busy. Sherman Crater About 6,500 years ago, a major blast created Sherman Crater, just south of the summit and it is the site of escaping steam and gases. In 1864 it was reported that “a shock of an earthquake was felt in Washington Territory and the same day a portion of the top of Mount Baker fell inward. The portion of the mountain which collapsed is said to have been upward of a mile in width." Steam venting from Mount Baker More recently, “In 1975, a large quantity of muddy steam rose into the sky, turning much of the ice-filled Sherman Crater into a steaming lake. An eruption was feared, so the mountain and Baker Lake were closed for the summer.” Activity gradually declined in the following years, but it still is listed as one of Americans volcanoes  with a “very high threat” status. Mount Baker is also one of the snowiest places in the world. In 1999 the Mount Baker Ski Area set a world record for recorded snowfall in a season with 1,140 inches (95 feet). Discovery and first accent In 1792, British explorer, George Vancouver (1757-1798) surveyed the Pacific Northwest coast. Of Mount Baker he wrote. “About this time a very high conspicuous craggy mountain presented itself, towering above the clouds, covered with snow, called by me Mount Baker." Native Americans who lived in the foothills certainly climbed the mountain in early times. In 1866, Edmund Thomas Coleman (1824-1892), from England, was the first known Anglo to attempt to climb Mount Baker. On his first attempt he was turned back by local Native Americans, but later that year he made a second attempt from a different route. He aborted seven hundred feet from the summit because of an “overhanging cornice of ice” and threatening weather. First summit photo Two years later, in 1868, Coleman with others successfully reached the summit. On August 16, 1868. “With the traditional spiked boots, knapsack, provisions, rope, pole, etc., they commenced the real ascent and at 4 p.m. stood on the summit. The last 500 feet were accomplished by the use of a pick to make foot holes in the ice. On top of Grant Peak they raised the Stars and Stripes.   Reaching above the clouds In 1910 in the Bellingham area, there was considerable interest whether climbers could summit the mountain and be back to the city within 24 hours. The local newspaper posted a $100 reward to anyone who accomplished it.