I’ve been lusting after this run for years and it only took the Great American Eclipse to get me out there. I had backpacked into Wyoming’s Wind River Range about 8 or 9 years ago and was absolutely devoured by mosquitoes. Albeit beautiful, that trip was one of the most miserable experiences of my life…
The Adventures
Speedgoat or Bust!
Can one rely on muscle memory for 32 miles? Uh, I guess we will see. I have psychological issues with racing and with well heat and with not being able to eat solid food and uh maybe life in general. It has been ELEVEN DAYS since I have had a sandwich, and make that ten days…
Monument Valley 50K Race Report
Beelined it to the desert after work on a Thursday arriving just in time for a short hike to Mesa Arch and a spectacular sunset in Canyonlands National Park. Crawled into the back of my car and slept like a baby like I always do in the back of Rubes. A crazy tight Achilles and…
REI Placing Women Front and Center in the Outdoors
This post is sponsored by REI, but thoughts and opinions are my own. Rock a Boat. Start a Fire. Be a Force of Nature. Well the boat was certainly rocking. White-knuckling the paddle, I tried to ride the waves rather than fight, but they seemed to be coming from every direction. The waves were bouncing…
Visiting the Great Salt Lake’s Spiral Jetty in Winter
“The lake [Great Salt Lake] is too difficult to approach to be taken for granted; the tang of surprise and the shock of recognition are a part of its character.” ~Dale L. Morgan After nearly an hour of white-knuckled, totally unplowed, ice-covered and drifted dirt road travel, we arrived at Rozel Point, the home of…
Hiking Handies Peak & American Basin (Kangaroo’s First 14er)
For the 2nd year in a row, Kangaroo the Dog and I fled Salt Lake City’s Pioneer Day celebration for the fantastic wildflower basins of Colorado’s San Juan Mountains. Hitting peak wildflower season perfectly, I was rewarded with the most dramatic wildflower display I have ever seen. I spent the first day exploring Ice…
The Doorknobs (and Windows) of Provence
Rain they take as a personal affront, shaking their heads and commiserating with each other in the cafés, looking with profound suspicion at the sky as though a plague of locusts is about to descend, and picking their way with distaste through the puddles on the pavement. ~Peter Mayle from A Year in Provence It…
My Cortina Trail 2016 Race Report
As I made the final turn onto the cobblestone path that led to the Cortina Town Center, Juan from Espagna ran up from behind me, grabbed my hand and started sprinting at 400 meter pace dragging me screaming, laughing, and flailing all the way to the finish line. Thirty miles, 9,000 feet of climbing, about…
A Stansbury Island Mini Ridge Run
I’ve been lusting after the Stansbury Island Traverse for years. Stansbury Island is the 2nd largest island in the Great Salt Lake and the entire island is only 11.5 miles long so it can be traversed in one day. The ridge is mostly straightforward I am told, but there are a few sections of class 4…
Moab Red Hot 55K Race Report
“Life is a bitch, his dark companion said–and then you die. Not so cried Henry! Life is a glorious shining and splendid adventure, and then you die.” ~Edward Abbey This run gets classified as a total WOW, OMG, AMAZEBALLS, cannot wait to do this again, OVERSTOKE, I LOVE RUNNING, I think my head just exploded,…