Just what I need, another hobby. My friend Wheels read about this 85-mile kayak trip across Lake Powell Brendan Leonard and crew took in winter a few years back. She’s been wanting to head out on a similar trip and I, having zero experience in a sea kayak, was her willing partner. Last year’s attempt was…
The Desert
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…
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…
A Night at the Stansbury
Since I had been out of town every weekend the month of October, I vowed to stay in town until at least Thanksgiving. I almost made it through the second weekend before my stir craziness got the best of me and I headed out to the island, Stansbury Island. Stansbury Island is the 2nd largest…
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,…
Little Dog, Great Lake
I recently picked up Dale Morgan’s The Great Salt Lake at a used bookstore and delved right in. I enjoyed his initial description of Great Salt Lake as moody and raw and intolerant. Great Salt Lake is an ironical joke of nature-water that is itself more desert than desert. Moody and withdrawn, the lake unites…
Dugway Isolation 30K+ Trail Run Report
The only disappointing thing about the Dugway Isolation Trail Run was that more people didn’t participate! The views were amazing, the single-track super fun, the race volunteers friendly, and the schwag over the top. This was the 3rd year of the Dugway Isolation Run and I’ve wanted to do it each year but I am…
A Second Visit to the Sun Tunnels
Somewhere in the middle of absolute nowhere Western Utah, in the most remote and desolate landscape the artist could find, is a unique earthwork installation called the Sun Tunnels. Completed in 1976 by American artist Nancy Holt, the Sun Tunnels consist of four gigantic concrete tunnels arranged in an “X” that are positioned in a precise…
A Night at the Spiral Jetty
Roo, with sludge feet and a salt-crusted body, hopped right into the back of the car and into my sleeping bag like he’d slept there a zillion times. We could see the coiled Earth sculpture from our makeshift parking lot campsite lit up by the starry sky. I don’t think about much while I am…