Okay, let's just take a moment to recognize that I've been a complete and total slacker, and that it has been 14 months since my last post. Now, let's move past that.
I've been busy doing rad things, that is my excuse. The fact that I'm making any effort to try and get back on track here is not indicative of my life being any less rad or exciting, quite the contrary. I'm just right on the precipice of my next adventure, so I'm trying to chronicle what's behind me.
Last I wrote here, I'd just wrapped up a pretty spectacular project in San Antonio, Texas. I was on my way to Washington and the beauty of the North Cascades National Park. As pictures are supposed to hold thousands of words, I will let them speak here first:
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| we built a bridge!! |
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| Diablo Lake |
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| rec. trip up Cascade pass and more exploring! |
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| Over Cascade Pass and hanging with the glaciers |
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| Perfect foggy afternoon for hiking |
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| This is in August...snow!!! |
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| your eyes can follow the trail we hiked down&back again. |
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| Reminders of where we went and where we were going. |
So, that was NOCA. If you ever have the chance, I highly suggest you visit. This park is truly magical and the people we worked with were extraordinary. I hope to get back out there in the not too terribly distant future.
Brevity is the word I keep running through my brain. There's so much that's happened in my time away from this, but I know if I try to do more than the Cliff's notes version, I simply won't get it done. So, after North Cascades, I made my way down to California and worked in Yosemite for a month on a river restoration project on the Merced.
Again, I'll mostly let the pictures do the talking:
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| a beautiful meadow...but there are bees hiding in the trees... |
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| this is what my face looks like when i get stung by bees |
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| There were multiple fires around Yosemite last summer, this is a smoky morning view of the iconic half dome |
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| One of the sections of the Merced we were working on |
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| A giant pile of willow cuttings that we used to restore the banks |
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| Giant piles of dirt, all eventually moved and leveled out. |
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| More views from the Valley, this one of North Dome |
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| Making progress building up the banks. |
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| While out working in Yosemite, I had one of those 'take the bad with the good' moments. The bad was hearing the news that a friend and co-worker, Chad Denning, had died suddenly. The good was, he was out on a trail run, doing what he loved. The other good was that this news was closely followed with a visit from another friend and co-worker, Toby. We had the chance on one of my crew's days off to go for a nice day hike adventure up North Dome. We enjoyed the views, each others company, and sharing memories of Chad. |
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| Still smoky, but great views along the hike up North Dome |
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| Toby snapped this pic of me with Half Dome behind me. Aravaipa Running, represent! |
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| I love these old metal trail signs. |
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| Back in the Valley. |
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| A look up to North Dome from the Valley floor. |
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| Back to work! We have a riverbank to restore! |
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| Layering willow cuttings to build up the eroded bank. |
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| Water drills are fun!! Planting willow cuttings to further strengthen the bank we'd rebuilt |
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| Transformation |
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| Fencing rebuilt, native plants planted...it's a whole new riverbank |
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| Very happy with all we managed to accomplish over a few weeks |
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| Fires out and smoke finally clearing. |
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| Our work was then rewarded with a couple days of backpacking along the Glen Aulin trail and the PCT up near Tuolomne |
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| Out for a nice run/hike |
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| set my hammock up and chilled along the edge of this lake for a bit |
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| enjoying the falls |
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| Fall Aspens starting to change color for the seasons |
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One of these things is not like the other...
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Yosemite was great. However, as the last picture shows...maybe it did some damage to me as well? The hilarious bit is that, upon reaching our camp up on Glen Aulin, we were frantically approached by another camper asking if any of us had medical training. Myself and one of my crew members said yes and volunteered our help. Turns out, one member in their camping party had dislocated her patella (knee cap) while jumping on scavenged wood, trying to break it into smaller pieces for their fire. (DO NOT JUMP ON DEAD WOOD TO MAKE IT SMALLER) While a dislocated patella is definitely painful, it's fortunately an easy fix. The actual re-location piece of our interaction with her took maybe 30 seconds. Her friends were very supportive, she was a total champ, and we knew that she'd be able to hike out on her own in a couple days, as was their plan. Wilderness Medicine for the win!! So, karma being this funny thing that also believes in opposite days, decided to greet me my following morning with a mis-step out of the composting toilet outhouse that resulted in an audible pop and lots of pain in my right ankle. However, because I am a super smart and conservative ultra trail loveable dummy, I still went on my planned run/hike that day. (To my credit, I only ran/hiked for about 10 miles, whereas I had previously planned on about 18, so yay for moderation) Needless to say, the ankle has since been a perpetual thorn in my side. Most days it gives me zero trouble, but on the days that I turn it just the wrong way while running on trails, it likes to swell up and be a real pain in my...ankle. Still, it does seem to be healing, about a year later as I write this.
Okay, we're getting somewhere!!! After Yosemite...I moved to back to San Francisco!! I worked there as a bike courier for TCB (Taking Care of Business). It was a blast and I miss it...here are some general SF and running around SF pics:
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| The franken-bike I built for work with the help of my homie JamieBond. |
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| Headquarters for work |
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| Sometimes you ride up the hills |
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| Sometimes you ride down them... |
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| I lived near the bottom of Bernal Hights, so I enjoyed running up there and around Bernal often. |
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| The Sutro Tower |
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| Running out to the Headlands and across the Golden Gate Bridge |
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| The Headlands, one of my favorite playgrounds |
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| Running up Twin Peaks towards the Sutro Tower |
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| View from Twin Peaks |
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| The Vulcan Stairs...hidden favorite spot |
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| Secret Rooftop spots of the courier world in SF |
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| Running around San Bruno State Park |
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| Nice views of the city from San Bruno |
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| Looking out to the East Bay from San Bruno's ridgeline |
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| View to the South |
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| A different day, back out in the Headlands |
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| View from my camping spot at Hawk Campground |
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| The hammock life at Hawk Campground after a day of running |
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| Loving life |
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| Second day of running cut short as the ankle strikes again! |
And then, I decided to buy a truck and take a job 3,000+miles away in New Hampshire...because, why not? The job was to start on April 1, but this was no joke. Made the trek across the country to work with a good homie in the warehouse of SCA to be on the behind the scenes side of our programs. Cleaning, repairing and shipping gear all over the country for all of our national, community and corps programs.
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| Chuck, the VW Caddy truck. |
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| Full of all my things... |
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| Snow in St. Louis!! |
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| Found a camper top on the drive in Wheeling, WV. |
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| The Connecticut River was completely frozen when I got out here! |
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| Sunset from the Yurt |
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| Still covered in snow in April. |
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| My super official nametag and title. |
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| Chainsaw ready. Game of Logging Certified! |
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| Nothing like the old school utility of timber carriers. |
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| The 2015 Workskills Crew |
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| Sometimes Bunny Foo Foo the cat makes it hard to do my job. |
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| The Western New Hampshire Trail Series created races to honor Chad. Nelson and I ran nearly all of them. The only ones we missed were because we were out of town. Definitely felt like Chad was out on those trails with us, smiling, laughing and encouraging me to push myself just a little bit harder each time. |
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| A funny sign from a farm on a road of one of my regular running routes. It's called 'Grow a Pear' |
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| On the Ethan Allen Homestead in Burlington on an exploratory run of my soon-to-be new home |
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| A view of Lake Champlain, close to my future home |
That just about brings us up to speed...of course leaving out many events and details, but so it goes. My job here in New Hampshire is coming to an end (as contracts do). My next adventure has me headed to Burlington,VT where I'll be reliving the glory days of my competitive swimming career as a coach for the GBYMCA. I'll also be revisiting my former life as a group fitness instructor and personal trainer. What's up?!! Getting paid to workout? Yes please. It will be my first winter in New England, which I'm sure will provide a lot of awesome and hilarious encounters with nature in ways I've never experienced before. I will do my best to document them here.
As the ankle pictures have implied, running has been a bit touch and go, but remains a passion. I'm both nervous and excited for my next race, which is just 2 weeks away!! I'll be running the Vermont 50 miler, and my buddy Nelson is also running it. (I would say he's running it with me, but he is sure to finish a good 2 hours or so before me, so yeah.)
A few things I'm hoping for/looking forward to:
- Having a great race at the VT50, even if it takes me the whole 12 hours
- I'll say here that I think I have a spectacular support team lined up, but they've been a bit secretive about some of their awesome plans, but what I do know is that there are coordinated, hand made outfits involved, so I'm sure it will be fabulous. Hopefully they don't glitter bomb me though, because I'm pretty sure that would chafe like no other.
- Being better about keeping up this blog as I move to a city and an apartment with regular access to the interwebs
- Learning how to strategically place screws in my running shoes and running through snow and ice
- Getting back in the pool and challenging myself to be a competitive masters swimmer
- Enjoying Life!!!
As always, thanks for reading!
