So here’s the deal. It’s the height of covid-19, right before a presidential election, my running is off kilter, Jack and Rach are in the first years of their repsective graduate schol programs. There’s a lot of things going on. Iwoul.d like to document things. What I’m doing, experiences, reflections, musings, travels are all fair game. So the idea would be to do a better job  of writing about travels and experiences. Maybe weekly posts about things. Some political perhaps, some educational, some techy, some just what I’m doing and why.

It’s Friday evening. Tomorrow morning I thought I’d do my long run, and on Sunday I’ll do a ride. My runs have been pretty “meh” recently. Little niggling injuries,  but nothing major. Lots of motivation issues and struggles getting through runs whether there long or medium. I can knock out 5 miles pretty easily. Outside of that, and it  becomes a struggle. Admittedly it’s kinda warm, verging on hot, but I really don’t think that’s the issue. Could be but doesn’t necessarily have to be. It will be interesting to see how it goes tomorrow morning.

Also, I wanna post more to my running twitter. I wanna write about travels, hikes and adventures. It be fun to keep up on this. Yhat hasn’t been my strong suit. But maybe making lists of topics, setting aside time on Friday evenings would be a start. Sobthere ya go.

So since the spring, the SF Marathon has been in concept only. Long runs, intervals, recovery runs have all been attempts to arrive at the start line prepared. Now I am at the point to physically arrive at the start line. How am I feeling? Well, a little under prepared. Mostly prepared, but not completely prepared. This week I wanted to do a longish run of 8 miles and twisted my ankle kinda badly and stopped after 2 miles. Then an easy run 2 days later followed by 6 x 400s on the track were the final prep work before race weekend.

Yesterday, I spent the night in Watsonville with Sarah as she shows this week. I didn’t see her ride, but her experience has been really good, including a win in the open ranch horse versatility division. She now has a cool buckle from the show. Jack and I went for a mtn bike ride at Wilder Ranch. We went on the flat along the coast. Beautiful, but a bit short. We explored around, but rather than heading for the hills, which it looks would be great, we bounced back down to the flat. Jack is dealing with a bit of an aggressive student loan company and was kinda bummed to have “fallen” or been taken advantage of. I worry about him. The ride was really nice tho, and we toped it off with some ice cream in Santa Cruz at the Penny Ice Cream shop. They don’t make your typical chocolate, vanilla, & cookies and cream. Instead they featured blackberry & corn, basil and

In the morning, the wind had died down, and there were no significant signs or results from the wind storm the night before. I had heard the crowds at Arches was significant, so I intended to get there very early. I didn’t leave my site until 8:00 and then had to drive around the “peninsula” to get to Arches. Along the drive the rocks continued to amaze me. I pulled off and took pictures of the “Merrimac” and “Monitor” two rocks named after the ironclad ships from the Civil War. Similar to Canyonlands, everything around the next bend was amazing. Next to the rest area, there was a kern of sorts. It was similar to what Jack made at Young Lakes a year ago, but obviously many people had added a rock or five. I placed one on the pile as well and continued to Arches National Park.

Arches wasn’t too crowded when I arrived. I stopped at the visitors’ center and got my stickers, and then headed off to scope things out. The road heads up into the hills right away, and about three turns later there were impressive displays. I pulled off and snapped pics and then moved along, only to stop again less than 5 minutes later for yet more impressive rocks. I pulled off at “Courthouse Towers”, “Tower of Babel”, “Balanced Rock” and “Double Arch.” There were lots of tourists there, so I only went to one. From there I drove to see “Delicate Arch” but only from the distant view point, which was still pretty cool. This arch sticks up without other rocks around. The crowd I could see at the arch was sizable. I hiked back to the car and continued to drive to the end of the road, which was at Devils Garden. Again, there were a lot of people on the trail. I went out as far as “Landscape Arch” which looked more “delicate” than delicate arch. I walked back and spontaneously decided to see one more arch in the vicinity called “Pine Tree Arch.” There were fewer people there, and I felt it was an impressive and special place. I stopped off at one more before leaving called “Tunnel Arch.” It was cool as well.

I knew I had a long drive to Boulder and it was getting late. I started driving out of Arches around 1:00 pm. I drove into Moab, at town with a reputation of adventurous folks. I had a nice lunch and filled up on ice water and a chocolate shake. I stopped, too, at a coffee place to check emails and reconnect with the rest of the world. Then I stared the 370 miles to Boulder. I wrapped up listening to the Gene Kranz story, with the end of the Apollo missions. Then I shifted to the Apollo 8 story and began that tale. The ride up I-70 past Vail, CO and over the Continental Divide was impressive. There was a rainstorm occurring as well. The rain started and stopped several times. Sometimes there would be a deluge, sometimes a sprinkle. I finally arrived at my hotel. There was some miscommunication, and it looked like they didn’t have a room available. After some sleuthing on their end, they did, and I got into my room. I pulled much of my gear, including my bike, into my room. After a stop at Safeway for dinner and supplies, I took a shower to get four days of camp dust off me, and completed my bio slide for tomorrow’s introductions. It was nice to slide into some clean sheets instead of a tent and sleeping bag.

First of all, Canyonlands is one word, not two. From here on out, I’ll get it right. Fairly good sleep last night. Like Zion, everything is hot or warm. It doesn’t really cool off in the evening. I slept on just the pad, no need for a sleeping bag. Unlike Zion, there’s no wind at night. It was very calm and still … until this morning. About 8:00 the wind really picked up. A tent rolled by like a tumbleweed just past my campground. I went to the site in the direction from which it came, and the older gentleman looked at me askance saying it wasn’t his. Then a woman wandered into view obviously looking for something. “Guess the rock we used wasn’t big enough,” she said. “Stakes are always good,” was my response. I enjoyed my French press coffee and then it was off for the day’s adventures.

I was a tad concerned about my back tire; I took the tube out and checked it. It seemed fine. Still, I think Canyonlands might be a bit ambitious for a solo adventure. It might be a fun place to go with support and with others. So I headed to the visitor’s center here at Dead Horse State park. They encourage mountain biking and have rated the trails pretty well it seems. The nice woman gave me a good option, so off I went. The ride was incredible. It wasn’t a dirt road, by any stretch and there were several places where getting off and getting up over that rock was the only course of action I had. Sitll the ride took me to some amazing overlooks of the Colorado River’s canyons. Just spectacular views. I got back in one piece, rubber sided down the whole way. After returning, I rode out the paved road past my campsite to “Dead Horse Point Overlook.” That location gives a wider view of the network of canyons. Then I rode back and had PP&Js for lunch. I gathered up things and headed out of Dead Horse for Canyonlands. I felt like somebody when I flashed the ranger my “all access national park pass.” I stopped at the visitor’s c enter to get bearings before driving on to my first stop.

The ranger at Dead Horse recommended “Upheaval Dome” as a good spot. A short hike to the viewing area revealed not a dome, but a crater. Something vaguely resembling a dome (more like a pyramid) was in the middle of this enormous crater. What caused the crater is still unclear. Was it an impact crater from a meteor, or did the bottom fall out due to seismic or subterranean circumstances? What is left is a big hole with rock that looks nothing like the surrounding walls. I walked to a trail that does the circumference of the dome / crater. It was a 9 mile circle, so I headed down and got to an interesting view and turned back around.

From there I drove to Green River Overlook. It was this river that William Powell went down. In Canyonlands, the Green River joins the Colorado River. Powell continued his exploration down the Colorado, and through the Grand Canyon, stopping shortly after that. The overlook provided an impressive view of the river valley and oddly cut banks and plateaus. The “Turks Head” may not be politically correct, but it is an impressive structure. After that I wanted to drive to the end of the top of the canyon. I was in the “Island in the Sky” area of Canyonlands. At Grand View Point, it was a 3 mile hike out to the convergence of the Colorado and Green river. Again the views were spectacular.

There is an arch in that area of Canyonlands, Mesa Arch. After the Grand View, I drove to the Mesa Arch and hiked in a half mile to see the famous rock. It was interesting watching others take selfies or pose in front. I did have water with me, but it was interesting how dehydrating it can be out there. The temperature was between 95° – 100°. The problem was that everything was warm. The weather was hot, my water was warm, nothing was remotely cool. My last stop in the park was the visitor center. I walked out a ways and looked over at Dead Horse State Park. There were no crowds there. It was very peaceful. The rocks there were beautiful.

 I wanted to get back to my campsite fairly early because there was a ranger talk at 8:00 at the Dead Horse visitors center. Dinner was the rest of the pene pesto. I did a better job cooking it the second time. I had about 15 minutes before the talk started, so I drove to the overlook in the evening. The light as the sun began to set was amazing. I then drove to the visitors’ center, and there were two people sitting by the steps. When I walked over, I was the sole camper, and the two folks waiting were the ranger and his younger brother. We had a terrific talk about the geology of the canyon. It was fun to have a one-on-one conversation about the geology of the canyon with someone so knowledgeable.

I got back to camp around 9:00 as it was starting to get dark. There were two different thunderstorms I could see from my site: one was way off to the east, where I could see bolts of lighting, but hear no thunder and then even further away to the west there was another storm. I was slightly worried about it raining, but I didn’t put up my rainfly. The temperature was still very warm, and the fly would decrease my visibility and increase the temperature in the tent. As I went to sleep, the wind would pick up and die down significantly. Probably around 12:00, there would be very powerful wind gusts, stronger than I think I’ve experienced before. At one point I thought I felt rain drops so I scurried to baton down the hatch. It was more difficult in the dark in the wind than I expected. The wind continued to howl throughout the night, but the downpour I expected didn’t occur. It was a little disconcerting to sleep, but nothing more than several wake-ups occurred.

It was another windy night in Zion. I got up around 7:30 with little enthusiasm to run. “I’ll just run at Dead Horse…” in the afternoon after driving 400 miles. So I started running down the Pa’ rus trail and began to feel fairly good. I ended up running to the Zion Lodge and then had a nice downhill run back to camp. Running through the canyon was indeed spectacular. I got back to camp and struck everything. I noticed now my back tire on my bike was flat. I pumped it up and wondered why it went flat. The tube held air, so the tube didn’t pop. I noticed the value stem leaked air if it wasn’t perfectly vertical. I do have two replacement tubes so the plan was to swap them out tonight at camp.

I decided to drive up highway 89 through the tunnel. It’s a road that was built to link Zion and Bryce together. About a mile up, there is a terrific tunnel which would kill a guy if you tried to hold your breath through it. They even cut out enormous holes so one can see out, although you are doing 40 mph, so look fast. Not sure why, but they only allow one direction through the tunnel at a time, although it is a two-lane road. On the other side there are hiking trails which I did not take — it’s a 5+ hour drive to my next. camp. The views, however, are incredible I’m sure. The road gave some interesting perspectives on the canyon. I flipped around after another half mile past the tunnel and headed back down and out of the park.

I had a long drive, so I listened to a lot of Gene Krantz’s book about NASA’s mission control. I stopped for lunch and saw the world’s worst intersection (Let’s drive on the left side.) Got bug repellant and headed out again on I-70. I suppose heading towards “Canyon Lands” should have prepared me, but there are some big-ass holes in the state of Utah. Serious canyons. Did they mislabel the Grand Canyon? Is this the “Not half bad” canyon. I did take some pics while driving — not the world’s safest of actions. Then carried on to Dead Horse State Park.

When you’re married to a horse trainer, staying at “Dead Horse State Park” sounds a little onimous. I wasn’t particularly sure where I was going; I was just following Suri, or Alexa or whoever the Android voice is telling me where to go. Whoever she is got me there. The country looks very Birney-esque. Safe, juniper trees, cactus, and red dirt. The campsite is very manicured, with an aluminum canopy with two walls. The fire pits were devoid of ash. It was around 90 when I got here at 6:00 PM. I had some dinner and set off to explore my surroundings. I rode the black top and then saw what looked like an impressive view just beyond an empty campsite. I walked along further and came across an incredible canyon. Whereas Zion was filled with people, there wasn’t a soul here. Super quiet and very peaceful, and the biggest hole in the ground. The sun was setting, so the light on the eastern walls was fabulous.

I walked back to my bike, and returned to camp. It was getting dark now, so I started a duraflame fire. I retired to bed without any wind. Very tranquil. Tomorrow, I plan on going to the visitor’s center here and riding some easy loops. Then I’ll head off to hike in Canyon Lands. There’s a program at 8:00 here, so either I’ll do that, or go to Arches.

The morning came, and just as predicted, the wind was blowing hard through most of the night. Nothing too terrible, but definitely noticeable. In my experience, the wind has died by morning — not so much here. I intended to run this morning along the bike path. Despite going to bed fairly early, the wind was a big set back. I got up around 8:00ish and made a French press cup of coffee followed by oatmeal. The oatmeal coulda used some brown sugar, or maybe a little salt. The stuff does, however, stick to the ribs.

I didn’t really have my bearings yet about the park, despite getting the map they give you upon arrival. I decided to head up the “bike path” which is wheelchair accessible, so it’s super flat and nearly paved. It ended about a mile up the road. Then it was on the roads, but Zion stops traffic except for shuttle busses. They don’t pass bike riders; the riders have to stop to pull over for the busses. It was “luxurious” to ride down a gorgeous road with no cars.

I peeled off to do some exploring at “Canyon of the Patriarchs”. I’m in Utah now, and the Mormons have their mark on many things. The peaks here have fairly Biblical names. The Alter, the Throne, and ? ? ?. It all makes more sense after realizing who has been here. I left my bike and hiked along the trail. The cliffs were immense, and the height of their peaks were staggering. I got to an intersection and a sign pointed to “Emerald Pools”. I headed there. There were a number of trail rides going by. Sarah, I’m sure woulda asked what kinda but were they using. All I could do was give my joke, “That horse has big ears,” when a mule walked by. I was corrected by the boss that it was in fact a mule. I still think it’s funny.

After getting to the pools, I walked back to my bike. I rode ahead the Zion Lodge. Nice, but not quaint. After getting a sticker, I rode back towards camp. There was a museum in between which had an informative film. I got to camp, and everything was hot. Peanut butter was melted, jelly was, well, jelly, and the bread was on the verge of toasting itself. My water was like a cup of tea after half it sits for half an hour. After a warm lunch, I decided to go up to “The Narrows” which is the very last stop on the bus line. From there, at trail goes for 1.5 mi. Then it stops, and hikers trudge through the Virgin River. The canyon narrows as it moved north. I was surprised by how many people were out there. Even in the river, and there was never a lull. Still to be that close to the face of these cliffs was thrilling. I stopped at one point by the river in front of a stunning view. It was lovely to just sit, listen, and look. After several moments and lots of pictures, I headed back. I got off at the next stop called, “the Bend.” I walked down to the river and stood in front of three incredible cliff to the left, center, and right of me. I took some time there, observed its geology, and then returned to a shuttle. I felt just a little bit better than the other riders, for having enjoyed something most do not.

I stopped again at the Zion Lodge, and I wanted something that wasn’t luke hot. I enjoyed four cups of blue PowerAide, and used their WiFi to text home. Sarah is off to Columbia for a two-day clinic with a day of travel squeezed on each side. Getting there and back is always difficult. I hope this experience lives up to last year’s. After clearing up the “butt imoji” issue, it was back to camp for dinner. Some of these campers have everything. I’ve got a backpacking tent, a pocket rocket, and freezed dried meals. Tonight’s meal is Mac N Cheese. Should be good.

Burning a hole in my bike tire yesterday was a bummer and weighed on my mind. It took me a little while to fall asleep, but I got up “early” in the morning and went for a run at 7:15. It was already pretty warm. Probably in the 80s. Boulder City is a nice little place. I ran to a park towards a hill and could imagine a very festive 4th of July celebration. Boulder City, as I came to learn, was the hometown for the building of the Hoover Dam. The dam is indeed very close, and prior to the construction, I doubt there was much reason to do business here. The pride the town feels is obvious.

I had a “free” breakfast at these hotel and then dashed off to Henderson, another town to get to a bike shop to get my wheel fixed. The place I found, McGinies, was huge. It was about five times bigger than Rob’s shop in Carmel. I explained my problem and the tech there was awesome. My wheels are quite big (29+), so I knew the price range would be pretty big. I was worried too that the heat might have done something bad to the rim or spokes, but the tech didn’t think this had occurred. In the end, I have a new robust front tire, and three inner tubes (buy two, get one free.) A pit stop to get PB, sunscreen, and contact lens case, and I was off to Hoover Dam.

The plan was to park at a trail head and bike. The trail is an old train track, the ground is smooth, pretty dang flat and wide. Everything woulda worked perfectly, except there are tunnels along the way. One of the tunnels has been deemed unsafe and was closed. I thought there might have been a trail around, but alas, no. Back to the car and then a drive to HD. Needless to say, a lot of other people had this idea. Security was tight-ish. I guess it would be bad if someone blew it up. People drive across the dam to the parking areas and the temperature was over 110.

They used a lot of concrete for that thing. Coming down from the parking lot, I could see the back or upstream side of the dam. That was impressive. Looking over the edge when I got to the downstream side of the road was incredible. When Jack was small and we’d look over the edge of something high, he’d worry he might lose his hat or something. I had the same thoughts as I tried to get pictures over the edge. That was a long way down. The pool of water on the other side looked inviting. The amount of electricity it generated as it moved from Lake Mead to the other side is impressive. I declined to take a tour; I’m sure it would be great, but I wanted to move along. Many pictures later, I got back to the car and started driving to Zion.

I did stop for lunch outside of Vegas. I swear Alex Paluba was at the same Burger King. The dude looked straight at me and looked away, but what a doppelganger. As I was leaving, I was about to ask if his name was Alex but as I was about to it was clear it wasn’t him. Funny. After getting gas I headed for the rest of the trip to Zion.

I was expecting Zion to be more in a forest. It’s very much canyony. Lots of Burch and red rocks. Kinda Birney on steroids. I got in about 7:30, and the temp was over 100. When I placed the reservation, I grabbed the first site I could. It’s not the greatest. I’m up against the road and away from the river. Still it’s pretty fabulous. I pitched my tent and made dinner — Curry chicken with rice. Afterwards I walked to the river and along the bike trail towards the lodge. It looks like a fabulous trail. I came back and made a duraflame fire and enjoyed the warm evening. It was still very warm. The camp host said it cools off around midnight and can get to 60. He also said the wind picks up around 2:00 am. He was right on both counts. The wind did howl through most of the night. I didn’t pull my sleeping bag over me until very late. It was a restful sleep and I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s adventures.

So I’m off to an Arduino conference in Boulder, Colorado. What I should do is fly from Monterey to Boulder and back. But instead I have decided to take a little (or big) adventure. I’m driving back there, but first going to Hoover Dam, then Zion National Park, then Dead Horse State Park near Canyon Lands and Arches National Park. From there it’s off to Boulder, CO. I’ll spend one day near Hoover Dam, two days at Zion, another two at Canyon Lands before arriving in Colorado. Today I left Carmel around 10:00. I brought everything: Bike, hiking gear, camping equipment, a ukelele, and running gear. I’ve got food for four days, Duraflame logs, and six gallons of water. This morning, I packed the car, fueled up and headed off while putting Gene Kranz’s book, Failure is Not an Option.

As I headed out, my car radio didn’t work. That’s a long drive for no sound. I had to put in head phones as I drove south to Paso Robles. After lunch at McDonalds, the radio started working again. Phew. From there I drove on highway 46 to Interstate 5. Then over to 99 and eventually to highway 58. That was a fun drive up and over the mountains past Tehachapi, Mojavi, and Barstow. The wind turbines were amazing. I was listening to the Gene Kranz’s book, and the terrain reminded me of Neil Armstrong’s assessment of the moon: “It reminds me of the desert of southeast California.” The outside temperature was 106°. There were a lot of joshua trees around. There were a lot of super long straight stretches. I found these to be tough to drive. I wasn’t sleepy but highway hypnosis can creep in. Around 7:30, after 523 miles, I arrived in Boulder City, NV.

I was glad to arrive. I was fatigued, and the nervousness of starting an adventure was upon me. After checking in, I noticed that the front tire on my back was flat. The back was good, but very full. I assumed at first the heat in the desert popped the tire. Then I noticed the rubber right at the tail pipe was nearly melted. So that’s a pretty good bummer. My plan now is to run very early in the morning, and then go to a bike shop down the road a little bit. Hopefully it’s just a new tire and tube and I’ll be off. I think the new plan will be to remove the front wheel (the back wheel is high enough to avoid the exhaust.

 

The wind turbines outside of Tehachapi