Cedar point errrr I mean Yosemite

July  30, 2011

No dice to getting permits for mt Whitney or half dome. They allow 400 people per day up 1/2 dome and you can only apply for permits online and yosemite valley only has internet on the weekdays, Yosemite is a very pretty park,.  The landscape, big rock walls and differing habitat made it easy to see why so many people go there.  Which is why I'll never go back during peak season.   It was worse than an amusement park.  Way to many rules, one way streets and regulations, which I fully understand.  Without the park service supervision and regulations mayhem and destruction would be evident.  I wouldn't mind going back in the winter time when weather would rule out the camera toting tourons who let their kids fly around on bikes in parking lots without helmets on.  I tried to get off the beaten path but pretty much everything in the valley was beaten down.  It was cool to watch a climber on el capitan. Just a little red spec moving against gravity in fluid motion all by himself/herself.  I was a little bit envious of their solitude. Current reading "running on empty" by Marshall Ulrich very good so far.  In Modesto headed to San Fran.  

Eat the biggest first (Donner lake)

July 29 2011 

Ate breakfast at a place called the wagon train coffee shop and ran
 Around Donner lake about 7.5 miles on the roads. My craving was for human flesh during the run, or maybe just a leg bone. soaked in the lake, which is a great way to do some laundry.  Sacramento traffic jam for about 15 miles the motorcyclists are crazy in getting through the jams weaving in and out of cars.  Sleeping in a pull off on route 120. Not what I would normally chose but my options are limited.  Tomorrow Yosemite and try to get a permit for half dome or mt Whitney, hopefully both.  

Goin back to Cali

July 28 2011

Made the long drive across Nevada. Almost boring except for the Bonneville salt flats.  They use this area for braking land speed records and the white salt made for a very bright view.  Sleeping in Truckee California tonight. Ah good to be out of Nevada and great to be in Cali.  

Mormons and me

July 27 2011

Drove to salt lake city from Moab and stayed in the avenues hostel.  A shower felt good and met a few cool people.  Lisa from SLC, Haru from Japan, who was on her way to yellowstone and Alex from the Netherlands.  The down side was that for a few hours, the hostel smelled of bad indian food.  The upside, AC.  
I'm not retarded, I just don't proofread.  

Moab

July 26 2011 Moab Utah 

Slept up high in the Manti-Lasal national forest and got woken up at 2:30am by a  nice rain storm.  My perfect car camping spot was not so good in the rain.  I moved my car to a spot where I wouldn't have to get a tow truck to get me out in the morning.  Ran up a dirt road to squaw springs trail and back down.  Very pretty Aspen forest and saw some huge cat tracks, which is way better than seeing the actual thing.

To think or not to think, what was the question?

Friday July 22, 2011
So after being denied the top of gunsight pass on my mtn bike, I decided for a little redemption with my feet and ran it. Five miles up, five miles down with some wonderful views. I passed three mountain bikers on the way up. The first one seemed a little discouraged that I passed him and stopped for a rest shortly after. The second one " so much for a mechanical advantage". The third guy was waiting for his two friends reading the paper. I don't think I would have caught him if he didn't stop, he was moving at a good clip. On the way down, I started thinking about how incredible the human brain and muscle control is. The road is technical, made up of a lot of lose rocks and a stream running down the middle and winding from side to side. I would pick a line and with no thought, my feet, would end up where for only a fraction of a second my eyes saw as a good landing spot. I've run with "happy feet" before but have never really thoughtkl about the process of everything working in unison, syncing all body movements between the conscious and sub conscious. My conclusion, the human body is pretty amazing.

I got back to my car and my bike had a flat tire.

Crested butte

So I've spent the last few days in CB in a Subaru down by the river. Day one, I mtn biked up towards gunsight pass, don't know the total climb or the total distance but just as my legs felt like they were going to fall off, I turned around. surprisingly I had to rest a few times coming down because my hands were numb and my fingers ached from braking so much. A lot of loose rocks on the road deterred me from opening it up. I had an awesome soak in the river and my legs felt really good after. The next day I headed to the 401 which is by far the sweetest single track trail I have ever ridden, run or hiked. Went over my Handlebars twice and lost my camera. I hiked back up to the scene of the second arial acrobatic display, that might of won me gold had I been in the Olympics, but no camera. Boo.

Whoopin it up mountain style

The missing years

Worked and had some days off. Ran a few runs and went snowboarding all over Colorado, with a trip to British Columbia (whistler) thrown in for good measure. Fell into a funk of routines blah blah blah in Cincinnati and opted for a change of life. I quit my job of 18+ years and moved to Colorado. I've been living out of my car for about a month now, running trails and hiking mountains. In a week or so, I plan on taking my little private party to California and work my way up the coast to Seattle WA. You are now updated.

Living the dream

3 year hiatus

After more than a few requests from my peeps who want to know what I'm getting myself into, I will try to continue what I started many a year ago but for now I gotta go for a night run. Follow me if you can. I'll try to paraphrase the missing years later. Peace