Thoughts on "127 Hours: Between a Rock and a Hard Place" by Aron Ralston

Dear Diary,

Quite an interesting tale. For those who don't know the story, Aron Ralston was doing some canyoneering and dislodged a rock which ended up trapping his hand against the wall of a tiny slot canyon. He was then stuck for 6 full days, running out of food and water, forced to drink his own urine. He eventually broke both bones in his forearm and then amputated his hand with a very dull and small jack-knife, set up a tourniquet, and walked out of the canyon after doing some one-handed rappelling. Inspirational, to say the least. Never give up.

This guy is also pretty crazy, too. Lots of solo winter mountaineering trips. Big risktaker. The book is really cool to me, because he lived in Aspen for quite a while, so a lot of the stories in the book talk about areas right around where I currently live.

Some of the book was a bit boring, I mean, he's just sitting trapped in a slot canyon, how much can you really say. Amazingly, he expanded the tale into a 400 page paperback. Overall, I'd say if you're interested in hiking and wilderness and survival stories this is a book worth reading. Aron, like many people who end up in beautiful mountain towns are smart, highly educated, but have chosen to pursue a life full of activity and beautiful mountain recreation instead of targeting a path in life of material possession accumulation, which I greatly respect.

To live the dream is much stronger than to acquire things thinking that all the things you acquire will add up to a dream.

xoxo,

Blake

Thoughts on "Shantaram" by Gregory David Roberts

Dear Diary,

Great book. Very long at 940 pages, but a great read. Excellent descriptions of India, particularly Mumbai/Bombay. Kind of an interesting look at what life is like in the Indian mafia, what it's like to be on the run constantly, and what it's like to be in prison. Crazy to think that some of the parts of this book are autobiographical too, but I wonder how much really is. It's weird to think that you sometimes feel sorry or empathetic for the main character, given that he was a heroin addict driven to armed robbery, escaped from prison, then joined the Bombay mafia assisting with laundering money, murder, and false documents, but sometimes you really do feel sorry for him, amazingly. Just in that little description, I think it might turn many people off, but this is really a great read. Engaging through the entire 900 plus pages, which is really quite impressive. Covers everything from slum life, the bollywood movie star life, the gangster life, the third world prison life, some love affairs, some amazing friendships, the loneliness of always being on the run, as well as many others. Happy this was recommended to me.

xoxo,

Blake

Aspen Backcountry Marathon Race Report

26.2 miles

3,800 feet elevation gain

Time: 5:18

Dear Diary,

Wow, that was pretty crazy. This was only my second marathon, and my first trail marathon. I did the 2008 Portland Marathon which took place near sea level with an elevation gain of 200 feet or so, over the course. The minimum elevation for the Aspen Backcountry Marathon is 7,908 feet and a maximum elevation of 10,097 feet.

Luckily, I live a few blocks from the start. I woke up at 5am, took a shower, at some corn chex with a banana, pounded some water, put on all the gear I'd laid out the night before and walked to the start line. I ended up standing around for 15 minutes or so, so next time if I'm still so lucky to live so close I think I'll go a tad later. It was pretty cool though to watch all the runners gather and observe some of the nervous energy poignant in the air.

The race started exactly at 6am. A short mile or so on roads through downtown Aspen, then a climb up Smuggler Mountain. I'd been running up Smuggler a lot, so I knew what to expect. A lot of people had a run/walk strategy, where all the flatter parts were ran but every steep part was walked. I need to get better at this, but I still had a great run up the typically popular trail. I was a little worried I was moving too fast, but I just kind of went with it.

Passing the observation deck around 30 minutes in, then up some switchbacked trails and down to the Iowa Shaft Trail. Beautiful on this part. I managed to force down a healthy fruit roll-up thing too, which was tasty. At the bottom of Hunter Creek Valley, 5 miles in or so, I started chatting with a woman who I'd run on and off with until mile 22 or so. She was from Ridgway, CO and seemed to do a lot of trail marathons. She thought it was humorous that this was only my second marathon and I had chosen one that was so difficult. It was nice to talk with her and have the time pass.

I walked nearly the whole way up the Sunnyside Plunge to conserve energy for later. After the right on Hunter Creek Rd I started running again and passed a few people. On the Hunter creek singletrack I pointed out a sweet viewpoint to a runner ahead of me, but he didn't even stop to look. I always try to admire the views in the mountains. To each their own though, of course. The slight climb into Van Horn Park was decorated with beautiful yellow and purple wildflowers. Awesome. Then, right before the Hobbit Trail, there is a high point with a stunning view across the valley of Maroon Bells and much of the Elk Mountain Range. Stunning. I walked to the 10,097 foot high point of the course on the Hobbit Trail, then ran to the 4-corners food and water station in just over 2 hours; 10 miles completed. I ate a full PB&J sandwich and took an energy gel with me. They also had a bunch of pretzels, cookies, and other goodies, but I took my sandwich and slowly jogged while eating it.

After Four Corners, the course follows the Sunnyside Trail along a traverse of Red Mountain before steeply switchbacking down to the Roaring Fork river and the next service station. The traverse of Red Mountain is one of my favorite trails around Aspen. 2 or more miles of the run is through enormous Aspen groves along a steep hillside. It's just awesome. It's pretty hard to get to, also, so solitude abounds. I ran through this section pretty much totally alone during the race as well. I tripped and fell on a root once, which was kind of humorous. I didn't get bloody or anything though, so that's good. At the 13 mile mark I was right at 2:30 which I was a bit worried was a little too fast, but at least 60% of the climbing was done. Right before the Sunnyside downhill the woman [I never asked her name] I was running with a few miles ago caught back up and she followed my lead down the trail. She didn't want to pass so this ended up pushing me quite a bit. It was fun to run downhill so fast, but I tripped at one point and felt some significant pain in my left leg. I also tweeked my knee a bit. I had some pretty serious leg cramps at the bottom of the hill which isn't something I'm used to. I asked at the aid station and they advised to eat some salt. So I did. Cramps went away for a while.

The next 3 miles was the place I'd hit the wall on all of my long training runs. To my delight, I was able to run up the Cemetery Lane trail and the roads, and even the cool trails following Maroon Creek, all slightly uphill. Towards the end, though, I had to walk up almost all the uphills to Tiehack Lift on Buttermilk. It flattened out a tiny bit, so I was able to jog a bit more, but I mostly walked up the hill on the Government Trail. I tried running downhill, but realized that my knee hurt pretty badly, which made downhill running damn difficult. I still jogged as much as I could, but was nowhere near my normal downhill speed.

Damn long 2 miles on Buttermilk, let me tell you. It was nice though because it was a loop, so we got to hit the aid station again. 4 long miles to go. A super sunny, but flat singletrack trail through Marolt Open Space, then half a mile or so of pavement which I had to stop and walk on a couple of times.

The last 2.5 miles of this race are fairly cruel. You climb the Little Cloud Trail which climbs up the side of Aspen Mountain. Steeply. Very steeply. It's 400 or so feet of vertical that's just torturous 24 miles into a marathon. Kind of funny, really. Needless to say, at this point I was walking all uphills. And did I mention it was very steep? Then it was a steep down on a couple roads which I had to do a kind of limp/hobble/jog due to my left knee. I had to walk quite a bit of it which sucked. The race then descends via the Ajax Trail, switchback after switchback. Exhaustion had the best of me, combined with my knee, but I was still having a pretty good time. I passed a guy and asked if he was alright and he said he wasn't sure, which kind of sketched me out. He wasn't very far from the finish though, bet he's ok.

At the bottom of the Ajax trail it's pretty much 3 blocks of road running to the finish. I was able to jog this, but the cramps in my leg muscles came back fairly significantly. It's like something just grabbing your leg and pulling you back. I was happy this only lasted for 3 blocks. There was a pretty good crowd and applause at the end and a cute toddler gave me my finisher's medal. I looked around for the woman I'd run with for so long, but didn't see her at the finish to wish her congratulations. Oh well, guess I can do it now: Congrats! Pleasure running with you.

I finished in 5:18, or something close to there, I forgot to stop my watch immediately. I was kind of thinking it'd be more like 6 hours, so I was pretty happy with this. Official results aren't up yet, so I have no idea how fast I finished. I think the winner beat me by nearly 2 hours! That's insane. Good for him.

I was out of there pretty quick as my house was only blocks away. I walked past work and said hello to my coworkers, then hobbled home. A quick shower and laying down was in order. I've eaten a bunch of food too. I feel pretty good, minus my sore legs. Oh well, doesn't seem too bad. I don't think I hurt my knee permanently or anything either, which is very good.

Next up is the Vasque Golden Leaf Half Marathon from Snowmass to Aspen on September 24. Should be a lot easier.

I hope I do another Aspen Backcountry Marathon. Cool people, well marked course, great aid stations, sweet synthetic t-shirt, and of course the astounding beauty in this area that has kept me here. Feels so good to set difficult goals and accomplish them!

xoxo,

Blake

A bike ride from Aspen to Redstone, CO

Dear Diary,

The day after I rode to Independence Pass, I decided to ride to Redstone from Aspen. I met up with my Uncle at his house and we were on the way. The first 45 miles were pretty fun. Within the first 4 miles, we encountered mudslides that caused us to walk our bikes for upwards of a mile, and we even got into mud a couple of feet deep. Areas near Aspen got between 1 and 2 inches of rain within an hour the night before. Further downvalley, near Basalt, there was a fairly large detour around another landslide.

Thunderstorms threatened, especially upon approaching Redstone. Incredibly beautiful area going on 133 from Carbondale to Redstone. There's a bike path for the first 5 or 6 miles, but the last 10 or so are along the road. There wasn't too much traffic, which was quite nice. In downtown Redstone, we ate at some Lodge and ate nachos and pizza, haha. It was awesome. On the way back though, I was shot. Completely out of energy. We were a bit hurried to avoid darkness too. I had bad saddle sore. Basically, I only made it back to Old Snowmass for a total of 76 miles or so. My uncle kicked my ass though, he went the whole way back to Aspen. On one hand, I'm sad I gave up, as I probably could have really pushed myself to finish, but on the other hand I'm glad I didn't make the saddle sore too severe, haha.

I'll have to go and conquer this ride again and do the full loop. Still, a beautiful 75 mile bike ride with my uncle, some amazing scenery, good food, and great times.

xoxo,

Blake

A bike ride up Independence Pass

Dear Diary,

On Monday I woke up, went back to sleep for an hour or two, then got up and rode my bike up Independence Pass. I left around 9:30 in the morning from downtown Aspen at 7,945 ft. and arrived atop 12,095 ft. Independence Pass after 2 hours 51 minutes on my bicycle. Thunderstorms were threatening the entire time. I only got a little hail on the way down for 30 seconds or so, and someone even pulled over and asked if I wanted to get in their car.

I saw a group of three bikers on the way up about 3 miles from the summit and they cheered me on. This encouraged my motivation. 1 mile from the top of the pass I was passed by a woman on a sweet bike then a dude with a tie-dyed t-shirt. Made it to the top of the pass, had some people take some obligatory summit photos because last time I was up there I had a full backpack strapped to my bike's rear rack by bungee cords and old belts, which made accessing the camera quite difficult. I briefly chatted with a few people who were impressed with my ride. A beautiful day to ride to the top of the pass.

Ride highlights included construction, one-lane roads, high humidity, and sweating. Adding things together, it was an amazing ride. The stone they'd dumped over the road was super loose on the way down, but I bet this will be much better in a few days.

On the way down I did two hikes. First I stopped only a couple of miles from the Summit, back toward Aspen, and parked my bike and ate a sandwich. Next I climbed the .6 mile long Linkins Lake Trail. The trail starts at about 11,500 feet and goes to right about 12,000 feet in .6 miles. The tread was quite good except a bit of mud at the end. Found the trail quite easy. Beautiful alpine lake. This is the kind of country though, where the logic "a pond is smaller than a lake" is disproven. A valient effort though, with huge beautiful mountains all around you. A great hike that's short enough for anyone to enjoy. Highly recommended to experience life above treeline.

The second hike of the day was the Braille/Discovery Day Use Area. This trail is so sweet. There's a rope guiding the whole way that has a knot tied in it to tell you a sign is very near. The signs have you kneeling down to touch and identify trees and plants. The signs remind you to experience the plushness of the earth. I absolutely loved this experience. One part you could even reach your hand into a cold stream. I rarely take the time to enjoy places like these, with .1 mile trails, but I'm going to start giving them a second chance. I think kids would enjoy this is as well.

Next I rode home and was pretty exhausted from the effort. An awesome day exploring the area between Aspen and Independence Pass. There's still so much more to explore.

xoxo,

Blake

Hill Interval Workout: Aspen Backcountry Marathon Training

Dear Diary,

Well, I feel back because I backed out of hiking with a group of coworkers, but I really needed to run. I had planned to run this morning but couldn't get motivated. I had also planned to go on the hike, but completely bailed last minute and I think I made a few people wait for me. That sucks.

Anyway, the run was amazing. I climbed Smuggler Mountain Road. I warmed up for 10 minutes, then did 10 sets of 1 minute high intensity, 2 minute recovery. I went uphill for all 10 intervals, though on one of the fast intervals I of them I did jump out of the way of a couple mountain bikers to let them enjoy the sweet downhill. I broke my record and got to the obervation tower in 25 minutes flat, I believe, from my house. Really have been trying to exercise good breathing skills lately too. The last couple intervals were quite difficult, but then I got to the top of the climb right at the beginning of the 10th one and had to do sprints over some bridges which was pretty cool.

Slow jog the whole way back ended up going fairly fast on the downhill because it seemed easy and was really fun. The clouds and mountains were beautiful too. Nice breeze. Just another reminder of the paradise I'm luck enough to live in. Total time was 1:05:24. So damn good.

xoxo,

Blake

18 Mile Long Run: Aspen Backcountry Marathon Training

Dear Diary,

So I'm not 100% sure exactly how far I ran today. It definitely kicked my ass though, I know that. I woke up at 615 and it was raining outside, so I decided to wait for a bit for the rain to pass. I was out the door around 715. Looking back, I definitely went out too fast. To be able to complete this marathon without tons of walking at the end, I'm going to really need to pace myself. I was up smuggler mountain faster than I thought I should be, but then took a little break on the next part of the climb and walked for a couple minutes. It's hard to determine when to walk and when not to, but I think I'm going to work a bit of walking in to the steep hill sections to conserve energy. So many things learned from todays wake-up-call-run. Went down to Hunter creek via the Iowa Shaft Trail. I really like the Iowa shaft trail. Fairly flat and smooth in dense woods skirting the side of smuggler mountain. The drop down to Hunter Creek is nice, too. Love running through Aspen groves. The climb up Sunnyside trail is kind of hard because it's fairly deeply rutted and steep toward the bottom. I think I'm going to walk some of this to conserve energy.

The climb continues along a road, into Van Horn Park. A park is basically a huge open meadow in the alpine zone. This one is at about 9800 feet or so. Next the Hobbit Trail breaks off from the road. I had never run the Hobbit Trail until today. Pretty sweet. The first part of the hill, which isn't too steep or too long, still brought me to a walk. I also floundered today by not brining enough food. I must bring more food with me to sustain energy. The Hobbit Trail was a bit overgrown at first, but then turned into a great trail. Next you hit Four Corners, where 5 trails meet. I ran the road [Sunnyside Trail] which you stay on for quite a while. Fairly flat the whole way, then a big down, with a few minor bumps in a few miles. Some of the short bumps were quite steep though, so I walked a little bit. There was a very muddy part toward the top of the mountain that got my feet pretty wet and my legs pretty muddy. I almost fell, glad I didn't. Up next, the trail traverses through these HUGE aspen groves. It's awesome. Probably my favorite part of the trail today. So you traverse for a long time. then it's a pretty steep downhill on the Sunnyside Trail to the Rio Grande Trail. It's technical in some parts too, so it requires a bit of care. Quite a knee-cranking down, but it could be much worse. It's pretty exposed to the sun on the down too.

Next you hit the Rio Grande Trail, and start to climb again on the paved Cemetary Lane Trail to the Chatfield Trail. I had to walk some of this as I was pretty damn exhausted at this point. I started running again, then walking, then running, then walking. All uphills at this point were a walk. I was pretty damn close to my limit. The trail drops down into Maroon Creek Valley, then climbs shortly but steeply up to the Tiehack lift of Buttermilk. I was supposed to continue a bit further, but I ran out of water and energy, so I walked to the bus stop and went home. Legs were definitely hurting all day, and even now at 8pm. It took me 3 hours 45 minutes for the whole run which doesn't seem so bad. Although, if the marathon were today the last 8 miles would have been nearly all walking, except the downhills, haha. Lots of lessons learned though, so that's great. Does feel pretty damn good to go out and run 18 miles with 3,000 feet of elevation gain too. Damn good.

xoxo,

Blake

Thoughts on "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest" by Ken Kesey

Dear Diary,

This was a really good book. It took me forever to get into, and I struggled reading the first half for about a month, but then I was able to read the last half quite easily. Life in a mental institution in the 1960's must have been quite an adventure. Electro shock therapy, which now has been proven to have zero benefits, must have really sucked.

I liked that McMurphy stood up to the authority of the Big Nurse in every way that he could. In a way, I feel like this is what a lot of life is like: there's some authority figure or figures telling us how we're supposed to do something or how we're supposed to live life. And the reality of that? Most people follow along like lemmings, and even if they thought something was wrong in the beginning, they either get used to this reality, or forget they thought it was wrong and blindly obey. In the words of Rage Against the Machine: "Fight the war, Fuck the norm." Not that I'm some super radical or anything, but it's important to realize the detrimental effects of being a lemming all the time. Question authority. Individual thought is a great gift.

Anyway, great book, definitely recommended.

xoxo,

Blake

Yellowstone Day 6: Drive back home, part 1

Yellowstone Day 6: Drive back home, part 1

Dear Diary,

Another great day to be alive. I woke up at 9 because I forced myself to sleep in as long as I could. I hung around for a bit, enjoying the beautiful view of the Tetons while Chris slept. Pretty nice. Chris woke up and got ready and we lazily hit the road around 11.

It's quite incredible, the Teton Range doesn't seem to have any foothills. Just flat land, and boom, enormous mountains. Pretty awesome. This place must be packed in the summertime. We gawked for the whole drive.

Saw our final bison of the trip just outside of Jackson, then drove through town a little bit. There's a small ski resort that's right in town, but the famous Jackson Hole ski resort is about 14 miles outside of town, so we went and had a look. Looks pretty cool. The ski town itself, Teton Village, was more a collection of condos and parking lots than a real town. Kind of like Snowmass is in Colorado. To be honest, this definitely isn't the ideal time to be at this ski resort. Too early for summer, too late for winter skiing. Still pretty cool to at least see though.

Next, we admired some Osprey nests, which were huge, perched atop powerline poles. And we drove. And drove. And it rained, and rained. At one point it seemed like we were entering some form of hell, with deep gray skies, lightning, strong wind and sideways rain. To be honest though, I really love a good storm and find it quote beautiful. This was no exception.

Taco Bell offered its five star services in Rock Springs, WY. A beautiful combination of "almost mexican" food delighted our palettes. I love taco bell.

I switched to the drivers seat and drove I-80 for a while on great conditions, but that turned back to rain after I turned South. The small town of Baggs, WY looked on the brink of flooding disaster. Hope it doesn't get out of control for them. Water sure was high though.

We crossed into Colorado and more rain led us to believe we might have to avoid camping. Amazingly, the rain cleared up just before our destination of Craig, CO. We checked out one campground which didn't look too appealing. Then quickly googled and found yampa river state park a few miles Dow the road. It's slightly overpriced at $27 for the night, but there's no one here, it's beautiful green grass (a rarity around here lately), I did laundry, took a shower, and there's a cool awning over the picnic table, so I decided to sleep directly on the table. Sometimes this can be cool, as there's no ground underneath for insulation, but I ca set up my tent if it becomes unbearable.

We also played frisbee golf around the campground for a while which was quite fun. The fire took forever to start as we had very little kindling, zero medium size sticks, and lots of very large pieces if wood with no way to cut them into little pieces. It took forever, and two different kinds of flammable liquid in quite some quantity to really get it going. It did eventually turn into a great fire. Nice and warm.

We stayed up pretty late talking about this and that. It's really been a great trip. Tomorrow the plan is to slowly get up (it's 1:08am as I wrote this), pack up with me reorganizing the car so it can accommodate as much groceries as possible, drive toward Aspen and make a huge run on Super Walmart. Quite excited about this. My goal is to eat a lot healthier, but still stay cheap. Life is quite fun! It's all those little things.

Xoxo,

Blake

Yellowstone Day 5: Grand Tetons

Dear Diary,

Today definitely didn't go as planned, but was a great day. Woke up, walked over to the overlook of the river and enjoyed the view for a bit. We ate breakfast, cleaned up and packed up camp and were again on the road.

The initial goal was to go to Norris campground, but that ended up being closed due to snow, even though a sign and a ranger told us it was open previously. Oh well. We'll go out of the East entrance. Turns out the East entrance is closed most hours of the day due to avalanche danger. Crazy.

So, we decided to check out things on our way, but ultimately leave the park and head south to Grand Teton National Park. Not too bad a compromise, haha.

In Yellowstone we saw The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone which had two fantastic waterfalls, and quite a bit of actual yellow stone. Must be how they got the name. We also saw Yellowstone lake which is still frozen over, then saw a bunch of neat geothermal features right on the shore of the lake. The geothermal features do end up getting a bit redundant, but they're so cool because they just don't exist anywhere else I've ever been. Very cool. One entire exhibit area was closed due to bear activity which was interesting.

Next we headed out of yellowstone and into Grand Teton National Park. The mountains here are huge and there's literally zero foothills, they just rise almost straight up. Views are astounding, especially from the shore of beautiful frozen lakes.

We found a campsite in a campground that has tons of snow still all over it. Our site is actually quite good compared to many others, though. We set up, then explored for a bit. There was a moose just lying next to one of the bathrooms in the campground, just hanging out laying down in the snow which was very cool. Sadly, all the snow makes hiking quite a challenge, but the views from some of the overlooks are awesome. Trying to take photos and really hoping they turn out, but I'm sure they won't do this place much justice.

We are headed toward home starting tomorrow, but planning on stopping midway to avoid a ridiculously long drive again. I'm tired.

Xoxo,

Blake

Yellowstone Day 4: Wildlife in the Wild

Dear Diary,

We saw so much wildlife today. So awesome.

I'll start at the start. We woke up at 8, packed up everything until the campsite was bare, ate some honey nut cheerios, got in the car and left by a little before 9am. Another gloomy day all day. Will the clouds ever stop coming? The rain wasn't too bad though, so that's good.

We ventured to the Northeast corner of the park today. Not much snow here at all, which is in stark contrast to the snow covered southern park. On the way, we saw a bear on the side of the road, kind of hiding behind a tree staring at the cars stopped and looking. Black bear.

After we left the bear a fairly large herd of bison was travelling directly on the road. They were in quite a hurry too, running fast along the road. They had a bunch of babies in the herd as well, all chugging along going who knows where. It was a bit strange because usually bison seem to be so slow and carefree. Wonder what scared them? We were behind them for a while and loving every minute. Run bison, run!!

Next we arrived at the campground, found our spot, and set up our tents and ate sandwiches for lunch. After wards we left and started exploring the park again.

We didn't get very far down the toad before seeing a lot of cars pulled over looking at some long horn sheep. We would pass again a couple of hours later and there were a ton of them at the same exact spot. Pretty cool.

Next up we went outside the Northeast entrance and checked out two extremely tiny Montana towns just next to the park. The worker at the general store even opened the door for both of us. Nice hospitality, but I wondered how some of the locals survived in such a small isolated town. It was still winter there too, with a ton if snow on the ground. Sone beautiful large mountains on that edge of the park though.

Next we hiked a short trail to Trout Lake and then hiked around the lake. There was some snow along some edges of the lake, but it was great fun to explore a bit. Even though the trail was short we didn't really see anyone so you actually felt pretty isolated. Pretty cool.

Next we kind of played the game many people in the park seem to play: if you see several cars stopped anywhere, you should stop too. This started with a failure. A claimed bear far in the distance was nowhere to be seen. The next two tries at this game, however, were tremendous.

We pulled to the side of the road, next to all the other cars, and got out. A huge Gruzzly bear was walking on the other side of the pond in front of us. Pretty cool. Even cooler? A freaking coyote comes up behind it and bites it. The coyote bit the grizzly bear! So cool. Not expected at all either. We watched the bear for a while then took off.

Up next we saw the longhorn sheep again and I think I got some cool shots. They were so close to the car.

Next we pulled over by the bridge across Yellowstone River just to gaze at the view. As soon as we pulled over there was a bear on the other side of the bridge. Unexpectedly, the black bear started sprinting across the bridge. There were several people in the middle of the bridge who started sprinting to avoid the bear. Could have been really bad, but worked out quite ok. So cool to see this bear charging across the bridge and then play and eat on the hillside right next to the car.

Next, just after the bear was out of sight, a large herd of bison came and they came across the bridge. Just thought it was so cool watching the bison cross the bridge.

We went for a hike after this, still on the high from all the cool animal sightings. We had to divert quite a ways off the path a few times to give the bison a wide berth. We hiked for a couple of hours, to the edge of the Yellowstone river and back. Really cool hike. Fun to interact with bison outside of the car.

Ok, so it was getting fairly late in the day at this point so we drove a little bit more just to see if we could see more animals. We saw one bear at a far distance, than another bear that was pretty close and eating. We stayed for a while and watched the closer bear. Some people here have the most insane camera equipment ive ever seen. Lenses are just enormous all over the place. Bet they get some pretty cool photos.

After watching the 5th bear of the day, we went back to camp, ate sausages with sausages on top which was extremely tasty and enjoyed the fireside. What an awesome day, so many animals. Tomorrow should be fantastic too!

xoxo,

Blake

Yellowstone Day 3: Gray skies and A Grizzly Bear

Dear Diary,

Got a bit of a late start today. I slept in as much as I could, but was up by 8. Damn cold outside in the morning. Drizzling a little bit too. Chris woke up a little after 11, which was a bit humorous to me. I enjoyed my solitude in the morning though, reading some park literature we had picked up, started the book "One flew over the Cuckoos Nest" and also read a bit of Powder magazine. All quite interesting, to be honest, and quite varied.

Tried a bagel with cream cheese and peanuts butter on it and that was quite fantastic. I shall try you again.

We made it on the road about noon, and we headed north. No real plans, ended up going all the way to the North entrance where there's a cool stone arch stating this is the first national park for all to enjoy, or something similar. Super windy down there. Then we turned around.

One huge detail I overlooked about the drive North was that we saw a Grizzly Bear! It was pretty close too, probably about 75 feet from the side of the road. Some people were trying to get quite a bit closer, but we viewed this as quite dumb. Don't mess with the grizzlies, there's a chance they could really mess right back. Sadly, didn't get any good photos, but still really cool to see one.

Ok, so we turned around and went back South next. First we stopped in Mammoth to check out the little town and I mailed a Netflix DVD, which seemed weird at the time and really still seems a little weird to me now. It's all good though.

Rest of the day? Geothermal activity, including Geysers, boiling hot springs, crazy colors, bubbling waters, lots more bison, the tallest geyser in the world, a couple beautiful waterfalls, and even more geothermal items.

Even a few years ago I may have gotten bored of soooo many geysers and boiling hot springs, but not now. All these things are unlike anything I've ever seen and there's just so many of them. So many colors and steam and weird barren landscapes. I think I've already taken over two hundred photos. Not sure how many will cone out with all the steam coming off of everything, but it's worth a try.

Many of the features seem like either another planet, the creepy swamp as depicted in movies or books, some sort of evil layer, or a wizard and witches crazy spell cauldrons or wishing pools. Crazy. I love it.

Weather wasn't the best today. Quite cold, windy at times, overcast, and it would lightly rain from time to time. Not necessarily the worst, but not at all a beautiful sunny day. Luckily rain stopped when we went back to camp and it started back again just as soon as we got into our tents to go to sleep.

A culinary delight: stuffing, corn, shredded lunch meat ham. You may also use other meats or veggies as desired. Cook stuffing. When waiting for stiffing to absorb water, heat corn and ham in same pan. Combine all ingredients and eat. You're welcome.

The plan was to have cranberry jelly for desert, but we weren't hungry enough.

Huge fire tonight was nice and warm.

Life sure is good here in Yellowstone.

Xoxo,

Blake

Yellowstone Day 2: Geothermal Delight

Dear Diary,

This place is truly incredible. Slept in, which means I woke up about 8am. Pretty damn cold in the morning. Chris wasn't up yet, so I happily went about my workout routine of push ups, sit ups, squats, some weights, and dips on the picnic table to end things.

After a bit Chris woke up and we ate breakfast of Honey Nut Cheerios and were off by 10am.

First stop, Old Faithful Village. Amazingly, as soon as we walked in the visitors center there was a sign stating the geyser would go off in one minute, plus or minus 10 minutes. We quickly rushed outside and it was so cool. A couple hundred people, but it wasn't crowded at all. Not thinking this place is the most ideal in peak summertime as there would be LOTS of people. Anyway, Old Faithful was sweet. Even got a bit wet from the geyser spout.

Next, we hiked on the boardwalks near Old Faithful, saw a few geysers going off, several just kind of bubbling, and all sorts of crazy things I'd never really seen before. The colors, formations, and really just everything is quite amazing. Can definitely understand why this was the first ever National Park.

Next we ate some lunch at a little overpriced eatery near Old Faithful because we forgot the cooler in the morning in the bear box in camp.

For the next several hours we explored several geyser pools, saw bubbling mud, rainbows of orange, red, and brown, huge pools. Apparently this is all caused by (I'm sure I'm skipping nearly every detail) the fact that we are currently within the caldera of a huge supervolcano, 40 miles wide. Very cool things happen in these areas, and Yellowstone is here to prove it. I took tons of photos, but I'm sure none can truly do much justice.

Driving back toward camp we saw 5 or 6 bison walking directly in the road. We passed them at one point within only a couple feet. Crazy. Think I got some pretty good photos of the close encounter. They were just moseying along in the middle of the road, not a care in the world. Pretty cool.

Next we drove out the west entrance just to see what was there. The road follows another beautiful river with Bison and Elk just hanging out in many places. Bison are HUGE!!

Once you exit the park you're in Montana. West Yellowstone, Montana, specifically. Lots of hotels, and tons of businesses fashioned in an old west style. Pretty amusing really. Kind of a neat little town though, glad we checked it out.

Back at the campsite we made a fire with all the wood we collected, played a little frisbee golf, ate some great jambalaya, and had a couple beers. As also hung out with our neighbors for a bit: 5 younger people from Austria, England, and South Africa who had just completed their study abroad year at Oklahoma University. Nice people.

Started raining a bit, then stopped. Hope the stopped part stays. It has threatened to rain the entire time we have been here. Very lucky we have been so far. More exploring tomorrow. Can't wait.

Xoxo,

Blake

Yellowstone Day 1: we don't struggle much with transport

Dear Diary,

A great day to begin an adventure. Up at 5:30, after not very much sleep, quick shower and I only ended up forgetting the ketchup. Chris picked me up at 6 and we loaded up and were off.

First stop was possibly the most expensive oil change one can acquire for a car in Glenwood Springs after a bit of McDonalds breakfast. An awkward moment occurred when I changed the channel to the Colbert report. A guy walked up and changed the channel like 10 seconds after I did. I don't think he saw me or anything though. The weird part is he just went up one or two channels, to a commercial on the Lifetime network, then looked confused, muttered something, sat down for maybe two minutes, then promptly stood up and left. Odd.

I really love how the high desert plants show their shades of green over the red rock mountains around this area.

After Chris piled the gold on the counter we stocked up on food at Walmart in Rifle. A town about 30 miles West of Glenwood. We attempted to go healthier this trip, and I think we did, but the trip isn't over yet so I can't really say that.

Anyway, on the road again. Some beautiful country North of Rifle. The Yampa river valley was quite impressive. Immediately after crossing the border into Wyoming the town was busily sand bagging all over to prevent flooding. I hope no catastrophe strikes, as the river had already flooded some areas. Prawnhorn antelope/deer/mammals really abounded along the sides of the roads. The number of dead animal carcasses along the road was also astounding. Literally like every 50 feet for a while. Also some cool porous rocks.

Note to self: avoid hitting large mammals in any vehicle.

I-80 contained quite a bit of nothing. We reached our exit, ate a dismal meal at Taco Time which had a very busy bathroom that we has to wait a while to use. They served these weird fried potato disc things instead of french fries. They may want to switch back to fries.

Small towns came and went. Beautiful snow covered mountains were to the East, I think the Wind River Range, but they were heavily obscured by clouds.

Eventually mountains appeared on the West Side. Good ol Tetons. beautiful! The road started winding through mountains along the Hoback River. Chris saw a moose. We saw lots more mule deer, elk, and a few more prawnhorns for good measure.

We decided to stop and gather wood. An animal carcass, fairly old, was spread out rather wide in our first gathering area. Oooooh, Grizzly country. Spooky scary. Again, I Love it. The next place we stop is much creepier, though. There's a totally smushed carcass right next to the parking area. Hard to tell what animal but Chris thought Bear. Such an odd shape it was in. I took a photo.

Up next is Jackson, WY. Seems a bit like Aspen. Beautiful backdrop, lots of trails, huge open preserved areas close to town, and some very nice houses littered about. We plan on exploring a bit more on our way back.

Past this views remain astounding. Oh, look at all the bison. Oh man, that'd gotta be over a thousand Elk. Wow, look how those mountains just ride from flat to steep, jagged, and awesome. Sone cloud obstruction, but nothing too bad.

Enter Grand Teton National Park. Lots of snow on the ground. What are we getting into? More wildlife. Hmm, a frozen lake. That seems odd. Beautiful drive.

Next up, Yellowstone National Park. This place is so amazing. I've barely even seen any of it yet, and I will defend the last sentence to my death, haha.

There is TONS of snow in a lot of places still, though. 10 foot snowbanks are commonplace alongside the road. I'm actually excited because it seems like no one is here. It will likely be cold and close off many hiking options, but that's ok.

Drove about 675 or more miles today.

So many Bison! They geothermal stuff looks so cool. Can't wait to start exploring more tomorrow!

Campsite is nice. They said there aren't bear problems, our neighbors are cool, and although the sausages started oozing their innards out the ends they were still quite tasty. Life is quite good. Hopefully it won't rain.

Xoxo,

Blake

Marathon Training Update: Aspen Backcountry Maraton

Dear Diary,

Wow, haven't written in here in quite a while. I've been keeping up pretty good with my marathon training.

I'll talk about my last long run, where I ran 25km, or 15.5 miles. I woke up at 5am, relaxed and ate a bit, then out the door. I started with a run up smuggler, then my intention was to go 4.4 miles past the observation deck up to Warren Lakes, a place I've never been. The dirt road isn't too steep for a short bit, but then gets pretty damn steep for quite a while. I had to walk quite a bit, but I think I wasted less energy walking and probably went about the same speed as I would have running. Eventually the road sort of leveled out, and I resumed running. I was hoping I'd be able to make it all the way to the lakes, but there was a ton of snow before too long, so I turned around. Oh, I forgot to mention, I was wearing a t-shirt and shorts, and it starts raining and I'm up around 10,000 feet. Freezing. Still a good experience. Now I had a long downhill which was quite fun but I was careful not to trip on any rocks. Next I did the short ridge top loop on Smuggler, then went down to the Hunter Valley Trail and ran much further down than I ever had before. Beautiful, flat trail running alongside Hunter Creek, sometimes close, sometimes a couple hundred yards away. Beautiful huge snow covered mountains dominate the far view. The trail was pretty wet in spots, which I eventually just embraced and ran through. I saw several huge herds of elk which was pretty cool. I kind of felt bad though, because they all ran away on account of me when they were just hanging out in a field. A stubborn elk is actually what turned me around on this trail though, as I was planning on going a half mile or so more. Just a single elk, laying down, right next to the trail. Elk are huge, so I didn't really want to get within a couple feet of one. No big deal, not a bad place to turn around anyway. I took a more technical route down the Hunter Creek Trail and was very careful about my footing because I was getting tired, 13.5 miles in. I was almost to my house and still had a full mile to go, so I ran up and back along the East of Aspen Trail. I kept a pretty slow pace for the whole run, but I wasn't completely destroyed. My knees were definitely sore, good thing I sit around all day at work, haha. The run took me 3 hr. 17 min. with an average pace of 12:37 min/mile. Pretty slow. Those uphills are just killer though. My phone said I did almost 3000 feet of elevation gain, but I kind of doubt it was that much. Still need to work on my ups for the race. Nice long run, overall. Haven't run 15.5 miles in a couple of years. Feels great.

Today, 6/20, I ran for an easy 45 minutes. It was raining which I enjoyed. I only saw one other person on the entire trail. I mean, it's a bit colder, and obviously wetter, to run in the rain, but it sure doesn't melt you. I quite enjoy the solitude. Ran down the East of Aspen Trail. Didn't rain too hard, and I enjoyed the lack of hills.

xoxo,

Blake

Thoughts on The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Dear Diary,

Steinbeck is one of my favorite authors. Just love his settings, characters, and stories. The Grapes of Wrath was a fantastic book. I know many people read this book in high school or college, but it has escaped me until the last few days. Fantastic book. I thought I'd write a bunch of thoughts about it, but they don't seem to be flowing very well.

Really just a tragedy. Ma always keeps hope alive, all through the book, but the others are beginning to fade. While I try to understand Tom Joad's reasons for killing men, it also brings to mind the notion of "eye for an eye keeps the whole world blind." It seems like in our modern "advanced" society we could stop violence, but it just keeps coming back round again. But then again, maybe a fight is worth something you believe in, especially if it's being repressed to an extremely unfair amount.

The book also made me think about how it kind of parallels what's happening now. Lots of people seem to be losing their jobs lately. Hopefully it won't develop into anything such as the Depression described in the book, but it's scary to think about, especially given the fact that machines and computers have taken so much work. Maybe Wal-Mart pays its employees whatever it wants and shuts down even the first inclination of unions forming, because it can. Maybe it's all about profits, and the human side of labor falls by the wayside in favor of quarterly earnings per share. Interesting to think about.

Anyway, fantastic book, highly recommended. I do appreciate the struggle in the 'Okies. Gotta keep fighting, no matter what.

xoxo,

Blake

Aspen Backcountry Marathon: Training Day 19 : Long Run

Workout:

9+ mile run

1:39:41 total time

Dear Diary,

Today's run was quite difficult. It was just under 70 outside which is a lot warmer than I've been running in lately. Also, I decided I need to start adding ridiculous hills to my workouts, so I added a hill. I started out jogging up Smuggler Mountain Road, but didn't make it to the top. It feels like I get better every time I try to run up this, but I still end up walking quite a bit. It will be interesting to see how my times improve over the coming months. I hit some snow toward the top, so had to turn around a little earlier than planned. The downhill run portion felt great. Next up was 5 miles on the Rio Grande Trail. I kept it slow and easy the whole way, but was brought to walking once on the last 2 mile stretch. I only ended up walking for 30 seconds or so though, which is pretty good. I learned that I need to work more on hydration today as I was covered in dried white salt when I got home. I've got a long way to go training for this marathon. I'm thinking I'll be able to run a lot more of the route soon though as snow will be gone. Anyway, it was still a good run. Felt damn good to finish.

P.S. Anyone out there in Aspen who wants to do long runs together? Ideally it'd be early in the morning...

Road Trip Day 10

Road Trip Day 10

Dear Diary,

Woke up pretty early today, did the normal stuff and finally started reading Grapes of Wrath while waiting for Chris to get up. Fantastic book so far. Eventually we left, around 10am.

Quite a bit of driving today. Drove through Durango and ate some fast food, drove over the two passes into Silverton, had a beautiful drive over Red Mountain Pass to Ouray, then up into Montrose, where we took a right.

Outside of Montrose lies Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. Almost no one here, but the scenery is just incredible. The canyon drops 2,000 vertical feet, almost straight down in many places. You can drive right up to almost all the viewpoints, too. Seriously amazed at the lack if crowds. I know Colorado's summer season is still a month or so away due to all the snow, but there isn't Amy snow here. I could go on and on. Anyway, this place is fantastic. Highly recommended.

The road down to the river is crazy. Super steep switchbacks the whole way. Beautiful river down here, too. Chris busted out the fly fishing gear but didn't have any luck after 40 minutes or so. We drove back up to the rim and checked out all the view points which were pretty cool then went back down to the river to set up camp.

I ran for 30 minutes today and decided to use the ridiculously steep road as my course. I did 18 minutes up and 12 minutes down. The up was quite exhausting. Felt like a good accomplishment when I was done though. Glad ive stuck to my full running regimen while on this journey.

Tomorrow we drove back to Aspen and the adventure ends. Saw a ton of new stuff, so that's cool.

I love travel, and I love road trips, but something has felt like it's been missing the whole time. Ive concluded that part of it is getting a reward without putting in the effort. There's always a gas station, a soda, a restaurant, a firewood bundle, a campsite. All that's required is paying attention while driving and Boom, you're there. It's fun and all, but sone days I just don't feel like I've accomplished anything. Sure, maybe I've seen a fee new and beautiful things, but they're in passing. I'm not exploring, just viewing. I want to explore more. Don't want to put a negative vibe to the trip though, as it's been great. Anyway, gonna try to get sone sleep now...

Xoxo,

Blake

Road Trip Day 9

Road Trip Day 9

Dear Diary,

Well, it took 9 days, but now I'm finally able to properly operate the windows in Chris' car. A constant struggle, this life thing.

Woke up to a beautiful sunny bluebird day in the desert. Packed up, lifted weights (yes, I did bring weights on the road trip), some cereal, and a quick goodbye to a great campsite.

We drove back into Natural Bridges National Monument and I asked which of the two 5.5 mile loops were more adventurous. The woman advised and off we went. First a cool hike down a steep canyon to Sipapu Bridge, then a beautiful few miles at the bottom of the canyon along the stream, then to Kachina Bridge and up the canyon. Next up we were on the mesa and completed the loop to our car. Saw a really large bright green lizard on the mesa trail but it ran away too fast to really check it out. loved this hike. Almost no one on it, beautiful scenery the whole way. A tiny bit technical in some places but mostly easy going and flat, and of course the two natural bridges were quite spectacular. Needless to say, 6 stars.

Next up was a whole bunch of driving. Chris drove, then I drove, then Chris drove some more. We finally arrived at Mesa Verde National Park. Quite a unique park. You go in, drove 15 miles to a visitors center the drive a bunch further. The main attraction is cliff dwelling ruins. Pretty cool, but not necessarily the best park I've ever been to. Checked out a couple cliff dwellings and took some photos then looked for a place to camp. A worker suggested a campground so we went. $25.15 got us a very small campsite with a cool lean-to, fire pit, and small picnic table. And showers. And possibly minature golf for free, but we shall see about that in the morning. We drive back into town to buy some crap, then headed back to start a fire, cook our better with cheddar sausages and relax.

Oh, forgot to mention my 30 minute run. Still haven't skipped any training runs for my marathon training. Today I thought my running options were fairly horrid, but I was quite wrong. There's a sweet dirt road right next to the campground. Nice steady hill to the top, then dropped pretty steeply a couple minutes before my turnaround, so I got in two good climbs. Beautiful area around here with huge San Juan mountains looming in the background. Great run!

Oh, I also came up with the idea to try and recruit some other runners in Aspen to run some long runs with me. Hopefully I'll fond some people, just to keep morivation and energy levels high.

Road Trip Day 8

Road Trip Day 8

Dear Diary,

Good day. Woke up around 8:15, slowly packed up, ate some toasted bagels with cream cheese and a banana, admired the cool blue heron nest that we could see from our campsite, breathed in a couple fresh breaths of air and left Sedona.

Stopped in Flagstaff to buy a little food, stopped at Del Taco to buy a little more food, then went to Sunset Volcano national monument which has some cool lava flows. Past this you go on a road that connects to another national monument whose name alludes me at the moment. Anyway, the second one had some really cool ruins that Indians lived in back I'm the day. One of them was kind of raised up on this beautiful red rock formation. No water to be seen nowadays though. Hope it was at least a little different for them but I'm not sure.

So many questions about so many things have been brought up on this trip. lately I've been struggling to read any books. Really need to change that habit. I'd like to read some Edward Abbey among many others. I brought The Grapes of Wrath with me on this trip and haven't cracked it, but I hope I will when I go home.

We drove through Tuba City and monument valley, cranking Daft Punk and gawking at the surroundings. Eventually, just past the town of Mexican Hat (oddly enough there's a rock that looks similar to a hat Mexicans would stereotypically wear just outside of town) we took a left. The road is paved for a fee miles, then it very steeply rises and turns to gravel. Funny that Chris allowed me to drive his small sports car along the road.

Eventually the road was paved again. We gathered some wood and came to the final destination (we thought) of Natural Bridges National Monument. The campground was full, so we drove the loop inside the park and headed down a dirt road on some BLM land and found a free campsite.

30 minute training run was next. So fun to run on a dirt road. Even more fun when I got to cross two smaller side canyons on the road past our site. I wished the run had lasted a bit longer, just to see the next thing, just to see what's there, to explore, to live. But, I turned around after 15 minutes and headed back. Another great run.

Back in camp Chris managed to find a very tiny scorpion, the first one either of us had seen in the wild. I made an attempt at a photo but the little guy was too small. We resorted to some more frisbee golf. I was really good at getting the frisbee stuck in trees.

Dinner was quite spectacular. Stuffing with corn and turkey mixed in. Truly a one pan wonder. Highest recommendations!

As I was brushing my teeth I saw an incredible shooting star. Great way to end the night. Oh, Chris couldn't find his tent for a couple minutes and it was quite humorous. The end.

Xoxo,

Blake

Road Trip Day 7

Road Trip Day 7

Dear Diary,

Good day! Woke up around 7 and it was pretty cold outside. Cold enough to freeze some of the water in the gallon jugs sitting on the picnic table. Some sort of animal kind of attacked the paper towels left out too. Guess they didn't enjoy it too much though as they only tore apart a couple sheets.

The cold didnt stop me from going for a run. I stripped down to shirts and a t-shirt, added my iPod, and off I went. 40 minute run today. Found a paved bike path that I took to the Bright Angel Trail and ran 4 minutes down the trail before my turnaround time. It would've been fun to try to run a lot further, but I was trying to stick to my predetermined workout routine. On the run back I needed a put stop, but other than that I felt good pretty much the whole way. Great way to start the day,

Hung around camp for a bit waiting for Chris to get up, then ate breakfast, packed up camp and headed to the showers. $2 for 8 minutes of hot water seems pretty reasonable.

We then drove to Flagstaff, AZ, ate quick at Taco Bell, and headed to Sedona. Love the beautiful red rocks around here quite a bit. Beautiful. We did a driving tour then found a campsite in Oak Creek Canyon right next to the creek. Nice and warm here in Sedona. Lots of green too. Spring is in full swing, unlike Colorado where I-70 was closed due to snow for a bit yesterday.

We took a walk down to the stream and rock hopped for a bit, checking out the local fish swimming along. We played frisbee golf for quite a while, too. Relaxing day overall.

Tuna helper for dinner seemed like thick glop. Tasted ok though, but not sure I'd buy it again. We walked around the campground earlier and sniped all the wood we could find from neighboring campsites to add to the fire enjoyment.

Seems like we're headed back to Utah tomorrow to Grand Gulch then possibly back to Aspen the next day. Pretty tired now, so I'm going to sleep.

Xoxo,

Blake

Road Trip Day 6

Road Trip Day 6

Dear Diary,

Good day. I sure do love the Grand Canyon. It's size demands several lifetimes for full exploration. Although it's a tiny bit of a tease to only do day hikes, I feels lucky that I've been able to return so many times. Beautiful world.

Woke up and it was still pretty cold outside. Chris mentioned he had woken up to some serious cold, but I wasn't bothered much. Definitely not warm, though. We ate some breakfast and reserved a campsite for another night. We were given the one directly across the street, which still had a tent on it, so we had to wait for that to come down before we moved. Decided to go walk a bit of the canyon's rim. It was surprisingly not crowded at all which was nice. We went back to change sites and the tent was still on the other site, causing us to go talk to the rangers and then they assigned us another site. I found the whole situation rather amusing as the one place we decide to stay for multiple nights we run into stupid issues. Typical.

Anyway, we parked at the new site and made triple decker sandwiches to bring with us for lunch on our hike. Next it was off to the free shuttle bus around the park. This was hilarious, and a journey in itself. Lots of different languages, crazy questions people asked the driver, and morbidly obese people who caused others to move on the bus so they could take up two seats with one super fat person. Oh, I was assigned one important task of counting the number of people getting on the bus when the driver left for a bathroom break. Critical, really.

We eventually made it to Hermit Rest and headed down the trail with the same name. A great trail in the Grand Canyon that's not nearly as crowded as many others but still is easily accessible. We went 2.5 miles into the canyon to Saint Maria Spring. A beautiful hike. We think we saw a condor, but it was pretty damn small for a condor, so I have my doubts, but Chris was pretty certain. Some cool flowers along the way too. Amazingly, we made almost the same time climbing up out of the canyon as we did climbing down. Made me feel pretty fit.

Eventually we made our way back to camp, set up our tents, and headed to the grocery store. It's somewhat absurd that the Grand Canyon has such large facilities. Bought some hamburgers and some extremely expensive wood and beer before returning to camp.

Oh, forgot to mention. One guy had me take his photo of him and asked where I was stationed. I tried to keep a straight face and told him I was staying St the campground. Again he asked where I was stationed, when I confessed I was not in the military. He said "oh, you looked official." I laughed and said not at all. Thought that was amusing.

Burgers tasted great over the fire, then off to a talk about mountain lions. On the way we learned that Osama Bin Laden had been killed. Interesting.

Very energetic speaker. Mountain lions are crazy. They can jump 15 feet straight up or 45 feet across. Can see with 1/5 the light we need. Totally badass. Pretty good presentation.

Xoxo,

Blake

Road Trip Day 5

Road Trip Day 5

Dear Diary,

Good day. Woke up at 6am in order to get my long run in today. 8 miles, but I didn't really know how to measure the milage so I estimated ten minute per mile pace and ran for 80 minutes. I really enjoy St. George. I ran right from downtown and had nice sidewalks follower by excellent paved bike path for my entire journey. Found some hills, but probably not as many as I should be doing given the race. One hill was quite steep about 50 minutes into the run which was the only point I struggled a bit, but pushed through. really loved the scenery and got quite an intense runners high which felt great. I made it back to the hotel room, showered and woke up Chris for the rest of our day.

Fresh hotel ice in the cooler and sone abandoned carrots that had been waterlogged for too long in the cooler. Continental braakfast has 3 types of cereal, whole milk, weird OJ, weird apple juice, and a waffle maker. Coffee too, but I didn't drink anyway. Even though this hotel wasn't the nicest it sure was the best value I've ever had for $44 including tax.

Up next we drove to Zion National Park. The couple we met at dinner last night recommended a hike to the top of Angels Landing. We parked, got on the shuttle needed to access the trailhead and were on our way. The busses were brand new and quite nice, worth noting. Saw a wild turkey when we got off the bus. Angels landing is one of the classic, thus very popular hikes in the park. 2.5 miles one-way. A lot of the trail was paved due to such high usage. In the first 2 paved miles you gain elevation, but the real appeal of the hike is the last half mike to the top. It's up a very steep and narrow ridge with lots of chains to hold on to. Definitely not for those afraid of heights as you'll be standing quite close to steep drop offs as well as climbing pretty darn steep terrain. The popularity of the trail complicates matters a bit too, so you have to wait sometimes on the side of the narrow ledge. To be honest though, if no chains were present this would be a terrifying hike, but I actually didn't think it was bad at ll. Beautiful views and fun times all around. Down we go, back on the bus, then back to the car.

Quick lunch and then we drive. Zion to Kanab to Jacob Lake near the still-closed-for-winter North rim of the grand canyon, then down to Lees ferry, across the Navajo nation before finally turning back toward the grand canyon South rim. Chris did get pulled over as the cop clocked him immediately after padding a car. A warning was quite a nice relief, though. Although a long drive, this route from St. George to the grand canyon is quite a stunning one.

We checked out a bit of the canyon as Chris has never been here, then got to our campsite, played a bit of frisbee golf, went to the ridiculously huge grocery store here, then relaxed at camp the rest of the night. Forgot to mention, when we checked in to the campground the woman was just amazingly pleasant. If I has a business I would have hired her on the spot.

Crazy day, all in all: run 8 miles, crazy hike in Zion, then a long drive to the beautiful Grand Canyon. More tomorrow, then even more!!! Loving life.

Xoxo,

Blake

Road Trip Day 4

Road Trip Day 4

Dear Diary,

Good day. Woke up and it was still pretty windy. Some damn windy times at this campground. Fun though. The sky was quite cloudy and I thought we might experience rain at some point. Ate some breakfast and packed up.

Next stop: Canyonlands National Park, Island in the sky district. Pretty cool. Really cool, actually. We first went all the way down to Grand Point. An older gentleman talked with us for a little while about the uranium mines that used to be around the area, creating all the dirt roads that are so popular with the off road jeep crowd in the area. Interesting. We hiked along the rim trail for a mile and it was great. There was almost no one around and the views were quite stunning.

Next we went to an area of some scientific debate. It may have been a salt upheaval, or even a meteor. Regardless, it looked cool and this mile long trail was quite fun. Quite windy too. Next up was a picnic lunch of ham, turkey and cheese.

Departed the park and started a long drive. One of the first signs on the highway proclaimed "No services next 100 miles.". Sure is remote some places around Utah. We saw a weird white cloud and couldn't quite figure out what we were heading into. We couldn't fathom that

we'd hit snow! Snowing pretty damn hard too. Summer will come eventually, I hope.

We switched driving duty and I got my hands behind the wheel of Chris' car. Fun to drive. Speed limit even gets up to 80 on parts of I-15. Only seen that in Texas before. Drove past some beautiful scenery and ended up in St. George, Utah. A pretty cool place. Very beautiful and probably more affordable than places like Sedona or Aspen. Might be hard to get a job though, I'm not sure.

St. George seems like a pretty cool town. We found a coupon for a hotel for only $39.99 per night which is quite cheap. It's a tiny bit dirty, but damn nice with a fridge, microwave, and two beds. Can't ask for much more, haha.

Chris selected a hibachi restaurant whole I was showering so I agreed to go. I've never eaten at a hibachi place. Pretty cool when the chef does cool tricks with his utensils. He even flipped shrimp into our mouths which was quite funny. We met a married couple who lived in the area and chatted a bit. I quite like restaurants that seat you with strangers. I mean, why not get out of the comfort zone a bit and talk to some new people. They even gave us some great ideas for hikes tomorrow in Zion National Park. I'll definitely be visiting a hibachi restaurant again. Good times.

We drove around for a few minutes then ended up back at the hotel room. Tomorrow is quite busy for me. Waking up at 6am, running 8 miles, coming back, showering, then we go to Zion national park where we will do what sounds line a difficult hike, then in the car and all the way to the south rim of the grand canyon. Should be awesome. Very excited. Great day!

Xoxo,

Blake

Road Trip Day 3

Road Trip Day 3

Dear Diary,

Good day. The cars passing close in front of the tent was not the most ideal. I wanted to sleep later but the cars eventually became too annoying so I got up.

Quick couple bowls of cereal, packed up our stuff, said goodbye to the cool campsite situated between a high rock wall and the road, with the Colorado river in the distance and then we were off.

Arches National Park was the agenda for today. I drive the first leg today which was short but quite good. Great car that's fun to drive combined with astounding beauty. I sure do love me some national parks.

First stop was the delicate arch trail. This is one of the most famous arches, on lots of Utah Liscense plates and all the signs on the state border proclaiming a welcome. The parking lot was surprisingly empty. Pretty cool hike with a great finish. The area surrounding the arch is quite nice. Kind of a toilet bowl swirl that's hard to explain (that's pretty obvious given that sentence). Cool rocks for sitting that look like they were placed there. And a stunning arch. Got the photos, got the experience. I was amazed by how nice the people were too. Almost no one taking too long hogging the arch. Thanks, fellow tourists!

Next we explored several other arches which were quite impressive. Really love this park. Arches are pretty damn cool.

After the park we needed a place to stay. Campground time. We first tried to stay at a place called Dead Horse Point State Park which had a dead horse logo on the sign which I was quite fond of, as it was a dead cartoon horse. I found this quite peculiar. They had sweet campgrounds but didn't allow fires so we checked elsewhere. The next place was "closed for winter" and we finally had success at the next campground down the road.

Quite windy, this campsite, campground, and seemingly the whole plateau, maybe it's just today? I went for a 30 minute jog as soon as I got there on a dirt road. Pretty cool to run in unexplored territory.

Hung out the rest of the night talking about a variety of topics. So much more happened with so little time for me to explain (in reality I'm just tired). Canyonlands tomorrow!!!!

Xoxo,

Blake

PS: How do you say the word Fiery?

Aspen Backcountry Marathon Training Day 12

Aspen Backcountry Marathon: Training Day 12?

Workout: 30 minute run

Dear Diary,

Just outside of Canyonlands National Park. We are staying at a fairly large campground and I started running just after we got here, about 4:30. Definitely not used to the heat. It's really not even that hot here, but it sure is compared to my sub-freezing runs around Aspen.

I ran on a dirt road and a dirt ATV trail next to the campground. Very deserty, with a few small trees but mostly just small brush. It's cool to explore different areas running. Mostly a flat run, unsure of elevation, unsure of distance, Sure I'm having fun.

I did think a little about mountain lions. Not sure why though, haha.

Xoxo,

Blake

Road Trip Day 2

4/27/12

Dear Diary,

Good day. Woke up and laid in the tent for a while then eventually got up around 8 maybe. Neither of us got very good sleep. Chris' snoring kept me awake. Apparently I was involuntarily kicking Chris, keeping him awake. Weird. This is the reason I brought two tents though so it'll be better if we sleep separately. I never knew I involuntarily kicked, haha.

Made a delightful breakfast over the cat can stove which Chris is quite fond of, packed up the car and started the hike right next to our camping spot. Fisher towers was the name. Beautiful hike. Huge rock spires and open desert abound. The hike climbed up to a ridge which had done fantastic views. I love Utah. What the hell happened here geologically to cause all this beauty to occur? I should pick up a book sometime to see.

After the first beautiful hike we traveled 15 miles on the road along the Colorado River. We came to the Negro Bill Trailhead and pulled in. Only 15 miles down the road, but what a world of difference. Fisher Towers was extremely dry and baron. The Negro Bill Trail followed a stream the whole time and was filled with lush green vegetation. Chris commented how unusual it was to see so much green. After spending the white winter in Aspen, he was certainly correct.

The trail ended after 2.5 miles at the 6th largest natural bridge in the world. It almost looked sculpted into the rock. Pretty cool. Great hiking today!

After the hike we cruised into Moab and bought some beer. It's amazing how much cheaper the beer is here compared to Colorado. We attempted to go to Arches National Park for camping, but apparently the campground was full until June, haha. Oops

We were given a list of campgrounds and we were on our way. We ended up camping alongside the Colorado river, directly next to a road. Beautiful here, but cars suck when they pass you at a fast rate of speed only 30 feet from the tent or so.

The amount of raised Jeeps that have passed on the road is truly astounding. Never seen anything like it. Jeep after Jeep after Jeep after dirt bike after custom rock crawling trucks. Moab seems to be where it all goes down. World class stuff. Looks a bit more expensive than hiking and car camping.

Ate a delicious meal of turkey hot dogs and beans. Food sure does taste good outside. Speaking of which, damn it feels nice to get outside for a bit and stay there.

Fire tonight too. Super wet wood though, but it's ok. Eventually we got a great fire going and good conversation too. Arches National park tomorrow then Canyonlands the next day, in theory anyway.

I'm sure tons of other really cool stuff happened too, but you'll just have to use your imagination for the rest. I'm going to sleep.

Xoxo,

Blake

Road Trip Day1

Road Trip Day 1

4/26/11

Dear Diary,

What a great start to a road trip. Woke up and it was just dumping snow. Probably four inches on the ground when I got up at 7:30. First order of business was a running speed workout. Just love running in the fresh snow. So beautiful to run in the fresh snow. Worth the cold and wetness. Waterproof running shoes do help a bit too.

After a quick shower Chris came and picked me up for the road trip. First stop was to get new front tires on his car in Basalt. We ate breakfast at Subway, then killed a bunch of time in the outfitter next door. I talked to one of the workers there for a while. She was pretty cute. Should of at least gotten her name. Oops.

Car was finished, tires were on. Next stop Grand Junction, CO. We stopped at walmart to pick up done provisions. Although walmart tends to be the trashiest place, it was nice to be outside of the ridiculous wealth of Aspen.

Went to Cabelas and chris bought some waders for fly fishing. Different sports have such funny gear.

We were initially going to Colorado National monument, but decided against it due to the rain and cold temps in Grand Junction. On to Utah!!!!

Crazy how open the land is here. When we got off I-70 we passed through the fairly creepy semi ghost town of Cisco. Next the road follows the Colorado river and the scenery becomes astounding. Huge rock towers and walls. Amazing red. Lucky to be alive.

First stop today is a place called Fisher Towers. A dirt road leads to a small campground with no running water and 5 campsites. To be honest, I always feel so spoiled when I go car camping. I guess most people car camp a bunch then get into backpacking but I am definitely the opposite.

Set up camp, went for a short exploratory home, reorganized the entire car and then drank done rum and coke. A fine evening.

Tomorrow the plan is to do some hiking then make our way through Moab and on to Arches National Park. Needless to say, im extremely excited.

Xoxo,

Blake

Gear Review: Western Mountaineering Apache MF

Western Mountaineering Apache MF Review

Temperature Rating: 15 degrees [seems very pessimistic, which is awesome!]

Price: $400

Rating: Worth every penny. Get it if you're serious about backpacking.

This sleeping bag is amazing. Buy it. Seriously. I had The North Face Cat's Meow rated at 20 degrees for the duration of the Appalachian Trail and I always thought I was a cold sleeper. I would wake up cold frequently in that bag. With the Apache MF, I rarely ever even zipper it all the way up. Yes, it's expensive, but it's amazing. I wouldn't necessarily buy it if you're only planning on going on one trip with it, but if you're serious about backpacking, you can't go wrong. This bag retains loft incredibly well, is super warm, and the zipper almost never catches. It seems most experienced backpackers end up eventually going with Western Mountaineering or Feathered Friends. They're amazing. This bag has made it through 460 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, the entire Colorado Trail, The Northville-Lake Placid Trail, the northern 450 miles of the Continental Divide Trail, and many other small trips and is still in fantastic shape. There's always the big debate of down vs. synthetic. Definitely get down unless you're in constantly wet conditions which is quite rare.

Aspen Backcountry Marathon: Training Day 11: Speed Workout

Workout:

10 Minute warm-up

14 sets of:

30 seconds high intensity

30 seconds recovery

10 minute warm-down

Dear Diary,

Dumping snow again with several inches already on the ground this morning. Wish the ski resorts hadn't all closed, but it's all good. Woke up early to run today as I'm leaving on a road trip in about 20 minutes [it's 8:40am now].

So I started and decided to run up the large hill, Smuggler, again. I only lasted a few intervals and felt I would get completely exhausted and not gain all the benefits of the workout, so I turned around, did some of my intervals going downhill, then eventually made my way to the Rio Grande. I was able to do the 14th interval up a steep hill which was quite nice. I really do enjoy running in the snow and wasn't cold for any of the outing.

Off to Utah and possibly AZ and other places for an undetermined amount of time [at least a week to 10 days I think] with my friend Chris. Should be awesome! Can't wait to run in all of the places we go, too. Hope I can find some hills.

xoxo,

Blake