last chance...

Starting at midnight, 12/31 in conditions less than desirable, a few of us will be giving ALTAR 2009 one more try. This has been a tough year, report to follow....

skyline to the sea

Fresh off the trail, pictures never seem to do any justice. Nevertheless, here are some snapped from the 22nd and 23rd along the 30-mile Skyline-to-the-Sea.

We started at Saratoga Gap, 20 miles from where Becky, Andy and Cora live. For $11 for the two of us, we utilized Santa Cruz public transit to get from Waddell Beach back to San Jose.

altarations

The blizzard of '09 obliterated our plans for ALTAR on the 19th. This was going to be the 9th annual winter solstice traverse. A few of us hardcore (brain dead) vets made valiant efforts to keep the tradition alive.

Our cars slid off roads, or just got buried in place, and 12+ inches of snow allowed us to only explore the first few miles from either end of this 30 mile point-to-point trail. A little taste test sobered us up to the reality of these brutal conditions.

Props to Scott, Liz and Carl on a successful summit of (COLD) Cold Mtn. (6030 ft.).

There's talk of returning before New Years to take care of unfinished business instead of running the Blue Ridge Blue Moon Boogie. It 's a tough call as the 100K adventure would be great, but it's hard to hang up on an eight year streak...

Meanwhile, Lily and I are out visiting family, running and camping in California until the 28th.

Happy Holidays.

diverged

Amid the chaos at the end of this semester, I ponder over next summer's adventures. Right now, there are two ideas. And as much as I like to think I could do both, the reality is I probably can't.

So I'd like your input, if you don't mind. Let me know which of the two would be the better choice:

1.) SB6K record bid: this would be a supported ~5 day blitz on all 40 of the 6000+ ft. peaks in the southeast to challenge Cave Dog's 2003 record. The supported aspect would make it logistically challenging and quite unlike the BMT fastpack, which was lots of fun.

2.) MST fastpack: the current route is 930 miles long. The challenge would be to hike it in one month (June, 2010). The trail is still in the embryonic stage, but there have already been several thru-hikes and there are good planning resources available. This would be more in line with this year's BMT adventure. But on the downside, there would be lots of road running.

two roads

embryonic

i wish i could go back
go back in time
i wish i could go back
go back in time