fastpack gear

Here's something that may be of interest regarding the gear I plan to carry on the MST (filmed on location, section 11 of the MST yesterday on an unusually summer-like January day).

the 3rd annual sultan 50k

Out with the crowns!

We’ve had a wonderful warm and sunny break from the winter this weekend. The 3rd annual Sultan 50K took place yesterday. As always, we had a great time with a bunch fun-loving folks. Thanks to Mohammed for once again putting on this fantastic b-day run. The runners got to enjoy expansive views from many stretches along the route.

Winter lingers, especially in Jacob Fork Gorge

Congratulations to Scott, Mark and Adam for finishing in less than five hours. This is an impressive feat given the route’s 6000+ ft. of climbing. Reaching the cake turn-around in 2:13, I thought I’d be able to join them, but unfortunately ran out of steam, so I finished in 5:07, still a PR for the course.

The homestretch: Roper Hollow

After the run, a good bunch of us made our way to Jalapeno Fresh Grill in Marion. My folks, Lily and I enjoyed hosting Naresh, "the crazy Indian guy in VFFs" Saturday evening. It’s indeed SUNday, the birds are singing and an afternoon run is on cue. Hopefully I’ll be able to get my weary body out of the classroom and on some good training runs more often this spring as the summer challenge draws near.

foothold revisited

 

A distant dream... Realized?

Running, breathing and seeking cleanse. Friday afternoon, a long week’s end, a sunny day ascending Betsy Ridge on the MST, 6 miles out of town. Uwharrie and I catch wonderful panoramas through the leafless forest out across the expansive Catawba valley to the South Mountains, tomorrow’s destination.

It’s quiet and peaceful up here. The medicine is strong. I can appreciate the small town down there in the valley we’ve just escaped. It looks so quaint. For better or worse, Marion has been our home for the last two and a half years. Lily Uwharrie and I have chosen to live here and establish a more sustainable routine.

Most days, we drive to work together, six miles roundtrip. Most errands are accomplished on foot. Between us, our average weekly gasoline consumption is less than two gallons. Discounting our summer gluttony, our yearly consumption for transportation right now is probably around 6 barrels of crude oil.

Factor in our other energy demands and this already unimpressive number grows and becomes even less so. Yet I look around and observe the staggering waste around us and realize we’re doing a lot better than most. Not that this matters much because we’re all in this together…

Many days I feel isolated in a land of ignorance and apathy. But when we get a chance to climb into the hills and look down on this land, this county, it looks just about right, nestled amongst its natural beauty. I just have to remind myself that there are other people down there that share this same view.

Death by plastic... A long way to go.

"cross training"

The above video speaks for itself, but here’s a synopsis: winter camping with friends, good spirits, a midnight moonlit climb of Max Patch, sled descent followed by a daylight encore, soak in Hot Springs and stay at the Iron Horse Station. Good times indeed.

observation from afar

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day! I observed this primarily from the class lab window. It gave me great pleasure even though I was stuck inside for most of the day. After school, Lily instructed Uwharrie and me (as I laced up my running shoes) to not return home until dark. 

Three laps on the backside of Mt. Ida, a good 2500' of climb and 5 miles later, we're jogging home along the Old Peavine, which is still lit up from the sunset colors we watched from the summit when I catch sight of the GIANT full moon rising to the southeast. Perfect timing. Today was a brilliant opportunity for some lucky adventure runner somewhere on some all-day epic mountainous traverse...

Just not here, just not yet...

It may have been hump day, but I'm still smiling.

skip-a-beat

This time of year is usually filled with the stress of starting back up with the second semester. That is, unless you have a whopper of a snow storm usher in what's essentially an unexpected six-day weekend. We didn't know what days we had off from teaching until the last minute. And of course there was half a foot of snow, which kept us close to home. But we still got out...

Beyond enjoying the snowbound peacefulness, we got to explore the undeveloped western half of NC's largest state park. Uwharrie and I investigated the uncharted yellow blazes on Camp Grier property. And MST planning and preparation continued. A 5.5 oz. 3-in-1 splash bivy was designed and built to replace my trusty 11 oz. 2-in-1 BMT bivy. I plan to post more on the gear soon. Also, I've been busy compiling useful trail data and posting it here.

Now it's off to Saturday school, manana...

inspiration

winter around woods

Wintery weather moved through the region last night, throwing off any chances of participation in Thrower’s Tanawha 50K. The last time I attempted this route, I had some prototype footwear to test out. This year, I was looking forward to testing out Maniak’s treads on the Icebreakers. But it just wasn’t in the cards: both rides bailed, the roads were too dicey.

New traction at work

 Plan B: Uwharrie and I took our eager spirits and packed gear to Woodlawn at 11AM for a 21-mile counter-clockwise circumnavigation of Woods Mountain. There was about an inch of snow at the lower elevations and about four near the summit with flurries still coming down. I tried to imagine what it must’ve been like for the crew on Grandfather today. We found the white solitude and muffled silence, broken only by babbling creeks, chirping birds and wind gusts quite refreshing.

Around the North side of Woods

After four and half hours, we were back at the car. I managed to make the round in my pair of 4 oz. homemade shoes never once feeling the need to pull a back-up pair of Zoom Streak XCs from my quiver. As for the Laniak Shoe Goo Waffles, the traction they provided for less than an ounce was quite impressive. I attribute the soles’ decay primarily to a hasty superglue job. I don’t know if I’d go this minimal that far on a routine basis, but it was an insightful test.

Through the Rhodo tunnels of Bad Fork Creek Trail

Coming off Woods

Before...

After

running in the new year

We spent New Years Eve and New Years Day in the Nantahala Mountains in good company celebrating my dad’s 60th B-day. The location at NOC brought back memories of a distant 2005 training run and a more recent Bartram Across the Years Adventure. The usual suspects were in attendance and cake was more than plentiful.

Unfortunately, dad couldn’t run with us due to a dislocated shoulder injury sustained from the 2010 ALTAR. Thanks to Scott, we would have plenty of time to hang out together in a rented NOC cabin (complete with wood stove) right off of the AT. These luxurious accommodations awaited us at the end of each of our two days of trekking in the precipitous surroundings.

On the 31st, we ran half of the NAR loop from Nantahala Lake up Wayah and back to base camp via the AT (approx. 27 miles and 6000’ climb). The conditions we encountered on both the Bartram and Appalachian Trails were better than anticipated and we mostly enjoyed the soft and slushy snow on the long descents.

Views were socked in on the higher summits, but the day could’ve hardly been better. Marmot, Balto, Uwharrie and I ran most of the way together and kept a steady pace over Wayah and Wesser Bald finishing in around six hours (a good trial of the reworked BMT/MST pack). After showers, the rest of the day and night was spent eating, drinking, telling stories and playing games.

A cold rain ushered in the New Year. Few of us wished to get up early and spend many hours outside in these conditions. There were zero takers at finishing the arduous NAR loop on the second day. Sultan motivated us by gearing up for an out-and-back to summit Cheoah Bald. Scott dropped me off where the Bartram Trail crosses the Nantahala River and I ran up Cheoah and back down the AT to NOC (approx. 13.5 miles and 3500’ climb).

Ledbetter Creek was extremely swollen from the continuous rain and snowmelt. The multiple crossings and snow at higher elevations slowed me down, but I still reached the summit in 1:18. Wasting little time in the wind-driven freezing rain, I high-fived Sultan and dropped back to NOC to finish in 2:30. I was pleased to run faster on the trails than I have in years. It was quite an invigorating experience!

The holiday is drawing to a close and I’m very grateful to enter into this New Year feeling happy and healthy. I’m fortunate to have such wonderful friends and family… And of course Lily, the love of my life. Happy New Year!

And now some videos: