November's Captain Log

It was a busy month:

Me, Jenny, Claire, Gene and Darly

November 7-9th, Moab, UT: I love it when life works out, when the pieces come together, when you don't worry and let life fall into place. My ride to Moab worked out in exactly that fashion as I tagged along with John, Hannah and Hillary to the land of red rocks on mid-day Friday where I met up with Jenny, Gene and Darly (the Teton Valley contingency +2), Claire, Pat and Emily (Denver Run House crew), and Seth (making sure non-runners and Flagstaff, AZ had a good showing).

The DRH Crew : Players Gonna Play

It was super fun to run the Moab Trail Marathon for a second year in a row and get a "visual" representation of what a year of consistent running will do. As this year's running of the race doubled as the USA National Trail Marathon Championships I was very pleased to run the course almost 20min faster than I did last year and score 6th place finish! Even better than the finish was the fact that I was able to look up a bit more this year than last, nearly coming to a complete halt as I took in the fantastic views of the LaSalles framed by slick rocks on the Amasa Back trail. Stunning. Got to get up in those mountains one of these days...

At the finish line Seth was managing the beer cooler with Gene, Pat and Emily who had all finished the Moab Trail 1/2 Marathon in spectacular fashion. I'm pretty sure Gene is already signed up for next year's full marathon... Claire and Jenny (finishing her first trail marathon ever!) came in shortly after and with beers in hand we head back to the house for Dyer special Eggplant Parmesan and then more beers at the Moab Brewery. Super duper day at an event that I'd love to keep as an annual end-of-season tradition - especially in the company of great friends!

Castleton Tower

Moab didn't disappoint on Sunday either as Seth and I head to Castle Valley to climb one of the "Fifty Classic Climbs in North America" - the Kor-Ingalls Route up Castleton Tower. An alpine start was need to beat the crowds with me dragging my feet up the steep approch to the start of the climb. We squeezed our way up chimneys, cursed the calcite and generally clawed our way up 4 pitches to the summit. It was bucking beautiful up there and well worth the struggle!

If climbing Castleton Tower wasn't good enough for a Sunday adventure, throw in a road trip with Pat, Claire and T-Swift (SHAKE IT OFF) and you have yourself one hell of a day.

Nov 10-20th, Fort Collins, CO: After Moab and a solid last few months of adventuring it was time to take a breather from activity and focus on other things, namely reading for pleasure (All the Pretty Horses), sleeping and busting out a serious volume of school work. The school work on tap had been sitting on the back burner for quite sometime though it has been constantly on my mind for sometime now. I really enjoyed spending long hours working on two big projects that proved to be far more enjoyable and interesting than I had worked them up to be in my head.

I first worked to complete a plant collection of flora I collected in Larimer County. It was fascinating and challenging all at once to identify the plants I had found and assemble them in a proper collection fashion but I was quite pleased with the final product. After the plant collection was completed I got to work on writing a first draft of a research project I took on under a professor here at CSU, Dr. Kevin Crooks, that I really respect. I've never written a proper research paper before and the notion was admittedly very daunting. My friend Kate gave me some great advice that got me going however - "just start writing." Ahhhhh.... and it really was that simple. Who knows, I might have to rewrite the whole thing but it felt so good to dig into papers, start developing some ideas and just get something on paper. This is certainly going to be a work in progress for quite sometime but felt great getting the ball rolling!

Photo by Mark - YEAAAAHHHHH! Ski season is here.

Despite my focus on school during this time I did still manage to sneak out to earn my first turns of the season at Cameron Pass with Brad and Mark. Great to do some beacon practice and make sure we start the ski season safe.

Nov 21-30th, Flagstaff, AZ and more: THANKSGIVING BREAK! I booked it out of Fort Collins early Friday morning and off to Flagstaff I went. Started the trip out with a bang on Saturday morning heading to climb Queen Victoria in Sedona, AZ with Seth. We took the adventurous approach to the base of the climb where we surprisingly met several other parties. It was an enjoyable climb that once again provided A+ views AND we even got to watch a man that could have been mistaken for Jackie Chan in action, rappelling kung-fu style off the summit. Classic.

A hike out to Red Mountain the next day to was highlighted by 5 month old Shuggie (a PKC black collie) matching Josey stride for stride up a rung ladder and steep mars-like rocks. Even though Shuggie isn't my dog I couldn't help but admire her spirit - great things to come from the Shuggie monster.

Grand Canyon

Monday Josey and I ran from Locket Meadow up the Inner Basin Trail to the summit of Humphrey's Peak, the tallest point in Arizona overlooking Flagstaff. It was windy and gave that little bit of alpine adventure I was hankering for. Tuesday I headed to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and ran the South Kaibab Trail down to the Colorado River and back. The last time I was at the Grand Canyon I was ~12 years old and just remember the whole thing looking like a painting - fake. Running it it definitely set the canyon to life though the shock of high volumes of other people on the trail made me realize how spoiled I am to normally have nature to myself. The fun in Flagstaff continued that night with the most delicious dinner cooked by Olivia and plans of hunting next fall... Wednesday I headed down to Sedona with Ryan and met up with Simon, Carrie and Joel for my first taste of real, hard crack climbing at the Waterfalls. Man was it hard and man was it fun.

I opted to head home from there to make it to Whitney's parent's house for Thanksgiving on Thursday. Joes and I stopped in Frisco along the way at the Meadow Creek trailhead and ski-toured up aways filling me with the mountain winter stoke I was needing. There is nothing in the world more fun than chasing Josey down a snowy trail on skis - she has the most manically happy look on her face the entire time! Once I improve my skiing skills I'll take a video... Thanksgiving with Whit and the crew was just what I needed - delicious food, great friends and a tour of the new Peritus Coffee Roasters facility. I'm not a coffee snob by any means but I know when I'm drinking something extra good and their coffee is GOOD.

RIP Bessie - with Katie at top of Bear Peak, 2011

Rounded out the week with Friday up at Cameron Pass with Brad, James and Layla, a great trail run with Claire and Mowgs and a ski tour with K. Nitka at Butler Glutch. Sunday's ski tour was dedicated to Bessie the Brown Dog who left the world too soon. Last time Katie and I toured up Butler Gultch Josey had her friend Bessie in tow. We missed her but know she's probably off digging holes somewhere in doggy heaven right now...

OK: I think that's all for now. Happy adventuring in the mean time!