Adventures in Onionism

It's raining out, I'm resting my foot, and I'm tired of trying and failing to fix my refrigerator. So I'm going to write blog posts.  You'll probably remember that I went to Alaska in June. I already wrote summary thoughts (which, thank you, dear reader, engendered multiple comments) but I'll put everything here and re-organize it as well. I flew to Fairbanks and took the Dalton Highway Express (DHE) shuttle ~12 hours north to the Brooks Range. It's not as bad as it sounds. Yes, the road was bumpy, but every single other passenger was a fellow adventurer, and the drivers had interesting Alaska experience, so I enjoyed it. (I do wish one guy had shut up for a single moment, but it was still fun despite his non-stop inane comments.)  I backpacked about 80 miles in 6 full days, went over five 5,000' passes (one of which was over 6,000), plus a couple other lower ones. I didn't see much wildlife, except for this cute fox after I was done hiking and waiti...

I flew from Fairbanks to Durango for my third running of the Hardrock 100. I mailed a bunch of race stuff from DC to friends in Ouray, and have been camping out of the rental SUV. That's all well and fine, but there's a 20K acre fire 1/4 mile from my friends' house, and another a hundred miles west, so the air has been bad. I did two of the 10 climbs (Telluride to Kroger's and Sherman to Pole Creek) and I'd like to do more, but the descent of the very first one toasted my quads, so I'm taking it easy. That and I drove all the way around to Pagosa Springs to try and find breathable air. It rained today, however, so the air improved a lot compared to yesterday. There's only a 30% chance of rain Wednesday and none Thursday or Friday, so fingers crossed that winds stay low and the fire fighters can contain these fires and stay safe.

What are the middle tires (the ones that often don't hit the ground) on an 18-wheeler for? Are they so the trailer doesn't get high-centered? Is it just a convenient way to carry spares? Both? Are they adjustable so that they do hit the ground and help spread the load? [EDIT: I learned later this day that yes they can be lowered when carrying heavier loads.] Also, what's next? From Fairbanks I'll fly to Durango, Colorado to run my third Hardrock. If... OK, I just got awesome footage of a fox crossing the river. That was amazing. (Interesting to compare to having seen wolf pups play on my last trip with no camera. Which will I remember better--through my own eyes,...

Don't eat who-knows-how-old TVP from last year's outfitter trip. Anywho, it rained a lot, but not as much as the night before, so I think stream levels actually dropped. I walked around the stream a bit, then started walking/hitching south. There was not much traffic (easily 15 minutes between vehicles) and it's mostly semi trailers, which are *not* stopping. I was hiking off the road on a maintenance trail for the pipeline, waived to a work pickup truck, and he stopped! Turns out, he stopped coincidentally, but my going up and asking him induced him so say yes. And he (or his crew) also gave a ride to Gerald Klamer, a German hiker I know who happens to be around. "Where'd you come from?" "I hiked east into ANWR from Chandalar Airstrip." "We just picked up a guy yesterday who did that same thing!" "Was he German? Named Gerald?" ...

I guess I'm done? It rained all last night, from before I set my tent up until a brief respite in the morning. By the time I was dressed in full waterproofs, it was raining again. During the night it was not the normal "it always does this" sprinkle, but heavier. In the morning when I climbed up to the bowl where my pass was, I really needed it to be the one very low spot that I could actually see, and not further into the completely socked-in drainage. To my delight, it was. A very gentle grade, with snow completely avoidable. The slope angle shading didn't even register a color on the climb side, and that proved true. It was, however, quite cold at the summit so I couldn't hang around and enjoy my last climb.  The descent was gentle, but long, and by the time we met our first inlet creek, I realized that all the water was raging and turbid. I'm up high enough, I can choose whichever side I want, and i...

Man, I should really decide if I'm counting by full days or partial days or nights camped or what.  Regardless, today was an easy day. I slept in and read some Dickens before heading out. I climbed to an easy grassy low point on a ridge and contemplated which route to go. There are infinite (too many) options. That's the one thing I like about trails--it's just one dimension and all you have to optimize for is speed. Out here, with no trails, I can do whatever the hell I want. We've already determined that's usually based on seeing as much ground as possible, but it can't seem artificial, it needs to be a nice natural line, and preferably neither too flat and boggy nor, unless the weather's good, which it's not, over 6,000 feet. So, OK do I do a few fewer miles, stay in ANWR, and see new terrain, or cross the Divide again at a pretty spot but then repeat miles I just saw, and tech...