Adventures in Onionism

Sorry, cheesy title, but it was either that, "Let's do this!" or something equally lame; I'm pretty excited. For some reason there's free public wi-fi at the Park HQ in the Grand Canyon. (For a while there I saw the icon and arrows for an amphitheater and thought "Why is there wi-fi literally on the Canyon Rim?") I got a backcountry permit this morning with relative ease. I'm starting tonight from Lipan point, headed down to Palisades. Tomorrow I'll hike up the Little Colorado and back to Palisades. Wednesday I'll end up at Cottonwood Creek. Thursday I'll climb out to the South Rim on Kaibab and camp at a walk-in site at Mather Campground. Friday I'll hike down Bright Angel and up to the North Rim and camp at Cottonwood Campground. Saturday I'll hike west to Granite Rapids. Sunday I'll hike as far west on the Tonto as I can get. Monday it's back to Boucher Rapids. Tuesday I'm climbing out via the Boucher Trail to Hermi...

In North Vegas after successful trip to the Racetrack and Corridor Canyon. Racetrack not much different than Panamint dry lakebed, except the rocks get pushed around by the wind and leave tracks. The canyon was cool, narrow in places, but it's named after one long abnormally straight stretch that's pretty neat. Saw a few petroglyphs too. Had to walk only a few miles of the road from Ubehebe Crater yesterday and maybe 10 today before catching a ride. It's probably doable in a sedan--I felt stupid after being passed in the opposite direction by a Miata this morning, but less stupid after the SUV that picked me up told me got a flat yesterday. I'll probably just head straight to the South Rim now instead of circling around it. I couldn't really do justice to Zion or Bryce or Staircase or whatever, so better to save them for later.

Officially going to try to hitch to the racetrack and hike up corridor canyon.

That sounds aptly named.

I'm at the Starbucks in Ridgecrest. (Yes, I could just get a smartphone and then I'd have the Internet everywhere, but that'd be stupid at this point, and scrounging wireless reminds me of the good old days on trail mastering the ins and outs of vagrancy--payphones and the US Postal Service.) Spent the night at Walker Pass Campground near/on the PCT last night. Super windy. Headed to Death Valley right now, will probably look for a trail in the northern half where I've spent less time, then circle north around the Canyon through Utah first before heading to the South Rim--Mountain Meadows Massacre site and Colorado City are calling me.

I'm headed to the Grand Canyon for the next two weeks. I might stop in Death Valley on the way there, and afterwards I'll maybe stop and visit a buddy in Vegas and hit Red Rocks and J-Tree on my way to San Diego for the 100 miler. I'll be back in Berkeley June 13.

I ran the Bishop High Sierra 100K in 13:41:57 this past Saturday. It was hands down the most beautiful race I've ever run. Unfortunately I did not take any pictures on the course, but I did take some pictures from the weekend, which was quite eventful. I left Berkeley Thursday, and my truck promptly broke down. I had it towed by AAA from Applegate to Truckee, where I spent the night at SW & MT's. Friday I rented a car, drove to Bishop, and went to the pre-race dinner, which was wonderful for everyone else but annoyingly not vegan friendly. (They did have veggie lasagna, so veg folks probably think it rocked, but there was no meatless spaghetti sauce.) I camped at the Millpond campground right next to the race start with my friend Nano and his girlfriend Megan. Saturday she won the women's 20-mile race, and Nano placed top-10 in the 50-mile event. Nano and I ran together for a few hours, but I didn't want to go 50-mile pace when I was running 100K, so he got away fro...

I participated in the department graduation ceremony. Notice how I phrased that? There's still a little paperwork to clear up before my graduation becomes official and I get my lollipop from the lady in the admin building. Yo. That's my happy face. The Seven Year Handshake Me and the lady friends Me and the gang The Labor Office Nerds! Home Sweet Evans I believe I was drunk by this point. Well, that's it. Orientation was August 6, 2004, math camp started August 9, and I met the dissertation filing deadline of May 13, 2011, so that's seven school years, or six calendar years, nine months and eight days, or 2472 days. But if you give me credit for time off, I wasn't enrolled for one and a half school years, or one calendar year, four months, and three days, or 510 days. So five and a half years, which is pretty much average for a Berkeley Econ PhD. And what did I do in that time? I lived in Kenya, travelled to Peru, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Tanzania, Uganda, and...

On Friday May 13, after proctoring a final exam, I caught a plane to San Diego to run the PCT 50, a race almost almost entirely on the PCT from PCT mile 26 at Boulder Oaks to PCT mile 51 at Penny Pines and then back. The course is a strict out and back 99% on the PCT, 100% on single track. It is a big climb on the way out, especially the first 14 or so, and obviously the reverse on the way back. I finished in a 50-mile personal best of 9:36 or so. Splits are as follows: 6.4 mi 1:11:51 14.7 mi 1:30:11--2:42:02 18.5 mi 0:45:56--3:27:59 23.7 mi 0:51:04--4:19:03 25 mi 0:23:31--4:42:34 (Turnaround) 0:25:37--5:08:12 1:02:22--6:10:34 0:46:29--6:57:03 1:24:31--8:21:35 1:14:53--9:36:28 (Finish) I raced pretty hard. I felt great through 30 miles, bonked in the next few, got very dehydrated and felt fairly horrible from 37-44 or so, but kept going and finished well, if without my 100% of my usual finishing kick. Although happy with my race, it's all unimportant compared with something else. A...

Do not congratulate me yet--I haven't gotten the official lollipop of approval from the lady in Sproul Hall yet, but I uploaded my dissertation to ProQuest, and I have submitted the form with the signatures of final approval from my adviser and other committee members. In other news, I have a cold. I also thought I had a cavity, but the dentist said that too was also just my cold. I am hoping I'll be better in time for the PCT 50 outside San Diego this Saturday, but I can't guarantee it. ADZPCTKO was awesome as usual. Mattress and Heinz were sorely missed this year, but Ducky, Nano, Nitro, and I were keeping hope alive. Thanks to the high precipitation winter, the wildflowers are crazy this year. I used the day on Saturday to go scout out some of the San Diego 100 course in Anza Borrego and Cuyamaca Rancho State Parks. Gorgeous. Representing. I rode the train home on Monday from San Diego to Emeryville. I didn't think it's as pretty as other routes I've taken. M...