Adventures in Onionism

Matt Davis Trail Can't be bothered with trails Sitting in a puddle to cool off Pretty happy with his transportation the last 50 feet to the car. Nice 22-mile Mt. Tamalpais circumnavigation today with Yuch and George. George had some big paw issues at the end (pretty much the only time he's ever had any), so he was hurting and I couldn't bomb down the Matt Davis Trail as I normally would have, but it was still a great day.

Despite some obvious issues about my new apartment, the views are amazing.

I uploaded all my videos from Iceland. I realized that I don't have any version of iMovie on my computer (anyone have an iLife '09 DVD they want to send me?) so I couldn't stitch them together or do any editing. Hence they're all in one long playlist on Youtube that hopefully plays one right after the other.

From Friday, August 14 at 10:00 AM to Saturday, August 15 just before 11:00 PM, I ran the Fat Dog 120 in British Columbia, Canada. Outside called it one of the 9 toughest ultras . Previous runners quoted on the race website say the only harder race is Hardrock. Meh. I mean, yeh, it's 120 miles long, and yeh, it has 28,454 feet of climbing, but I really didn't think it was that hard, nor that scenic. I heard afterward that in previous years the race may not been very well organized. I think all those kinks have been worked out. Pre-race meetings were simple and on-schedule, and if you read the instructions, most things were perfectly clear (except for where exactly camping was) and for whatever wasn't, the race director promptly replied to questions via e-mail. Aid stations were well-stocked and almost all volunteers new exactly what terrain was coming up and how far it was to the next station (in both km and miles). The race basically has four huge climbs and desce...

I posted pictures previously, but I've been meaning to do a full trip report, along with some information for others intending to do do JLey's route (or make up their own). Summary I thought Iceland was amazing, and I would recommend it, but I don't think I enjoyed it quite as much as other hikers seem to have. The downsides are that JLey's route includes a lot of roadwalking. The majority of that is near-deserted two-tracks, but there's a non-neglible amount of walking on pavement (near Mývatn) and the dirt/gravel roads from the Jökulheimar hut to Landmannalaguar are endless, monotonous, and quite busy towards the end.  Iceland is a very popular tourist destination these days, so some sections are crowded, and despite a currency collapse during the global financial crisis, it's still very expensive. Maybe not Switzerland expensive, but more expensive than the US for sure. Also there is zero non-bird wildlife. The upside is, duh, that Iceland has some beaut...

Here's some good news about California coastal access. I had a pretty unenjoyable experience at Sea Ranch when I hiked through there in 2004, as their private security tailed me the whole way. I'm glad this public access was restored. http://www.pressdemocrat.com/home/2553533-181/sea-ranch-beach-re-opened-to#page=0

Mostly I'm just testing the Blogger Android app while some Stata code is running at work. I saw this fun chalkboard on the side of a building in Mt. Vernon, WA on my way back from Fat Dog 120. Hopefully I'll post my videos from Iceland, info on the route, and a race report from Fat Dog soon.

I posted my photos of Iceland . My friend Nano and I hiked form Husavik on the northern coast to Skogar on the southern coast, then I spent 4 or 5 days solo in the Hornstrandir Reserve in the Westfjords region. All in all, it was an amazing trip, though I wish there had been a little less road walking. As usual, while hiking, I thought of all the website/blog stuff I'd like to post for your amusement and to help others who'd like to hike JLey's route. For example, you can't buy any food at Nyidalur hut, but you can send a box there on the bus. But I need to work, and I ran 120 miles in Canada last weekend. So I don't know when I'll get around to it. At least now you can enjoy the photos. 2020 UPDATE: I updated the link above in advance of The Trail Show. Please let me know if it doesn't work. If you want more urban photos from Iceland, I think the street art is excellent, so I made an album of that .

You know what I still haven't done? Post photos from my trip to Iceland. You know what I did do? Ride a gorgeous 38 miles through the Berkeley and Oakland hills after work today. Also, I'm running 120 miles in Canada this Friday and Saturday.

 I made a quick trip to Portland. I ate vegan donuts and ran in Forest Park, among other things. Good (too brief) times with old friends, Hiker Trash and other. Now I'm back in Oakland, which also has vegan donuts , although they are stupid expensive. We do have more trails than PDX though--I ran with a few people from Berkeley Running Club, which was pretty fun, and made me optimistic about having good ultra training partners this go-round of East Bay living. Here's a long distance trail that I'll probably never hike: the Great Plains Trail . I'll also probably never walk the length of the Keystone XL pipeline . But you never know.

The actual 49-Mile Scenic Drive is a little car-heavy, so BH and I made our own. San Francisco is a beautiful city. It was cloudy, and biking doesn't lend itself to stopping and taking pictures as well as foot travel does, but it was a lot of fun. I'm actually not a very fast cyclist, so I like that about it, too. I can ride with friends without them thinking I'm a prick; I have trouble doing that with backpacking.

Standalone GPS units seem to be obsolete. But maybe not for you? I have a Magellan Explorist 500 from 2007, with all the original USB cord, a rechargable battery, a battery cage so you can put three AAA's in instead, and most importantly, an SD card with a large portion of the inter-mountain west pre-loaded. I have the CD (MapSend Topo 3D) with which you could theoretically load the entire USA, but you'd have to have Windows from that era (98, 2000, XP, ME, says the case) to be able to use the software. I'll give it all to you for the cost of shipping, which is probably $7. A full Yakima roofrack setup. I used it only once two years ago for a cross-country move. My new truck has built in racks that don't fit the box, so I'm selling the whole setup. I got it for a '95 4Runner with factory rails, but it obviously fits way more vehicles than that. The complete setup would run you $835 MSRP, I'll sell it for half the cost (see Yakima.com ). Obviously, only ite...

Remember how after I drove across the country with Mark and before I went to Iceland, I drove and hiked all around Wyoming? Here are the pictures . Wind River range (Porcupine Creek), Bighorn NF (Circle Park loop in Cloud Peak wilderness, Bighorn 100-miler), Gros Ventre NF (Teepee, Jagg, and Goosewing trails).