Marvel, Wonder, Og, Magog

Big day in the rain today. Pulled out all the stops (in the sense that I didn't stop to rest a single time--only to pee or once to make cold instant mashed potatoes) because it was raining all day. If I'd stopped to rest I would have gotten too cold. So I just put all my food bars in outer pack pockets, shoved the rest of my gear in the trash bag inside my pack, and walked. I saw the sun for about ten minutes at 8pm but it's raining again now. Apparently Marvel Lake and Wonder Pass are really pretty but I could barely tell. Also Assiniboine Mountain is tall and cool looking? And there's lakes name Og and Magog. Aren't the apocalyptic biblical ones Gog and Magog? I'll have to check all the views out online someday. I ended up with about 60km for the day and actually enjoyed myself quite a bit. I thought of the wittiest comebacks to years old arguments about zoning. 

Guess you had to be there.

I'm at Porcupine Campsite in Assiniboine Provincial Park and there are two huge moose antlers lying around the site. C'mon Canadians, you're too nice! It's apparently illegal to gather rocks or antlers or stuff in the parks and y'all just obey the rules? And every single dog I've seen has been on leash, and everyone who's dog even thought about maybe perhaps kind of sniffing in my direction was profusely apologetic. You're making me feel bad--I'd love to take those antlers with me to Banff tomorrow and eventually get them to George, who would howl with delight, but the look of disappointment on the Canadian Park Ranger's, or postal worker's, or ski lift operator's face as I carried them out would be too much. I'll leave them there.

That leads me to why I didn't bring George. He's allowed in most Canadian National Parks, except one part of Jasper. So I'm sad I didn't bring him, especially since he's  not  allowed  in most US National Parks so this was sort of my chance. But he doesn't like scrambling on scree, or deep water crossings, and there has been a lot of that. And on a rainy day like today, he'd be freezing, and I'd let him come in my tiny tent and we'd both be freezing; it wouldn't be good. Also, I initially thought I was going to hike in Glacier NP in the US where he isn't allowed, and anyway the logistics would have been a nightmare--I would have had to drive him to Montana or Canada, and then sell or leave my truck there, then get him home from Edmonton. (Because I'm going to Alaska from Edmonton, remember?) No thanks. See you in September, buddy!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Adze Picket Co. (I Love the PCT)

Image
Me at the Border I spent the weekend at the ADZPCTKO with Nitro , Tatu Joe, Ducky (the Wise) , Tomato, BearCan't , Mattress, Love Barge, Nano, Sly, Disco , WeatherCarrot, Too Obtuse, Nacho, Tall Paul, Mags , and Wildflower (AKA Icognito Cheeto Bandito). I got a ride down with Firefly. I'm tempted to just end my post there, as it would seem like complete gibberish to many of you. But I won't. The ADZPCTKO is the Annual Day Zero Pacific Crest Trail Kickoff, held the last weekend in April (also known as NFL Draft weekend, where, miracle of miracles, the Redskins, despite Dan Snyder's best attempts to screw it up, actually managed to avoid throwing away multiple draft picks on Chad Johnson and instead traded for more picks. Hallelujah!) at Lake Morena campground, 20 miles north by trail from the Mexican border near Campo, CA. Conventional wisdom says that the weather window on the PCT is such that there's not much point to starting earlier thanks to snow in the S...
Read more

Hardrock 34:42

Image
It's Tuesday, I'm back in Berkeley, and I just ran my first Hardrock last Friday/Saturday in 34:42. I wanted to record thoughts immediately after the experience, because it was hard , and now that it's been a few days, I'm already forgetting the pain. [I don't want kids, so you'll have to insert your own reference to childbearing here if you so desire.] Start The race started at 6AM. I slept reasonably well the night before in my truck just behind the school gym where the race starts--Silverton is very low key, so it's easy to dirtbag inside the city limits. I did, however, have a bit of GI non-normality, but it didn't seem like a big deal. I started in shorts, T-shirt, and a windshirt. As expected, the windshirt soon became too warm, likely because of the clouds that were obviously going to bring rain sooner rather than later. First Climb I started maybe 30-40 deep in the field, going faster than I'd ever climbed in training, but not feel...
Read more

Should I run UTMB?

That's it, the title is the post. No, of course that's not the post, but I am wondering. My schedule has filled in a bit for the year. I'm now signed up for: Orcas 100 (Feb), Paiute Meadows 50K (May), Scout Mountain 100 (June), TRT 100 (July), and hope to run the fun runs Lupine Loopfest (Feb), Desolate Peaks (August), and Euchre Bar Massacre (October). But the big news is that I got selected in the UTMB lottery. I have until the 29th of January to confirm my registration. For the non-runners: UTMB is a 106-mile loop around Mont Blanc through France, Switzerland, and Italy, starting and ending in Chamonix. By all accounts it is spectacularly beautiful and very difficult, with about 33,000 feet of climbing. For most of my running life I haven't really cared about European races or followed European runners, but I got swept up in the spectacle of it last year. It was the race's 20th year, an American man finally won (Jim), and also finished second (Zack), and Courtney...
Read more