Adventures in Onionism

We woke up at 6:00 and started packing in a light rain. I made quick oatmeal and coffee and we were off by 7:30 or so. We were half a mile from the big portage from Vera to Ensign. We went straight in and made quick work of it. Something about Ensign Lake was different. I cast a line in, MFS said maybe let it get deep and just trawl it behind the boat, and pretty much instantly I had a Walleye in the boat. It was surely the biggest fish I ever caught, though maybe I caught a big rainbow trout on the Madison in Montana when I spent a day at a friend's cabin outside Yellowstone. To Joe's dismay, I threw the fish back and it eagerly swam away. We had plenty of food left and were only a few miles from our exit pickup. A few minutes later I cast again, or rather, tried to cast and accidentally plopped the line in the water a foot from the canoe. Oh well, let it play out. Then a few seconds later a northern pike was in the boat. I squeezed it to keep it still and it barfed up its lun...

Woke up early and got out of camp around 7:45 when the water was still glassy. Did a series of several short portages, then one half-miler (180 or 200 "rods" an absurd unit of measure) that took the guys a while. We moved on to Vera Lake and took a break for a late lunch before attempting the next long portage, except that the clouds were really building and looked bad. So we stayed out and withing minutes it was pouring rain. I got my tent up east, then got wet trying to set up the group tarp. Three of us sat under it counting the sight/sound gap for the lightning. Mostly 4-6 seconds, a couple less than one, not that fun. The rain kept coming, so I eventually went to bed early with nothing but hot chocolate for dinner. Too wet, not worth it. The storm put on a good show, and I read a few more chapters of Lonesome Dove.

We camped in the same place as yesterday. I took a canoe out early on the glassy lake and tried a little fishing. I didn't get any bites, maybe one nibble at most and then the sun went behind clouds and it got too cold, so I didn't have to confront too many vegan ethical contradictions. I read a bunch of Lonesome Dove, climbed a hill behind the campsite and didn't get cell reception, and am 80% sure I found chanterelles, but I never find them in DC so I can't identify them 100%. Besides, I already have dehydrated chicken of the woods and shitake with me so I'm set on mushrooms. A nice day off. No rain to speak of, but not super warm. Big day ahead of us tomorrow so we can be where we need to be for the takeout by 1pm the day after. Our packs are significantly lighter having eaten a bunch of the food.

Slept for 11 hours. Made a multi-course breakfast, then broke camp and paddled around knife lake all day. Went onto Robbins Island where apparently the last person lived in the Wilderness after being grandfathered in, but didn't see any evidence of cabins, but might have found chanterelles. Went to Thunder Point, an ever-so-slightly higher than everything else promontory that actually had decent views and cell reception for lunch. Looked around for a native quarry and may or may not have found it. Did one extremely short portage, then looked at campsites before settling on the third. Large enough for four tents, and sheltered from the wind. It actually has great sunset views. It also has rodents. A good day that went by quickly. Mostly decent weather but it did rain on us at least twice. We're using this camp as a base camp for tomorrow.

We went back to the outfitters and they put the canoes on a boat on a trailer. We caravaned to Moose Lake, and then us and our canoes caught a 25hp lift to the far side, into the wilderness on a permitted motor route to the edge of the first portage. Maybe five portages, a lunch break, some rain, and we set up camp. The motor ride caused a little anxiety, because damn it was cold. Do I have enough clothing? But then we started paddling, and it was a little choppy but not bad. I've paddled a kayak in small craft advisory weather in the SF Bay and nearly barfed; this is nothing. And the effort warms you up. The first group we passed in the other direction warmed my heart because damn they are carrying to much gear and we are probably fine. The heavy skillet and the skillet grabber tool are stupid, and the pots are steel, not aluminum, and definitely not titanium, and the bear hang system is an absurdly heavy way to create a bear piñata, but it all basically fits into four giant bags,...

I'm headed to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness! I've wanted to go for a long time, but of course I end up doing adventures on foot almost exclusively. But I've always had the notion that being stuck in a boat together would be the best way for people of different skill levels to have an adventure together. I'll paddle, you can just sit there; I don't care. I have never really tested this theory, but I jumped at the chance when MFS said he was putting together a guys trip as part of his sabbatical. Well, "jumped" in quotes perhaps. If I'd planned a trip myself, I'd start with 20 miles a day as the floor. I expected normies would do half that, but the proposed itinerary was about a quarter. So, after a little bit of talking, pointing out the default speed on paddleplanner.com , and confirming that nightly planned camping locations are not fixed by permit (only entry and exit point), I said yes. I packed booze and a 900 page novel (Lonesome D...

  Just a little bit hotter and a little bit worse! I finished my second Hardrock last week. It was a fun experience. I ran 1 hour 47 minutes slower than my 2017 time (in the same counter-clockwise direction) but it was a million degrees hotter, the course is two miles longer, and I took an additional 1.6-mile wrong turn. I placed essentially the same: 35th this time, 36th last time. I feel like I normally finish as the median runner, but when the going gets  very  tough, I do relatively better. I think the easiest explanation might just be that elevation wrecks some really good runners and I barely notice it up to 13,000 feet. Thanks, genetics. Or, when a race is high enough and steep enough that almost everyone is hiking, I'm a relatively fast hiker with better endurance. Regardless, it worked out reasonably well for me again. Training I've been telling myself since last October that I should hire a coach to write a training plan for me, or at least write a plan myself. ...

After camping in Black Canyon, I took the Tomichi route to the bottom of the canyon. Under a mile, with ~1,900 feet of vertical, all scree. Kinda stupid, but I had a moment of peace at the river, and the climb out was a nice workout, as expected.    Gunnison River I was in and out in under two hours, drove the rest of the south rim, and then headed back through Montrose, Ouray, and Silverton to Cunningham Gulch to camp. I climbed Little Giant to get my daily 13er, and enjoyed a campfire with friends. Saturday I climbed Little Giant again and made a loop out of it down to Silver Lake, out the south of that basin over a pass, then around and up Deer Park Creek between Whitehead and Rhoda peaks, down to Highland Mary Lakes and back to the campsite. I summited Rhoda peak again--I think I already did it my first day in Cunningham Gulch, but the 5 or 6 maps I have of the area are all inconsistent about which peaks are named and which trails still exist. The loop was only 12 miles ...

Camped with two friends (both of whom have partners named Amy) in Black Canyon NP. I've been by here at least two other times but never came in because I always had a dog with me. (I should've driven in--views from the road are great.) Anyway I'm here now and have a permit to do one of the wilderness routes down to the river tomorrow. I ran up Richmond Pass to Hayden Peak this morning and ran into none other than Karl Speedgoat Meltzer on the trail. (I felt much less bad when I realized it was him who was gaining on me!) I also did a few miles on Bear Creek outside Ouray (great views!) Yesterday I did 13 miles out the end of Cunningham Gulch and climbed Whitehead Peak.  I've spent time dealing with race prep stuff that isn't exactly fun, and some bills and stuff online from the coffee shop that's mildly stressful, but I've done two 13ers and I'm really quite tired in a good way. It's gorgeous out here and I've met some nice fellow runners. 

I had a great time watching the Western States 2025 this past weekend. I woke up at 3am to drive up to Olympic Village, where I got some free pre-race coffee before hiking up the escarpment with Nano. We saw a few acquaintances at the top and continued just over the bump to maybe be the furthest along spectators.  The runners came by, David Roche in the lead, and GOAT Kilian Jornet the only elite smiling. Then I recognized a few friends, and then somebody recognized *me*, which was crazy since I wasn't the one wearing a bib with my name on it. "Garret Christensen! I'm an [X] graduate, we went to undergrad together." "Uhh... Stalk me on Strava!" "I already tried that!" All as he was running by. I was able to figure out his name from his bib and the race roster, but it doesn't ring a bell and we haven't yet communicated to figure out what classes we had together. Nano and I ran a nice look with the Granite Chief Trail, and then drove over to ...

I'm sitting in a rocking chair next to the dogs on the front porch of a cabin in the Shenandoah Wilderness in Shenandoah National Park, enjoying the fireflies. I heard a whippoorwill a few minutes ago and realized I didn't bring earplugs, so we'll see if the night turns out magical or sleepless. After seemingly endless rain the past few weeks, the sun finally came out today. Juneteenth (Thursday) I road my bike out the W&OD to my hometown to go to the pool with a friend from junior high. I got a flat but still got 20 miles in. Today was hot but either it was less bad in the mountains or I'm getting used to it. I need mileage and more importantly massive vertical for Hardrock in 3 weeks, so I rented a car for the third straight weekend. It's stressful arranging the logistics with the dogs and work, but it feels good when I get good and tired. Did about 18 miles and 4,000 feet of vert today, hope for steeper tomorrow. The dogs and I had probably two dozen ticks on...

Lots of things have happened. Mostly bad, like family voting to traumatize federal employees (side note: It won't help balance the budget! ), my moving back to DC across the country away from Amy, and my colleagues that I worked hard to hire getting fired because consumer protection is bad now. But some good has happened. So here's the good running stuff. The first few months of the year have gone mostly according to plan.  February 8 I drove down to the Wild Oak Trail and started a midnight loop of TWOT. TWOT is a 29-mile loop that has turned into a twice-annual self-supported vaguely Barkley-esque run of one to eight loops. The  website makes it seem much more sadistic then it is (my friend tells me the RD mostly just doesn't know how to update the website to get rid of the "you don't deserve to be here" tone.) I planned to do two loops, including the first with a midnight start. The creek crossing was high, and the rain was cold, so I wimped out and just ...

 I really like PEBA foam. They don't seem to make the super-cheap Reebok (yes, Reebok) PEBA shoes that I like anymore. (I've put 600 miles on them which I think makes them some of the cheapest shoes per mile I've ever bought.) So I had my associate Claude make some charts for me.   Running Shoe Foam Technology Chart Running Shoe Foam Technology Chart A comprehensive mapping of proprietary foam names to underlying chemistry PEBAX/PEBA EVA/Supercritical EVA TPU TPEE Mixed/Blend Proprietary/Unknown ...