Adventures in Onionism

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...

Whoof. Just as I was going to bed last night, the fog rolled in. It parted for two minutes at 8am to tell me I was sleeping in, and then came right back and stayed all day. Like a marine layer only a few hundred feet above me, unmoving, cold. I bundled up more than I ever have, stopping to put on five layers up top and two layers of gloves. That sounds like more than it is since only one of my top layers insulates (t-shirt, long sleeve base layer, button up shirt, Houdini windbreaker, Montbell Versalite rain jacket). There was a tiny bit of thunder from who knows which direction, but thankfully only a few minutes of rain.  Early on I had to cross the creek a couple times, and climbed on the bench bluffs a few more times to avoid crossings, trying to stay on the north (Divide) side. Eventually once I lost enough elevation the creek widened out, but there wasn't game in the creek--maybe not enough brush to house and feed them?  ...

Long day. Got moving reasonably early. Just as I was crossing the grassy open area to reach the bigger Your Creek, I saw a cabin nearby, so I went to investigate. To my surprise, hunting guides are allowed to have permanent structures in the Refuge. The door was unlocked but I didn't go in. It definitely was stocked, and a bear had gotten in to the other cabin storage area, so that was a mess. Anyway, good to know if I were to get injured, as there was an airstrip as well.  I quickly reached the bed of Your Creek and then it was good walking most of the day. Nice and wide, with plenty of backchannels that had tons of game tracks. Part of the creek still had snow, but the flat hard kind that happens on flat slow water (there has to be a word for it). It's great walking. (There was also a third, smaller, cabin building there.) I saw at least three rabbits, a half dozen ptarmigan, a Canada Jay...

Wow the wind died down and the mosquitos came out. Had to pace while eating my dinner beans. I'm low in elevation after doing three passes today. Hard as hell. The first was kinda nice and took me right up to the divide with a lake at the top. I dropped only a bit, then followed another creek up to 5600 or so, a giant heap of loose slate. It was reasonably easy to avoid the snow on both sides. Then I descended and momentarily forgot that I had another pass to do shortly. Oh good, I've got flat mile along a big river--nope! Right back up, and higher than last time. Avoiding the snow was manageable on the West side, but there was a cornice (not really of the sketchy variety, just saying the drift made it all the way to the top) and looking down the East side was alarmingly white. No solid way down, and it looked like the largest basin had an avalanche at some point this winter. I tracked back and forth connecting solid ground, but was sinking in snow and getting wet and cold...

I realized that Your Creek on the south side of the Divide yesterday is not in ANWR, hence the hunting cabin. The CalTopo baselayer I'm using the most doesn't show property delineations. ANWR is mostly north of the Divide, at least in the western half closer to the Dalton Highway.   [This post only makes sense if read after the one where I came across the hunting cabin. Posting got out of order somehow.] 

First full day. Took my time packing up. Phone GPS still wasn't working, but navigation is relatively easy in these huge valleys.  I messed around with settings, and found some sort of location setting that uses nearby Bluetooth devices. My watch and InReach knew where they were--I don't know if that's what did it, but it worked. Hallelujah!  Went up to the first pass. The mosquitos were out but not terrible--didn't need to wear my headnet. Then skeeters went away and we got to the snow. I lost a trekking pole basket in one of the very first drifts I crossed. Only noticed it a few drifts later. I went back to look but it was hopeless.  Saw the heel straps from a pair of Crocs. I'm not the first person to hike here. Wonder how the croc person did on this terrain without sport-mode engaged!  The pass was steep, and slow, and my pack is much too heavy. The upper 500 feet or so had snow, but it was mostly avoidable by climbing up r...

Shuttle up the Dalton Highway wasn't bad, except for the one guy who would NOT stop talking. Loudly. Literally the entire time. C'mon man, let's just enjoy the views, OK? I put in earplugs and was able to nap a little bit but not much. I was the last one to be dropped off. I'd turned off my phone all day to save battery. I turned it on to find exactly where I should be dropped off, and GPS wouldn't work. It still isn't.  I am too tired to adequately express how frustrating this is. I'll turn my phone off again to sleep now, and hope that it works tomorrow. I can see the pass above me. There's a ton of snow. The low route I've been on is easy walking. Well, easy in that there's no brush to speak of. It's still a soggy tundra in the Brooks, so it's not easy generally. Just saying that if my main route is too high, there's plenty of lower stuff to do.  My pack is so heavy! ...

Three inches of snow left at the Atigun Pass measurement site this morning.  Satellite imagery from the 21st definitely still has snow on my first pass at 5600 feet. Here we go! (I mean, gnarly 12 hour shuttle ride first, but still...)

I'm in Fairbanks. I watched Sirāt on the airplane. Holy shit it's good. I'm at the hostel close to the airport. I've got 30 hours to buy cheese (I'm only vegetarian on trail), Fritos, a water bottle, camping fuel, bear spray, a pen, and a pad to sit on.  The snowpack reading is down to 6 inches!      

Woohoo, the snowpack measurement is down to 8". Snowpack data: https://www.weather.gov/aprfc/snow_depth I used temp and precipitation data from the Alaska Climate Research Center to help me decide between June and August: https://akclimate.org/data/air-temperature-normals/ I look at Sentinel-2 satellite imagery via a pro paid subscription to CalTopo.com: "Imagery from the Sentinel-2 satellite covers the entire earth from the same viewing angle every 5 days with a 10-m horizontal resolution. The date that the image was taken is displayed on the raw image, although you may have to zoom out a bit or pan around to find it. We license this layer and don’t know precisely when the next image in your area will be taken, but it is typically within 5 days." Googling reveals...

After much deliberation I am headed back to Alaska. I am sad to miss Western States (Jim, Killian, and Zack running an hour from where I used to live? That will never happen again.) But it's probably better to have my own adventure than to spectate someone else's (even if I've admired them for ten-plus years, watching as the sport grew exponentially.)  I initially planned to go to Alaska last week, but there was a late snow storm that took the snowpack in the Brooks Range from below-average to above-record. It's mostly gone now (10" at Atigun Pass as of this morning) but ideally it would be *completely* gone. The data station at Atigun Pass is at 4750 feet or so. About 10% of my route is higher than that. I could stay lower by staying further south, but that is likely to be super brushy, gnarly bushwhacking.  I considered delaying to August, but August is typically rainier, has less daylight (everything has less daylight compar...

The second morning Second Sunrise   Despite my having hated every minute of the Massanutten 100 the first time I ran it in 2019, I ran it again this May. The price and logistical ease made it too easy to sign up for. Plus it's put on by VHTRC and I'm starting to get to know more people in the club, so I knew I'd see friendly faces at aid stations. I enjoyed the first 50 miles, running them in 12 and a half hours. Then my feet got wet and completely macerated when my absurdly expensive shoes didn't dry out and it took me 20 hours of figuratively stepping on Legos barefoot to finish the second half. I took an hour and ten minutes off my 2019 team, but I wouldn't consider my time "good." I've got a better time in me, so I guess I'll be back again in a few years. I'm off to the Brooks Range with Nano on Sunday. The snowpack at Atigun Pass isn't melting like I need it to, which is concerning. Here's hoping that 24 hours of sunlight does its ...

[I started writing this post two months ago am only finishing it now. My foot still hurts a little, but I'm still running.]  Greetings from the couch, dear reader. I have a sore throat, and I am a little worried that I have a stress fracture in my foot. I am icing it and wearing a boot, and I made an appointment with the podiatrist (but that's two months out, so I expect the situation will have changed by then.) How did this happen?  The short version is: I ran a lot.  The long version is: I ran Hashawha Hills 50K Feb 28 (see my previous blog entry), Elizabeth Furnace 50K March 14, Hone Quarry 40-miler March 28, and Gorge Waterfalls 100K April 11. The full-length version is: Elizabeth Furnace 50K was a nice VHTRC fatass. I got a ride out there with H & N. I started out at the very front--the instant I pulled up my shorts from a poop in the woods that happened to be in the direction of the course, people ran by me--I guess we're going! Obviously that didn't last long...

Running has been hard this winter. The snowcrete storm at the end of January was followed by nine days with temps not getting above freezing. Trail running required traction devices so I got my screw shoes out of the closet, and eagerly scanned social media and run-group e-mails as we reported on trail conditions and road plowing updates. It reduced my mileage by maybe 20 miles one week and 10 another. Not that bad, but it took a lot of mental energy and reduced quality runs waiting to pass people on single-shovel width sidewalk paths and constantly scanning for ice. I had plans to go run The Wild Oak Trail (Cold TWOT) President's Day Weekend, but the event was cancelled due to snow conditions. I also was stressed by almost getting off the wait list at the last minute for an event in Tennessee which I hadn't planned for. At the last minute since both of those were out, I decided to keep the rental car and dogsitter I had arranged and go to Shenandoah National Park and work on m...

How'd it go in 2025, running-wise?  Volume   As of noon on December 31st, I have run 3,061 miles. That's the most I've ever run in a year, so I feel pretty good about that. I got less vert than I did last year, and have still never cracked 450,000 feet in a year. You can see data from most of the past decade below. (2018 was low thanks to a long summer hike and 2020 had the pandemic, injury, and a long hike.)    2025 Races At the end of 2024 I only planned out   the first half of 2025: my buildup to Hardrock. Not much else in life went according to plan, but the races did: March 8: Seneca Creek Greenway 50K  March 15: Elizabeth Furnace 50K  April 26: Lake Sonoma 50 Miler May 9-10: Hellbender 100 Miler July 11-12: Hardrock 100 Miler   I wasn't quite as fast at Hardrock as I was eight years ago, but I still had a good day.    In the second half of the year I ended up running two more races, where I slightly improved my times over previous ...