Adventures in Onionism

More photos from my roadtrip are available here . I tried (and failed) to read several books lately. Hell's Angels by Hunter S. Thompson. Repetitive and uninformative. The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water by Charles Fishman. Alarmist and disjoint. Audio: The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon. Boring story plus over-the-top reading make this unlistenable. Audio: The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver. This book is Forrest Gump for sappy leftists. Don't get me wrong, I love Barbara Kingsolver (and Jane Austen) as much as any self-respecting straight man can, and I'm definitely a leftist, but this book is a huge disappointment. I'll probably actually finish it, but doing so will be quite burdensome.

On both counts. I have accepted a position with Innovations for Poverty Action as a postdoc working on a water, sanitation, and hygiene project in Kenya for two years. I leave July 13. Read this Nick Kristof article if you're curious about the type of work. Everything is also cleared up regarding my dissertation, which has cleared all paperwork hurdles. As soon as I get back to Berkeley I can go pick up my lollipop from Grad Division.

M, Nano, Me, Gazelle After Slab City we went to the Mount Laguna/Cleveland National Forest area, and I ran the San Diego 100 Mile Endurance Run. I was hoping to break 24 hours. I did set a PR by a few minutes, but it took me 26:32. I ran the first half of the race quite well, having been well-prepared by my recent races and my desert hiking, all excellent heat training. I ran the first 50 miles in 10:28, and I was going back and forth with women's Wasatch course record holder Betsy Nye. But I wasn't eating enough and I proceeded to completely bonk. If I was ever going to do well in a race, it was this one. Nano was there running his first 100 and we ran together as much as possible, Gazelle paced me from mile 80 to the finish, and Tatu Joe caught up to me at about mile 84, so I was surrounded by friends, but there is no other way to say it--I f--king hate running overnight. During every 100-miler I have repeatedly had the thought: "I love running 50-miles. You can go home ...

I went to Vegas and traded in AL for Gz at the airport. We visited Red Rocks and Mojave briefly, had dinner with NITRO in Indio, and then camped in Slab City. I figured since I didn't make it to the Magic Bus this year I might as well visit the slabs. We didn't talk to anybody there since we got in late and left early, but we did pick up a hitch-hiker on his way to the town right next to them (Niland), and he had tons of stories to tell us about them, so that hit the spot. We also stopped by the shore of the Salton Sea and saw evidence of a recent fish kill. All I could think of the whole time in Imperial County was Obi-Wan's description of Mos Eisley.

Bear Trap Falls Trying to get to Kolob (Arch) is not worth your time. Just go running in Hop Valley instead. The pictures don't do it justice. After GS-E we went to Zion NP. I kind of got the feeling that there aren't that many hikes to do in Zion. Just the Narrows, the Subway, the 48-mile trans-Zion route, and piddly tourist stuff in Zion Canyon itself (Angel's Landing included). I've already done number four on that list, number one was closed, and I forgot about number two, so we did the western-most part of the trans-Zion route. The western-most miles starting from Lee Pass on La Verkin Creek are pure garbage miles, but once you get to Hop Valley it is quite impressive. It reminded me of the Wind River Range, except if all the rocks were red. I also added an out and back up a river that had lots of crossings and I stumbled across a short falls on Bear Trap Creek.

Stay to the Left Lower Calf Creek Falls Overlooking Death Hollow on the Mail Route Buckskin Gulch My friend AL happened to be nearby, bored, and a fan of desert hiking, so after Bryce I picked her up and we went to Grand Staircase-Escalante. We hiked in Red Canyon in Dixie NF outside Bryce, then to lower Calf Creek Falls, part of the Boulder-Escalante Mail Route, and Buckskin Gulch. The last two of those are highly recommended (and very easy to get to, even with a low-clearance vehicle). GS-E definitely deserves several return trips.

Bryce Point Sunset Point The Hat Store Under the Rim Some Guy Taking a Picture I've been wanting to run the Under-the-Rim trail at Bryce Canyon for a while. So I did it. It's a nice 23 miles. The best views in Bryce are, however, from the touristy overlooks in the northern part of the park.