JANUARY
i definitely started the year off right by taking a trip to hawaii with two very special people, kendl and joe. we stayed on the island of oahu in a 'park' at a ~$5-10 / night campspot on the north shore beach called "Friends of Malaekahana" near Laie, HI. other people could rent a yurt/hut style shelter...but we just popped the tents for a few days. we spent our time doing the eat, drink, ocean thing and at least one great trail run with two other washington friends, james and candace. we only spent a few days on oahu before we flew to kauai. in kauai, we had planned to rent a car and ended up with a jeep. we stayed with a mega friendly couple, mose and marin, who had made their home on a mountain top near the ocean.
our main goal of the kauai trip was to hike out to the end of the kalalau trail to camp and play for a couple of days. we collected different types of fruits along the trail and joe climbed up a coconut tree for an especially not so yummy coconut. we constantly awed over the whales breaching down below us on the nine mile dead end trail. as we approached the end of the trail and into the wilderness area, nudists began to appear and a guy popped out of the woods and invited us to a potluck that night with the local hip pay community. we put up the tarp and went out to the ocean with our rum and fresh fruit drinks to take a rest and watch the sunset. while the area was magically beautiful, it was obvious that too many people had been living in the area with the abundance of feces, cockroaches, and a recent shipwrecked boat delivering a shipment to the community living out there.
(above) kendl made these beautiful necklaces for each of us
out of seeds she found along the trail kalalau trail
the time was: RUM:30
FEBRUARY
in february we headed back to the pacific north west. we spent an afternoon in olympia and then an entire week on orcas island, in the san juan islands. rainshadow running put on two races during the next two weekends. the first race, a 25 km race, is one that i volunteered for by standing at the top of mt. constitution while counting runners as they came through the aid station in snow and ice! it was a mega wet and cold day, but as always, very fun to encourage folks running. i was fortunate enough to stay in a house in moran state park throughout the week with my friends in the string band, the blackberry bushes. they were hired to play during and after the endurance races in a lodge with a large kitchen, wood stove and an abundance of delicious local boundary bay beer on tap! we played games, ate great food and enjoyed the trails of the island during our week at moran state park without cell phone service. the night before the 50 km race turned out to be a crazy party night at a local pub while the blackberry bushes entertained a quality group of orcas island crazies. i am sure i drank more beer than anyone who ran the 50 km race the next day and probably slept less then anyone else as well. not my proudest race, but everyone thought that i would at least become sick or die during the race! it was incredibly relieving to see all my friends at the finish line and be able to say "i told you i would finish!". we left the park the next day and headed across the puget sound on the ferry to anacortes, washington and then down to olympia. several awesome memories are stored in my head from orcas island, the trails and the hills there are unforgetabble and the place is definitely worthy of visiting over and over. rainshadow running knows how to treat an ultrarunner with healthy foods and only the best local beer. down in olympia, wa i was able to spend time with my buddy mark and we (incl. kendl) took a little trip down to portland, oregon to visit kendl's sister rachel who is a Doll. The most interesting part of that trip was packing for a hawaiian beach vacation as well as a winter in the PNW full of trail running.
back in arkansas for the rest of february i ended up landing a spot in a sold-out 25 km race at the ever-growing Sylamore Creek 50km/25km from a friend who bailed out. i think i placed fourth female overall and definitely had fun yucking it up with friends afterwards. i met a new friend this year at the Sylamore, ryan from missouri. glad we met and could enjoy future adventures on the trails!
(below) a photo snapped atop mt. constitution
after breaking down the aid station
MARCH
fishing in arkansas during march turned into a lot of work and food one day. we caught an abundance of crappy and bass and then had a feast on my parents' farm. mmmm mmm mmm!
ryan (new friend from missouri), brad, and i took a day to run and explore part of the ozark highlands trail (OHT) in north central arkansas. we met up in the morning near haw creek where we left a vehicle and then pooled back up to the fairview trailhead on the OHT. we spent the day running and hiking and jumping creeks. eventually the rain started to pour and the trails were engulfed by the storm and turned into creeks themselves. i actually bruised the top of my feet as a result of the suction of my foot submerging into the stream/trail and back out over and over. this section of the OHT is beautiful and full of water and rocks. we travelled about twenty miles that day, mostly downhill and met the first stray animal (a puppy) of our two day jaunt in the ozarks. the next day, we woke up after a night of continuous rainfall and took a hike down to a stream near ozone, arkansas on the OHT. we found a beagle and a miniature horse/donkey mix that followed us around for the next hour. we eventually found the hillbilly owners of these free-roaming domestic animals and sadly they turned out to be meth-heads...it only took us and about six other people to find the owners after several hours.
APRIL/MAY
I worked at Freyaldenhoven's Greenhouses these two months...so much that I didn't even have the opportunity to do much other than work at least six days per week.
Work hard. Play hard.
somehow in april i managed to score a second job as an adjunct biology instructor at an online university. wow. a mobile job. why didn't i think of that like two years ago?
JUNE
finally it was time to make my way back out west for work in yosemite national park in california. boo hoo.
on the bright side, i was able to spend (again) a few days in new mexico visiting my friend sam who is a genius. sam and i went hiking, not in the sandias, but somewhere nearby albuquerque. we headed up through this pass and i pointed up toward a rock pillar and coaxed him to go up there with me. he resisted quite a bit but finally gave in. it was straight up but i was ready to do something challenging since i had been sitting in the car for so long driving across the country. we headed up and it was two steps forward, one step back. on the way down i remember sarcastically making up rules "if you're going to fall down, don't fall on one of these cacti that have three inch long needles. we joked about mountain biking down something like this...i was laughing...and then like always, laughing and walking i ate it (fell) with my knee into a patch of cactus needles. i am just glad it was me and not him.
this is not the type of cactus i fell into (above), but it is eye candy to see the contrast in color with the flower and the grasshopper inside.
as soon as i arrived in the eastern sierra nevada, we camped out in mammoth lakes. the next day Brad, Gil and i headed up to Crystal Crag to climb. Crystal Crag is a unique feature really close to the town of mammoth lakes with a butt-load of quartz and as you can imagine, climbing on rock similar to glass is pretty slick. it is probably comparable to the flat irons of boulder, colorado in that it is easily accessed from the city. it was early summer so there was still snow on the ground (below). brad made a cool video of the stint and i will hopefully post it up soon.
i finally made it to yosemite to begin work and play. here is a photo of me taken by breezy near the end of the trail called porcupine flat trail head which took us to this view of tenaya canyon and yosemite valley. what a job when your office is one of the most majestic and unique places on earth. i am very lucky. we spend our days hiking, looking for american dipper nests, surveying vegetation along streams (riparian veg), and collecting algae, course particulate organic matter, dipper doo doo (shit), and aquatic/stream insects and many other things. when we're not being scientists, we're rock climbing, trail running, swimming or making great food. i also managed to continue teaching biology online during my work here in yosemite.
JULY
out working in the backcountry, we stayed near this beautiful pass in the clark range in yosemite national park. the lake in the photo (below) is lower ottoway lake and is gorgeous. on our way up to this place we did not have water and we had already hiked quite a distance. being thirsty and almost to our destination we were moving fast. we passed a couple guys on the way up to the lake not knowing they were going to be camping at the lake as well because we didn't chat with them much. finally, after drinking, swimming, and eating some food we conversed with the two and found out they were actually hiking guides in the grand canyon (?)and were quite embarassed that we had so ferociously passed them earlier while also having already travelled further than them. we had a good laugh and it made us feel good about ourselves because we're both quite competitive.
a backcountry fire and lake breezy and i enjoyed while working in yosemite. the lake is washburn lake and is east of merced lake. beautiful high country backpacking and work.
one day, while not working, brad, margaret, stark and i climbed up the regular route of the 900 foot fairview dome in tuolomne land. it was a beautiful day, brad was psyched (above photo) and i followed.
brad and i also climbed up cathedral peak (above) near tuolomne meadows in yosemite national park.
brad and i were waiting for stark to lead the next pitch of the route called ounce on the drug dome in tuolomne (yosemite NP). we linked the route called ounce with another route called the gram traverse. i took a huge pendulum fall on this route that really took falling to the next level...sideways falling. although i had to learn a few things on-site i did have one of the best experiences in rock climbing thus far. this rookie built some skills that day!!!! thanks to stark for being extra mega patient with me.
AUGUST
while not working in yosemite, i would drive out of the park into the eastern part of the sierra nevada to mammoth lakes where brad stayed a large part of the summer paragliding. the photo below is the view from the top of mammoth mountain. the run up to the top was FUN and challenging because of the elevation gain and mountain bikers flying past me. i did a great job of staying out of their way though.
we took a relaxing trip to point reyes national seashore north of san francisco for a few days to enjoy being OUT of yosemite and play the role of tourist that we deal with everyday in yosemite. sometimes during the summer i get really tired of being in yosemite valley and having a small window of the world to view. i could wake up in yosemite everyday and say like john muir "aaah another glorious sierra day". so i imagine that it must be the tourism and politics of the park that would drive me to seek out dense fog on the pacific coast.
the two photos below were taken during a trail run down into the valley on a trail that traversed the southern rim of yosemite valley. don't you want to join me on a run in yosemite?
the grandeur is ALWAYS this extreme!
SEPTEMBER
i took the opportunity to visit all of the sequoia groves in yosemite over a couple days and found this nice graphic of the entire park indicating the different elevations and correlated habitats. the "you are here" dot is actually just a short distance from where i had my base campsite all summer at the Crane Flat campground.
i left california for a few days to see my brother kelsey marry tara back in arkansas. the wedding was a scorching 100 degrees (maybe an exaggeration, maybe not). it was purifying to clean up (after camping for weeks) and put a dress on. my mom was going in for a kiss in this photo!!
OCTOBER
after work in yosemite ended at the end of septermber, i decided to help brad work on a project he began in may of this year. the goal of the project was to establish a new rock climb on the south face of lone pine peak in lone pine, california. lone pine is quite famous because it stands near to Mt. Whitney in the southern range of the sierra nevada mountains. we carried in climbing gear which included six ropes so we could fix lines and easily reach our high point each day. we carried gear, water, our camp, and food for 3 hours one way in two trips. we stayed in the ashram stone house one night and camped at the base of lone pine peak the rest of the time (six nights). each morning we would hike up an incredible gully for about thirty minutes and jumar to our high point. brad would make consistent progress of about one pitch per day as i patiently belayed below in the shower of pebbles sonic booming past me and into me.
i've never been so physically exhausted and i loved it. again, another valuable lesson in rock climbing for the year. the exhaustian lasted for about two-three days and i started making my way back east for the winter.
(above) me; jumaring up fixed lines on lone pine peak
(below) taking a break on mountain devil dike, south face of lone pine peak.
November/December
after a week in arkansas with my family we packed up again and moved to north carolina. we visited with brad's parents for a wonderful week as the fall colors were at their peak. for the month of november in western north carolina i started training for an ultra marathon (50 km) i signed up for called Table Rock Ultras 50 km. luckily, with my mobile internet job i have the chance to make my own hours and i took the opportunity to train consistently, working on steep hillwork. the course for the race i ran at the beginning of december had incredible steep gradients over miles of dirt road along the rim of the linville gorge. based on my past 50 km race times i thought i would run the race in 6.5 hours but ended racing in a time of 5.5 hours for a second place overall female win. i consider it a win because it is my personal best for the 50 km distance and a tough course. i had no problems during the race, no hunger pangs, no cramps, no aching knees or feet...i trained and it paid off.
the linville gorge wilderness (below) the linville river is protected by the national park system and it is pristine!
(below) a very unique ceramic award for 2nd place in the table rock ultras 50 km is a representation of the table rock summit nearby.
dvg
