Follow me on the PV30
I’ve wanted to do this trail in one day for over 25 years. The person who got me into backpacking when I was in my teens did it in the mid 90s. His goal was sub-24 hours. He did it. It was rad and...
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Heaven or Hell? Same fucking place!
I could tell you about a place. A place that is as good as any fantasy you conjured up as a child while listening to fairy tales about magical places. A place that elicits screeches of joy from people...
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Building out the Surly Bill Trailer aka Cargo Maximus
Prelogue I purchased Bill several years ago. Being a white, heteronormative male in America, I have the privilege of giving up things. And part of that privilege also means that, almost without fail,...
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FKT: Getting lost in my head on the Summit Trail Traverse
Math. That’s right. Math. I don’t know why and I certainly couldn’t tell you when it started, but any time I am doing something hard, I end up doing math in my head. I’m about 12 minutes in. My watch...
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I wanted to feel the desert
“The beauty of the desert is found in its cruelty.” We popped open a couple just as we hit the dirt road. The Subaru was moving as we sped toward a place that was to be our jumping-off point for the...
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Thoughts from a “Lost” Canyon
Lost is just another word for changed. I first walked up this canyon 26 years ago. It was my first “real” backpacking trip. We had done a shakedown trip a few weeks earlier, but that was us just...
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Ten on Zen – 2022
Do Unnecessary Shit Sometimes, you just need to feel like you did something, like rip your legs off and self-flagellate with them, something. For the past three years, the Alliance has been feeling...
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Unfuckingnecessary aka the Ultracruise
Where are you headed? I place my foot about 18 inches above the other one, step, slide back past where I started. I push the bike back up to where it was, grab both brakes and attempt to move forward...
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It was golden
I can hear Bro Meinkey stirring and I know that means it’s about time. Time to pull myself out of my warm cocoon and put on wet, cold clothes and hike through the darkness. It’s a time of contrasts....
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Stuck
There was a tension growing that had to be continuously checked, swallowed back into the pit of my gut and left there. It swelled up every time I looked at a watch or thought about what day it was. It...
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Retro Grouch Ery
I know this is going to be a gigglefest. I throw my leg over the top tube with a stupid, giant grin on my face. The singletrack leading out from my front wheel is mostly smooth but has plenty of rocks...
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Escape Routes
There is no way for me to know for sure, but it sure looked like an escape route to me. The desert varnish had 4 or 5 steps carved into its near-vertical wall. This gave access to a strip of sandstone...
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