40th anniversary: Bill Briggs’ ski descent of Grand Teton

June 15, 1971







By Griffin Post



http://www.powdermag.com/stories/40th-anniversary-bill-briggs-ski-descent-of-grand-teton/





"Sitting in the corner of the Virginian Restaurant in Jackson, Bill Briggs blends in effortlessly with the regulars. The room is filled with a mix of tourists and old timers, toting Jackson Hole memorabilia and cowboy hats, respectively.



As I make my way across the room, I wonder if the patrons have any idea of the role that the unassuming man in the corner played in ski mountaineering in North America. Then I catch myself—no, I’m pretty sure I’m the only one here that’s enough of a ski mountaineering nerd to be star-struck by a man in his mid-seventies.





Bill Briggs











For me, Bill is a bit of a hero. He’s the man that arguably pioneered ski mountaineering in the States when he skied the Grand Teton 40 years ago on June 15, 1971. I introduce myself, and Bill jumps up and shakes my hand. His enthusiasm and animation catches me a little off guard. Although his hair is grey and a bit thinning and his face is reflective of the lifetime he’s spent outdoors, Bill still speaks with the energy of someone much, much younger. As we begin to talk, I’m relieved to realize that despite the undeniable contributions Bill has made to the sport I love, he’s just another guy who loves talking about the mountains."





Part of the story is here:



http://www.powdermag.com/stories/40th-anniversary-bill-briggs-ski-descent-of-grand-teton/



There is much more in the movie STEEP!.

Honor is due. As a reality check for the same goal today? Look here:



http://slc-samurai.blogspot.com//06/grand-teton.html

Observation Point

The guide for the Observation Point Trail states “This is a long strenuous trail with many steep sections and unprotected drop-offs. Not for anyone who is out of shape, or has a fear of heights.” An apt description, I might add! It ascends 2,148 feet in four miles, making it an eight-mile round-trip. Observation Point provides another view of the Zion Canyon, including Angels Landing, from above.

When I was about one-third of the way up, I began to be passed by small groups of kids. They just kept on coming. And passing me. Finally, several of them had stopped to take a break and I took that opportunity to talk with them. There were 63 kids (ranging in age from 11 to 13) and 12 adults from a satellite school in Houston, Texas. They had been at Zion for eight days and had gone on a hike every day, each hike being progressively more difficult. The day before they had ALL made it to the top of Angels Landing! In fact, each and every one of them had completed every hike they had done. Pretty impressive. However, I was extremely glad that they weren't doing Angels Landing at the same time as I was. It's not that they were terrible kids, because they were the most well-behaved group I think I've ever seen. It's just that there were so many of them!

A short time later I began to play leap-frog with a fellow, probably in his 30s, and asked if he was with the group of kids from Houston. Turns out he was the husband of the principal. We talked for a while as we slowly walked along the trail. He told me that each of the kids had earned their way during the school year by “doing the right thing” as much as possible. They have a system using baseball as an analogy, hits for the good things and strikes for the not so good. Sixty-three kids had enough “hits” to make the trip while 42 were back in Houston.

Anyway, by the time I got to Observation Point I had been passed by nearly everyone in their group, as well as a few other hikers. But I got there! And again, the views from the top and along the way were well worth the effort.

Part way up the trail, eyeball to eyeball with Angels Landing (with the help of the 7x zoom). It doesn't look quite so “bad” from this angle.

After you go up a series of steep switchbacks you enter a narrow canyon that has a stream running through it, but there wasn't much water actually flowing. This was one of the neatest parts of the hike, in my opinion!

There were pools of standing water but we didn't get our feet wet.

The sky and the walls of the canyon are reflected in one of the pools of water.

This was taken on the way back down, entering the canyon from the east.

The trail has exited Echo Canyon and is progressing up the east side of the canyon wall.

I'm still going up, but they are going down.

The destination, Observation Point, is just above the red “lines” in the center.

This last uphill stretch seemed never-ending.

Finally, the plateau. But there is still a ways to go to get out to the point.

Part of the group of 63 kids. A very well-behaved group they were.

The lower portion of the trail, coming up out of the Zion Canyon floor. The Observation Point trail goes off to the left (top center of photo). The three topmost switchbacks belong to the Hidden Canyon Trail, which goes off to the right.

The top of Angels Landing ranges from 20 to 40 feet in width. There are people up there...

As I was promised by my camping neighbors, Maryann and Rob, the view from Observation Point is spectacular. The Virgin River flows through the valley, Angels Landing is in the Center, and then the eastern wall of Refrigerator Canyon. Fantastic.

Wind & Sand

It is so dry here. We are in a heck of a drought as are several of the other southwestern states. The wind blows and the sand creeps into the house through each and every little crack. You might think you have the best windows made but find out there is not any window that seals well enought to keep this dust out. There are brush fires everywhere. New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Arizona that I am sure of. Tornados are just as bad like in Iowa and Wisconsin. These photos don't show the wind and dirt that well, but they are kind of blurry due to the blowing sand. The first one is after a windy day when the sand is blown like little waves.

Snow time...

Quite a bit of snow has fallen over the past week leaving plenty at Paradise (a solid 2 feet). As you can see in this John Piastuck image, skiers and boarders (32 ants by my count) are "chomping at the bit" to climb Panorama Point for early season turns... This is looking to be a very promising ski season folks. The question is, will it hold; will it continue?

The Washington State Climatologists have something to say about our weather. They just published an interesting report about our 2007 summer temperatures. It points to data that says we're still experiencing a warmer than normal trend (0.01 to be exact for Aug). I also found that they are willing to post an "Outlook" for the fall and winter. Check it out, but don't look for any clarity as it doesn't really predict anything substantial or exciting: "The Climate Prediction Center's 3-month outlook for November-December-January is for equal chances of above, below, or normal temperatures for Washington..."

Whatever the case, we're off to good start and the ants on Pan Point are seemingly stoked. With them are a few climbers who are hoping to find the summit this week. Perhaps they'll successfully weave through the upper mountain crevasses and visit Columbia Crest during this weather window.

If you are planning to climb this fall, here are few safety, registration and camping tips:

• Expect crevasses: Though it's been snowing quite a bit this Sept/Oct, be prepared for lightly covered crevasses on the mountain.
• Avalanche: Yes, slides have killed climbers in the fall on Mount Rainier and it could easily happen again. It doesn't take much to knock a team into a terrain trap (crevasse, cliff, hole) or bury someone. This is especially the case if the wind is blowing which could contribute to large snow deposits.
• Poor weather: Ok, this is a constant on Rainier, but fall is definitely the time when storms linger longer than expected and climbers regret their "fast and light" plans. Be prepared to sit out inclement weather and expect heavy wet snow.

You can register in Longmire at the museum, or self register (i.e. honor system) at Paradise on the front porch of the Jackson Visitor Center. Most teams will select the Camp Muir Public Shelter for high camp accommodations. Over the past few years, that hut has been very accessible... But you should still bring a shovel to dig out the door and always clean up after you leave. On nice/busy weekends, bring your ear plugs (snoring, running stoves, chatter) and expect to breath stove exhaust in the hut.

Finishing What You Started

"The hardest part of this for beginners is usually the cleanup," Mike said at the start. "It's a lot of filing. That's what breaks people."




"Oh," I said. "Well, that shouldn't be a problem. I've done filing."




Going into this, I was worried about many things. The measuring, the cutting, the alignment, the brazing. But filing I could handle. I thought back to my days of intaglio printmaking (etching on metal plates). The person who taught me insisted that everything had to be done from scratch and manually - from cutting sheets of metal to preparing the plates. The latter involved beveling the edges at just the right angle, then endlessly filing, sanding and buffing them until the bevels were perfectly even and smooth, polished to a mirror finish. His insistence on this level of prep work had more than a few students in tears before we even touched ink or got anywhere near the press. But for some reason I stuck with it, eventually got the hang of it, and continued to use this method after I began to work independently. It just didn't feel right to do it any other way. Now whenever I see an etching, I can't help but look at the edges in search for file marks. All of this is to say, the prospect of filing for hours did not frighten me.






So how do I explain what happened a week ago? I don't want to exaggerate it into some dramatic melt down, but it was certainly a low point. A very long day, throughout the course of which I grew increasingly quieter and less bouncy than I had been up to that point. This was supposed to be the last day. So maybe it was the discrepancy between having believed I was almost done, and discovering more and more little things needing to be finished. All these little things added up, and taken together amounted to a lot of work. Bridges, bottle cage mounts, eyelets, braze-ons for cable routing.I had been awake since 5:30am. By 5:30pm, I was so tired that I had a hard time focusing. By the time we mocked the whole thing up to make sure the wheels, tires, rack and brakes all worked together,I was no longer fully present. At this stage we decided that the frame was finished - "good enough." But the feeling of satisfaction or at least catharsis that I had expected at the end did not come.




At home later that evening I did nothing and thought of nothing, feeling utterly dejected. It wasn't until the following day that I could even get myself to look at my pictures of the finished frame. And then I finally felt something: panic. "Good Lord, how could I leave it like this? This is notfinished!" I could see smears of brass and silver. If I zoomed in closely enough, I could make out uneven surfaces. I had filed away at these areas, but apparently not enough. Mike had been right: like most first timers, I had flaked out on the cleanup. With horror, I imagined him powdercoating the frame as it was, uneven shorelines and all. Or, worse yet, putting the finishing touches on it himself, whilst chuckling "I knew the finishing would get her!" So I phoned him, trying to stay calm. He had not powdercoated the frame yet. And yes, fine, I could come over to continue working on cleanup. This put me in a fine mood.I showed up bright and early on a Friday morning full of energy.



Somehow I maintained that energy for an entire day of using nothing but some files and emory cloth strips. All I did from 9:30am until 5:30pm, with a break for lunch, was file and sand, and it was tremendously satisfying. I guess having reached that low point my previous time at the shop, there was nowhere to go but up.




Mike had to go out for much of the day, and I was mostly on my own working on this. Not being able to seek feedback (Does this part look even? Did I file too much in this spot?) added a new layer of excitement to the process. When he returned, I think he was pretty amused by how cheerful I was after being at this for hours.






One of the trickiest parts to clean up was the area around the Grand Bois fork crown. Those curly-cues make it difficult to get the file into that little space and chisel away at the extra filler material without gouging the crown or blades in the process. It took me longer to get it to this state from this state, than it did to do the initial post-brazing cleanup. The trick is to dig into the shoreline build-up with the tip of a file, then angle the file just so to lightly and gingerly clean up the rest.






But the most challenging part of all was the seat cluster. My beautiful seat cluster! We made the seat stay caps from scratch to look exactly the way I wanted; it was the coolest thing ever. But during brazing I got a bunch of silver all over the caps, and was now terrified that in cleaning them up I would ruin their perfect concave surfaces. So ever so lightly, I dug into the tiny bulges with the tip of a file, using the most delicate micro-movements I was capable of to remove the filler material but not the steel underneath, then polished with an emory cloth until I got the stuff off. This took a while!




And so it went.The pictures here show the frame close to the point where I stopped, but not quite there.I didn't have the energy for pictures by the time I was done.






If you are wondering about the uneven looking surface from the sanding marks, they disappear after the frame gets sandblasted. The headlugs started out looking like this after brazing, then this, and eventually ended up as you see them above.




Don't get me wrong: The finishing on my frame still isn't "good" by real builders' standards. In fact I would not mind continuing to work on it, but unfortunately we are out of time. But at least now I can live with the state I left it in. And no matter how the bike turns out, I got the feeling of catharsis and closure I wanted out of the process. I learned how to build a bicycle frame (and fork!), from start to finish.

More Blossoms

The Keweenaw Peninsula :: Is it the End or the Beginning?

The end of the road.



The road simply loops around this sign stating it is “The Beginning of US 41”





Over the years, I've driven on sections of US 41 in all the states it goes through except for Wisconsin. I've been at the beginning on the Keweenaw Peninsula and near it's end in Miami and many points in between...

Mount Erie ..

The original plan was to head to the desert for some climbing. But in a strange twist the weather was forecast to be better west of the mountains. So Sabrina and I changed our plans and headed to Mount Erie. The hope was to clip some bolts and maybe do a little top roping. We left Seattle around 7am and arrived near the top of Mount Erie around 8:45.

We were attempting to access the Powerline Crag and had some minor difficulty determining where to park. (Thankfully we brought two guidebooks with us.) Then we headed out on the trail in an attempt to find the crag. In typically Mount Erie fashion, we hiked too far over some sketchy terrain. We were only about 20' above a trail that looked level and should lead us back to the crag, but could not find a way down. We hiked back and eventually found the crag and our starting point for the day, False Impressions (5.8).

It was a bit chilly and Sabrina and I procrastinated before I decided to do the first lead. By this time, a man and a woman arrived and started on the route immediately to the right of False Impressions. I balked at the high first bolt and committing step out onto the route and handed the lead over to Sabrina. She balked a bit before she got going and she was on her way. She made her way smoothly through the first four bolts and then hung because of the pump of figuring out the next move. After getting back on the wall, she made quick work of the rest of the route. I followed the route, and found it more difficult than I probably would have on lead. I also took a direct start which eliminates the committing step out, but it means you are climbing for 10-12' before reaching the first bolt. Sabrina climbed it again on top rope and found it more difficult to follow as well.

Sabrina cleaning the anchors on False Impressions

A crowd had gathered by this point and there were now six other people in the area besides ourselves. So Sabrina and I headed to the east end of the crag to climb a few more bolted routes. This involved a scramble up to a ledge system which was somewhat precarious. Fortunately there was an anchor bolt that we anchored into as well as secured our backpacks to. One of the other parties also came up to the ledge and we negotiated routes.

I led the 5.8 Finishing Touch which I found easier than False Impressions. (Perhaps why one guidebook lists it as a 5.7+?) It was less steep and had some thin balance moves. Sabrina led it after me and found it more difficult. I followed her lead and we did an ill advised walk off to climber's right to get back. (We were using a natural anchor and the only rap anchor was being used by the other party.)

Sabrina on Finishing Touch

After our walking excursion, we set our sights on No Holds Barred (5.10a). I got the first lead and cruised up the easy section at the bottom to the second bolt. I paused for a long time attempting to unlock the moves above me all while my legs were getting pumped. I finally hung and attempted again. It wasn't working. I lowered off and rested my legs and then had back at it. This time I was successful as I had made a plan from the ground. I then fell repeatedly trying to figure out the next set of moves. Part of my issue was that I had not seen a critical hold for my right hand that was near the fourth bolt. After finding the hold I was able to move up and complete the route. Sabrina led it after me and had a short fall at one point and hung a bit at another point before completing the route. I tried it again on top rope without any issues.

Sabrina climbing No Holds Barred

At this point we contemplated what to do next. We knew we had to leave the immediate vicinity as there were no climbs left for us to do. Where we started in the morning had become crowded, and that was no longer an option either. So we were going to have to scramble down from the ledge to walk up and out. I decided that we should put our packs on and climb Finishing Touch again so we would be at the trail. Sabrina agreed if I would lead it. So I did. In the mid afternoon after a bit of climbing, the pack really affected my ability to climb. It made the 5.8 feel harder than the .10a we had just climbed. Near the top I avoided the crux of the route by traversing over to the final moves of No Holds Barred. I anchored to a tree and brought Sabrina up.

We debated briefly about going to another location to climb but Sabrina suggested we relax and enjoy the view. Being fairly tired and knowing the difficulties of getting to another crag on Erie, I agreed and we sat a bit on an outcropping enjoying the day before returning to the car to go home.

Glacier, Whitehorse and Three Fingers

Overall this was a great trip. It was nice to get out with Sabrina who I had been missing going out with. While the forecast was for "mostly cloudy" the day went from cold and overcast to sunny and warm. Short sleeves weather in the afternoon was welcomed by all. I felt I climbed well enough, but was hoping to climb better. I enjoyed all the routes we did, and would probably recommend them to others.

Delicate Yellow Columbine and a Happy Dance - Finally!

Saturday, June 4th - - We almost made it back from lunch without stopping to take photos of the flowers! Almost, but not quite. These were in the “Pioneer Garden” near the Library.









Photos taken Saturday, June 4th

Oh, and in case you think all we've been doing while in Salt Lake City is photographing the pretty flowers, I did on this day, late in the afternoon, have occasion to do the “Happy Dance” after finding a Deed where the heirs of my 4th great grandmother sold land in 1849 that had been willed to her by her father Andrew Brinker!



Previously all I had was her name Mary C. (wife of Jacob Switzer). Turns out her name was Anna Catharina, aka Catharine. A book with several updates has been published on the lineage and descendants of Andrew Brinker that take me back three more generations (with names of spouses and their parents) to Zurich Switzerland... way cool.



It was an amazing feeling when I read that little sentence in the Deed Book “It being a tract or parcel of land willed and devised by Andrew Brinker, late of Columbiana County, dec'd, to his daughter Catharine Switzer & her heirs..” The transaction was signed by her four surviving daughters and their spouses (whose names I already had from Jacob's estate settlement).



A little squeal of delight. A few tears. Lots of laughter. A “new” ancestor found – the first one in many, many years. Can you say Happy? Oh yeah. I still have the smile on my face!

Another Piece of the Puzzle

On my visit to the Columbiana County Archives and Research Center in Lisbon, Ohio last month I was given two more documents relating to the descendants of Dietrich Hoffman, my 5th great-grandfather. A previous visit (in July ..) had garnered an article on the legal publication of the Petition for Partition for a portion of the real estate.





Published on September 29, 1832 on page one of The Ohio Patriot, the article lists the heirs of Detrick Hoffman and states that 27 acres in the north west quarter of section 12, township 15, range 3 were involved. Although there were 10 heirs named, the petitioner was requesting his “one-sixth part of said land” indicating that there were only 6 children of Detrick Hoffman still living or deceased with children. (A full transcription can be found in this post).



The parties involved in the Petition were John Hoffman, Samuel Hoffman, Daniel Coler and Elizabeth his wife, John Swarts and Margaret his wife, Henry Hoffman, Samuel Hoffman, Jacob Hoffman, Abraham Hoffman, Samuel Fox, and Edward Rhodes and Sarah his wife.



Through evaluation of various records and information from another researcher, we thought the relationships of the individuals listed in the above Petition were:

• John, Samuel, Jacob, and Abraham - children of Detrick


• Elizabeth wife of Daniel Coler, Margaret wife of John Swarts, Henry Hoffman, and Samuel Hoffman - children of Michael & Mary (Coy) Hoffman


• Samuel Fox and Sarah wife of Edward Rhodes - children of Phillip and Susanna (Hoffman) Fox

One of the things that puzzled me about the above Petition was that only 27 acres of land were being sold. Detrick was in possession of 81 acres of land when he died in March 1826. The answer lies in the documents below...






Columbiana County, Ohio - Common Pleas Journal #6, page 165

August Term AD 1828 1st day 18th


John Hoffman & Jacob Hoffman vs Michael Hoffman, Samuel Hoffman, Abraham Hoffman, Abraham Fox, Samuel Fox, Sarah Fox & Susanna Huffman } Petition for Partition

"The Petition of John Huffman & Jacob Huffman by Mr. Blocksom their attorney presented their Petition for partition of 81 25/100 acres of land being a part of S12. T15. R3. in Columbiana County & produced satisfactory Proof that due & legal notice has been given the parties interested by Publication in the Ohio Patriot. A. W. Loomis Esq is appointed guardian ad litem of for Abraham Fox[,] Samuel Fox & Sarah Fox defendants in this case & Minors, who appears and receives notice and consent to the grantings of the prayer of the Petition, whereupon the Court grant the Petition [smudged word] that a writ of Partition [illegible word] to the Sheriff to proceed and apart [?]..."

It seems there may be a little more to the case on the next page, which I neglected to get... at any rate, the document shows us that Michael Hoffman was still living in August 1828. It also names three minors: Abraham, Samuel and Sarah Fox. The published petition of 1832 listed Samuel Fox as well as Sarah wife of Edward Rhodes. There was no mention of Abraham. It is likely that he died sometime between the time of the two documents (August 18, 1828 and August 23, 1832). So, it seems, that our original "assessment" regarding the heirs of Detrick Hoffman was correct!






Columbiana County, Ohio - Common Pleas Journal #7, page 53

April Term 1829, 3 day


John Huffman etal vs Michael Huffman etal }

"The Sheriff of the County made return of a writ of sale issued in this case with his proceedings thereon from which it appears that after giving notice as required by the statute of the time & place of sale by advertising & putting up written advertisements he sold the land in said writ mentioned at the Court House in said County on the 26th of January 1829, Except the widows dower mentioned in the writ, to John Fry for Seven Hundred ten dollars & that he brought the money into Court for distribution & thereupon the Court order the said Sheriff, after deducting the costs & expenses, to distribute the money aforesaid to & amongst the parties entitled to receive the same in lieu of their shares & proportions of said land according to their just rights. And said Sheriff here acknowledges in open Court a deed for said land so sold as aforesaid to said Fry."

It appears that John Fry would have purchased 54 acres, with the 27 acres mentioned in the 1832 published Petition being the Widow's Dower.



What these two documents also provide is a better estimate of the date of death of Susannah Hoffman, widow of Detrick. We now know that she was still living in January 1829 when the land was sold to John Fry but had passed away before August 23, 1832 when the Petition for Partition for the remaining 27 acres was dated.

The Bear Run trail run challenge

The welcome sign behind the barn - maps located here

I've lived in Southwestern PA all my life, but have yet to explore the trails of Bear Run Nature Reservein Mill Run. Its located on Route 381 between Normalville and Ohiopyle. I've had no particular reason for not going, I guess there were always other places being explored. Several climbing buddies even told me of some climbing that exists here. I always thought of checking it out as I sped by on the way to one of the normal destinations, but never did. This past spring Laura and I stopped and walked a short section of the trails while birding. I must say the birding was good, Hemlocks amazing, and the forested trails very inviting.





Yesterday I had to work in the morning but my afternoon was free. I wanted to go run and started discussing options with Laura. She brought up the idea of trying Bear Run. At Bear Run none of the individual trails are over 3 miles, but together they add up to about 20 interconnected miles. For the backpackers out there, they also offer a few campsites for overnight trips. Registration is easy right at the parking lot behind the barn. It was time to map an interesting route. I read a little about the trails online while Laura started getting out maps and books with additional information. After studying the options for a while, I settled on running the perimeter of the whole trail system. This run would end up being about 11.5 +/- miles and a great distance for some higher speed running. It looked easy to follow on paper, at each intersection, turn right. I'm not sure about other areas, but locally some trails are blazed and work well most of the year, but summer months can bring on thick vegetation which blocks the view of blazes and chokes out "established" trails turning them into navigational nonsense. I was hoping this wasn't the case at such a popular area.I pulled into Bear Run and parked in the lot at the trail head (TH) behind the main barn building. There are paper maps available right at the parking lot to help guide you on this journey if you feel like giving it a whirl. Being somewhat unfamiliar with the trails, I picked up two just in case one got ruined or lost. I really didn't feel like stumbling out at midnight on a short distance, training run. Especially since I was starting later in the day. The trails are mostly marked with upright posts at the intersections. They display the trail name and direction of travel arrows to make things easier...

Starting point of route, Registration Board at the trail head

Here's the route: Clock starts at the registration board - (TH) kiosk. Start on Arbutus, turning right onto Wintergreen, follow Wintergreen about a mile to the intersection with Warbler. At the end of Warbler, turn right onto Hemlock (a little chin scratching, blaze hunting was done several times on this one), follow Hemlock to a confusing downhill intersection at the campsite. (Hint) From the campsite basically make a quick switchback right onto the logging road (Bear Run trail.) Its blazed red/maroon, although you'll have to travel several hundred yards to find one. Many are hidden behind new growth along this section. Just after the turn you'll encounter some awesome boulders right on the trail (hint, hint to any climbing friends still reading).Follow the (I'm guessing seldom used?) Bear Run trail to the intersection with Tulip Tree trail (freshly blazed red), but unmarked I believe. Turn right and follow this incredible, rocky, freshly revamped trail to the intersection of Laurel Run trail. Follow Laurel Run trail all the way to a crossing at route 381. Cross the hardtop road and continue on Laurel Run to Peninsula trail. This intersection is tricky so pay attention or you'll add an out and back hill climb to your run too. Near the end of Peninsula trail, you'll come to Paradise Overlook (a rock outcropping that offers a view of the Youghiogheny River below. From there follow the trail uphill to a gravel road. Turn left onto the gravel road(Tissue trail)and follow it back to route 381. The entrance to Bear Run (the starting point) is across the road. Finish the run at the same sign where you began.

Paradise Overlook

My first try at this run was 1:47:21. I was off trail several times, referenced my map too much, stopped for a couple photos, yet ran my ass off to set a benchmark for myself and others. My experience was top notch and I highly recommend it to trail runners looking for new places to venture. Seemed like hard work despite its shorter distance. Route finding proved to be a little more difficult than I expected. Now knowing the route I look forward to trying this one again. There's some long moderate hills, short steep hills, high speed technical rocks on (my favorite part) Tulip Tree trail. Thick sections, Stinging Nettles, even an oozing deer carcass that currently requires a surprise long jump! All kinds of trail goodies. I really enjoyed the many types of forest , wildlife and vegetation that you encounter on this run. As I ran I identified birds by call to pass the time. I heard Black-throated Blue warbler, Black-Throated Green warbler, Wood Thrush, Veery, Rose Breasted Grosbeak, Scarlet Tanager, American Robin, Indigo Bunting, Field Sparrow, Eastern Wood Pewee, and Red-bellied woodpecker. Others were present I'm sure, these are what I remembered.




If you happen to try this one, please share your experience. I'm sure someone can run this much faster (I'm surely going to try). I hope to get other runners motivated to come give it their all. How fast can this be done? A friendly challenge if you will... Come try it, you won't be sorry! (printable trail map)

Before the Rain

Farewell A.V. Ristorante

(photo by bethhowe1 @ flickr)

Augosto Vasaio opened his landmark Italian restaurant in July 1949 on New York Avenue, and it became magnet for everyone from stars to well, just everyone. My cousin, Peter adored it for the large portions of comfort food, Italian style. He was in heaven when we had our cousin parties there. I remember him ordering platters and plates until we all left groaning. Plus they were a customer. Uncle Mimi and Dad's business, Modern Linen, kept them supplied with tablecloths and napkins for years.

Dad remembers that Augusto used to fill a station wagon full of stockings, toothpaste, cigarettes- whatever he thought would sell. He and the car would get on a boat to Italy every year, and then back he'd come with a new load of olive oil and pasta and cheeses. Not to mention that Italian yard marble A.V.'s is famous for in the courtyard.

Another piece of Washington history is slipping away. The doors close July 28.
Hurry.

Rains and Dirt Roads

This is what happens when we get our rains in New Mexico on our dirt roads. The water flooding down the roads causes lots of erousion and make ruts and ditches in the road and sometimes washs them out to where they are completely impassable until the wind comes, drys out the sand and blows sand back into the damage that was done. Or else man and heavy equipment repair it so it can happen again during the next rain storm.

High Water at High Falls

High Falls at Grand Portage State Park , - The Pigeon River has risen 5 FEET in the last 24 hours from yesterday's heavy rainfall!