It’s What We Do – San Diego 100 Race Report
In June of 2012, I ran my first 100-mile trail race. Observing the 13th anniversary, I am republishing my ‘race report’ that appeared on an early version of the Trail Option blog (although the links don’t work, the original blog is here). It is rather long, but running 100 miles takes me a long time. In summary, I’m a 100-mile runner and that can’t be taken away; to finish is to win, and that motivates me to ‘keep going’ every day.
Continue Reading It’s What We Do – San Diego 100 Race Report
Embracing Distractions: Mason Valley – Seaman Range – Lunar Craters
Maybe high points don’t have to be the goal. I established my High Points quest in the 1990s to encourage my exploration of the Nevada outback. I knew summit goals could guide me as I traversed Nevada’s Basin and Range and grew familiar with its amazing variety of desert landforms. Over 30 intervening years, I was not as persistent in my high-point pursuit as I could have been – I missed several years or went months at a time without visiting a summit, but my exploration has been almost ceaseless as I worked on a wide variety of geoarchaeological projects and managed to summit 130 of Nevada’s 317 (or so) named ranges. I grew more patterned and regular as I began writing about the excursions. I am, however, due for change.
Continue Reading Embracing Distractions: Mason Valley – Seaman Range – Lunar Craters
Nevada High Points #130 – Pilot Mountains
Every once in a while, on these high point wanders, I choose a really good route. Not that there are bad routes, but I often end up choosing a misleading side canyon of riparian bushwhacking, leading to bouldery talus below false summits. Other times I get to the evident high point where I notice a confusing array of summits of similar elevation, so I question my maps and wander around visiting each one. Again, this is not a bad thing, it is always good to be in the hills – unless the light is fading, or a storm is coming. My route on Pilot Peak, however, was perfect.
Nevada High Points #129 – Royston Hills
And just in time, because this is supposed to be a High Point story! As it happens, however, the Royston Hills provide a long, quiet wander with none of the small drama of my short overland drive. The drive had left me on the low, eastern slopes of the Cedar Mountains, with the geographic boundary between the ranges marked by a mature dendritic drainage that pushes basinward to the south. I can map several surfaces of the inset floodplain that cuts and isolates the bounding pediment lobes. The youngest floodplain may only be a few years old; it is now dry and likely only flows in significant storms.
Field Notes 2025.01.15
Winds of change. Squalls building along the Antarctic Peninsula Starting 2025 by abandoning social media so that I might improve my focus on field excursions, research, writing, and photography.
Nevada High Points #128 – Slate Ridge
I am on the road again. Having arrived home from northwestern Nevada only recently, I need to be in southern Nevada for some time in our Desert Branch office and a quick bit of fieldwork near Rogers Dry Lake in southeastern California. It is one end of the state to the other, and from the Great Basin Desert to the Mojave. I enjoy the quick transitions, one ecology to another, Basin and Range to the Walker Lane tectonic silliness, and the travel day provides the opportunity to explore another high point without much of a detour.