Big Bend National Park, Texas

So it's been 20 days since my last post and I have been wanting to post some photos of Big Bend since I got back, but just haven't found the time. So... Here is a selection of photos from the wilds of SW Texas.


Day 1: 5 mile hike up to a ridge on the west side of the Chisos Mtns.

This is a view south into Juniper Canyon

That evening, we camped at Rio Grande Campground. This is a wetlands area very close to the Rio Grande.

Sunset on the Mexico cliffs.

The residents of the Mexico village Boquillas, just across the river, craft these wire sculptures and leave them at this popular overlook in the park for tourists to take and leave a donation in a can. While we were sitting watching the sunset, a man walked up to the display and checked on the can of money. We realized he was a Mexican resident of Boquillas coming to collect the money from the art display. There was a sign explaining that the money collected was being used for the local school in Boquillas. This practice, however, is illegal and tourists are encouraged not to take the items and leave money. Oddly enough, the park staff is aware of this situation and has offered to legally buy these crafts directly from the Boquillas residents, pay them 3 times the amount they are sold for along the river, and then the park turns around and sells them in the gift shops. For some reason though, the illegal displays remain.

Day two: Another 5 mile hike into a narrow canyon along the eastern border of Big Bend to a feature called Ernst Tinaja. (Tinaja means "tiny cup")

Ernst Tinaja

The geology in this area was fascinating.

Following, is a nice selection of plant life common to the region:

Two of the most common species: Prickly Pear cactus, above, and Strawberry Tibayalitayascmapaya cactus, below. (I actually can't remember it's name, but it's strawberry something.) This stuff was everywhere, from the lowlands along the Rio Grande at 1800 ft to the highest areas in the Chisos Mtns at 7000 ft.

Another of the most common plants: Yucca

Rainbow Cactus

This is either a Cow-Crippler or a Horse-Crippler. Wicked little buggers, aren't they!?

Just reason # 5,479 why thou shall not go barefoot in the desert.

Ressurection Fern. I didn't get a chance to witness the ressurection, but apparently, when it rains, this fern collects the water and turns a beautiful bright green the following day. Then, promptly, it goes back to it's usual brown.

Hectia. This interesting plant is all about disguise. There is another similar-looking plant, lecheguilla, that looks just like it except without the red coloring, that contains a nuero-toxin which prevents animals from eating it. Hectia does not contain this neuero-toxin and, thus, is edible to animals; however, by mimicking lecheguilla, which animals know is dangerous, it attempts to trick them and scare them away to prevent itself from becoming lunch.

We hiked up and out the east side of the canyon, then followed a faint trail up the eastern slope back up to the top of the ridge which the canyon slices through. This is the view down into the canyon we hiked through just an hour earlier.

The floor of the canyon had these interesting ripples, evidence of the water that rushes out of the canyon during heavy rains.

A Valliant Effort

After 73 miles and after 13 hours of non-stop forward movement, the machine shut down. The crash occurred on the fourth 20 mile loop, 13 miles after I had picked up with her to pace her over the last 40 nighttime miles. She looked great over the first 60. Absolutely great. Good rhythm. Comfortable pace. Smiling. Easy. Other than feeling like she had already ran 60 miles by the time I began running with her, when I asked her how she felt, she said "Great!" After 7 miles and about 1 1/2 hours into the fourth lap, it got dark and we broke out the headlamps. I noticed our pace slowing a bit, but it was dark and this was a surprisingly narrow two-way traffic part of the course so I attributed our slow down to that. No big deal. We're still moving forward and still clicking off the miles every fifteen minutes. We reached the Far-Side Aid Station, the turn around point for this section of the course and continued our way back through the night. And then... 30 minutes later... it happened. We stopped briefly. "Something's not right", she said. "I don't feel good." We kept going. Walking mostly. Shuffling a bit. "Oooooooohhhhhhhh, this is not good." She placed her hands on her knees and rested there for 30 seconds before walking again. "What's happenning?" It took us a long time to get to the next aid station. We were probably walking 20 minute miles. We got to the aid station. She sat down. I knew she needed fuel. Liquids especially. Anything. Oranges? Great. She downed a whole orange, drank half a bottle of water, got up and continued on. We were much slower now. No running. We stopped again after another 1/4 mile or so. She sat down to rest and sip some water. 15 minutes later, she tried to get up, but couldn't. Dizzy. Blurred vision. Nausea. Chills. She sat down again. Sipping more water. Another 15 minutes passed. Another attempt at getting up. Nope. Not gonna happen. Finally, we got up and walked slowly back to the last aid station we were just at. By now, she was having trouble walking on her own. She sat down in a chair and began the slow process of climbing out of the hole she had suddenly found herself in. Two hours later, we were evacuated out of the race course by a race vehicle with three other runners dealing with their own health issues. It was over.

I'm so proud of her. Amazing. Other than under-estimating the fluid intake necessary to run for that kind of distance in warm and humid conditions, she ran a beautiful race. It's difficult to prepare for warm humid sea-level race conditions when you live in a frigid, high-altitude, arid climate. She did everything she had planned to do. Her training went great. Her preparation was perfect. Finishing the first 100 mile run of your life is something everyone who sets off for the race aspires to accomplish. Many don't on their first attempt. In these races, experience is what gets you through those long miles at the end and the next one will be easier. Dramatically easier. When and where that is... who knows. But it's out there waiting. And when the time comes, she'll be ready. And I don't think there's anything that will stop her.

All systems go!

Whew! After seven hours of driving Mrs. M finally made it to Victor!

She encountered interstate freeways that had been closed due to high winds, twisty snow covered roads littered with the occasional errant car stuck deep within the roadside snowbank, blowing snow that would temporarily block the road from view, white-out conditions, black-ice, car accidents that had caused certain portions of a road to close briefly, road closures that took effect 15 minutes after she had passed by the gate, road closures that were lifted 15 minutes before she got to the gate, snowbanks higher than a typical SUV, snowdrifts across the road that she couldn't see the end of, portions of the road surface that were covered in 4 inch thick ice, and through it all, she kept an attitude of "Ok, Here I go about to disappear in a great big puff of snow again! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Something like that anyway...

So Friday morning at 5:00, we depart Victor, ID in Reba the Jeepa and mount an early morning assault on Teton Pass that will hopefully be clear and allow us to reach Jackson before 6:00 to be ready to board a fingers-crossed on-time flight to Austin, TX at 7:30. Boy will we both be relieved when those wheels get off the ground. I feel like the race has already started!

Stay tuned for the race report in the coming week or two.

And we're off to Rocky Racoon! (or are we???)

I'm heading to Texas tomorrow morning. I think.

Point Forecast: Victor, Array 43.61N -111.1W (Elev. 6196 ft)
Hazardous Weather OutlookWinter Storm WarningTonight: Periods of snow with areas of blowing snow. Low around 16. Wind chill values between -2 and 3. Breezy, with a southwest wind between 18 and 24 mph, with gusts as high as 32 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Total nighttime snow accumulation of 3 to 7 inches possible.


Ms. M is coming with me. (or more appropriately, I am coming with her.) She is prepared to run her first 100 mile race on Saturday morning: The Rocky Racoon 100 in Huntsville, TX. I am half of her race support (along with her mother) and also her pacer for the last 40 miles.


Friday: A 40 percent chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 22. Wind chill values between -2 and 8. Breezy, with a southwest wind between 14 and 24 mph, with gusts as high as 34 mph. New snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible.

This afternoon, she began driving down from her home in Mammoth Hot Springs just inside the north gate of Yellowstone Nat'l Park. As of 8pm, she is in the Island Park area on US Hwy 20 north of Ashton, ID.




We have booked a flight to Austin, TX out of Jackson Hole, WY tomorrow morning at 7:30.



Point Forecast: Jackson WY 43.48N -110.78W (Elev. 7196 ft)
Last Update: 4:06 pm MST Jan 31, 2008Forecast Valid: 9pm MST Jan 31, 2008-6pm MST Feb 7, 2008

TonightSnowLo 11°F
FridayChanceSnowHi 20°F
FridayNightChanceSnowLo 1°F
SaturdaySlight ChcSnowHi 18°F
Hazardous weather condition(s):
Hazardous Weather OutlookSnow AdvisoryTonight: Periods of snow. Low around 11. Wind chill values as low as -7. Breezy, with a south southwest wind between 21 and 23 mph, with gusts as high as 32 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total nighttime snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible.

Back to the icebox

It was a wonderful, albeit speedy, weekend trip to Portland last weekend.



After Miss M and I flew a momentarily nail-biting set of standby flights from our respective areas into Portland on Friday night, we got up at 3am on Saturday morning to drive the 2 1/2 hours north with my parents to run the Capitol Peak Mega Fat Ass where my mom ran her first trail race, 8 miles, my dad ran one full loop, 17 miles, and Miss M and I each ran a loop and a half, 25 miles. Our goal was the full 34 miles, but due to the atrociously sloppy conditions, my lack of training, and Miss M's upcoming 100 miler, we both called it a day after 25. We then drove home, cleaned up, visited my grandparents, got dinner, and finally got a full nights sleep. End of day one.



On day two, Miss M and I toured Portland spending some time walking my Mt. Tabor hill route, driving down Hawthorne Blvd, having a great lunch at a little Thai restaurant on NW 23rd Ave, driving up to the West Hills neighborhoods to look at all the fascinating homes up there, then driving through the Washington Park area past the Rose Gardens, Hoyt Arboretum, and the Portland Zoo. When we got home, we met up with my good buddy and his family (wife and two daughter's ages 5 and 1) and we all went bowling at Big Al's in Vancouver, WA. What a blast. My buddy's 5 year old daughter is so smart, so full of energy and so much fun. We all had a great time and it was great visiting with them. I wish we could do it more often! Whew. End of day two.



On day three, My dad, Miss M, and I, drove to my sister's house for breakfast and spend some time with her and her 6 year old daughter, my adorable niece. So much energy! Where does it come from? It was great hanging out there visiting with them and catching up on things a bit. My niece LOVES Hannah Montana. And that's an understatement. I don't know much about Hannah other than she is a make-believe personality of Mylie Cyrus, Billy Ray Cyrus's daughter, which certainly doesn't add any appeal to me at all, but then again, I'm not a 6 year old girl, nor do I have a 6 year old girl of my own, nor do I hardly ever associate with any 6 year old girls. So I guess that's all understandable. Why would a 6 year old want to sit and talk with a 29 year old guy, when Hannah can be found on mylie.com? When I was 6, well... I don't remember what I was doing when I was 6, but it probably involved going outside and getting dirty or something like that and I probably didn't want to hang out with adults either unless they were going to play with me outside. My dad is great though. He will endlessly play Hannah Montana games with her and she loves it.



Anyway, it was a great trip seeing everyone and spending some time in the thick, damp, sea-level air of the Pacific NW. Miss M and I flew out of Portland on Monday afternoon and...



...went back to the icebox! It was -24 degrees in Bozeman, MT when Miss M got into her vehicle to drive home. It was -12 degrees in Idaho Falls, ID when I got into mine and began my drive home.



Often, when a high-pressure weather system moves into these areas during the winter months, it brings with it crystal clear blue sunny skies by day and beautiful, dark, starry nights where dense, super-chilled air pools into low-lying areas and creates an all-too-familiar, all-too-uncomfortable temperature inversion where the coldest temps occur on the valley's low spots and get warmer as you gain elevation. So when I decided to go skate skiing after work on Wednesday, I naturally thought Grand Targhee would be the warmer location. It was -4 degrees when I left work at 6pm. It was 6 degrees 2,000ft higher at Grand Targhee. It was warmer, but was it noticable? Absolutely not. Cold is cold. Doesn't matter how you slice it when it gets that cold. So off I went, quickly learning how important the proper wax is at those cold temps. I felt like I was gliding on sandpaper. I could "walk" on my skis uphill. I would come to a stop while gliding downhill. I had no glide. It was painfully arduous. If I had been going any slower, I would have been going backwards. But I couldn't even go backwards if I tried. The cold, dry, abrasive snow had me stuck.



Overall, it was just nice to be out on a clear, quiet night, especially when I watched the moonrise over the Teton Range.