Bedrock & Paradox

Sometimes I just need to get away and be quiet, and the Grand Canyon in summer is a very still place. I busted out of work Friday afternoon, and 3 hours later had my permit and was headed down. Here’s a rain cell moving over Bright Angel canyon and the north rim lodge. Looking back…

For the weekend: solitude or socializing? And I say yes. Tomorrow I jet off straight after work, up to the big ditch, for a short overnight. Hike until dark, camp, long day Saturday come home. Then up at 0300 Sunday for the drive to Phx and a roadie ride on SoMo for Chongoman Bob’s 30th.…

Entertainment, if it weren’t for the misogyny: Just as she was getting to her bra, the maître d’hôtel got to her. Thus her drunken, wobbly stint as a stripper ended, and so did her dinner. She and her date, a smiling, sloshed man who had seemingly egged her on, were escorted to the door. “She…

I’ve been rereading some Abbey and Thoreau in the process of writing Honors curricula for some of the high school students. I also got a copy of Craig Childs latest last night, House of Rain. (See here for a peak.) He’s an exceptional author; when I first read The Secret Knowledge of Water I was…

K Monkey fixed, sans ouchy-ouchy bars.

Absolute Bikes Old Fashioned Bike race: August 25th. Chad is going, sounds fun, and fast. The road climb spreads the elevation nicely, and the traversing singletrack is fun, with lots of moderate rock gardens. The question becomes: Lev, or fixed? Needless to say I’d enter Expert, no point driving that far to ride 20 miles…

Posted up some thoughts on the two bars here. Overall, the WTB experiment has been a failure. I’ll be pack-ratting them for a little while, but they may go up on the block soon enough. My right wrist is in agony this morning, I think because that’s the side I’ve got the front brake on,…

The newest iteration of the monkey got out for some fun this evening. And fun it was. I managed to crash on a slick granite ledge in the first 90 seconds, taking a few chunks out of my knee and Brooks. Afterwards, I got the spin and hover descending bit ok. The bike is a…

Before the weekend begins. Zion National Park has released what seems (but is not specified as) it’s final draft backcountry management plan. What stood out to me, after slogging through the 88 pages, was the extent to which it doesn’t change the status quo. And that is, I think, for the most part okay. The…

I was up til nearly midnight finishing The Deathly Hallows last night. For those still in it, beware: the last ~250 pages sets the hook deep and wouldn’t let me go until the end. In a good way. I will say only this more: I liked it. Lots. Otherwise, the unplanned break from serious cycling…