Susan and I are Engaged!!!

You heard it right! It's official! After being together for 2 years, almost to the day, we got engaged on Sunday, July 26th.

Here's how it went down...

I had it all planned out, Sunday we were to go climbing at a crag high up on Mt. Humphreys. I figured with some tricky excuse, I would get Susan to go up to Snow Bowl (the ski area, start of the Humphreys Trail and altogether beautiful place) after we climbed and then I would take here to one of our favorite aspen groves and propose to here there, among the tall ferns, alpine flowers and towering aspens. The spot is breathtaking. After that I had planned a surprise getaway to dinner at The Asylum and an overnight stay at the Jerome Grand Hotel in the historic mining town turned artsy, quaint Jerome.

(View of Jerome from the Jerome Grand Hotel)

It would have all gone to plan but...Susan wasn't feeling so good on Sunday.

Uh Oh....I wasn't sure what to do with this twist. I was stressing for most of the day because I was ready and committed. I really wanted to ask her to marry me but she was laid up in bed and it just didn't seem very romantic to ask her while she was in that condition. I couldn't imagine waiting another day but I didn't want to be lame.

Later in the afternoon, she asked me to get here some stuff from the store. While I was gone, I thought long and hard about the pros and cons of doing it now or waiting. I believed that if we loved each other and truly wanted to share our lives together then why not now? It would surely be a big surprise to her and hopefully a good one.

All the way back home I made sure to remember the words I was going to say to her "Te quieres casar conmigo?" (Spanish for "Will you marry me?"). Oh, by the way, Susan loves Spanish and speaks it quite well and I speak pretty much zero Spanish except useless words like the naughty ones.

When I got home, it took me a little bit of effort to cool my nerves and then I just blurted it out. "Te quieres casar conmigo?" There, I said it!

Susan was so surprised that she thought I was messing with her at first. Once she realized that I was serious, she said that she would marry me. YES!

I was banking on the fact that after I asked her to marry me she would gain some energy and I would be able to get her to get out of the house, salvage some romance out of the thing and go down to Jerome (I didn't tell her where we were going, it was still a surprise). She immediately wanted to go so we got out of there and made the always wonderful drive down 89A from Flagstaff, through Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona and up the winding mountain road to Jerome.

When we got there and she realized where we were staying, Susan was floating on air as was I realizing my dream of wanting to marry her from our "Day 5." But that's a whole other story.

(Jerome Grand Hotel)

The Jerome Grand Hotel was more than I could have expected. It was perched on the highest, steepest section of town and it overlooked all of the desert Verde Valley, the red, sandstone cliffs of Sedona and the peaks of the San Francisco Peaks in Flagstaff. And the hotel itself...everything about the place was antique. Some things dated back to the 1800's. The hallways were literally a museum of pre World War 1 antiques and painting. Our room was quaint, old and beautiful and our private terrace had an amazing view.

(Hallway on the third floor, full of antiques)

(This organ was built in Germany before World War 1)

(Old time record playing jukebox)

(Crazy old elevator)

(the elevator had nice seating)

(View from inside our room)


(We enjoyed the views from our terrace)

(Susan with the Jerome Grand Hotel in the background)

We ate dinner at The Asylum. We were lucky enough to get a table with a first rate view of the valley below.

We enjoyed our time at the restaurant. We got to say a lot of wonderful thing to each other that would have been said earlier if I had more of a proper proposal somewhere cool (not one to a sick girl in bed at home), got some complimentary Champagne form the host, ate some good food and then retired to our room.

(The Asylum Restaurant)

About 4 am, we couldn't sleep anymore (too excited) and decided to sit on our terrace and enjoy the stars. We ended up setting out there until we got to see the sun rise another hour and a half later. It was perfect.

The moment the sun came up we split to walk around town. It was fun, roaming around Jerome checking out all of the side streets before anyone was up. Usually, Jerome is bustling with tourists. But we wouldn't see any of them for another couple hours.

Definitely, one of the best days of my life and I owe it all to Susan. Thank you Susan. We are going to be quite the team!

Running the Wonderland Trail

I have a great opportunity next week to run the famous Wonderland Trail (93 miles/23,000 of elevation gain and 23,000 feet of elevation loss), around Mt. Rainier, in two days. The run (or more accurately-run/hike) will take place Tuesday and Wednesday (August 4-5).

This is something that I am really excited to do...the Wonderland Trail fast.

Why would I want to do this?

A moment in time-the planting of the seed #1: I remember a long time ago (early 80's I suppose), I was hiking the Wonderland Trail with my family. A man trotted past us, and as he did so, he mentioned to us that he was doing the complete Wonderland Trail in only a few days. I remember how I was so blown away at the fact that he was doing such a improbable feat! I was very impressed but didn't consider for a moment it to be possible for me to do something like that. Somehow, I never let go of that image of him moving past us with barely any belongings, moving quickly, while we were walking slowly with large, back straining, packs. Witnessing this moment, forever changed my view of human limits and the huge expanse one can cover on ones feet in a short period of time.

The adventures of my life-The planting of the seed #2: My parents have taken me, from an early age, to the mountains of the Cascades to explore the wilderness. Some of our most memorable adventures have been hiking on the Wonderland Trail and on the trails around Mount Baker, close to my childhood home of Bellingham, Washington.

After high school, the seeds of exploration and adventure grew to include rock climbing. Climbing and the exploring for new cliffs and boulders consumed me for much of my early adult life. Be it on towering mountains, athletic sport crags or powerful boulders, I climbed, climbed and climbed some more.

Climbing is the reason I moved to the southwest and found my home in Flagstaff, Arizona. The long winters of rain and snow was too much for me. I wanted to climb year round on world class stone. In Flagstaff, I could.

In the last few years, I started to look for more. I had climbed many of the routes that inspired me and I was having to search more and more for new climbing areas (I was never one to sit around an repeat routes all day). I needed more new adventures.

Running, trail running to be exact, was the answer. I crept up on me, but after a few years of doing it and getting in better shape to do bigger runs, I was realizing that there was BIG adventure and exploration in trail running. Especially in the mountains and desert canyons of the west. I was able to travel lighter, cover huge amounts of wilderness, and feel more free and at home than with anything I had done before.

I still love to climb and I always will. Climbing is now a part of me, of who I am. But trail running...that is something completely different and NEW. It is where I find my real adventure at this moment. It is where I test my true limits.

The final straw-the planting of the seed #3: This summer, my mom told me about a video about an attempt to run the Wonderland Trail in less than 24 hours. I watched it and was immediately inspired. Here was another example of how it is possible to do the Wonderland Trail fast. From the moment the video ended, I was thinking about how cool it would be to do the Wonderland Trail again. I didn't think I would have a chance at doing it in 24 hours in my present conditioning, but I did know that I could do it fast, none the less. It was on...I had another run to add to the list of sick runs I would like to do. Maybe this summer...

It all played out well and I found some tickets a couple weeks ago that would be in my price range. I purchased them and sealed the deal. I was committed now. An attempt was going to happen. Who would have thought that something I witnessed, on some random hike, when I was a kid would have such a lasting impression and now I am going to attempt that feat that I thought was so impossible.

The plan: Grant it, I would love to do it as a single push (that is always my ideal) but this trip is going to be a recon mission. I will be doing it in two days (hard enough!) but I will be camping half way through. I really don't want to push it to hard by traveling at night on a trail that I don't remember very well. It would suck to get lost or go the wrong way when I would be so far out from help. The two days of daylight travel and camping in the middle will allow me to move fast and really, really light during the day and get a good night sleep so I can get a fast time in and also enjoy it a bit. I am going to save a single push attempt for some day down the road after I have gotten a better feel for the trail.

For those who like to look at the map and figure out where I am starting, camping, etc...I will be starting at Box Canyon, traveling about 45 miles and then camping at Mowich Lake. The next day I will travel about 45 miles and finish again at Box Canyon. In the end it is about 93 miles with about 23,000 feet of elevation gain and 23,000 feet of elevation loss, completely on trails, with only 3 or 4 access points for support or to bail, in one of the most beautiful trails in the world!!! Sweeeetttt!

To see a larger map of the Wonderland Trail go here.

More information about the Wonderland Trail here.

Durango Climbing Trip

Finally...a post about the Durango trip. Wish I would have posted when it was more fresh so I wouldn't miss all the little fun details for my post. Oh well, I'll give the fast and light version (well maybe not that fast and light).

Susan and I went to Durango a couple weeks ago to get in one last trip before she started student teaching in the Fall (they start the first week of August! Way to early in the summer I think). We were excited to climb at The Golf Wall and Cascade Canyon, two limestone sport climbing areas.

The first day we went to Cascade Canyon, which was a beautiful setting. It is a deep gorge that is lined with vertical and overhanging limestone walls and picture perfect mini waterfalls. The climbing ended up being chossy and not that much fun but we didn't really care too much as the setting made up for it. For more information about climbing at Cascade Canyon go here.

Our favorite camping, of the trip, was a short drive up Lime Creek Road (about 15 minutes from the climbing area). This is free camping at it's best. Note: For added adventure on any trip to the Durango area, definitely drive the whole distance of Lime Creek Road. It follows a beautiful canyon with some extremely tight, windy and very exposed sections. There is some really sweet free camping down by the creek, half way out the road, too. We drove this road as an alternate on our way back from visiting the historic mining town, Silverton (info here and here), one evening.

Cascade Canyon.

Nice waterfall and pool right next to the climbing.

That dude is hot!

The climbing was in a perfect setting.

Flowers were everywhere!

The second day we went climbing at the Golf Wall. Susan and I have been to this wall before and we were psyched to come back and climb more of the routes. This place is really fun! Big jugs on steep walls-one of my favorite styles of climbing and something we have been doing a lot of lately. We were able to work our way up some really nice 5.9's through 12a before a big thunderstorm ran us out. Good day though. We still got a good bit of climbing in.

Golf wall (looks like choss but climbs really well.). Photo is from mountainproject.com. To get more information about the Golf Wall go here.

After climbing at the Golf Wall we had a lot of the day left so we went to a sweet bread shop in Durango that we had heard about called Bread (tricky name), get directions here, and we went to a brewery and grabbed some food before hitting the road.

The best thing about the drive home was witnessing one of the best sunsets I have seen in quite a while. It was set over the sandstone of the Navajo Nation, east of Kayanta. Beautiful in it's own right. But there was more...there was a thundershower right in front of it and the rain was a beautiful pink, orange color as it came down in a thick curtain and in the opposite end of the sky (to the east) there was a double rainbow. Unbelievable sunset. No photo to show for it but it will always be one of my favorites.

Flowers

Sad but true. I think that this is the first thing I have ever planted! I have owned many plants over the years but I have never actually put a seed in the ground. I should do more of this strange gardening thing...



(look I didn't kill it!)

(the fruit of my labor)

Busy times...

I am busy, busy and more busy! Luckily, I am busy because of work AND PLAY! I have been getting out of town a lot and then busting my but when I'm in town to catch up with work and normal life stuff. I will try to blog in the next few days about what's going on in life. Mostly I will be blogging about our fun Durango climbing trip last week and the fact that I will try for a speedy loop of the spectacular and burley Wonderland Trail around Mt. Rainier (the plan is to do it in 2 or 3 days) the first week of August!!!

The San Francisco Peaks Loop Trail Run

A couple days ago I got up early and ran one of my favorite local loops, the Humphreys Trail, Weatherford Trail, Kachina Trail loop on the San Francisco Peaks. The loop is approximately 18 miles.

This loop follows 100% single track trails through tall fern stands, alpine fir, aspen and ponderosa pine forests and up and over saddles well above tree line. Elevation changes are extreme with lowest elevations being about 8,500 feet and highest elevations pushing 12,000 feet.

I was really antsy to run something like this after my run up Santa Fe Baldy last week (I guess it got me all inspired and motivated again).

The run started with the extremely steep Humphreys Trail that climbs from 9,000 ft. to a little over 11,600 ft. over 4 miles. This section is so tough to run that I end up power hiking sections. Good choice to hike some because I really wanted to see if I could break 4 hours (something I have not done yet) and knew it would be a bad idea to push to hard on this section. I really wanted to open it up on the Weatherford Trail, which is mostly downhill.

When I reached the saddle, where the Humphreys Trail meets the Weatherford, I felt really good so I power hiked up and over the little climb on the Weatherford and then really opened it up on the downhill switchbacks down the back side of Agassiz Peak. This was really fun, running fast above tree line with a perfectly warm sun bathing my body, alpine air going in and out of my lungs and viewing a spectacular sight of the Inner Basin below me.

After dropping below tree line, I ran through a nice fir forest to Doyle Saddle and then dropped into a mix of ponderosa, alpine fir and aspens again (standard beautiful peaks forest). I kept my fast pace (well...fast for me) going all the way down to the junction with the Kachina Trail. On the Weatherford Trail, I dropped from almost 12,000 feet to about 8,750 feet.

When I got onto the Kachina Trail I was making good time but feeling it big time from all the fast downhill running. Usually, I run the whole Kachina Trail without too much effort but today I had to power hike anything resembling a steep hill on it. To be expected, I guess. I was hoping to have a little more gas on this section and finish strong but that is what I get for such a quick pace earlier.

By the time I finished the Kachina Trail I had lost and gained a few hundred feet a few times over and finished very, very tired. I did meet my goal of breaking 4 hours and that was cool. I came in with a time of 3 hours and 48 minutes.

It was a great run, on a perfect weather day in a very inspiring setting. Man, I enjoyed that run. Just ask Susan. I spent the rest of the day spazzing out and bothering her with all the energy I got from the run. I was psyched.

If you are interested in learning more about the route I took...

Go here for the Humphreys Trail description.

Go here for the Weatherford Trail description.

Go here for the Kachina Trail description.

New Mexico Trip: San Antonio Hot Springs

Finally, some soaking!!! I have not been to a hot spring in a long time. We had to force it a little before going home but it was worth it!!!


The hot springs we went to were the San Antonio Hot Springs, in the Jemez Mountains. The springs are amazing, definitely one of my favorites, with tiered pools on a mountain slope and water averaging 105 degrees Fahrenheit. Ah, perfect. As the water cascades down the pools the temperature cools so if you are soaking you can slither in and out of different pools depending on your preference. We definitely took advantage and soaked thoroughly in each pool.

To add to the pleasure, we got there by 6 am and were the only ones soaking that morning. Early bird most definitely gets the worm in the world of hot springs. This pool can be particularly busy as it is less than 2 hours from Albuquerque and Santa Fe. We considered ourselves very lucky. Great morning and a great end to a really fun trip.


A couple notes of warning:
-Don't soak nude unless you want to risk a ticket. I heard at least one story of someone getting a ticket for soaking nude. Lame.
-The dirt road leading to the hot springs is pretty rough. It can and is done in low clearance vehicles but is really slow moving.
-Don't camp at the hot springs unless you want to risk a ticket. The springs are visited a fair bit by the rangers and they do not want people camping there (it is a day use area only). Camp there at your own risk. (there is excellent camping on a dirt road directly opposite the dirt road to the hot springs (Forest Service Road 376) where it meets State Road 126.


Get more information on the San Antonio Hot Springs here.

Learn more about the Jemez Mountains here.

Learn about one of my favorite little towns, Jemez Springs here.






Moooo! These cows were just hanging out, having a good old time, chowing on grass at the hot springs.

New Mexico Trip: Running on Santa Fe Baldy

On the last full day in New Mexico, we climbed in El Rito and then went to Santa Fe. Our plan was to split up and Susan would hang out and have dinner with her friend, Andrea, that lives there and I would drive up to the ski area at the local mountain, Santa Fe Baldy (Elevation 12,632') and get a good trail run in to the summit and back.

All went well on the run and boy would it have been nice to bring the camera up there! That place is beautiful. The trail is great for running and the views! Wow. It had been a few weeks since I had done a more demanding run like this and it felt great. I love running in the mountains!

Trail report: From the parking lot at the ski area, I started running north on the Windsor trail (Trail No. 254). Running didn't last long, as the Windsor trail is really, really steep switch backs for the first mile or so. I had to resort to power hiking this section-tough warm up! Luckily, the trail is pretty flat for the next 4 or 5 miles and I was able to get a nice groove going. It was beautiful terrain as the trail followed the side of a ridge through alpine firs and aspen. Excellent running. Then, the trail steepened a bit as it entered a breathtaking basin that is surrounded on two sides by Santa Fe Baldy (to the north) and Penitente Peak (to the south) causing me to work a bit harder to keep a good pace (luckily, I was better warmed up for this hill then the first one). The trail met up with trail 251, which I ran and sometimes power hiked up and over Baldy's Southeast ridge. Amazing views and a great place to linger. From here, a faint trail cuts off of trail 251 and travels straight up the bald ridge to the summit of Santa Fe Baldy. This section was very demanding and hard to keep a quick pace on. It was o.k. though, it allowed me to take in the views as I plodded along. The final stretch to the summit was the best part as I was rewarded by a beautiful meadow with alpine flowers and a flat section of trail that was easy to run on (always feels special to be running above 12,000 feet and, at that moment, I got to run above 12,500 feet). The summit was worth all the work. The timing was perfect as I got to see the sun set over the Jemez Mountains to the west. The summit meadow was lit like a perfect painting. I was very fortunate to be there at that moment.

Knowing I didn't have much time before dark, I quickly made a retreat down the ridge. The run down and back to the car was a race against light. I lost and had to resort to headlamp which was fine.

I do have to admit that the last few miles were a little tough. I got really sore at the end...I guess I haven't been running as much hills as in the spring.

The car was a welcome sight and I was excited to get back to Susan and hear about her adventure in Santa Fe and tell her about mine on Santa Fe Baldy.

In all, the run was about 14-15 miles and I completed it with a time of 3hrs and 15 minutes. Not bad for an old wimp like me. I had a great time.

More information on Santa Fe Baldy here. Hiking information and more photos here.

New Mexico Trip: Climbing at El Rito

Last week, Susan and I went to Northern New Mexico for a climbing trip to El Rito. Learn about the El Rito sport climbing area here.

The climbing is very unique. The rock is conglomerate, made up of of metamorphosed sand and mud, with smooth, rounded cobbles of all sizes sticking out with most of the holds being pockets in the rock that the cobbles left behind when some of them fell out. Many of the walls are overhanging, but with an over abundance of jugs, offering many routes as easy as 5.10. There are also some excellent, steep 5.11's and 5.12's.

I enjoyed the 5.11's and 5.12's the most. Many of the best are long and very continuous with really fun climbing. Pumpy too, no hard moves, you just have to hold on for the ride.

Biggest highlight of the climbing trip for me was climbing on the Rad Wall. Awesome 5.11's and 5.12's! I onsighted a 5.11d/12a and a 5.12a (finally starting to get some endurance) on that wall.

I would assume that one of the big highlights for Susan was her flash of her first 5.11a (cruised it) and working the moves on some 5.12's. Susan continues to get stronger!

For those interested in going there, check out the online El Rito sport climbing guidebook here.

We had some other excitement at El Rito besides the climbing. The weather was a bit crazy the first day we climbed and we got caught in one of the more exciting thundershowers I've witnessed. Around 2:30 pm we saw some really close lighting and decided to hike back down to camp and escape the ridge line that all the climbing was on. About half way down the trail we got pounded on by hard rain and it would have been pretty funny to watch us sprinting for camp in the mud, completely soaked, with lightning flashing everywhere around us. Exciting!

Side note: I sacrificed all by putting all of the metal (draws and such) in my pack, on the hike down in the storm, so that Susan wouldn't get hit by lightning (I owed it to her because I convinced her to stay and climb right up until the really close lightning strikes and she had the better sense and was voting for leaving before it got bad. I think she was right and we should have left a bit earlier)

Oh...I almost forgot. The camping is pretty sweet there too. Free camping by a trickling creek really close to the cliffs. There is even a cool little canyon, with a couple small waterfalls in it, that you can walk to and cool off on a hot summer day. Really nice.

Sorry for the lack of photos of El Rito. We were really bad at bringing the camera with us to the crag. I do have a couple shots that aren't that great but will give you at least a little bit of an idea of what the place was like.

Camping spot with nice little stream a few feet back in the trees.

Camping spot with El Rito crag in background.

The only photo of one of us climbing at El Rito! This is the first route we did of the trip. It was a fun little 5.9 (the rock climbs way better than it looks). Sorry for the lack of climbing photos.