Trying to catch up...life without a computer

Wow. This is so completely overdue. Originally, my plan was to post an update not long after I made my move back across the country from Vermont to Arizona. As things go, life happened, and in the events of "life happening" my trusty little chromebook died a horrible death. (translation: living out of your vehicle has its hazards, and when you're not careful you smash the screens of semi-important bits of technology) The world has been overwhelming, and part of me felt silly writing a blog about random adventures and running and living out of my vehicle. Alas, here I am. Leaving many details to the wayside, and doing my best to catch things up, just a bit.
So, in the words of Indigo Montoya: "Let me explain, no. There is no time. Let me sum up."
I left Vermont in mid-October to begin my trek back to the Southwest. I planned my route with the intention of sleeping at either National or local parks and getting out for a run in each of them. Some runs were more interesting than others, but all were very welcome, usually after 10 or more hours of driving. In the hope of just getting this out there, and moving on to the next adventure, this is going to be mostly pictures, and fewer words. (imagine that, me attempting modified loquacity!!)


Part One: The final couple months in Vermont. I spent my last summer as the co-director of Camp Outright, and couldn't be happier to have had the privilege to help create an awesome, welcoming, entertaining and growth-inspiring space for Queer and questioning youth. It was truly an honor. Best pic I have of that experience is Ernie (my Honda Element that is also my home) full to the brim with the mascots of  the pond: Magical siblings Rufus the unicorn and Paisley the Pegasus.

Two days after wrapping things up with Camp Outright, I headed for the hills and worked for the Green Mountain Club as their summit caretaker for Mt. Abraham. It was a blast. A mixture of minor trail maintenance, counting hikers on the weekends, informing folks about the Long Trail, the Mt. Abe summit and surrounding areas, and the most glamorous part of the job: dealing with people's shit! (I'm speaking literally here.) There were four privies in my jurisdiction, I usually made a day out of it with a solid 14ish mile out and back to maintain all 4 in one go. This job was incredible. The through hikers were fun to meet. The shock of day hikers at my response to the "what do you do question" was wholly entertaining. Many thanks to the GMC for all the work they do and for giving me the chance to be a part of it all. I'm sorry I can't make it back for the upcoming season, but maybe next year!!

That one time I hung out with a moose on the summit

Just another day at the office, really

The moose can stay on the trail...why is it so hard for humans?

A great view from the gap

The glamorous parts

This is the trail, Vermont style

The infamous plane crash from Mt. Abe. Miraculously, all 3; pilot and passengers, walked away from this 1973 crash

My home sweet home

signs of the times

The Battell Shelter toilet, my personal privy of choice

Home sweet home getting ready to be wrapped up and packed out

Home all packed up and hiked out, ready to be cleaned and passed
on to next season's caretaker

With Vermont in the rearview, here are the extremely brief re-caps of some of the great spaces I saw and ran in whilst making my way to Arizona.

The Beta-Beta version of Ernie's living space

My bags are packed, I'm ready to go...but this is not a Jet Plane

Day two, missed pictures of New York's Allegheny State Park.
Here's Kentucky's Mammoth Caves National Park

I'm a sucker for interpretive signs

The Green River in Kentucky

Spreading out into my spacious tent for the night

Day three, Petit John State Park, Arkansas

Had a blast running around this park, lots of great trails

It's my trail!! HA!

This was an extremely short stay north of Santa Rosa,NM.
UItimateley ended up spending the night north of Santa Fe in the Santa Fe National Forest

Woke up to this. It was lovely. 

Always know where you are, plan ahead, one of the major tenets of Leave No Trace!!

Decisions, decisions.

Many thanks to the parks that provided me with places to stay and adventures to seek. And thanks to my old pal Jen for making the time to hang out in Santa Fe. It was awesome to catch up, and I can't believe so much time had passed since we'd actually last hung out!

Life back in Arizona has not been dull. I've been busy helping friend's with a new business endeavor, and working with old and new friends at Aravaipa running. When I'm not working behind the bar, I'm often out on the trails. I even have managed to become the Aravaipa Running Trail Steward for our newly adopted segment of the Maricopa Trial. I am certainly looking forward to organizing some fun runs, day adventures, and work projects along our 22 miles of trail in the fall. 

First stop back in Arizona, the Mogollon Rim

Work shenanigans

Extra time on my hands at Javelina...

Oh how I missed the murals of Tucson

Mt. Lemmon from below, I go up to the top when I need to sleep somewhere cool

Cloud Nine...where my love of trails really became
an integral part of my life

A view from my birthday run...broken up, so to speak.

Didn't realize I was looking at a broken ankle at this point.
Happy Birthday to me!!

This cactus cracks me up. 

Boot life. Yup. 2months of it.
Grateful for how short it was, doing my best to
be patient with the ongoing recovery.

This mural wins my heart every day. 

I made a thing

Bradshaw beauty

Fun in the snow in Prescott, AZ. Mini aid station for a training run

I made another thing...

Where I spend a lot of my time (outside)

A lot of my inside time is here, at the Royal Room

cooling off on Mt. Lemmon

Clouds or UFO's? You decide. North of Flagstaff

The desert in bloom is a beautiful thing, and proof that there is beauty in perseverance

And that more or less sums it up, while leaving out a lot of the details. Primary detail I left out: I broke my ankle on my birthday, which basically erased my race calendar and all that I had planned for the year. I'm slowly working my way back. I'm doing my best to continue to play the long game and recover properly, not jumping right back into high mileage and technical trails. 2 months in a boot and lingering pain have humbled my stubborn tendencies...to a point. I'm still hoping, planning, and training to be ready for the Mogollon Monster 100 in September. Hopefully that will culminate in a race report and not an account of epic failure. 

Next up, I'm finishing a major remodel on the Ernie Element accommodations, with a very tight deadline. I hit the road in less than a week to work up in Washington State, teaching the techincal sides of trail work. Then onto Colorado, to work Steep Camp and some of our Colorado races. Hopefully, with many shenanigans and impromptu adventures and reunions along the way. 

I'll do my best to update before September. Until then, I hope you get out there and create some of your own adventures!