Ten Years of Blogging

It’s hard to believe that I’ve been blogging for ten years now. This project started as a mistake late at night while I couldn't sleep. While reading a runner’s blog post about the Tahoe Rim Trail Endurance Runs, I accidentally clicked on the Google “Blogger” icon. I didn’t know anything about blogging and was even quite new to Facebook and social media in general. When I clicked on the icon it said something to the effect of, “create your own blog” so I started poking around and, before you know it, I had a template set up and was on my way.

W. Texas, wide open spaces

Franklin Mountain Trail Runs Volunteering 2019

I recently spent the weekend in my backyard mountains volunteering for the Franklin Mountains Trail Runs put on by Tail Racing Over Texas. I volunteered as a member of Team Red, White and Blue, a non-profit exercise group that supports veterans. I train in the Franklins all the time and ran the 50K race last year. No matter how much time you spend wandering the Franklins (WTF), it never gets any easier. Franklin Mountains State Park, surrounded by El Paso, TX, is a rugged range with high peaks that reach over 7000’ elev. The trails are steep and gnarly with gullies full of ankle breaking rocks, scree fields and slick-rock cliffs. If you fall, you have no where to go but into prickly and pointy vegetation like cactus, shin dagger and Spanish bayonet. There are plenty of rattlesnakes to keep you alert and though I’ve never seen a mountain lion, I’m almost certain they’ve seen me.

Runners approaching N. Franklin Peak (7192')

First light on Mundy's Gap Aid Station

Running Adventure Gone Wrong

Sucking wind, I plod 10 steps further up the overgrown slope nearing 10,000’ elevation stopping for five deep breaths of thin air. I take 10 more steps assisted by my trekking poles and stop again to let my thumping heart catch up. This is the brutalist 50K I’ve ever run with cross country sections, steep climbs, and 8000’ of vert on rugged unforgiving terrain. There is no trail here, just an old dozer fire line that was cut straight up the mountain. The temperature is cooling the higher I go while dark ominous clouds billow overhead. Thunder is rumbling in the distance and the last place you want be in a lightning storm is on top of a mountain. Nevertheless, I continue my upward slog towards Cerro Pelado Peak (10,112’).

Jemez Mountains and Valle Caldera Preserve, NM

The Wildland 52K Benefit Run was designed to show the rigors that firefighters go through. I’m lucky that I’m not wearing a heavy pack and humping tools and equipment through the backcountry as our firefighting heroes do. This is a small, rather low key race where half the proceeds go to two nonprofits that benefit firefighters and their families in need. A great cause that makes my misery all the more worthwhile.

100 Miles of healing in the Borderland, El Paso Strong!

El Paso, TX is a beautiful city that wraps around the largest urban wilderness park in the US, Franklin Mountains State Park. North Franklin Peak tops out at 7192’ with views of three states and two countries. Just across the southern border is our sister city of Juarez, Mexico. Overlooking El Paso, Juarez and Sunland Park, NM is a 29’ tall statue of Jesus of Nazareth on the peak of Mt Cristo Rey. Thousands of devout Christians climb the smooth trail leading to the top several times per year. The Rio Grande slices through the middle of the two large cities and a levee trail heads north. These trails and mountains are my home and where I go for therapy and to meditate, heal, take in nature and ponder everything that is great about my life and the Borderland. I cover a lot of miles in this beautiful place and recently ran 100 miles in a week.

Mt Cristo Rey 

N. Franklin Peak

Running Ridgway State Park Colorado

Last month I was supposed to run the San Juan Solstice 50 Miler in Lake City, CO, but like Hardrock 100, it was cancelled this year. Massive amounts of snowfall and avalanches in the San Juan Mountains have left many trails and high passes inaccessible. In addition, avalanche debris threatened to clog streams and rivers in and around Lake city which could cause flooding. This race has been on my bucket list for many years and I was excited to finally have the opportunity to run this year. Fortunately, I have the option of rolling my entry over to next year so I will get to run anyway; God willing and the creek don’t rise.

Sneffels Range, San Juan Mountains

Bandelier National Monument

I recently had a few short adventures in Bandelier National Monument in white Rock, NM which is next door to Los Alamos, NM. I ran the Jemez Mountain Trail 50 Miler last month and decided to visit this nearby park. Parking is limited so they require you to take a free shuttle bus at the White Rock Visitor Center. Since I was saving my legs for 11,000’ of elevation gain the next day, I decided to walk the short main loop trail to see the cliff dwellings and out to the Alcove House (2.5 miles total). 

Frijoles Canyon with the Jemez Mountains in the background

Visitor Center

Big Kiva

I started my hike at the Bandelier Visitor Center that sits adjacent to cliffs of tufa or volcanic ash. The cliffs are pocked with honeycomb like weathering known as tafoni. Some of the holes were enlarged to create cavates (pronounced CAVE-eights) by ancestral pueblo peoples who lived in the cliffs and surrounding area. This indigenous population also built structures beside the caves where they thrived for many years by hunting and growing bean, corn and squash. 

Jemez Mountain 50 Miler 2019

This past Memorial Day Weekend I made my annual pilgrimage to Los Alamos, NM to run the Jemez Mountain 50 Miler. This race is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you are going to get. In this area, there can be unpredictable weather, drought, wildfires and even a bear attack. These types of events have forced the race to alter the course almost every year. This year was no different. Although we weren’t allowed to run in the Valle Caldera National Preserve where a woman was attacked by a bear during a marathon several years back, the National Forest Service allowed us to run on previously burned trails that have since been restored.

Valle Caldera National Preserve

The morning weather was a pleasant 50 degrees where about 110 of us started out in the dark with headlamps. In just 30 minutes or so the sky began to lighten and we passed some honeycombed cliffs of tuff (volcanic ash). Close by is the Bandelier National Monument with similar cliffs where ancestral pueblo people built homes carved into the tuff. The beauty of the Jemez is what keeps me coming back year after year.