Some recent pictures (click to enlarge):
Shawangunk ridge looking south from sky top tower
Slide, Cornell, Wittenburg mountains from 20 miles
Spring growth exploded between mid April to mid May
Ahhhh springtime at last
5/19/2013
Outdoor Week Ending 5/19/13
Things have been great out on the trail, and I've been very fortunate to be able to get out there as much as I have -- over 14 hours per week for the last 8 weeks. Most of my time on the trail is hiking, with about 20% running. I'm finding a great balance between my enjoyment of hiking and the fun of trail running, without the push to have to train for events.
Some recent pictures (click to enlarge):
Shawangunk ridge looking south from sky top tower
Slide, Cornell, Wittenburg mountains from 20 miles
Spring growth exploded between mid April to mid May
Ahhhh springtime at last
Some recent pictures (click to enlarge):
Shawangunk ridge looking south from sky top tower
Slide, Cornell, Wittenburg mountains from 20 miles
Spring growth exploded between mid April to mid May
Ahhhh springtime at last
5/01/2013
Racing and Hunting Madden the Mind
Twelve
The five colors blind the eye.
The five tones deafen the ear.
The five flavors dull the taste.
Racing and hunting madden the mind.
Precious things lead one astray.
Therefore the sage is guided by what he feels and not by what he sees.
He lets go of that and chooses this.
The above is from Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching, Gia-fu Feng and Jane English, (c) 1972
I first read this book a few years after it first came out, when I was about 14, I puzzled over all 81 verses, but some in particular caught my attention, as if I was closer to grasping some faint understanding of those, while not having a clue about most of the others. I'm not saying that I understood verse twelve more than the others, but as an avid sports enthusiast, I did take particular note of "racing and hunting madden the mind".
Now it's 35 years later, and I don't claim to understand any more than I did back then, but I come back to that one sentence now, and it makes a little more sense to me. I grew up athletic and loving sports of all kinds. Basically, I was a jock when I was young, and I was pretty competitive. Racing was fun! Now, while racing can still be fun sometimes, it's no longer a goal or end of itself.
For many years I used racing as a goal to motivate myself to train, and often enjoyed the adrenaline-pumping thrill of the race itself. I will probably feel the same way again, and I have one race I plan to run this year, the big one I've done for the last 8 years: the escarpment trail run.
Now overall I have less desire to race, and more desire to run and hike freely, without much plan or restriction, staying fit not to race, but to be more free. Health and fitness lead directly to more freedom, and the ability to roam and go places on foot expresses that freedom. As for racing maddening the mind, it can come to define your athletic pursuit to the point where you don't enjoy it very much; that much I can say. I'm enjoying my hiking and running as never before.
For last week -- over 17 hours of roaming on my feet. Click on Pictures to enlarge:
This is the creek I fell into recently -- upside-down in the middle of that waterfall
The five colors blind the eye.
The five tones deafen the ear.
The five flavors dull the taste.
Racing and hunting madden the mind.
Precious things lead one astray.
Therefore the sage is guided by what he feels and not by what he sees.
He lets go of that and chooses this.
The above is from Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching, Gia-fu Feng and Jane English, (c) 1972
I first read this book a few years after it first came out, when I was about 14, I puzzled over all 81 verses, but some in particular caught my attention, as if I was closer to grasping some faint understanding of those, while not having a clue about most of the others. I'm not saying that I understood verse twelve more than the others, but as an avid sports enthusiast, I did take particular note of "racing and hunting madden the mind".
Now it's 35 years later, and I don't claim to understand any more than I did back then, but I come back to that one sentence now, and it makes a little more sense to me. I grew up athletic and loving sports of all kinds. Basically, I was a jock when I was young, and I was pretty competitive. Racing was fun! Now, while racing can still be fun sometimes, it's no longer a goal or end of itself.
For many years I used racing as a goal to motivate myself to train, and often enjoyed the adrenaline-pumping thrill of the race itself. I will probably feel the same way again, and I have one race I plan to run this year, the big one I've done for the last 8 years: the escarpment trail run.
Now overall I have less desire to race, and more desire to run and hike freely, without much plan or restriction, staying fit not to race, but to be more free. Health and fitness lead directly to more freedom, and the ability to roam and go places on foot expresses that freedom. As for racing maddening the mind, it can come to define your athletic pursuit to the point where you don't enjoy it very much; that much I can say. I'm enjoying my hiking and running as never before.
For last week -- over 17 hours of roaming on my feet. Click on Pictures to enlarge:
This is the creek I fell into recently -- upside-down in the middle of that waterfall
4/22/2013
Boulder Confidence
A good week -- 18+ hours.
This was the most fun part of it... Four minutes of trail running on one of my favorite trails. This short section is almost all large boulders, with a vertical drop of over 100 feet. Less than a week earlier I fell into a stream and was very lucky to come away almost unscathed. With the minor incidental damage largely healed, my confidence was fully back to enjoy this radical section of trail once again. This is very much like a more urban sport called free running.
This was the most fun part of it... Four minutes of trail running on one of my favorite trails. This short section is almost all large boulders, with a vertical drop of over 100 feet. Less than a week earlier I fell into a stream and was very lucky to come away almost unscathed. With the minor incidental damage largely healed, my confidence was fully back to enjoy this radical section of trail once again. This is very much like a more urban sport called free running.
4/10/2013
Spring Finally!
The last two weeks have seen a transition from very seasonably cool windy days to a few almost summer-like days this week! I managed a good amount of time hiking and trail running the last two weeks -- 15:48 and 15:58 respectively. Much more hiking that trail running, because that's what I wanted to do at the time! Here's a few photos:
3/26/2013
Outdoor Weeks Ending 3/24/13
The last two weeks I was more busy than usual but still managed to get outside for 9 hours 26 minutes the previous week, and 6 hours and 40 minutes last week. Fresh snow just prior to the official start of spring time and seasonably very cool temperature slowed things down some, but it was still beautiful outside on most days. Just a few snowy pictures for the last two weeks!
3/11/2013
Outdoor Week Ending 3/10/13
Almost 12 hours, 3200' of climb, mostly hiking with a little trail running. For some reason I was run down early in the week, but felt a little better and did some running on the weekend. Seasons all have their character, and now I'm looking forward to springtime. Wet feet, sloppy snowy and now muddy trails, and gray skies are getting tiresome. Had a minor fall yesterday on some ice, put a nice scrape on my bare leg. Nature always refreshes and inspires though, if I go prepared and relax into the environment.
Pix, click to enlarge:
All melting fast,
then a mid-week 8 to 10 inches of fresh snow, breaking trail,
Pix, click to enlarge:
All melting fast,
then a mid-week 8 to 10 inches of fresh snow, breaking trail,
3/03/2013
Outdoor Week Ending 3/3/13
This week brought an early change of seasons to the lower Hudson valley as the snow mostly melted with rain early in the week and daytime temperatures above freezing. Almost 15 hours and a mile of climb this week, that's better!
I encountered a mix of still very hard packed icy trails with other areas quite muddy on Friday as I wandered out to the north exploring a few new trails in an area still fairly new to me. I wasn't entirely sure what route I was taking, so I just took a look at the map every time I came to a new trail junction. I ended up doing a giant loop around the park, probably 16 or 17 miles, all on sloppy slippery ground, many times taking off and then putting back on my trusty Kahtoola microspikes.
(I've tried other traction devices for hiking and trail running, but I like these the best because they're flexible and you can wear them on rock and bare ground if necesary and they handle that better than other models, and the neoprene upper is of better quality: these never slip off even with very hard trail running).
It was a serendipitous outing that found me with just one 24 oz bottle of water, but luckily it was winter so I could get away with drinking less liquid. I had plenty of food though, and my normal solo emergency winter stuff - a lighter, space blanket, flashlight, and a few extra energy bars. I thought about the water, and it was everywhere with the snow-melt happening all around me. I should get a steripen UV water purifier I thought. But I could also put heated small rocks into my plastic water bottle to boil and purify water if necessary, I also thought.
Sometime before Parker Cabin Mountain the sun came out, as advertised, only to disappear behind a very dark cloud-front that moved in from the west 45 minutes later. Despite cloudy weather pretty much all week, I still enjoyed the stark landscape in full melt. While I was out there this week I thought about the great shoes I've been wearing all winter and how well they've served me: the Montrail Mountain Masochist 2 Outdry.
(These are waterproof and hold their waterproofness well over months of continuous use. Yes your feet eventually get wet from sweat condensation, but they run very well, can handle any terrain, and will keep your feet comfortable, warm and dry longer than any other shoe I've tried. On the wet east coast of the USA you need something like these. Highly recommended!)
Now some pix from the week (click to enlarge):
Swollen streams and rapidly melting lake ice:
Hardpack ice on the white bar trail going north:
Atop Parker Cabin Mountain:
A clusterf#$k of trees on the long path going south:
Another hurricane "Sandy" mess:
NYC from the shelter at an unmentioned location:
Still lots of snow in places:
You wonder how it even grew there, right on my favorite short section of the Kakiat trail:
I encountered a mix of still very hard packed icy trails with other areas quite muddy on Friday as I wandered out to the north exploring a few new trails in an area still fairly new to me. I wasn't entirely sure what route I was taking, so I just took a look at the map every time I came to a new trail junction. I ended up doing a giant loop around the park, probably 16 or 17 miles, all on sloppy slippery ground, many times taking off and then putting back on my trusty Kahtoola microspikes.
(I've tried other traction devices for hiking and trail running, but I like these the best because they're flexible and you can wear them on rock and bare ground if necesary and they handle that better than other models, and the neoprene upper is of better quality: these never slip off even with very hard trail running).
It was a serendipitous outing that found me with just one 24 oz bottle of water, but luckily it was winter so I could get away with drinking less liquid. I had plenty of food though, and my normal solo emergency winter stuff - a lighter, space blanket, flashlight, and a few extra energy bars. I thought about the water, and it was everywhere with the snow-melt happening all around me. I should get a steripen UV water purifier I thought. But I could also put heated small rocks into my plastic water bottle to boil and purify water if necessary, I also thought.
Sometime before Parker Cabin Mountain the sun came out, as advertised, only to disappear behind a very dark cloud-front that moved in from the west 45 minutes later. Despite cloudy weather pretty much all week, I still enjoyed the stark landscape in full melt. While I was out there this week I thought about the great shoes I've been wearing all winter and how well they've served me: the Montrail Mountain Masochist 2 Outdry.
(These are waterproof and hold their waterproofness well over months of continuous use. Yes your feet eventually get wet from sweat condensation, but they run very well, can handle any terrain, and will keep your feet comfortable, warm and dry longer than any other shoe I've tried. On the wet east coast of the USA you need something like these. Highly recommended!)
Now some pix from the week (click to enlarge):
Swollen streams and rapidly melting lake ice:
Hardpack ice on the white bar trail going north:
Atop Parker Cabin Mountain:
A clusterf#$k of trees on the long path going south:
Another hurricane "Sandy" mess:
NYC from the shelter at an unmentioned location:
Still lots of snow in places:
You wonder how it even grew there, right on my favorite short section of the Kakiat trail:
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