Continuing to branch out – I ride my bike to Vanessa’s house for a morning run. She shows me a nice connector between Keystone and Evans canyons on Peavine. So many trails to explore out there! Morning is definitely the time to do it – it was already getting warm at 7am.

It doesn’t look like we’ll have time to start our backpack of the Tahoe Rim Trail this summer from our doorstep, as cool as that would be. Instead we figure the part of the trip from Mount Rose to our doorstep would make a good warmup weekend trip. It’s been a while since we did…

My first ever participation in an organized running event is a blast. The RTO is an epic relay race that starts and ends in Reno, looping around Lake Tahoe on roads, highways, and bike trails. Of the 250 participating teams, our team of 12 is in it for the fun. We accomplish that mission, and…

My morning run on the playa is an homage to my RTO team, the Tater Trots. Running barefoot on this white expanse isn’t as comfy as one might hope, but not bad either. It ranges from smooth and hard to gravelly and sharp.

Like last year I spend half a day doing “vertical mulch” rehabilitation on old road tracks through a wilderness area. The idea isn’t to erase the track instantly, but to get it reseeded with local vegetation and discourage further incursions. It takes a long time, but a few hours work by ten volunteers does make…

For our memorial day weekend we join the Friends of Nevada Wilderness at the Black Rock Rendezvous. We enjoyed our spring monitoring trip so much last weekend that we ask for another assignment. Renee joins us to look for some springs high up in Petrified canyon. Our first challenge is to park our camper along…

This run felt harder and slower than the one this morning, but I was actually faster. Probably because I wore the Vibrams. I did the same run backwards, but I did not arrive home in pre-run condition as hoped. Must have been the little course deviations I made near the bridge. I can tell that…

I’m going to try two runs today to see how my body handles it. The first felt good. I ran barefoot and tried to keep my speed up, but not going for broke.

“Spring Monitoring” really doesn’t conjure up the adventurous nature of what Ann and I do this weekend. The objective sounds simple: visit locations where a spring is suspected to exist and gather data about it. The practice draws on many of our favorite skills and activities. We start with an evening drive to the Black…

Interesting – today’s run is not too different from the last one, but felt harder! I was tightening up and slowing down at the end. I changed a few things: I choose a slightly longer route today, but still short of 11 miles. The oxbow ditch was full, so I soaked my feet at about…