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Utah Hills
The forecasts have been calling for colder weather, but the morning is so clear and warm we don’t believe it. Canceling plans to return to the sunny Zen Wall, we drive instead to the north facing Soul Asylum. This is a remote limestone crag, higher than town, and cool and breezy when we arrive. There…
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Movie: I’m not there / 2007
Much like his autobiographical books, Chronicles, this movie flirts with the personal life of Bob Dylan as a way of drawing our attention elsewhere. The real focus is on the swirling mythic interaction of his music and its audience, and that subject really is pretty fascinating. Dylan is played by multiple actors who all do…
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Green Valley Gap with Justin
Justin, who we meet at the natural grocer here in Saint George, expressed interest in learning to climb. It’s hot this afternoon, so we take him to the Green Valley gap where we hope to find a little shade. This works pretty well, and we enjoy the short, featured sandstone routes into the evening. Justin…
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Scout Cave Trail Run
It’s another long run for me today. Ann drops me off at the Chuckawalla trailhead where I start running barefoot. My feet feel like they’re hungry for trail, and I quickly get into a flow that feels like I could maintain forever. But of course I can’t. After three or four miles I descend into…
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Book: Cold Mountain / Charles Frazier
The subject of love and war in a Civil War setting are not my usual interests, and so it took some effort to get into the story. The effort was rewarded with a telling full of finely crafted details. A reverence for the natural world permeates the writing and resonates with me, even though the…
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Hellhole Headstands and Utah Vegans
I read about a monthly vegan potluck in the area and decide to go. In the morning we hit the farmer’s market where I buy a load of local collard greens and onions. I take those home and prep them. We’d like to sneak a hike in before the event, so we find the well-disguised…
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Zen Wall Approach
We take a very Zen approach to climbing today, hauling our gear a few miles up a mesa to climb nothing at all. Every plant seems to have produced different colored blossoms to compete for our attention. The boulders hulk right next to the trail as if ready to give us a good-natured nudge as…
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Personal Running Record
Since I’ve discovered that minimalist footwear helps me run without injury, I’ve been slowly increasing my range. Today, almost without realizing it, I break the 10 mile mark for the first time. It’s a cool, breezy, cloudy day that’s a little too cold standing still, but feels great in motion. I’m still curious to explore…
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Highway 18 Bike Path
We’ve seen much of this path on our drives north from Saint George to Prophesy Wall, but riding it is entirely different. The climbs get STEEP! One or two nearly break us. I ride ahead and double back for fun on some parts, but not the steep ones. The nice thing is that the short…
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Kelly’s Rock
We hope the wind will be less severe in the Woodbury desert study area this time around. Things are looking good when we are the first climbers to arrive in sunny, warm conditions. As we climb the wind picks up, and makes the last couple of routes less fun. Overall we have a really good…