Mt Baker - Herman Saddle

This weekend I headed up to Mt. Baker as the higher altitude and recent snow was likely to make for good snow conditions.

Finding touring partners who you can trust is one of the most important elements when it comes to safety in the backcountry. I met Sebastian in a Avalanche Safety Course earlier in the year. We did a few other adventures before meeting up for this adventure.

Once we were able to get beyond the traditional crowds near Mt. Baker the entire zone was untouched. The lines you see are rundles which is where water had pooled and run during a past warm event. The snow was light anf fluffy having received 3-4 inches overnight. We headed to the ridge in the center of this photo.

And our afternoon turning Point with Shuskan in the background. One of my goals this year to ski this mountain. The approach is on the other side of the mountain.

Our return for the afternoon took us across a lake with Glacier prominently in the background. Temps were beginning to warm and the snow had softened.

A great little tour.

Mt. St Helen’s Circumnavigation

This represents a pretty cool milestone. In April couldn't run for more than 12 minutes. Due to a ski injury in Japan in Feburary.

This experience may have been one of the more glorious things that I've ever done in my life. The melding of your brain and body. So far as I've been able to discover this only begins to develop after perhaps 6-7 hours of running HR +150 bpm. Not an exhaustion but a place where your mind and body come together and an immense sense of clarity and oneness develop.

I have so much gratitude for the opportunity to do shit like this:
- That there are these types of experiences in the world.
- For a body that can carry me these distances.
- For these glorious mountains!!!

This run changed my reality in what is possible for my body to accomplish. I was glad to get this in late in the season before the snows set in hopes of planning for many more in the coming spring.

St. Helen’s - Alvord Desert - Mt. Adam’s

This was my first foray into ultra running, dirt bike over-landing, desert adventures, and then ultra running again.

I’m aiming to circumnavigate St. Helen’s and wanted to scope out the terrain and become familiar with water spots and how long it would likely take me to complete it. So I did 18 miles on the NE side of the mountain to get a lay of the land. After four hours traversing the volcanic landscape (I’m just getting started in this glorious mind gym) I continued south to the center stone event of the trip. The Not UNRally.

After changing out of my running gear and into dirtbike gear. I traveled through the Gifford Pinochet NF down to White Salmon where I picked up a good friend of mine’s t ruck and headed down to the Alvord Desert. He was generous to lend me and a 6 other people space on his truck to ferry our dirtbikes down to the SW part of Oregon. This place has been incredibly transformational for me since first visiting last year. It led to me going to Burning Man and down a whole rabbit trail of self exploration and alternative ways of looking at life. The individuals who are at these types of events are truly remarkable people and it is always an honor to spend the week with them camping on the desert floor and taking part in all kinds of shennanaganins.

This year there was an automon which was built out of steel and powered by electric. There are several people who attend this event who also go to burning man. The act of gifting and contributing your ‘art’ or ‘talents’ in metal work, electronics, lighting, is really crucial to making these events fun. I often and the more I am around these sorts of people I really take the time to ask myself what is it that I am contributing?

Thursday I went out for a ride with Pete where we came across this herd of wild horses what fascinated me most was the bay stallion who herded the rest of the horses in this herd. You can tell by his movements he’s in charge. It was also humbling to see how truly majestic these creatures are. How their bodies allow them to run incredible distances across arid and desolate environments. Their movements tell me that they were born to run like this. Unlike the rigid movements of domesticated horses.

After several days of brutal sandstorms we picked up camp and relocated to a calmer location on the desert about 5 miles to the south. What I love about this place is that it’s a complete free for all! Yet at the same time there is the unfortunate and constant reminder of how fragile life is. 1 person was injured enough to merit a helicopter ride to Bend. I believe that as we become more and more engrossed in regular society and commercial activity that our lives within cities carry us into the greater the need to break the mental and behavioral patterns. For me this usually involves getting into flow as much as possible and for as many days as possible. A visit to the desert most certainly allows for this.

My KLR 650 became a R650 as the fender protecting the radiator was ripped off as I let the moto loose on a long sand trap and put her down into the sand. I walked away with a scrape smaller than my pinky. I felt extremely fortunate and lucky. I could have easily dismembered my leg.

On the return trip I made a stop at Mt. Adams for another 3 hour run. Was feeling pretty exhausted after spending a week in the desert, the run seemed to have brought me back to life yet again. I was lucky to experience blue skies and breathtaking views of the surrounding mountains (St. Helen’s & Mt Hood in the near distance). My mind is beginning to demand that I put it in these challenging and all consuming events. I almost don’t feel awake unless I find myself tapping into these sorts of experiences on a weekly basis. 3 hours begins to feel like 30 minutes as my mind slows down and tries to absorb every moment of the fleeting experience.