-
Pullman Winter Ultras
Every December/January, the Palouse Road Runners hosts two free “ultra” marathons we affectionately title the Pullman Winter Ultras. It’s a simple and relatively hands-off premise: you sign up for free and run anywhere between 1-4 eight-mile laps around town, no matter the weather. And the weather in Pullman this time of year can be heinous.…
-
Smoot Hill
Another weekend with decent weather. Another first activation. This time it was Smoot Hill, super-close to home and the only reason I hadn’t tackled it until now: I wasn’t exactly sure anyone was allowed up there. It’s technically on WSU property as it is a nature preserve, but after speaking a cycling buddy who mountain…
-
Another Dual F.A. Day: W7I/NI-268 + W7I/NI-269
The temps have officially dipped and we’re in the shoulder season of unpredictable and generally unfavorable weather. Saturday looked to offer a bit of a window, so I dug out a rough plan to work two more unactivated W7I summits: NI-268 and NI-269. This pair was super close to one another and road access seemed…
-
Autumnal Shoe Swap
We’re full into the fall weather here with temps in the 40’s and 50’s, leaves doing their thing and the sun setting at like 5:30pm. It’s fine, it’s all fine. My running/hiking shoe situation has been a bit unchecked this past year. I don’t know how many miles I’ve put into what but the shoes…
-
Campus Rec Mural
An indoor wall graphic I was commissioned to design for the WSU Student Rec Center featuring club sports historical and present. Representative movement through the mural encourages the viewer to progress along the hallway towards their physical goals while the screen and bench provide opportunity to pause and investigate.
-
Hiding Things from Oneself
One of my “ten essentials” when heading out into the backcountry is my Garmin inReach Mini 2. It’s been an incredibly useful tool for getting texts out to my partner (or whomever) when completely out of cell service, which tends to be quite frequent ’round these parts. Aside from the convenience of friendly texts, it…
-
Dual Idaho F.A. Day: Moses Mountain NI-207 + Tensed Benchmark NI-223
Found a couple of not-yet-activated summits just north of me and across the state line into Idaho: Moses Mountain W7I/NI-207 and Tensed Benchmark W7I/NI-223. The two activation zones are only about 5.5km from eachother and the weather for this day was looking prime so I figured this would be a good opp for my first…
-
Escure Ranch Wind Plow
Hit my buddy Keith with the idea for one last quick gravel overnighter. He fired back pretty quickly with a route he’d had in his back pocket; it was 100 miles through some really cool high desert country, camping at Escure Ranch where I had spent a weekend working the Washington State Salmon Run just…
-
Dog Walkin’
For the first time in my adult life, I have found myself without a dog companion. I rescued my first dog when I was in college, about 22 yrs old (Kloe, the best dog in the world and I still miss her dearly). Since then I’ve had as many as four dogs at once, two…
-
Krell Hill W7W/WE-021
Popping up to Spokane to drop my mom off at the airport after her visit; might as well get in a SOTA. Krell Hill W7W/WE-021 was in a familiar area, I’ve hiked the Rocks of Sharon before and this AZ was just the next hill over from that. A quick 1.7-ish miles up (it was…
-
Salmon Run 2024
This upcoming weekend is the Washington State QSO party fondly known as the Salmon Run. For the uninitiated, a state QSO party is a friendly radio contest where operators try to make contacts with all or as many of the counties in the state as they can. Some counties would naturally be more difficult to…
-
Gravel Bike SOTA: Prospect Peak W7I/NP-265
Naturally, I’ve been spending a fair amount of time looking at the map of my surrounding summits, plotting my next weekend. Prospect Peak W7I/NP-265 was this past weekend’s target; my brother-in-law was in town with his gravel bike so I selfishly plotted a rideable activation and invited Pete, my local riding buddy. The three of…
Outliving the bastards one hard-earned beer at a time.