TRAVELS WITH MATTIE

Hi everybody!  Mattie and I have had a couple of wild days up here on Paradise Road.  Yesterday, after a good morning of work on the lower part of Soot Patrol and a few other problems at the Brickyard, I came home to the cabin to clean for a Memorial Day BBQ with the usual gang. Fun moves on the lower section of Soot Patrol. Turns out this was a fitting problem to work on for the day. As I started cleaning, Mattie and I heard a few sirens roar down the road. So I kept cleaning. Then we heard more sirens. So I made some guacamole. Then I heard a helicopter, and I decided it was time to see what was happening. A fire had broken out at White Rock Day Use area, about 1/2 mile from our little cabin, and within 15 minutes was already raging up the hills and through Aliso Canyon driven by gusty winds and dry fuel. The westerly wind was blowing away from us - you can see in the first picture - but the fire line still managed to creep over the ridge and inch o...

WANT TO KNOW HOW I KNOW IT WAS A GOOD DAY? MORNING FEET = Trail adventures. I also made up a game called "Artifact or Notifact" to play while I'm exploring my secret artifact spot. I play a lot of one-person games.  AFTERNOON FEET (not pictured) = Clean and stuck on the couch writing about bacteria. EVENING FEET = Lizard's Mouth session. Dirty hands, dirty legs, dirty problems. Hurting fingers, hurting arms, happy heart. ALSO:

My Yeti runs marathons with me. And goes on 20 mile hikes with me. And goes backpacking with me.  And finds horny toads with me. And she is the best Yeti ever in the world. Happy Yeti's Day. I love you. 

At the cabin, you make new friends every day.  Hey beauty. 

running home. the welcome party.

Hi everybody! A quick update on this gloriously rainy Cinco de Mayo! 1. Nanoparticles have become the bane of my existence and writing is like pulling teeth and fingernails at the same time. But inspiration comes in waves, and I just need to survive these doldrums until the next set comes along. 2. Yeti came down last weekend and we followed the long, grinding fire road up to McKinley Peak.  Do you want to know what isn't really that awesome?  MCKINLEY PEAK.  The trail is great. There are perfect views of Hurricane Deck and the canyon far below cut by Manzana Creek. Hell's Half Acre is impressive and demands exploring. We followed bear tracks for miles and miles. There are a few perfect sections lined and shaded by big pines and the smell takes you to the Sierras. There are A MILLION HORNY TOADS all over the place... ...but still, McKinley Peak - and here, I mean just that last quarter mile to the top - is just kind of lame. We also deduced that the p...