(At)tempting Fate; Winter, Abate.

Myself, Rachel, Craig.
Two days ago, Craig, Rachel and I decided to try and climb Mt Yale. The forecast was calling for the first snowfall of the season in the high country and buckets of rain everywhere else. When we left Denver on Friday afternoon, almost two inches of rain had already fallen. But as we climbed toward Buena Vista, the rains dried up, and when we pitched our tents on the side of the road at Denny Creek Trailhead Friday night around 9, it was actually dry. This wouldn't last.

Railroad crossing south of Leadville.
Road into Leadville.
About 15 minutes after we crawled into bed, the rain started falling. It was followed by lightening, and shortly thereafter, thunder. This continued all night, with some of the most aggressive strikes coming just as we were waking up to start the hike. Along with the lightening came heavy rain, but no snow. Unable to hike safely, we decided to drive up Cottonwood Pass in search of some of the fluffy white stuff, but as the picture shows, we were out of luck.

Church and road into Leadville.
Our hike halted by danger, we drove back into Buena Vista and asked an old man where we should eat breakfast. After breakfast, we asked the counter girl about hotsprings near by. After deciding unnamed hotsprings didn't meet our expectations, we decided to drive home through Leadville. That's when the trip got interesting.

Church near Leadville.
The farther north and east we drove, the more snow we saw, and the lower it'd fallen. By the time we reached Climax Mine, the snow was just outside the door, and it was beautiful. Blue skies were breaking through to our west and dark clouds framed the white summits to our east. We stopped a few times to take pictures before running into a "December-esque" winter scene at Eisenhower Tunnel on I-70. With Loveland Pass closed due to snow, we waited a while longer than usual to make it through the tunnel. Finally down the mountain, we agreed that next time we decided to go hiking in the high country, we'd listen to reason and respect the rain.



Late-morning mist over Clinton Creek Lake.
Clinton Creek Lake sits just west of the Ten-Mile Range.

Yeah, this shot was from today, 16 August. No, it was not taken last December.

more pics:

Mt Yale attempt 16 August 2008

San Francisco Marathon

The Bay Bridge looms high over the piers

This morning at 2:20, I hobbled off a Boeing 757 at gate B38 in Denver International Airport. I struggled through the terminal, into an awaiting car, and then into bed, where I stayed 'till 1:35 this afternoon. It was a fitting end to a long and eventful weekend in San Francisco, where five of my friends and I ran the San Francisco Marathon.

Rogue Public House and hazelnut rum



Francis and I arrived in San Francisco on Friday morning around 10 o'clock to heavy fog and temperatures in the mid 50s. We traveled into the city, stopping in Chinatown for lunch before visiting the City Lights Bookstore en route to the Rogue Ale Public House, where I enjoyed a hazelnut rum in the comfortable open-air pub (at this point, it was about 104 degrees in Denver - we managed to miss the hottest weekend of the year).

The Bay Bridge

Greg, me, Francis and Julia (L to R) on Saturday at the registration and expo for the marathon

After lunch, we met a couple other friends from Denver for an afternoon of sightseeing and napping in nearby Washington Square before riding the bus to Julia and Greg's place just south of the Presidio. We spent the next 24 hours relaxing, eating, and enjoying being comfortable outside with friends playing disc golf in Golden Gate Park before calling it an early night to rest before the race.


Francis and I left our hotel on Sunday morning around 4:50 and jogged down to the start line. At about 5:10, Francis decided he needed to use the toilet and disappeared. I began to get nervous when the race announcer told us there were three minutes 'till the start, but thankfully Francis showed up soon afterward.

Twain was right

The race went well; the weather was perfect. We paced with the three-hour marathon guy (he held up a sign) for the first 10.5 miles, running along the Embarcadero before climbing up to and crossing the Golden Gate Bridge. After making our way back into San Francisco, we made the decision to pull away from the pace runner heading toward Golden Gate Park. We crossed the half-way point at 1:29:48, just ahead of our goal of finishing in under three hours.

Andrew, Francis and Clay (L to R) at Coit Tower on Friday afternoon



The Golden Gate Bridge from Coit Tower

The run through the park was tough, culminating in a 2+ mile climb before dumping us out on Haight Street for a long trek east. Francis started to hit a wall here, but we pushed onward as the course took us down through the south and east parts of the city. I left Francis at mile 24.5 just before running around McCovey Cove at Pac-Bell Park, home of the San Francisco Giants.

I crossed the finish line at 2:57:22 and Francis was just a couple of minutes behind, making it in at 2:59:55. He was the last person to run the race in under three hours. We finished #39 and #54 overall.

Margaritas after the race with some new friends (Francis, Natalie, Fabio and me, L to R)

The Painted Ladies (you know you watched Full House)

We met our friends after the race for brunch before a pre-margarita nap. We were in bed early Sunday night nursing our sore muscles and aching bones, and spent Monday hobbling around the city seeing a few sights before learning that our flight home was canceled, and we were re-booked on a later flight that was already delayed an hour. By the time we left the ground in San Francisco, we were almost 4 hours behind schedule, but it didn't matter. If we learned anything, it was that we will run more marathons, and the airline industry in the United States still sucks (especially United).

Golden Gate Bridge on Monday morning. We hobbled a long way down the slope to see that.

Francis making his way down to Land's End.

more pics:

san francisco marathon trip

Denver International Conspiracy Theory

Now it's time for some fun. I'm not sure if any of you have heard of the litany of conspiracy theories surrounding Denver International Airport. They're wild and off-the-wall, but they're a lot of fun, too. They range from outer space communication site to head of the New World Order after the fall of mankind in the near future (2012?) to holding cell for half-reptilian, half-men creatures from the center of the earth.



I took these photos last week at Denver International Airport. They're the work of artist Leo Tanguma, and in his mind they in no way represent windows into a conspiracy theory future. Either way, they're undeniably strange, especially the one with the Army-of-Death soldier killing a dove.



There are other oddities at the airport, including the strange keystone with Mason-esque characteristics near something that looks like a giant spaceship remote control. We didn't have time to photograph this - or any of the other strange stuff - but if you want to read more, you can do it here in an article from Westword Magazine.