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Five-Lake Lasso: Not for the faint of foot

10/31/2011

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Twelve and a half miles. More than four thousand feet of climbing. Past the first mile, nobody on the trail or camped at a lake. What a great time! Full-size photos and additional ones can be found here.
Unfortunately, I think this last trip yesterday just might close out the season in the high Sierra. The forecast for the coming week is for cold and snow. Too bad, I had hoped to get one more trip in to investigate a different trail to access the Desolation Wilderness than I did yesterday.
This trip started out at the Eagle Falls trailhead, across Highway 89 from Emerald Bay on Lake Tahoe. When I arrived around 8:45, there were only a few cars in the lot and a bit of a chill in the air. The sky was cerulean and the sun bright, although not high enough to reach inside the canyon as I climbed. That would change for the descent. My goal for the day was to visit five different lakes: Dick's, Fontanillis, Upper Vilma, Middle Vilma and Eagle. In addition to those, I found numerous ponds, puddles and ice along the way.
The trail was probably the roughest I've played on in the last few years. The climb up out of the canyon was staggeringly studded with two-foot step-ups and loaded with rocks and roots. Challenging on the way up and downright treacherous on a tired-leg descent after 10 miles!

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That's the "trail" - lots of big rocks to scramble over.
The lakes were beautiful. Calm for the most part as there was no wind to speak of. I stopped at Dick's Lake for a bit to enjoy the utter silence and solitude. Ahhh. Then it was back in the groove with my panting breath keeping me company.
I did spot an unusually large fir (Abies concolor, if I am not mistaken) quite high up, and solitary in the rocks. I had to scramble over to take a closer look and some photos. From an inaccurate arm-span measurement, it appeared to be around 25' in circumference. Pretty large for a tree as high up (about 8500'). I, of course, took a photo or two.
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After reaching Dick's Lake, the tough climbing was done. The rest of the way was mostly downhills. The stretch from Fontanillis to Velma was wonderful running: smooth and curvy downhills. I actually was able to stretch out my legs a bit with only a bit of fear of tripping. For me, a fear of tripping is a constant thing. My two mangled wrists from falls will attest to that.
I did take a self shot at each lake. If the person in the photo induces hurling, look only at the scenery.
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A dick at Dick's Lake.
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A dick at Fontanillis Lake
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A dick at Middle Velma Lake.
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A dick at Upper Velma Lake.
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A dick at Eagle Lake.
There is a second route to the area that I am looking to try next week, weather willing. The Bayview trail shows two-tenths of a mile shorter than the Eagle Lake trail. I'm less concerned with the distance than with the trail conditions. I'd like to be able to run more and scramble less. If the Bayview trail allows it, that'll become my favorite access to this area. For now, though, the Five Lake (and numerous ponds) Lasso is one of the most scenic trips I've done.
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Nevada Day: a day to get away

10/31/2011

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For the first time in as many years as I have lived in Carson City, I skipped the Nevada Day parade in Carson City. Shock and Horror! How could I do such a thing? It was also the first time in 10 years that I wasn't active in the Nevada Day race either as a participant or volunteer. Well, technically I was still involved in data setup and my iPod keyboard participated, but I didn't corporally assist on race day. Sounds like it was a bad day for me, doesn't it?
Actually, it turned out to be a fine day, spent geocaching with the kids. The weather was perfect and we found three caches on the west side of town, two above the waterfall and we finally bagged the one in Pygmy Forest, in Timberline Canyon. That one was simply a matter of getting around to finding it. I'd run past, around and through the Pygmy Forest numerous times, and it comes as no surprise that a cache could have been sitting within a couple of feet of my feet while running. 
Actually, the cache isn't that close to where I usually pass, but it was readily locatable and the kids had an almost non-bickering time while out and about. 
The waterfall is beautiful and surprising as to how close it is to downtown Carson City. We had the place to ourselves—guessing everyone else was at the parade. Took a few photos and headed up to the caches. We also spotted a coyote about 100m off when cresting a hill. He gave us a bad look, and trotted away. Spotted him again on the next hill over after a couple of minutes. He was making sure we weren't following.
A few photos from the adventure. Thanks kids for making it fun!
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Dardanelles Lake on a spectabulous day!

10/29/2011

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Yesterday—being the official Nevada Day holiday, and having the weather perfect — the high Sierra called to me, "Hey, dude. It's me, the Sierra? It's been 6 days - don't you love me any more?"
Being the nice guy that I am, I immediately accepted the invitation, packed up and headed out. I wanted to try a new trail I had discovered on a map. The trailhead is on South Upper Truckee Road, off the west side of Luther pass at 38°47'45.19", 120°01'05.17" I wasn't sure what I would find, and feverently hoped that the road to the trailhead was paved. My beater 4Runner was in the shop over the weekend getting tuned and worked on, and I had to drive the nice car. It's not something I would have taken last week to Blue Lakes on my journey to Grouse Lake, as that road isn't the best between Lower and Upper Blue Lake.
The weather was perfect: temps in the high 40s at the start and a touch over 60 when I finished. No wind, no clouds - just a spectacular blue sky! A complete photo set for this trip is on Flickr, here.

I had the trailhead to myself when I started:
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The trail was in great shape, and the trees would make this a great shaded summer run. The only tracks I saw in the dirt as I toiled my carcass up the trail were bicycle tracks. It appears that this particular trail is a well-cycled one. 
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There were many switchbacks along the trail, which is possibly why the map indicated 2.8 miles to the junction to Dardanelles Lake, and my Garmin registered 4 before I saw any trail junction. The junction is NOT marked, though if you continue up the trail past the junction (as I did to verify) the TRT junction (well marked) is only .25 miles further up. That confirmed to me that the unmarked one was indeed the trail to Dardanelles Lake.
Below is a screen capture of the Google Earth view of the trail and the elevation profile. You can see the switchbacks along the route.
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The smooth trail eventually gave way to a rocky course, that I would guess doubles as a stream bed in high water seasons. Though rocky and challenging, this part of the trail was really short, and right at the end. At the top there, was the lake.
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I finally encountered my first human while on the return trip. At the junction to Dardenelles, I met up with three people on horseback. Apparently, I wasn't the only person who decided to play hooky on a beautiful late October day. 
Overall, I was really happy with the journey. It was the first time I have been able to run the entire course of a planned route in about 4 months. Injuries that have kept me down seem to be disappearing, though the standard pains are always with me. 
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Despite the bailout, we're still in trouble

10/27/2011

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Not much time, need to go be a dad, but wow. Give a little money to a few irresponsible Greeks and the stock market goes wild. Irrationally, in my opinion. The problems still exist, the solution is to kick the can down the road for 8 more months. Nice solution. It did give the institutional shorts a chance to shore up their near-term positions — taking advantage of the investor who sees the run up all month and finally decides to jump in. Too bad for him, is my take.
Speaking of stupid, why on earth is AvalonBay Communities (AVB) up at all? It's currently trading at a staggering P/E of 101 on earnings of 1.32/share. The killer, though, is they are paying a quarterly dividend of .89/share. Think about that for a second... They are paying more out in dividends than they are earning. 
Makes no sense at all. Their earnings report and conference call on 11/1 should be interesting.
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One down, scholarpuzzle to go next?

10/25/2011

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I just saw an article about how some computer scientists cracked the centuries-old  "Copiale Cipher." These guys plan to hit on the Voynich Manuscript next. I think they should give a go to the ScholarPuzzle. I'm pretty certain that a computer won't solve it — at least not in the same way they solved the Copiale. I find it interesting to create these puzzles, but I am not nearly as certain that I could ever solve one. I guess my mind works in one particular way, and that way doesn't translate into solving other puzzles. I do make sure my puzzles are not random, and follow a logical set of rules. Maybe that's my problem in solving other puzzles. Hmm. Maybe I need more illogic in my life.
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Is Netflix is a harbinger of things to come?

10/25/2011

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In early October, the stock market appear to hit a nadir and has been on a significant upswing for the month. I would call it a nice bear market rally, that will not hold. In that vein, I think the collapse (I think that is a fair assumption for a 35% overnight drop in valuation) of Netflix (NFLX) last night will be the first in a series of large downward steps for the overall market. 
The irrational exuberance of the market in October with the European financial situation acting as the sword of Damocles dangling overhead is just that: irrational. 
There are a couple things I would have done differently:
1. The NFLX puts I bought in April with an October 2011 expiration, I would have kept through the August swoon. Though I made 300% on them, hanging on through the debacle of splitting the streaming from disc delivery services, the instantiation and subsequent near-immediate "do-over" call of Quickster, would have netted me a lot more.
2. I would have waited a bit longer buying the puts for next spring, in order to get a better price. For the record, I am holding puts on QQQ for Nov 2011, GLD in March, CELG for April and WFM for May. 
Though I think a long drop is in store, I am long a number of speculative stocks (LDK, BTX, SNMX, SRZ), and am mostly in cash. Of the stocks I am holding, I sold the calls on one, and am waiting for additional drops to add to more of the others. Looking at their ticker symbols, I guess I like the ones with X and Z in them.
We'll see how I do.
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No grousing, just Grouse Lake

10/24/2011

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This weekend's activities included 3 kid soccer games (Both finally won for the first time all season! Both in their last game.) on Saturday, requiring shuttling between Reno and Gardnerville. I decided that Sunday would be a day for me to get out to the high country before the weather shuts it all down. 

The weather on Sunday was perfect and the leaf show in Hope Valley - well if it wasn't prime it was penultimate! Though I have linked the photos below to their larger cousins on slang4201.com, the real good ones are here.
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Once the drive to Blue Lake was done, it was time to head out on foot. There was only a single car at the trailhead when I arrived, and I took that to be a good sign. The route didn't go quite as planned; I abbeyed right at the start. :-\ I knew where the trail was supposed to go, so I headed in that general direction and eventually found it again. My little sojourn probably added a mile or so to my total distance, but that's ok. I wasn't out for anything but a good Sunday in the Sierra. The elevation profile is brutal:
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On the trip I did have my usual companions of Bad Form and Constant Pain. Notably absent was Fear of Failure. I think I know how to banish him - don't set a goal. No goal = no possibility of failure. Sweet!

Obviously someone else came along for at least part of the journey: No Inhibition. Joy showed briefly as well - the day was just too perfect to not experience joy at some point! Critical Nature also was a DNS. I think he was too worn out at the end to show up. I know I was flagging hard at the end. 
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"Groovy" trail, eh?
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Yes, this is the trail heading east of Grouse Lake. It passes between the split rock. Easy to follow...
The trail was sparse in places, and I missed it completely on the descent into Grouse Lake. Instead, I simply dropped straight through the trees, missing the lake by about 1/4 mile. But once I got there, the serenity was palpable. No breeze, and even no birds singing. It was utterly silent. I did a loop around the lake snapping a few photos and generally enjoying the perfect day.
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The climb back out was pretty rugged: steep and the trail wasn't clearly defined. I guess that's what you get when in a wilderness area. On the way back, I finally encountered another hiker on the trail. After nearly 10 miles of solitude, I finally met someone. Good thing I had put my clothes on again. I did a fair amount of running mixed in with the hiking. What to call that? riking? hrunning? Beats me. I know that when I'm out there solo, I don't really care how I'm moving along, when I'm going to get somewhere or really even where I am going. I'm trying to simply enjoy the experience of being. And being outside.

Of course, I figure all this out at the end of October, when the weather is about to turn. :-\

Next week: Dardanelles Lake. (weather permitting)
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Big Tree, Large Tree, That's a Freaking Huge Tree!

10/21/2011

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While out a couple of months ago on a trail with a friend, I noticed a couple of rather large trees. It took a couple of months, but I finally got around to measuring them. I packed up a laser range finder and a 100' tape and off I went. The first and the one that I most wanted to measure is a Ponderosa Pine that I am confident is the largest specimen in Nevada. I measured it at 343" in circumference (9' 1" BHD). That equals the largest Ponderosa I was able to find online — anywhere in the US — and easily dwarfs the current Nevada champion at 240". However, the estimated height of 125' pales in comparison to the 259' behemoth that is the current US record-holder and is a bit shorter than the Nevada record of 150'. Depending on the calculations for "bigness," maybe a Nevada record-setter? 
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The next on on the list I originally thought was a cedar, but after closer inspection, I noticed the sprays weren't flattened as cedars are but more three-dimensional, indicating to me that it was a juniper (Juniperus sp.) Still, a large specimen measuring 306" around. It is a stubby thing, only approximately 40' tall. Not in Nevada, either. Oh well. Still a nice tree.
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The last tree I measured was an alpine fir (Abies concolor) and was again in Nevada. I wasn't able to snap a photo, since I couldn't get far enough away to really get it in a photo without too many other obscuring trees. It measured 21' 9" around and 177' tall. 

Regardless of the outcome of records, it was pretty good time getting out and about in the early fall. The leaves were turning and the trail empty.
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The trail was packed, though I ran alone

10/20/2011

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They tell you that you shouldn't run alone. They say that it's always important to have someone along in case something happens. They say it's doubly important when running trails in Wilderness Areas or other remote places. 


Who are they and what do they know? I'm not sure, but I do take their advice and I don't run alone.
Along for this last weekend's jaunt were my constant companions. Some regular, semi-regular and occasional visitors made their appearance as well. I always run with Constant Pain, Bad Form and Fear of Failure. They were, of course, along on the trip. On this particular run, Irrational Anger tagged along and took the early lead, and pressured us all into a fast pace, pulling strongly with intensity. Eventually, he burned out and disappeared resulting in a most welcome DNF. 

Constant Pain and Bad Form were closest to me for most of the run - bracketing me as usual. It was weird, though how Constant Pain was joined periodically with Intermittent Tingling and Occasional Numbness to the point they seemed to merge. Tres odd.

Noticeably absent on this run - as they have been for some time - were  Pride and Joy, and Satisfaction. I haven't seen any of those three on a run in a very long time, and though registered, they were all DNS on the results sheet.

Midway though the run, Nagging Doubt and Fear of Failure lead the team, as Constant Pain really pushed them hard. In the final stretch, though they both faded badly, and also were DNF.

In the end, the winner turned out to be Self Criticism, who, as we approached the finish, was already leaning against the car, shouting, "Is that it? Seriously!? You suck!"Ah, the joys of never running alone.

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    Just a guy out exploring the world. Former world-class never-was endurance runner.

    ​Hit me up, and we'll catch a beer or coffee in your town.


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