on motivation and traits to avoid

First, a few quotes to get the wheels turning...

The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.
-Socrates

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
-Martin Luther King, Jr

The most violent element in society is ignorance.
-Emma Goldman

By far the most dangerous foe we have to fight is apathy - indifference from whatever cause, not from a lack of knowledge, but from carelessness, from absorption in other pursuits, from a contempt bred of self satisfaction.
-William Osler

So much attention is paid to the aggressive sins, such as violence and cruelty and greed with all their tragic effects, that too little attention is paid to the passive sins, such as apathy and laziness, which in the long run can have a more devastating effect.
-Eleanor Roosevelt

Secondly, my motivation for writing this: I did some reading on a blog from a respected outdoor sports Boulderite; initially, his writing about why he skydives, highlines, etc. I was compelled to comment that his justification for doing "crazy" things seemed a bit selfish, especially since his argument was based on eliminating the concept of self. I then came across a startling later post of his where he effectively announced he was stopping outdoor sports because his motivation was all wrong. If you've never read anything like this before, you should read it as a cautionary tale to hopefully avoid pursuing peer recognition or glory over the real reason to pursue the freedom of the hills.

This post honestly scared me, and made my think about the reason I ski, climb, hike, ride my bikes, etc. I thought about the traits which could take root in me and cloud my motivation to the point of ruining a sport for me. I think the four traits below are the most critical to avoid in order to keep motivation pure.

1. a hearty appetite for peer acceptance, praise and recognition: wanting to hear that what you did was awesome is blatant proof that you're doing something for the wrong reason
   
2. complacency: feeling like the level of accomplishment you currently stand at is good enough is a surefire way to guarantee you won't be the best at your folly of choice
   
3. apathy: simply not caring or lacking the desire to improve is a definite sign that you have lost the true reason you started to pursue something
   
4. apathy towards ignorance: not caring that you don't know either how to improve or that you have all the information to make a good decision is probably the most egregious and concerning trait here, and is probably one of the biggest problems in the United States today.
   

It's obvious but worth noting that avoiding these four traits applies to everything you do and not just outdoor sports. I might have to re-read this to myself in the future whenever I feel I'm veering off the correct course.

May brings a corn harvest in the Indian Peaks

I haven't really written anything new on here in a few months, so I guess it's time. I'm currently taking a break from reading In Search of Captain Zero, which, even though I'm only 60 pages in, is probably one of the top 10 best books I've ever read. Let's hope the next 300 pages keep the momentum. He is an excellent writer, funny, introspective, honest, and able to describe nuances of fact in ways that are obvious once conveyed but for some reason I hadn't seen before. I think reading both of Allan Weisbecker's other books will soon by on my to-do list. I first heard of him while researching destinations for my first trip to Costa Rica. Pavones caught my attention (although I didn't make it down that far that time), and Weisbecker showed up in Google results. For reasons honestly unknown, I stopped into a bookstore after a Spanish tutoring session last week and bought a Weisbecker book.

Why I'm telling you this, my loyal reader, is because I think In Search of Captain Zero has some very interesting insights into Weisbecker that I believe ring true for me as well. He talks about a lifelong and singularly true love affair with a wholly separate She, more alluring than any woman he's ever known. This She is surfing. He writes passionately about how surfing changed his life, his perception and understanding of oceanic processes, and his perspective on basically everything in his life.

I guess what I might be getting at is, somewhere in between when I first moved to Boulder three years ago and right now, I'm fairly certain I too started falling in love with a separate She. A demanding She named snow. (I only hope that I might possibly also be able to eventually find that non-separate and original She... but perhaps only insofar as she doesn't get in the way of the separate She... uggh.) I haven't yet quit my job to spend the rest of my days in her hauntingly dangerous, unforgiving yet perfect and loving arms, but I think the stage has been set, even if only to the smallest degree so far. Something similar to "I would ski every day if I could" escaped my lips today above Brainard lake after skiing a small section of Mount Audubon. There you go.

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And now with the backstory told, we can get on to something actually relevant to the title of this post. I've been up to the Brainard Lake area twice in May, and have loved every minute. The Blue Lake trail is seriously one of the most spectacular settings in of the Front Range that I've spent time in. The first outing was a snowshoe to Blue Lake, which turned out to be 10 miles (2 bonus miles each way due to road closure).
Two weeks later (today), we rode those 4 miles on bike instead. After meeting in Boulder at 5am, we headed beyond Ward with 4 pairs of snowshoes, 1 pair of skis+skins, 3 snowboards, and 5 bikes. The two miles of road from winter closure to Mitchell trail parking area were a non-issue on the bikes... highly recommended! The winds were fierce, and in the end the sun proved stronger than predicted, so we had to cut the expedition short due to deteriorating snow conditions. Because of that, we didn't quite get the ski descent vertical I had hoped for, but now I know to get an earlier start and be in better shape next time. There was no let down though... I got my first backcountry turns in on my tele skis (I wouldn't call them tele turns, but it was only my 4th day on teles if memory serves... I need to be patient) after getting skunked on The Angel of Shavano in April. Regardless of how beautiful my turns were, there is just something about skiing that resonates with me and is continually becoming more necessary in my diet. The photos from today are here.

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As a very lengthy tangent, if there's one piece of advice I can give would-be Coloradans, it would be to prepare yourself for regularly getting punched in the face by hops if you drink local beer, and - far less facetiously - to prepare yourself for falling in love with a separate She, as so many others here have. One thing you cannot call most people living under the banner of red, white, blue and gold is apathetic or passionless; Weisbecker's words ring true for so many Coloradans. Whatever the folly, it's fascinating and exciting to see so many She's being loved in this state.... whether your name is Tony Krupika, Chris Davenport, or Joe Notfamous. The people of Colorado continue to fascinate me, and likely will for the duration of my stay. Case in point: It was mentioned while having a beer on my 29th birthday to our server at Twisted Pine that I had come down with Peter Pan-itis for want of youth. Her reply was something to the effect of "you and every last bachelor in this town..." She knows exactly (... and apparently all too well) what Allan Weisbecker is talking about in In Search of Captain Zero, and I'm trying to convey here.

Smokies June 2006

2006-06-11 - 2006-06-15

Summary

This is a 5 day hike through eastern Great Smoky Mountains National Park, primarily on the North Carolina side of the park. The 54 mile loop starts and ends at the Cosby Ranger station. Highlights include 9 miles of Appalachian Trail including some of the highest points in the park, dramatic elevation changes, and some of the most secluded trails in the park. Overall I would rate this as moderate to strenuous with patches of easy. Those with bad knees may want to reconsider, and those wishing to test their uphill endurance should make reservations immediately. So let's dive right in...

I'll remember this little adventure as the one where I checked the topographic lines but didn't really… and made a fool of myself in the process. The graphs will prove I clearly didn't have luck finding a five day version of the classic Smokies "up and back" triangle route (where you drive into the park late Friday night, hike up to the AT Saturday, take in as much of the AT as possible on Sunday, descend Monday morning to the car on a different trail than you took up, and get home Monday night). Despite my mishap, however, this route was a diamond in disguise.

The day charts are not drawn to the same scale. They are the same width but not the same number of data points, thus making days with fewer data points seem more gradual. The final graph is to scale, with each tick on the X-axis representing 1 mile. Follow along at http://home.nps.gov/applications/parks/grsm/ppMaps/GRSM_Trail%20Map%202005.pdf.

Day 1

We camped in the Cosby campground and headed out in the morning, so getting to the trailhead was easy. There were surprisingly few vehicles at the Gabes Mountain Trail trailhead parking for a summer weekend. This was clearly not going to be like a walk through Cades Cove or up to Clingmans Dome. The seclusion, the news that campground #34 was closed due to bear activity, and Albright old growth trail I'd read about had me excited for day 1, not to mention the whole trip. Since I was out of shape and knew it, these 13 miles were the ones I was concerned about. I had correctly detected the 2000 foot elevation gain coming after lunch. The trail started out easy on me, though, and that was welcomed. A Boy Scout group joined us at Hen Wallow falls but didn't follow us any further. I honestly cannot remember much about the morning except that campground #34 looked like a great site. Despite failing to produce a bear for us, it made a good lunch stop. We strolled over 4 easy miles to Maddron Bald Trail and then the fun began. It was early afternoon when we made it to Albright Grove Loop Trail. I had definitely worked up a good sweat already and still had more than half the elevation gain ahead of me. I think I was focused on that too much to appreciate the old growth, but I would still recommend taking the side trail over staying on Maddron Bald Trail. The march to campground #29 (Otter Creek) wore my lazy butt out. #29 is small and not very flat but a good water source. By the time I got there the skies had commenced a sprinkle which became a downpour as soon as we had the tent up. The rain made for a quick dinner and early bedtime.

Day 2

We woke up pleased to be dry and foolishly expecting a shorter, relatively flat day (my fault). Just checking beginning and ending elevation yields a net gain of 500 ft, but a closer look yields another 1700 ft climb before lunch. Lesson learned... somebody needs to steal the map from Brett. [Side note: This actually is the flattest day of the trip if you sum the absolute elevation deltas for each day (see chart below).] The sky was overcast, but right at Maddron Bald the clouds cleared up and I took a minute to enjoy the view. After that, it was a head's down mission to get to the AT - easier said than done for an out-of-shaper like me. When we made it to the AT we celebrated, snacked (but decided to eat lunch somewhere further down the trail), and rediscovered the "smoky" AT. Apparently everyone else got the memo about bad weather, because the AT was surprisingly low in traffic. It's a good thing, though, because I would have looked like a train wreck. The group split up due to non-agreement about whether to take the primitive trail to Mt. Guyot (the 4th highest point in the Southern Appalachians, 2nd highest point in GSMNP, and the highest point on this trip) and agreed to reconvene for lunch at Tricorner Knob. I never saw the primitive trail and was stumbling through the pines beginning to welcome my newfound empty-stomach induced delirium (the temperature is much lower in dense pines without the sun... it's kind of like a nice buzz after a while… learn to enjoy it like Hunter S. Thompson would have... but where the hell is Mt. Guyot... did I just say that out loud?) when I (still believing Tricorner Knob was miles away) eventually broke down and started gorging on lunch (my excuse for stopping was shivering and needing a fleece). Ryan backtracked for a few minutes to find me and bring good news about our progress. Tricorner Knob was close by. I packed up and finished lunch down the hill. The sun broke the clouds up past Mount Sequoyah and revealed great views. The Eagle Rocks area is definitely a site to see. Overall, this is a very pretty stretch of AT, and I was a little bit sad to see it go when we headed down to the Peck's Corner shelter on Hughes Ridge Trail. That night we woke up to strange noises which we eventually concluded were a wild hog. I didn't even know there were wild hogs in the Smokies, but it definitely didn't sound like a bear, so there you have it.

Day 3

Day 3 came easy after finally being forced into shape (or at least enough so) by the trail itself. Or was it that day 3 actually was flat? After all, it's just a 10 mile cruise down to 5040 ft. from 5280. Wrong again... almost all the elevation lost before lunch is quickly made up getting to campground #44 [Somebody needs to club me for lack of topo reading skills. Lesson learned a second time. Oh well…at least we're used to the elevation changes by now]. The first several miles were a very gentle descent of Hughes Ridge. Although not dramatic and exposed like AT ridges, I thought Hughes Ridge was interesting because it was very narrow. Vistas to both right and left are revealed when the leaves aren't too thick. Turning left onto Enloe Creek Trail brings a steeper descent and lesser maintained trail (as in not being able to see your boots when standing in the middle of the trail). Somewhere on this trail before we bottomed out at Enloe Creek campground (#47) we realized we had seen nobody since leaving Peck's Corner. An older couple did join us for lunch at (the now replenished and roaring, due to the past few nights of rain) Enloe Creek – thank God for the foot bridge. Those were the only people we saw on the trail that day. After filling up our water bottles, we ascended Hyatt Ridge to McGee Spring. The final mile follows the edge of the ridge and is a good chance to look out over the valley Jones Creek flows through. Eventually the trail leads to a large, flat opening with soft ground to put a tent on. We arrived fairly early in the afternoon, so there was plenty of time to hang wet clothes, build a fire, get water and take in the quiet. The solitude and silence at camp that night was almost overwhelming. I convinced myself this must be one of the least used campgrounds in the park (although apparently horse traffic is high in the summer). Although there is a gravel road a few miles away, it's a long hike from a ranger station or paved parking. If I'm back in this part of the country on a new moon again, I now know where to head to catch the stars.

Day 4

After a relaxing night's rest, I was curious to know if we'd see anybody on day 4. I checked the map and discovered that I had yet again underestimated the afternoon's climb. By this point the running joke was old and I decided to let the mountains do their worst on this shortest day of the hike. I don't remember much about hiking Beech Gap Trail except that the Round Bottom bridge construction (look – people!) forced us to wade through Straight Fork at the bottom. We filled water bottles and prepared for the steepest (consecutive gain) two miles of the trip. Balsam Mountain Trail was a mixture of vegetation with several good vantage points. Before arriving at Laurel Gap shelter we came through a seemingly out of place stretch of spruce-fir (ahh yes, back to this elevation again...), and then arrived well ahead of anticipated schedule even with the “1700 ft drop followed by a 2400 ft gain over 8 miles” elevation ride. All told I don't think we saw more than a half dozen people on day 4, including 3 guys that stayed in the shelter with us. Day 3 and 4 combined were much less physically demanding than the first two days for me, and I felt like I was finally catching my stride only to realize tomorrow would be the last day of the trip. I'm tempted to suggest that more avid groups could combine day 3 and 4 together (from Pecks Corner to Laurel Gap in one day), but that would be a fairly challenging 17 mile day with much elevation gain and loss for most folks. The time saved from going shelter to shelter (i.e. no tent teardown or setup) and carrying one less day's worth of food would help make that possible.

Day 5

Day 5 was actually just a half-day even though we packed in 11 miles before lunch. The rationale for that was to get to Carver's Applehouse Restaurant in Cosby. In my opinion, it was well worth it. In order to do this, I highly advise filling up water bottles to the brim and having a solid breakfast before leaving Laurel Gap (use the time you would have spent taking down your tent). All told that morning, we lost 2400 ft, gained 1100 back, and then lost the final 1800 ft over the course of 11 miles. [Side note: I'm thankful this was not day 1 for me. If we had decided to do our trip in reverse I probably wouldn't have made it to Low Gap without my ceremonial overexertion vomit... yes, I'm an idiot. Apparently this reverse direction is rated moderate, but it seemed fairly steep hiking down it.] From Laurel Gap, it's basically a steady drop all the way down to 3000 feet. The Gunter Fork cascade is a nice landmark to stop and rest your knees. We were delayed a bit by having to wade across the creek near campground #36. The water was very high due to several days of rain so we could not find a good dry crossing. I imagine this is frequently the case, so bring sandals and be prepared to wade here. At #37, we had a quick snack before the final push to get us up and over the AT. I have to say that I didn't take the time to stop and appreciate the Low Gap trail, but it was very pretty. It's quiet, heavily wooded and well maintained. It also provided the two steepest miles (1100 gain, 1100 loss) of the trip, so I was more focused on lunch than the trail's aesthetics. It was a short hike down to the car once we made it back to the AT. We drove to the laundromat / shower (they probably would not have fed us at Carver's without the shower) and had a fantastic lunch in a beautiful setting. Out of the Smokies and on to Bonnaroo. What a great week!

Total trip data

Topographic data are rough estimates from Trails Illustrated / National Geographic Great Smoky Mountains National Park Map and
latitude / longitude data comes from Google Earth.

day	mile	elevation	elevation delta	latitude, longitude	point of interest
1	0	2400		lat=35.7494659424, lon=-83.204208374	Cosby Ranger Station
	1	2650	250
	2	2800	150		Hen Wallow Falls
	3	3250	450
	4	3240	-10	lat=35.7485733032, lon=-83.2490234375	Sugar Cove #34
	5	3100	-140
	6	2750	-350
	7	2500	-250		Maddron Bald Trail
	8	2750	250
	9	3100	350		Albright Grove Loop Trail
	10	3500	400
	11	4000	500
	12	4500	500
	13	4562	62	lat=35.732131958, lon=-83.2557373047	Otter Creek #29
2	14	4800	238		Maddron Bald
	15	5100	300
	16	5800	700		Appalachain Trail
	17	6200	400
	18	6250	50		Mt Guyot
	19	5920	-330	lat=35.6940422058, lon=-83.2563781738	Tricorner Knob
	20	6100	180		Mount Seqouyah
	21	5900	-200
	22	5600	-300
	23	5400	-200
	24	5280	-120	lat=35.6508712769, lon=-83.3084030151	Pecks Corner
3	25	5200	-80
	26	5300	100
	27	4850	-450		Hughes Ridge Trail
	28	5000	150
	29	4800	-200
	30	4800	0
	31	4000	-800
	32	3620	-380	lat=35.6111373901, lon=-83.2546463013	Enloe Creek #47
	33	4500	880
	34	4900	400
	35	5040	140	lat=35.6397361755, lon=-83.2401046753	McGee Spring #44
4	36	4900	-140
	37	4250	-650
	38	3400	-850
	39	3200	-200		Round Bottom
	40	4250	1050
	41	5070	820		Balsam Mtn Trail
	42	5500	430
	43	5600	100	lat=35.6654701233, lon=-83.1875610352	Laurel Gap
5	44	5400	-200
	45	4750	-650		Gunter Fork Trail
	46	4000	-750		Gunter Fork Falls
	47	3500	-500
	48	3100	-400
	49	3000	-100	lat=35.7180099487, lon=-83.1658630371	Lower Walnut Bottom #37
	50	3100	100
	51	4200	1100		Low Gap (AT)
	52	3200	-1000
	53	2600	-600
	54	2400	-200	lat=35.7494659424, lon=-83.204208374	Cosby Ranger Station

ski season update

This year has actually been a great year for powder for me, despite a really slow snowfall pattern. Here are a few stories from the year...

Brian, Ryan, Allison and I went to Winter Park in what turned out to be Mary Jane's opening day. I've heard it is basically a great powder day when that happens, so we were really stoked at the opportunity. Overall, things were open far before they should have been, with stumps and branches knocking people over left and right. With caution, there was great powder to be had though. A great start to the season! I returned on Christmas Eve for more terrific snow. That was the first day I can recall being able to chain tight tree turns in at least boot-deep fresh... I was exhausted afterwards. I also went back a week later and had a nice day on better-but-still-thin snowpack... the moguls were coming in nicely, and the season was off to a great start.

I made it to Copper a couple times this year as well. I never had a bad day at Copper when I had the same season pass 2 year ago, and this year continued that trend. I've only been up there twice, but it's been nice both days.

In January I demo'd a tele setup and had my very first tele lesson at Loveland. I'm hooked, and will be focusing on tele next year, for backcountry purposes if nothing else. I also had a great powder day at Loveland in February. The Ridge was closed due to wind, but the snow in the trees was terrific. With Silverton in my sights, I felt like my powder skiing was developing well. A few weeks later, I returned with my Silverton partners for some practice on the Ridge. We found mixed conditions, but had a great day nonetheless. I felt ready to test myself at Silverton.

I took part in a long weekend trip to Breckenridge with a group of friends from college. It was a terrific reunion that also provided 2 days of great snow. We drove up Thursday night, and it snowed steadily until we left Sunday morning. Note to self: stay at the Gondola House again!

Ryan and I made our way to Wolf Creek in the last week of January for a truly epic day. The 3 day total for the mountain was somewhere in the neighborhood of 65" so it was nothing short of amazing. I had never skied anything like that before, or been skiing in the San Juans, so this trip was monumental. I got my first powder face shots, and will be returning next year if another monster storm heads that direction. (Who am I kidding, that happens every year down there... I'll see you next winter, Wolfie!)

Last weekend I was fully pushed to my limits and tested by the weird vibes of Silverton. Let me be the first to tell you that everything people say about that place is true. There is no reason to ski Alaska with Silverton within a day's drive. You can't compare it to any other resort in Colorado. I was honestly really nervous about whether I was worthy of Silverton. It gave me all I wanted and more. Let's just say that I had an issue with a creek crossing and was done skiing on day one after my first run... my boot liners are still wet. Oh, and my Jeep broke down on the way out of town, and my camera died in the creek. That mountain shows no mercy. But......... it snowed 20" Friday night, so we skied amazing powder on Saturday. Those 5 runs will live on in infamy for me, and I wish badly that I could be there again next Saturday.

Overall, my steeps and moguls still have a long way to go, but I've definitely improved as a skier this season. I have 12.1 days in so far, which is probably double last year's total. I really don't think I improved last season, so I'm happy with that change. Even people I skied with in December claim to have seen an improvement in my skiing, and I attribute that at least in part to my tele lesson. I plan on skiing Monarch on Saturday, and get a few more Front Range days in before the backcountry season starts.

Next year's wish list:

• Follow the snow like this year... Silverton and Wolf Creek are musts!
• I've never skied anywhere in Aspen, so I'd like to get in a weekend at Snowmass, Highlands, or anywhere that will have me.
  
• Crested Butte is a stretch goal, but would be great to add to the list. Same goes for Telluride.
  
• dramatic tele improvement

I think it's fair to say that skiing is my favorite activity... is it snowing yet?

welcome 2010

Was 1990 really 20 years ago? I actually remember 1990. Eeek.

This is a continuation, 1 year later, from http://rockymountainbrett.blogspot.com/2009/01/wrapping-up-last-year-kicking-off-2009.html. My bottom 5 goals are still very relevant, and at this point I would like to add a few more.

1. Conversational fluency in Spanish. I have a tutor for this and so far I'm headed in the right direction.
2. Working fewer nights and weekends. This must happen.