Gossamer Crew

Here's a quick pic of the Gossamer Gear crew working the booth at the KO this past weekend.

From left to right: Rik, Beeman, Grant, Glen & Me

Beeman put up some more KO pics here.

Back from the KO

I'm back from the ADZPCTKO after a marathon 18-hour drive from Lake Morena straight to Crested Butte.

Highlights of the weekend:

1. Seeing Shep & LW in Denver
2. Driving into Lake Morena with P.O.D. and Co.
3. Seeing Manyon
4. Seeing a bunch of hiker trash folks I only see once a year at ADZPCTKO
5. Trail running on Thursday evening
6. Eating at the Ice Cream Place at Cameron Corners
7. Dropping P.O.D., TW, & Skittles Guy at the Mexican border at 5:30 AM
8. Workin' the Gossamer Gear booth all day on Friday
9. Hangin' with Grant, Glen, Beeman & Rik
10. Showing 4 Month n 8 Minutes to a crowd of about 200
11. Dropping a 16-mile trail run Saturday morning
12. Entering my SpinnTwinn beak mod in the gear contest Saturday
13. Drinkin' one of Teatree's Sierra Nevada Pale Ales Sat night (makes me wish I bought good beer more often)
    
14. Driving thru the entire state of Arizona
    
15. Getting back to Colorado
    

4 Month 8 Minutes Revisited

I'm in Denver at the moment in route to the Annual Day Zero Pacific Crest Trail Kick-Off also known as ADZPCTKO. THis will be my 5th KO in the past 6 years. Held the last weekend of every April, this kick-off is a big weekend long party to send PCT thru-hikers off in good fashion. 500 people will attend. I'm showing my "4 Months n 8 Minutes" vid to the masses Friday night. I retooled it a bit to make it more snazzy for the peoples. Here's the new version:


4 Months on the PCT in 8 Minutes from Lawton Grinter on Vimeo.

Practical Backpacking Interview

P.O.D. and I just did an interview with Bernie Wilt of PracticalBackpacking.com last week. In the interview Bernie asked us a lot of questions specific to backpacking as a couple. If you are looking to kill 45 minutes, give it a listen here or head over to the iTunes Store and you'll find it under Podcasts. I've been a big fan of his podcast interviews for a while now and am honored to become one of his interviewees.

Here's the intro from PracticalBackpacking.com:

In this episode Lawton Grinter (Disco) and Felicia Hermosillo (P.O.D.) share what it was like to backpack as a couple for over 5,000 miles.

In recent years, the couple hiked both the Continental Divide Trail (see Walkumentary) and the Pacific Crest Trail, living on love, patience, trial and error, and whatever they could fit into their modest backpacks.

Having spent nearly every minute and mile after mile with mere paces between them, the two learned a lot about each other, themselves, and even how to yogi a thing or two. Listen in to laugh, learn, and dream as this adventurous duo shares their memorable journey.

Come On . . . Revisited

Here we go again . . . mid-April and they are callin' for 8-16 inches of snow by tomorrow afternoon. Not stoked.

COZ004-009-010-012-013-160545-
/O.EXT.KGJT.WS.W.0016.090416T0300Z-090418T0000Z/
ELKHEAD AND PARK MOUNTAINS-GRAND AND BATTLEMENT MESAS-
GORE AND ELK MOUNTAINS/CENTRAL MOUNTAIN VALLEYS-
WEST ELK AND SAWATCH MOUNTAINS-FLATTOPS-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...COLUMBINE...TOPONAS...SKYWAY...ASPEN...
VAIL...SNOWMASS...CRESTED BUTTE...TAYLOR PARK...MARBLE...BUFORD...
TRAPPERS LAKE
337 PM MDT WED APR 15 2009

...WINTER STORM WARNING NOW IN EFFECT FROM 9 PM THIS EVENING TO
6 PM MDT FRIDAY...

THE WINTER STORM WARNING IS NOW IN EFFECT FROM 9 PM THIS EVENING
TO 6 PM MDT FRIDAY.

SNOWFALL WILL INCREASE THIS EVENING AS A COLD FRONT MOVES THROUGH
THE AREA. GUSTY WINDS THIS EVENING WILL CAUSE AREAS OF BLOWING AND
DRIFTING SNOW. WINDS WILL SHIFT TO NORTHWEST AND GRADUALLY
DECREASE AFTER MIDNIGHT. COLDER AIR BEHIND THE FRONT WILL LOWER
THE SNOW LEVEL TO AROUND 5000 FEET BY THURSDAY MORNING. EXPECT
TOTAL SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 8 TO 16 INCHES BY FRIDAY
AFTERNOON.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW ARE
EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. STRONG WINDS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE. THIS WILL
MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS OR IMPOSSIBLE.

In the Midst of Marathon Training

I just finished Week 7 of a 16 week marathon training program I am doing and am feeling pretty good despite a sore body.

Back in February I mentioned that I was shopping for a marathon to run and I ended up settling on the "Run the Caldera" trail marathon near Los Alamos, New Mexico on June 13th. Run the Caldera was an easy choice because A) trails are more my speed than pavement and B) I really like northern New Mexico scenery.

The training program that I decided to use was the "Non Runner's Marathon Trainer" that I had seen mentioned by Ray Jardine on his site. This program was developed by 2 professors at the University of Northern Iowa and it's success rate is astronomical. The program is set up to get 1st time marathon runners to finish . . . not to set records or beat a certain time. It seemed like just the program for me as my main goal is to finish and not be a complete mess when I cross the finish line.

I'm almost halfway thru the 16 weeks of training and just finished a 12-miler earlier today. The longest run I had done previous to today was a 12-miler at the end of an Outward Bound course back when I was 15. So here I am 18 years later and I've just matched my longest run. Next Sunday I'll do a 14-miler.

I've never been much of a runner and have considered 30-minute runs to be a long run. Today I was out for an hour and 45 minutes. Pretty incredible to me. Around mile 10 my body started hurting. A general hurt confined mostly to the waist down. It's the pounding. Next Sunday I'll be running in Dominguez Canyon strictly on trails which will be a bit easier on my body. 1/3 of today's run was on pavement and the other 2/3's were on dirt roads.

To keep myself honest I'm posting my 4 runs/week on Twitter. I get tomorrow off and then I'm back at it Tuesday. Wish me luck.

Come On

It's supposed to be mid-April for crying out loud . . . not mid-January.

COZ012-110030-
/O.NEW.KGJT.WS.A.0015.090411T0600Z-090412T1500Z/
WEST ELK AND SAWATCH MOUNTAINS-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...CRESTED BUTTE...TAYLOR PARK...MARBLE
1020 AM MDT FRI APR 10 2009

...WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY
MORNING...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND JUNCTION HAS ISSUED A
WINTER STORM WATCH...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH
SUNDAY MORNING.

SNOWFALL WILL START TONIGHT BECOMING WIDESPREAD AFTER MIDNIGHT. THERE IS STILL SOME UNCERTAINTY ON THE SNOW LEVEL AND SNOW DENSITY. BUT
BY EARLY SUNDAY MORNING...OVER A FOOT OF NEW SNOW IS POSSIBLE
ABOVE 8500 FEET.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A WINTER STORM WATCH MEANS THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT
SNOW...SLEET...OR ICE ACCUMULATIONS THAT MAY IMPACT TRAVEL.
CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE LATEST FORECASTS.

Leo's Book

Just got my hands on The Power of Less by Leo Babauta. Can't wait to give this a read. Leo is the author of the ZenHabits.net website.

Crazy Skies

We had some odd weather roll in right around sunset . . . a hail storm and the backdrop was a skyline that looked as if it were on fire. Hearsay took some good photos.

Pics Up - Colorado National Monument

I posted some pics from my trip this past weekend to the great Colorado National Monument. Hope to get over to Dominguez Canyon in a weekend or two for some more dry-land hiking. And by the way, Dominguez Canyon WSA just got designated as a Wilderness Area when Obama signed the Omnibus Public Lands Bill on Monday.