You know how some days you wonder if you should have gotten out of bed? By now you know that pretty much describes my 2010. I blame the Grand Canyon. (Each time I have scheduled a double crossing, bad luck as been close behind. So I thought it deserved its own One Thing.)

Unrelated note: just made a small contribution to iRunFar’s ‘Destination Dirt’ series. It’s a trail runner’s guide to the small slice of heaven that is Zion National Park. You’re invited to check it out, if you haven’t already. Also, I didn’t make it explicit in the write-up, but if you are ever in southwestern Utah and would like additional local knowledge (or maybe even some company) just drop me a line (stacyatwildernessrunning.com).

Finally, after some deliberation, I’ve decided to continue to post trail guides here at the WRC blog, but with a slightly more casual approach even than we have taken in the past.

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Ankle demolition + 48 hours of RICE.

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Actually, two things.

First: the Mindbender review I mentioned last week has been posted. There’s a good chance you already follow iRunFar so there’s a similarly good chance you already knew this. As a longtime fan of iRunFar, I’m very pleased to be working with them and have every reason to think the Mindbender review is just the first collaboration of what will be longer term relationship. An unanticipated development is that Vasque has offered to give away two pairs of the Mindbender in support of the review. So, if you haven’t already, check it out, and leave your name in the comments to enter the drawing.

Second: if there is an activity I find as inherently meditative as wilderness running it might be listening to the music of Sigur Rós. A few years ago, at the conclusion of a long world tour, they played a series of free shows in mostly small, unique venues (an abandoned fish factory, for example) all across their native Iceland. They also made a beautiful film called Heima that splices footage from these shows with lush videography of the people and landscape of their homeland. Lately, I’ve frequently been watching excerpts of Heima in lieu of reading before bed. Guaranteed to slooow my heart rate. I had been thinking of posting a clip as a One Thing for a few weeks; the events of last week sealed it. So, below is a trailer for the film. Committed aesthetes – and Sigur Rós fans – can stream the whole thing here.

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Out like a lion. A spring storm rolled through the night of March 31 – April 1, spitting rain down low and snow up high. I noticed as I was leaving the house Thursday morning that the Pine Valleys were still trying to shake off the last of the clouds.

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Sunrise over Zion from the Hurricane Cliffs trail network. Welding mask optional.

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What you’re looking at: the “backside” of the test lab. These are the badlands southwest of St. George looking toward the Paiute Wilderness Area of Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument. If you’ve ever heard of the Arizona Strip — the portion of northwest Arizona “cut off” from the rest of the state by the Grand Canyon — well, this is part of that. The prominent features in the distance are a hint of the Virgin River Gorge and, beyond that, Mt. Bangs.

The Paiute Wilderness is a bit of an oddity. On the one hand, it gets almost no direct visitation (less than about 1,000 recreational user days/year according to the BLM). On the other hand, I-15 bisects the wilderness area where it passes through the Virgin River Gorge, so it gets hundreds of thousands of “indirect visitors” each year. If you ever drive through the Gorge — between St. George and Mesquite, NV — look for Bighorn Sheep among the cliffs on either side of the freeway.

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My own small “closing ceremony” for the Winter Olympics. Japandroids is just what a two-piece garage band from Vancouver should sound like. As in: no complicated arrangements or elliptical word play, just a guitar and drum, played fast and loud.

Japandroids
Wet Hair

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