Pier to Peak - A Death Valley Easter
Well, it was definitely an eventful weekend.
I have some friends who started running once a year (for the most part) from the Santa Monica pier to Mt. Wilson. They call it the Pier to Peak run, and it's very informal. This year, I decided to join them, because it would pass right through Griffith Park, where our TNT team was running a 10K event on Sat. morning.
I got a ride over to the start from Consuela, one of our TNT team mentors. There were about 12 of us doing the run. We started at 7pm by taking some pictures, going all the way out to the end of the pier, and touching the rail. Within 1/4 mile, one of our runners, a guy named Matt Policy, a former Badwater finisher (amongst other things) had to drop...he'd been sick all week, and thought he'd recovered enough, but started puking almost immediately. So after coming all the way from S.F., he had to turn around and drive back up.
After that we continued on. Along Ocean Blvd. through the park, through Pacific Palisades (past homes of Steven Spielberg & Sylvester Stallone) and up Amalfi Canyon to Dirt Mulholland, which we reached in about 3 hours (11 miles). We were taking it pretty easy. The weather was cooperating, and the full moon made flashlights unnecessary for much of the night.
We ran east on dirt Mulholland to a first food/water drop at around 11pm, then on down paved Mulholland. Just west of the 405, three of us hanging back a bit saw motorcyclist skid out on some gravel. He was OK, more shocked than anything, but his faceguard was broken and his helmet was all scratched up.
We went on. At Laurel Canyon, 4 more of our friends peeled off, calling it at 20 miles. That was around 12:30am, I think. That stretch was pretty flat, but running on Mulholland drive, which is dark and curvy, at night, with all the drunks and partiers on the road, is something I don't recommend. We got alternately cheered and yelled at by different drivers.
About 2:00am, we ran into 'Joanne.' Joanne looked like a caricature of Kelly Bundy from the "Married with Children" show; bleached blond hair, mini-skirt, black halter top. She was sitting on the side of the road on a little retaining wall...when we asked if she was OK, we soon realized she was pretty incoherent. She also seemed to immediately trust me, because she started crying on my shoulder and holding onto me (much to my friends' amusement). After talking with her for a good 15 minutes, we think she got dumped by someone who picked her up at a club and tried to take advantage of her. She said she'd kicked him in the face, and he'd thrown her out. In any event, some friends who were providing aid arrived around that time...they talked her into letting them give her a ride down to civilization.
At the end of Mulholland, we crawled through a fence into a scenic lookout point not too far past the Runyan Canyon dog park, and started another trail portion. We slid/scraped down the hill behind the Hollywood Bowl, across Cahuenga Blvd., then along the 101 and up to the big, lit cross, over to Lake Hollywood, behind the Hollywood sign, and finally down through Griffith Park on some absolutely horrendous single-track trails...steep, overgrown, rocky...what a great time.
I got to Griffith Park around 7am, about 36 miles later. By that time, they were down to 5 folks who were going to complete the entire run...I'll find out what happened, but I haven't yet, because I went to Death Valley on Sunday!
On Sunday morning, I drove out with some friends to see some Wildflowers, the first visit of the year. It was a shock.
While I was expecting more greenery than I'd seen, I wasn't prepared for the absolute onslaught of people. I feel like I have a special connection with the place, I think because I'm out there when it's at its least hospitable. There are so few people out there in the summer, and it's fragility was seeimingly being trampled on by the hordes.
At one small convenience store (there are only 2 in Death Valley proper), they completely ran out of gasoline, candy, many staples, etc. We planned to camp and apparently were fortunate enough to have timed it perfectly, finding a spot near the store. The camp host told us later that actual fistfights had broken out during the week over spots! I guess all those national news stories had their effect...too many rats in one cage. :)
The neat part was seeing a different side of the valley. The Badwater basin was the most remarkable to me, even more than the flowers. In the picture below, I'm looking west toward at the Panamint Mountains. The amazing part is that I'm standing in 6 inches of water. To first time visitors, it's amusing, but to me, it was like seeing 10 ft. of snow in downtown Los Angeles.
We stopped at the Devil's Golf Course (crystalline salf formations), Mushroom Rock (a lava rock that was spewed out from a volcano across the valley and landed upside down in the shape of a mushroom), Furnace Creek for some goodies, then back to camp for a great dinner of carne asada made by my friends Ken & Jeanne.
We spent the rest of the day looking around different points that we never got to visit during the training runs. That picture on the left is of my friend Steve Matsuda climbing up one of the dunes at Mesquite Flats.
Standing in Badwater Basin
The full moon made it amazingly bright all night...the blue picture is looking out of my tent at 4:14am. It was so bright that I picked up my book to see if I could read without a flashlight. I could see the chapter headings, but not the text. Still, just an amazing place.
Looking out over Stovepipe Wells campground
Pier to Peak 2005
I have some friends who started running once a year (for the most part) from the Santa Monica pier to Mt. Wilson. They call it the Pier to Peak run, and it's very informal. This year, I decided to join them, because it would pass right through Griffith Park, where our TNT team was running a 10K event on Sat. morning.
I got a ride over to the start from Consuela, one of our TNT team mentors. There were about 12 of us doing the run. We started at 7pm by taking some pictures, going all the way out to the end of the pier, and touching the rail. Within 1/4 mile, one of our runners, a guy named Matt Policy, a former Badwater finisher (amongst other things) had to drop...he'd been sick all week, and thought he'd recovered enough, but started puking almost immediately. So after coming all the way from S.F., he had to turn around and drive back up.
After that we continued on. Along Ocean Blvd. through the park, through Pacific Palisades (past homes of Steven Spielberg & Sylvester Stallone) and up Amalfi Canyon to Dirt Mulholland, which we reached in about 3 hours (11 miles). We were taking it pretty easy. The weather was cooperating, and the full moon made flashlights unnecessary for much of the night.
We ran east on dirt Mulholland to a first food/water drop at around 11pm, then on down paved Mulholland. Just west of the 405, three of us hanging back a bit saw motorcyclist skid out on some gravel. He was OK, more shocked than anything, but his faceguard was broken and his helmet was all scratched up.
We went on. At Laurel Canyon, 4 more of our friends peeled off, calling it at 20 miles. That was around 12:30am, I think. That stretch was pretty flat, but running on Mulholland drive, which is dark and curvy, at night, with all the drunks and partiers on the road, is something I don't recommend. We got alternately cheered and yelled at by different drivers.
About 2:00am, we ran into 'Joanne.' Joanne looked like a caricature of Kelly Bundy from the "Married with Children" show; bleached blond hair, mini-skirt, black halter top. She was sitting on the side of the road on a little retaining wall...when we asked if she was OK, we soon realized she was pretty incoherent. She also seemed to immediately trust me, because she started crying on my shoulder and holding onto me (much to my friends' amusement). After talking with her for a good 15 minutes, we think she got dumped by someone who picked her up at a club and tried to take advantage of her. She said she'd kicked him in the face, and he'd thrown her out. In any event, some friends who were providing aid arrived around that time...they talked her into letting them give her a ride down to civilization.
At the end of Mulholland, we crawled through a fence into a scenic lookout point not too far past the Runyan Canyon dog park, and started another trail portion. We slid/scraped down the hill behind the Hollywood Bowl, across Cahuenga Blvd., then along the 101 and up to the big, lit cross, over to Lake Hollywood, behind the Hollywood sign, and finally down through Griffith Park on some absolutely horrendous single-track trails...steep, overgrown, rocky...what a great time.
I got to Griffith Park around 7am, about 36 miles later. By that time, they were down to 5 folks who were going to complete the entire run...I'll find out what happened, but I haven't yet, because I went to Death Valley on Sunday!
Death Valley Easter
On Sunday morning, I drove out with some friends to see some Wildflowers, the first visit of the year. It was a shock.While I was expecting more greenery than I'd seen, I wasn't prepared for the absolute onslaught of people. I feel like I have a special connection with the place, I think because I'm out there when it's at its least hospitable. There are so few people out there in the summer, and it's fragility was seeimingly being trampled on by the hordes.
At one small convenience store (there are only 2 in Death Valley proper), they completely ran out of gasoline, candy, many staples, etc. We planned to camp and apparently were fortunate enough to have timed it perfectly, finding a spot near the store. The camp host told us later that actual fistfights had broken out during the week over spots! I guess all those national news stories had their effect...too many rats in one cage. :)
The neat part was seeing a different side of the valley. The Badwater basin was the most remarkable to me, even more than the flowers. In the picture below, I'm looking west toward at the Panamint Mountains. The amazing part is that I'm standing in 6 inches of water. To first time visitors, it's amusing, but to me, it was like seeing 10 ft. of snow in downtown Los Angeles.
We stopped at the Devil's Golf Course (crystalline salf formations), Mushroom Rock (a lava rock that was spewed out from a volcano across the valley and landed upside down in the shape of a mushroom), Furnace Creek for some goodies, then back to camp for a great dinner of carne asada made by my friends Ken & Jeanne.
We spent the rest of the day looking around different points that we never got to visit during the training runs. That picture on the left is of my friend Steve Matsuda climbing up one of the dunes at Mesquite Flats.
Standing in Badwater Basin
The full moon made it amazingly bright all night...the blue picture is looking out of my tent at 4:14am. It was so bright that I picked up my book to see if I could read without a flashlight. I could see the chapter headings, but not the text. Still, just an amazing place.
Looking out over Stovepipe Wells campground
posted by Greg Minter at 11:52 AM
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