Mr Trail Safety Speaks!

Sawtooth Peak from the back side Mineral King had already experienced hard-rock mining, timber extraction, sheepherding, and somehow managed to stagger into the mid 20th-century relatively intact. Its been way too long since I've been back up there. I've been there backpacking, trailrunning and backcountry ski-touring. Next to King's Canyon, its the best California has to offer. The proposed Disney Mineral King ski resort would have been an environmental catastrophe. In 1989 I took a ski avalanche workshop from Dave Beck, one of the original snow rangers Disney hired to do snow survey. Mineral King is an avalanche zone from any angle. Dave said that half of the slopes in the main L-shaped valley were unstable on a good day. The few cabins and mule-barn are located in the few stable areas. Secondly, the valley and surrounding peaks create an inversion layer that would trap all smog and particulates from the proposed resort. The geology of the valley would also not be able to...

I love this talk about John Muir Trail and "record fever". There's such a rancid desperate air about it. But it's Spring, and it's with us again.  Blake Wood did a masterful job. The account is low-key, insightful, accurate and bullshit free.  Bruce Hoff did his turn several years ago. Again, low-key, honest, funny and sobering.  Last year Buzzy & Peter treated us to a brass-band fanfare prior to the Great Unsupported JMT Record-Breaking Event. We were directed to the appropriate press flackery, which Was All True, of course.  The air was thick with attitude about it all, Cali trails being wimpy and all, and how Two Colorado Dewds were gonna show ever'body a thing or two about trail running. Unsupported. This was canon law.  The Mountain Gods stirred from their torpors. Pulverized mule turds set the tone, and the howling started there. Four days of no sleep and robotic humping thru what...Gawd's Epic Back Yard. They might as well have run along the si...