Brown seed stalks of Curly Dock (Rumex crispus) amid dried grasses and mustard on Laskey Mesa in Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve (formerly Ahmanson Ranch).

Curly dock is a non-native invasive weed from Eurasia. The Cal-IPC Invasive Plant Inventory describes its impact as limited.

From a run at Ahmanson on September 13, 2006.

Sylvan Hairstreak (Satyrium sylvinus) on California Goldenrod (Solidago californica) at Sage Ranch Park.

A Southern Pacific Rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus helleri) at Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve (formerly Ahmanson Ranch).

Photograph of Foxtail Pine from the Cottonwood - New Army Pass Loop September 2, 2006.

The climb up the glacially sculpted canyon hadn't been too bad. How could it be on a day like this? Winds were light, and the temperature was refreshingly cool – perfect for running in shorts and a lightweight long-sleeve top. As I had worked up the Rock Creek trail, marmots, fat for the Winter, had whistled warnings of my approach and then waddled for cover. Amicable clouds embellished the high mountain sky, and sun-chased shadows quietly set the pace.

In late September 2005, the Topanga Fire burned many thousands of acres in the Simi Hills. One of the side effects of the fire was to reveal the extent of the refuse that was in the creek bed that runs east-west between Rocketdyne's Santa Susana Field Laboratory and Sage Ranch.

My plan had been to run out the Misha Mokwa Trail to the Backbone Trail, and then head west towards Sycamore Canyon. I needed to be back in the Valley before noon, so about an hour out I would head back. Running past Echo Cliffs, I tried to pick out some of the steep climbing routes, and contemplated delicately perched Balance Rock.

A bracket fungus (prob. Laetiporus gilbertsonii) on a burned eucalyptus in the Simi Hills.

It's mid-August, which means that Labor Day, and the Mt. Baldy Run to the Top, are only a couple of weeks away. There's nothing quite like the experience of racing to the top of a 10,000 ft. peak en masse with 500+ other runners.

There are three basic choices for running hydration: hand bottles, a waist pack, or a back pack. There are also various combinations of these basic themes. If you do much off-road running, chances are good you have at least one version from each category. Until recently I had not tried any of the waist packs with a horizontally oriented bottle. Why not?

We did this acclimatization run early in our running adventure in Peru. The grain field is on a plateau at about 11,000', and parallels the Sacred Valley of the Incas, and Urubamba River.

Many runners are fanatical about their shoes. Trail runners are no different, and every runner has their favorite. For several years my favorite trail running shoe has been the Montrail Vitesse. This is a shoe that straight out of the box, I would not hesitate to wear in a 50K. I've tried several of the newer Montrail designs, but none performed as well for me as the Vitesse. That is, until I tried the Continental Divide.

Update 01/15/08. My latest pair of Vitesse's (made in China) seem to be a very different shoe than the dozens of pairs in which I've run before. They seemed to be short for the size, a little more narrow in the forefoot, and the cushioning and shock absorption didn't feel up to par. Montrail was purchased by Columbia Sportswear about a year and a half ago and according to a customer service rep, "manufacturing of the shoes moved to new factories." An ultrarunning friend had a similar sizing problem with his last order of two pairs of Vitesses, but said the cushioning was OK. Maybe my latest pair was an aberration. I hope so.

Update 08/19/07. Each of my last two pairs of Continental Divides have weighed more than the first pair. The second weighed 30.6 oz./pair, and the third weighed 32.0 oz./pair! My last two pairs of Vitesses have weighed in at 27.0 oz./pair. At only 24.2 oz./pair, the adidas Trail Response 14 is my most lightweight trail running shoe.