Training Log Archive: Swampfox

Got started on the new mapping project (at last) in the NE corner of the Diamond Bay base, with the working secret code name of "Thor's Castle". Wanted to call it Thor's Needle, but nobody in the world would look at the rock object in question and think of it as a needle.

Launched right into a detailed area, and the detailed areas are *really* detailed. Probably most of these areas will be all but incomprehensible, so actually pretty ideal for orienteering as it is now routinely practiced nowadays.

Intervals at Remarkable Flats. Breezy.

O' pass out in the extreme NE corner of the Diamond Bay base map; the area is deceptively physical, in part because of larger areas of tighter sage.

Headed out for a morning pass at Remarkable Flats. It had been a while since I had been there--not since early July?--and the area is too much fun to have not run there in so long.

Sharing the area, as it turned out, were more cows than I have ever seen out there before, mostly clustered right in the area I was parking in. Maybe the area is being used as a staging area as the biannual cattle migration begins, moving cows eastward towards lower pastures or towards Greeley and other similar locales. And these cows were very talkative.

It's also about the time that the shooting restriction season ends, and over in the gravel quarry--a favorite shooting spot--someone was shooting something that sounded like it was a muzzle loader. Besides the sound, the shots were few and far between.

I've never worried a second about being out running during muzzle loading (hunting) season, assuming that with the limited range and accuracy of muzzle loaders, hunters armed with same could/would only take shots at animals they could see very well and which were very close to them. But today, for some reason, as I was warming up and running out towards my start point, I revisited that notion. My assumption would be correct if my assumption that hunters were using smooth bore rifles of the sort used during the Revolutionary War was also correct, but I realized (only today) that I had no basis for that second assumption. And if they were using rifled barrels and something like minie balls, then they would be quite capable of killing even large animals with great accuracy over even very long distances. Hmmm....sometimes it's better to not think too much!

But I'm still not going to worry about muzzle loading hunters. If they shoot me, they just better have a license for swampfoxes when they check in at the nearest Fish and Game station.

Beautiful day to be out, with sunshine, temperatures closer to average for the season, the clearest air we've had in a good many weeks, and, again, all the cattle you could wish for to run with. I ran with good speed, but kept things dialed back a higher intensity on grounds of having a little scratchiness in my throat when I woke up this morning. Hit all my controls just like a good desperado should.

Ran at Happy Jack, took a pass by the Beehive and on down the spur road climbers use to access it. Found more beer cans than would fit in my hands, so I taught myself how to juggle on the run and got them all back without losing any. Could be a useful skill should I ever want to hire out at the Circus.

Did decide on the north side of the North Branch of the North Fork of Crow Creek as it has been an idea for a while to combine this part of the Diamond Bay area with the Twin Boulders area. It doesn't really add much to the Diamond Bay map--nor is it needed--whereas it will make Twin Boulders more useful. The area includes a nice amount of contour detail and some excellent stretches of sage.

Finished off the last bit of mapping I was unable to finish off on Sunday, and glad to be done with it! Part of it was essentially white paper mapping (on a north facing slope under pine canopy, though much of the canopy has disappeared since the now comparatively "ancient" photos were flown, thanks to those little beetles.)

Now I can choose some new area to concentrate mapping pencils on, and I am thinking of hopping over to the north side of the North Branch of the North Fork of Crow Creek--if for no other reason than that will incorporate a lot of "north".

Ran trails at Happy Jack, where I bumped into the Laramie HS XC team. The boys are especially formidable and are aiming for a 6th straight State Championship (and with decent chances to make it 6 straight.)

I headed out this morning to do battle with the sage at Pitcher Hill, running a course of 7ish or so kms, at the best pace I could manage while still feeling I hadn't quite gone over the edge into the zone of negative feedback.

It was warm, I was drenched in sweat by the time I was done, and the effort felt really good. No falls, no cactus gashings, no buttons to push.

Then I came back home and had a delicious pizza breakfast, though maybe I should put "breakfast" in quotes (like I just did) because by then it was 2 pm. Yum! So fine1

Even better, for a change there was almost no haze to speak of. I will enjoy that for however long it lasts.

C • Out running when the market... 2

Well. What I saw on Saturday was the aftermath of a shooting, allegedly in self-defense. The person who was shot suffered a mortal wound.

That makes it two shooting deaths I've been in close proximity to in connection with mapping.

C • shooting 6