One of our main goals this autumn was to explore the nature around Montreal. We went to Val David for bouldering, Alexandria for glass blowing and brunch (thanks okranauts :)), Mont Rigaud for sport climbing (and soft grades), Kahnawake Mohawk Territory for a tour of the closest indigenous reserve to Montreal, and we ran the Mad Trappers 50k ultra – and Kisa won the woman’s race :O We got lots of family visits and took Gabi’s parents to Joe Beef and Quebec City.
We then made our way to Del Mar to spend the holidays with Kisa’s family. Our time was filled with christmas cookies, cinnamon rolls (and other baked goods), puzzles.
And of course some adventure running (mostly Torrey pines and crest canyon)
And then for the new years we headed off into the desert. We stayed in a trailer in the Mojave Desert, outside of Hinkley, which is outside of Barstow… which is between LA and Las Vegas. The remoteness and the nature was astounding, and it was really chilly! We binged on Trader Joes hot chocolate and ready made chana masala and caught up on New Yorkers.
We spent a few days at New Jack City. A windy crag in the high desert with (chossy) metamorphic rock and big runouts. New years eve we spent the evening running out the sunset in Owl Canyon, with beautiful colorful rocks. There was also banging Mexican food in Barstow at Lola’s Kitchen.
We left the loneliness of the high desert for the craziness of Vegas! But mostly we were there for the rocks. We picked up Kainalu, explored the strip but spent most of our time out in the mountains.
It was raining a lot and the sandstone is very fragile when wet, so every morning was spent assessing whether it was dry enough to climb. If it wasn’t, we headed out for epic runs or went to Vegas’s local limestone crag (along with all the other climbers who would have preferred to be on sandstone). We spotted Tommy Caldwell and Sonnie Trotter there though!
The red rocks are spectacularly beautiful.
After 2 weeks playing in the desert, we headed to Arizona to tag up with the NASA Harvest team. Kis hung out with Pixel the puppy while Gabi prepared for the next year, and we enjoyed some runs and hikes alongside Arizona’s oversized cactii.
And then we made it to Maui! We were in the middle of training for Marao which meant lots of time on trails. We lapped the pali over and over, and caught it on the most beautiful wet rainy day (we also ran out out of water on a toasty day and were saved by some La Croix from fellow hikers). We ran to Paliku and saw waterfalls deep in the crater. We ran up poli poli… which was painful and closed. We also did Makawao forest so many times.
We also of course had lots of family time, beach time, old friends, new babies, nike pup, sunsets in the yard. Gabi explored Maui and Molokai and Lanai for work, visiting farms and schools.
The trip wouldn’t have been complete without some sweaty, muddy, wasp-filled trips to plenty kiawe. Here are some pictures of us cutting our hands and climbing shoes on a’a lava. Gabi also did a first ascent on a boulder off the path of the Pali. The first week we were in Maui we ran 14km to access the boulder…
