Phil's walk outside

Where the heck is Matt Hazley?

I've never seen someone drop off the face of the internet quite as quickly as Matt Hazley. He was supposed to be attempting a record thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail starting this summer; an attempt to do it in under 40 days. He was on several podcasts, got equipment manufacturers to support him, and I can find nothing of his attempt.

In 2003 Matthew Hazley hiked the Appalachian Trail; in 2004 he hiked the Pacific Crest Trail, and in 2005 he hiked all three--the "Triple Crown"--in a single calendar year. (There's no title for that achievement.)

There's no precedent for that. The closest is a chap who did all three in a year, but didn't do them all end-to-end. I.e., he did bits of one and pieces of another, shuttling around the country to catch the right circumstances. Squeaky (Matt's trail name) did them all without a break. Earlier this year, Matt announced his goal of setting a speed record on the AT (under 40 days). He was interviewed on at least three different popular backpacking/hiking site podcasts during his preparations, and was set to begin in the States in June. (E.g., Practical Backpacking Podcast of 5/17/06 ). The last I heard of it was an interview with him shortly after he'd gotten stateside; he told Backpacking Light on 6/3 he was pretty much ready to go, (although I think he reported some foot trouble).
That's the last I've been able to find of him. Nothing on news.google, and nothing aside of pre-trip mentions in the other media. His own website seems to be stuck in May as well. I can find no word from his sponsors, fans or friends either. Weird.

Oh, and there seems to be another Matthew Hazley from No. Ireland who's a footballer on the U21 team. He did well in a recent friendly--("Hazley came close in the 38th minute after a mazy run, sending his shot over the top.")--but I don't think it's the same lad.
A pint o' stout to the first who can tell me where he went.

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The White Board, version 2006

The picks are rolling in, and we'll have an updated version here soon. Sigmund is still basking in his role as defending champ. As are the Horns.

For a number of years now, we (a few of my coworkers and I) have been predicting the outcome of the upcoming Horns football seasons. This has been going on a number of years; early predictions included CJ writing pseudo-code to indicate the outcome of the 2002 season (an early end to coach Mack's career? Not quite.) Last year was close , but Sigmund's fixation on his guarantee of no more losses for Vince Young after the amazing comeback in the 2004 Oklahoma State game gave him the title.

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Wed - August 30, 2006

Oklahoma Highpoint

On my way back from Colorado I decided to knock off Black Mesa, the highest point in Oklahoma (4,973'). Which I did on 8/13/06.

I was rather surprised; the country up there in the extreme western panhandle of Oklahoma is quite nice. Also extremely remote; I drove 50 miles on an unpaved county road to get there. The country is very caprock-like; much like the Texas panhandle between, say, Post and Borger (East of the boring plains of Amarillo/Dalhart). With a heavy overcast it would have been a quite nice summertime hike as temperatures were only around 80, but I got slammed by thunderstorms along the way, so I dared not dally at the top. To reach the highpoint proper you have to go about a mile on the top of this treeless mesa, which is quite exposed to things like thunderstorms. At least the rain held off until my return hike; just as I approached the descent of the mesa it began to pour.
It's about 8.5 or 9 miles; I did it in about 2.5 hours. I was moving quickly.

Posted at 10:49 PM Category:

Mon - April 3, 2006

Backpacking podcasts

Backpacking podcasts are here.

There's a whole new genre of backpacking internet info; and it includes podcasts.
Here's an example: backpacking-light podcast.

Posted at 11:24 PM Category:

Sun - January 22, 2006

The White Board revisited

Official final standings and results for the 2005 MN Championship season are in.

Posted at 08:05 PM Category:

Mon - October 10, 2005

The White Board

This is "the board" as it stands now, untouched, since CJ left. I shall update it, but I wanted everyone to see it as it was/is.

Posted at 10:53 PM Category:

Fri - September 16, 2005

Trip to Columbus

Notes, pix, and movies from my trip to Columbus, Ohio, for the Ohio State game.

Notes from my trip to Columbus, Ohio, for the Ohio State game.

Here is the shoe before the start of the game:(Pic, avi movie)

And here it as afterwards, Note that you can't even hear the Texas band playing Texas Fight (Pic, avi movie).

Posted at 02:09 PM Category:

Sun - June 26, 2005

Shiner BASH 2005-Not like it used to be

I did the Shiner BASH (bike ride to Shiner) once again, on 5/14/05. This year, however, it wasn't as much fun, for a number of reasons.

(This is the only photo which doesn't make me look as if I'm in agony:Shiner pix or look for any with bib #2718.)

The main differences this year were that the sponsors decided to make it a big, Shiner-wide concert "event."
A three act concert, the last act (Robert Earl Keen) not appearing until after 7:30 p.m. We weren't allowed to return to Austin until after the show, so it made for a very, very long day. Also, the buses this year were old yellow school buses. And the concert was held at the Shiner park, not the brewery. The personnel at the park confiscated cameras; they only confiscated the battery out of mine, but they made the guy in line next to me throw his disposable camera away.

Posted at 09:53 PM Category:

Sat - April 2, 2005

Rosedale Ride - 2005

No wind. Nowhere near as much fun with no wind.

The usual suspects and I did the Rosedale Ride again. This time, though, the weather was absolutely perfect. Lacking rain and/ or the notorious gale force winds from the SE that can make it quite uncomfortable at times.
Here's a few pix I took: http://homepage.mac.com/utpmg/PhotoAlbum23.html .

Well, I was going to post a link to our pictures taken by the pros at mpick.com, but their website seems to be down. You can see for yourself; i think our numbers were around 212-214 or so. I'll post a real link when their server is awake.

Posted at 08:22 PM Category:

Sat - March 5, 2005

Snowboarding in Utah - 2005

Went snowboarding in Utah again last week. Didn't take my camera this time, though, so the only pictures available are from somebody else, here .

Went snowboarding in Utah again last week. Didn't take my camera this time, though, so the only pictures available are from somebody else, here.

Posted at 07:18 PM Category:

Sun - December 12, 2004

Aron Ralston-"Hero"

The story of Aron Ralston seems to be in heavy rotation again. The two hour documentary is running on Discovery channel , after its initial airing on MSNBC (Tom Brokaw hosted it). Ralston , you'll recall , is the young man who hiked and biked into Utah's Bluejohn Canyon, got his arm stuck in a boulder accident, and ended up amputating his own arm with his pocket knife.
While doubtless a compelling and captivating story, it's arguable as to exactly how "heroic" or courageous Ralston is. It is beyond question that amputating one's own arm takes determination and a certain cool-headedness that most of us can only hope are never required to display. But how did he get in that predicament in the first place? He committed the cardinal sin of not letting anybody know where he was going and when he'd be back. One can of course travel in remote wilderness areas by oneself; but give somebody an itinerary. Doing as Ralston did not only endangers him, but also the good folks at search and rescue.

Posted at 09:44 PM Category:

Sun - October 31, 2004

That's a record, I believe.

My birthday is a week from Tuesday, the 9th of November. Significant historical events are few and far between, but one has to do with Dylan Thomas going drunkly into his good night.

My birthday will be here in a little over a week. I always thought nothing much had happened on my birthday, historically speaking, but that was before the internet allowed easy access to tons of irrelevant facts. And before the Berlin wall fell.
So, one thing I learned earlier this year is that Dylan Thomas, after drinking a bootfull of scotch, passed away five years to the day before I was born. "Eighteen double whiskeys in a row. I believe that's a record," he said, not knowing those would go down in history as his "last" words.
Also on this day, the wall in Berlin fell in 1989. That's pretty cool.

Hmm, interesting. Upon further investigation, wikipedia records for 1953 that the separation of Cambodia from French Indo-China was the significant event.
Also turns out Kristallnacht happened on my birthday.
The blackout of '65, too. I remember that one.

Whatever. Don't go gentle into that good night, friends. I don't plan on it myself, but neither do I plan on eighteen double-scotches next Tuesday.

Posted at 10:54 PM Category:

Sun - September 26, 2004

Griz kills hunter, widow blames government.

HELENA -- The widow of a Great Falls hunter mauled by a grizzly bear while he was gutting an elk is suing state and federal wildlife officials, saying negligent management practices led to her husband's death.

Great Falls Tribune , Billings Gazette , et al all report on this lawsuit. You would think the Big Sky elk hunting types would be in the vanguard of the personal responsibility crowd. How does a hunter in grizzly country get "surprised" by one when gutting an elk?

Posted at 09:34 AM Category:

Fri - September 24, 2004

House OKs backcountry 'right-to-ride' bill

From the Fresno Bee: H.R.2966 went through Tuesday, although it probably won't get too much further. I don't think it's such a great idea.

These pack trains really make the trails unpleasant to hike on, and I question the "historical" aspect these guys always put forth. Most of the wranglers and packers I've met are nice people, but recent retirees from New Jersey or Wisconsin or someplace, hardly fifth generation packers.

Posted at 08:43 PM Category:

Mon - September 13, 2004

Dilloman-finished

I finished and survived. My swim time was horrendous. But I learned a few things for next time. (The picture below proves one thing: at least someone finished behind me.) More photos at Kreutz Photography . Please ignore the swim pictures. Final official stats are here: http://www.doitsports.com/results/page.tcl?id=30682

My swim time was pretty atrocious. I think I could have done much better if I'd done a few things, e.g., my swim, which put me in the bottom 4%, I could have tried a bit harder without worrying about the end of the swim, but the swim was such a different thing for me to do.
My transitions sucked; in the second one I couldn't even find my spot, as someone had put their bike over my towel.
I felt good on the bike ride. Had I a road bike, I think I could have been in the top 100-150.

My coworker Marianne also did it, and her husband was there, and my coworker Reyes was there to support his wife Linda, so it was nice to have a few people yelling for me.

Pix are here at Kreutz Photography.

Posted at 10:58 PM Category:

Tue - September 7, 2004

"You want the big can"

JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) — A mountain biker on Togwotee Pass fought off a grizzly bear that repeatedly charged him until a companion drove the animal off with pepper spray.

From Helena . And a whole bunch of google news links to the same story.

Posted at 10:21 PM Category: