A World On A String

[Jericho Mile]

Found these yesterday…off trail off a 7000+’ peak. Found the Madonna (modern) in the crevice of a boulder in the dirt. Thought it was a snake shed when first seeing it. It’s a hell of a hill to hump up…but one of the faithful did it…then wandered off the peak to make an offering.

5 minutes later and 10’ away I found the arrowhead. Not a place you’d expect to find an arrowhead really…but I’ve found a Mimbrẽnos people pottery shard up close to the same spot maybe a year ago. You can tell by the paint (black on white)…plus Apache didn’t make a lot of pottery being a mobile raiders culture. The Mimbrẽnos were the ancients….pre Apache. The Apache arrived only 700 years ago. The Mimbrẽnos were here 1000’s of years ago. Whether this point is Apache or Mimbrẽno I don’t know. Doesn’t matter.

But I speculate if this mountain was used as a look out or a ceremonial place due to finding the pottery and point up there. It’s not a place to build a living space. Water is miles down the mountain. People don’t really dwell on top of the mountains. Below is where water and food is. And level ground.

This mountain at one time was clear cut…and I am sure many fires have gone over it…many cattle have (and if a gate is left open or a hole in the fence is made) grazed on it. Still if I roam off into unbeaten places I find stuff. I don’t actively seek it…but I look at the lay of the land as it is…as it may have been…and roam. Following animal trails happens naturally when I roam…and animal trails are programmed and go places for a reason.

 

[Jericho Mile]

Sister 26

 

[Jericho Mile]

^ Gym. Pre run core exercise stretching extremes on the bars (the parking lot fence) Usually for 45 min - 1hr before the run I play music…smoke weed and hit it. I am not limber. Running up and down hills doesn’t help that cause either. Incorporating the bars adds the strengthening into the stretching. Core based full body use moves are difficult and I have hurt myself a time or two. Must stay aware or I can easily pull something or crack my face into a bar.

I’ve been implementing these bars in my regimen for over a year. I’m serious about it. Not 1/2 ass throw a leg over the bar and call it stretching…not like that. I make it hurt..every muscle group gets worked hard. I train alone…alone running on the hill (except when running with wife)…no coach…no mentor…just me. When I’m on the hill nobody is watching me…encouraging me…flowering me with kudos….it’s always me, myself, I keeping it honest. My mantras are old ones : Too high to die…no guts no glory…you can not cheat the mountain…only the mountain can judge. I live that way in my head and body…in all things.

That’s my corner of the parking lot at the local trailhead (closest to my house..every peak 7200’- 8100’)….my town trails. I use my truck to block my stretching activities…I get in weird positions I don’t need people seeing or making me a meme…plus I drink a lot of water and flow the piss. I do have a small social scene of parking lot friends…outdoor sport enthusiasts…some of whom show up with weed so we smoke make conversation. Cool people. Never really ever meet uncool people in this parking lot. 7 miles from house…5 miles out of town.

^ Modifying the insides of new shoes. I have a couple reasons for doing this. Discovering rolls of this stuff has been a game changer in the last year.

I went to a podiatrist last spring after getting a X-ray found I had no break in my right foot. Center punched a pointed rock over 2 years before…nagging pain that would not go away below my number 4 digit. I ran on it for all that time and it never totally goes away even to this day…but the Doctor was understanding of me…good Doctor…listened to his patient and turned me on to this padding. I can mitigate this bang up a lot better now and run without it bothering me. It also gets me more hours out of a pair of shoes as I have always destroyed a pair of shoes inside
to out. Tread to me is less important compared to lifeless foam and burned up
inserts.

I was grinding up the mountain via trail and road…ran into the wife when I was coming down. We hung out at a road junction for a couple minutes. The pictures I don’t know… the weather was 50 and light winds…winter sun spectrums. Ran down the mountain together…couple kind of thing. I’ve never seen any other lady other than my wife slugging it out with this mountain’s accesses on a regular bases. She’s been running mountains for 12 years at least. Into her mid 50’s now. Holding it together. Always way stoked to run with her. I gave up a long time ago attempting to push her…I can’t train her…she does what she feels like doing when she feels like doing it. The key thing…she does it. I don’t like others telling me what I have to do either. Free will and all…but just know the work must be done. Don’t quit. No excuses.

 

[Jericho Mile]

Roaming with the wife off the side of a mountain today. Saw a man made looking stack of rocks. A lot of times they represent old mine claims or a boundary line. Removed a couple rocks and found the ammo can. A geocache. I’ve found probably 10 of these in a few different
States over the years totally by accident and not with a GPS. We don’t geocache.

Started in 2002. According to the log book last visit was 2023. I never sign in myself. People leave stuff…trinkets…food…1st aid stuff…weed etc. According to their rules you do not have to leave anything but if you take something you leave something.

^ I took this but left a package of chemical hand warmers and a Clif bar. Actually that stuff came from the wife’s pack…I run light.

These post card like pictures were in a ziplock bag along with maps, pens, and tablet. Ode to the Apache I guess. I recognize Victorio, Masse, the Apache Kid, and Rowdy. This area used to be their home. Local guys. Victorio used to raid on the outskirts of town…in the same hills we were in today. I don’t recognize anyone in the middle picture but two are in chains and the person standing barefoot on the stump looks like a female. Possibly related to the dude leaning on her knee…as their clothing shares the same pattern. Two with the rifles are probably Tribal Police or US Army Scouts.

Apaches just look mean. They lived hard.

 

[pop_rocks]

Roaming with the wife off the side of a mountain today. Saw a man made looking stack of rocks. A lot of times they represent old mine claims or a boundary line. Removed a couple rocks and found the ammo can. A geocache. I’ve found probably 10 of these in a few different
States over the years totally by accident and not with a GPS. We don’t geocache.

View attachment 19140845 View attachment 19140847

View attachment 19140846

View attachment 19140851 View attachment 19140852

Started in 2002. According to the log book last visit was 2023. I never sign in myself. People leave stuff…trinkets…food…1st aid stuff…weed etc. According to their rules you do not have to leave anything but if you take something you leave something.

View attachment 19140854

^ I took this but left a package of chemical hand warmers and a Clif bar. Actually that stuff came from the wife’s pack…I run light.

View attachment 19140850 View attachment 19140849 View attachment 19140848

These post card like pictures were in a ziplock bag along with maps, pens, and tablet. Ode to the Apache I guess. I recognize Victorio, Masse, the Apache Kid, and Rowdy. This area used to be their home. Local guys. Victorio used to raid on the outskirts of town…in the same hills we were in today. I don’t recognize anyone in the middle picture but two are in chains and the person standing barefoot on the stump looks like a female. Possibly related to the dude leaning on her knee…as their clothing shares the same pattern. Two with the rifles are probably Tribal Police or US Army Scouts.

Apaches just look mean. They lived hard. K

hahah! just a few more steps and its all down hill from there!

 

[Jericho Mile]

hahah! just a few more steps and its all down hill from there!

Fallen down it a few times. Up it too.

 

[Jericho Mile]

Blowing cold all day. Tomorrow starts a warming trend. Today is a write off. No need. Hunkering down.

Sister 24 out of vacc. Chem DD leaning sister. More than 2 years stored. Still funky.

 

[Jericho Mile]

Weather has blown through. Run

 

[Jericho Mile]

Salt. Body pH to 7.3

Salt has gotten a bad reputation during my lifetime.

I mix baking soda and pink salt into filtered water and into a nasal spray bottle. I not only blow it up my nostrils to clear out nasal cavities but take it orally throughout a day. It is how I’ve been taking up salt while I run…this method…for the last year. It will also counter an acidic condition in my stomach. I no longer get any heartburn.

Salt of the Earth. Absolutely necessary to maintain life

 

[SmellyFlorist]

Howzit, tx for posting, being on the other side of the world it's really great to see the US country side... I know you have previously mentioned running through pain... any experience with broken toes? I'm on week 4 here but probably only half way recovered... do you just "goggins" it..?
Regards

 

[Jericho Mile]

Running up Pinos Altos Mountain via the defunct mine roads. It was like 70 degrees today…light winds. Here the old mine works as I passed them on my way to a trail that follows a spur ridge up the mountain.

* concerning the mine works. They were shut down in 1910’s-1920’s…the ore shoots filled in and wall openings cemented over….the wood work dismantled. Further to the South in the next canyon there used to be a narrow gauge railroad that went from the Pinos Altos mines over Pinos Altos Mountain down to Silver City. They used Shay Locomotives to wind through the tight turns…steep grades. In this canyon they used narrow gauge rails but the freight wagons were pulled by mules to the smelter down in town where the ore was processed for its metals. Gold/Silver/Copper.

In the 1980’s what you see here became a Superfund Site. The mining company was made to come in and clean it up. There are huge vertical shafts that are still open but covered with metal bars so nobody can fall into them. There are also many vertical shafts that remain unblocked…holes in the ground that fall for 100’s of feet. This canyon is gated off. No Trespassing. But it is not enforced. There is nobody to stop you from entering the site. Not joking when I say “ at your own risk”



Once to the trail…it becomes too steep to run. Power hike it from there on…a little maintained trail that I have no idea who cut. I found it about 3 years ago. I’ve tracked both mountain lion and bear on that trail (lion only in winter snow)…more a game trail than humanoid trail. Did I say steep? I did. It is.

^ I was off trailing a west facing aspect section. Been up here 100’s of times now…but just found this old mine today. I’d date it at 100-150 years old. I didn’t go in far…it turns to the North and from there I don’t know. It’s filled in…so I’d have to crawl…might be a hibernating bear or lion…or den of rattlesnakes back in there. I didn’t see any bear sign but the cob webs over the entrance had been disturbed…who knows. No need for any drama to fall onto me self today.

Lot of times they have water in them or old false bottoms or rickety ladders…or or or the list goes on that nasty dangerous stuff you can find in an old mine like this.

Like I was saying…I’m on this mountain all the time…and never come across this mine until today. I mean I’ve almost been on top of it and not seen it. Just goes to show….there’s still more out there…helps if you know topography…and what to look for.

Love these cacti hanging on to what they can get. Want to get stupid? Stick your arm in that black crevice in the back there

 

[Jericho Mile]

Howzit, tx for posting, being on the other side of the world it's really great to see the US country side... I know you have previously mentioned running through pain... any experience with broken toes? I'm on week 4 here but probably only half way recovered... do you just "goggins" it..?
Regards

Hey man!

I’ve never broken any toes. I’ve never had an injury I couldn’t actively recover on. Rolled both ankles within 2 weeks apart…last summer…low ankle sprains. I can run on those.

They swell up right away and are definitely compromised but if I just limp for a while until the pain goes down..then it’s best for me to start running get back to where I started at my truck. I was 2.5 miles out from my truck with one ankle. The other ankle I rolled about a mile (and 2 weeks later) out from the truck…either I’m having to hobble or having to run. Running’s faster.

Aftermath : Eased up on days/miles ran in Vans for a while…got an understanding of what the ankle rolls were telling me. I switched from a more foamed shoe back to a lighter foamed shoe afterwards. The Vans (plain old school canvas Vans no padding) helped me get real again…remember something I’d forgotten…an old lesson. But yeah it took me a month for each ankle to totally heal…took some hits from rocks and roots on them while recovering.

* Rocks have life force. Believe what you must. There are mean ones. And they know where your injuries exist. I had a golf ball size rock spring off another rock and ricochet perfectly into my most sprained part of an ankle…the pain was intense. Many times I’ve been attacked by rocks. If you have a negative thought a rock will trip you up. Happens all the time. Again believe what you must…but I feel the force they use quite a bit

I do believe my ankles come back stronger off the sprains. Never let them stiffen up. Ran on them and stretched them. As little compensation as possible. Before those rolls last summer…I had not folded an ankle in over in a decade. Think it’s even documented in this thread when I did that last.

My philosophy (my outlook I should say really) is : if you are waiting on the weather you will always be waiting. If you are waiting until your body is not sore/beat up…you will always be waiting.

Running fucking sucks until it doesn’t then it sucks again

The whole trip….I mean what it’s all about is not about health per se…as I don’t believe it’s always good on the body…it’s about having the will to suffer. I have to be in condition to get to that realm. That’s where the endorphins take me…the high. I enjoy suffering. That’s the dope.

The endurance is day after day week after week year after year…that game. How long does it last? Until something seriously breaks. That’s the truth. That’ll be the end.

* I’m 59. I share the mountains with a couple dudes in their 70’s. They never stopped. Never stop. Make something stop you. Fight for it. Never say die

Yeah Defender of the Faith

 

[Sub24ox7]

Love the desert pics and the art is really good imo.

 

[Jericho Mile]

Love the desert pics and the art is really good imo.

Thanks man! It’s a beautiful place to be!

 

[Jericho Mile]

Shadow Self watching the chick suffer on what we call Section 3 of the main road up Pinos Altos Mountain. 6 section climb. 5.5 miles of climbing from 6400’ - 8100’ to the top. This route up if I were to Strava it….about 2100’ of climbing all and all…most coming in the first 5.5 miles. One hill on the way back down.

I have to have a hill like this. Really…it gets me ready for most any other hill. Several ways to go about it. Some shorter and steeper…some long loop outs…it has all I need. Full exposure to South and West Suns most all the way give or take a bend or two. Only a handful of runners or cyclists train on this hill. Near always have it to myself…especially during summer.

Ruuuuunnnnnn!!!!! Get up hill !!!!!! she hates that shit. She was taking a beating…that 3 Section can be a heartbreaker on any given day…especially after the first two sections and further damaging…knowing what is still up above you. 4 is longer but more mellow (recover some or make up time) 5 is steep….6 is really steep. Great running mountains don’t let up on their climbs.

You’d think the down would be effortless and painless…..yet downhills hurt in different ways. Faster they usually are…but good grinding hills punish hip flexors and joints on the way down…the hips have to be on guard at all times. Then there are the ankle flexes that scare the shit out of you…the near folds at faster speeds….sore knees…tight tension in the shoulders and neck…constant attacks on the lower back set up. Cool to go fast though. That shit is fuuuuuunnnn if you have the juice to go for it.

Moments of levitating…require uncountable hours of training just for those fleeting moments. Some moments I can glide….skim the ground….but there’s a lot more moments of being dogged out and fighting for every foot fall. It’s a trip to look up and see a winding way above your head knowing that’s where you have to go. Breathe it in…accept the way…bite down grind out

 

[Jericho Mile]

Current education

Early morning bud. I like to sleep. Like down with the sun and up with the sun if I have a choice. Sleep is paramount. Lately I’ve been smoking a bowl with coffee pre sunrise before I get out of bed to face the day. Go through phases….last winter I took a 3 month sabbatical off the ganja…all while going through an injury from an old center punch in the right foot. I’ve already spoken on that injury/ailment previously I know…

…then there are periods where I smoke bowls even in the middle of the night. Look forward to getting up and having a smoke at 2:30 in the morning when all should be quiet. Maybe a little art session as well just to distract a mind.

I never smoke when I’m working…or in that government setting. I follow their rules because I agreed to a contract. Not to say when they call me off a mountain run that I’m not roasted but hey if I’m not on their time…who can say? Nobody is checking on me. I am a reasonable adult.

* On that note we are in Very High fire danger status. They called me yesterday to tell me we are having our pre season meeting/classes on the 25th. I’m applying for a trail job when they fly it….but I want to keep my Fire job as well. I like the adventure travel of that job…and it pays better…whatever…it’s just a job. I’m not invested. I’m a grunt mercenary for the corporation….the Government. I love that we have all the public (in reality…government) lands in this country (something I believe makes this an awesome place to live…really…not everybody is so blessed with LAND) and recognize that only the .gov has the ability to maintain them. That’s a truth.

Doesn’t hurt my feelings at all. I’ll build trails or bust it to get you your apparatus to fight a fire. As long as it’s adventurous and in nature…preferably proactive towards my own goals and viewpoints I’ll dance. I like to work hard. I don’t like to work all the time. Meet me in the middle and we have a working relationship.

I will never have the ability to retire. A trade off for the lifestyle I chose (a long time ago now) to live…it will be fun. No Fun without Health. Sick people are not having fun. Best be deeply dedicated or it’s all for naught…this attitude towards societal generalizations….and the system we all were born into. I ain’t fading away like that. What? It starts with staying upright and moving forward. Real basic shit. All it is. A lack of participation in the bubble. Not a believer.

** I officially turned 59 today. I’m already high. Ran like a beast my last day as a 58 year old. I will run like a beast today. I’m on no prescription medications nor buy into the United States’ healthcare philosophy. I’m not pharmaceutically medicated. I’m not depressed or feel like the sky is constantly falling. I’m not propped up by anything but my own will to get up and down the immediate mountains before me. See what I see. Clear To The Stratosphere

 

[budman678]

I needed these updates

 

[Jericho Mile]

We decided to maintain a section of illicit Forest Service trail. Ran some worked some. It’s a really steep/loose/sharp section that used to be the only trail up to Gomez Peak….but now it’s defunct and the Forest Service blocks it with boulders…whereupon somebody like myself will take the time to counter their move by reopening it and maintaining this section because…

…well because it’s pretty much straight up and down without switchbacks. Hard grind up and a sketchy section to run down. It’s most excellent.

…. a hazard with branches and cacti growing into the trail at face height and at balls height and at ankle height…ever changing growth and loose rocks with tight slippery rolling rock curves and turns. It’s not like the Forest Service will give anyone grief over it…they just have to do their thing and guide folks away from it is all. The maintained trail up to Gomez Peak goes around 1/2 the mountain via switchbacks and lesser grades of steepness…totally runnable..this trail ties in to the modern trail be it more direct in its shortness through steepness.

I must say. I’m kind of an expert on building/maintaining trails. You have to think about those people on horseback (not on this piece), people on mountain bikes, and people on foot. There are different needs for each. You also have to think ahead and get the vision of how the trail will act in monsoonal rains…snow conditions etc. where the runoff is going to go…because there are changes.

Every Spring when the new growth starts sprouting new sharp shit…I’m out there combating it to better directions. Wrestling cacti is a thing….Cane Cacti…Prickly Pear…whack them with sticks…hold them down with rocks…damn near castrated me self on a sharp dead Juniper branch today while fighting a Cane with a stick…scraped the hell out of the inside of a leg…son of a bitch you know….it’s a war

 

[Jericho Mile]

^ Above where we were maintaining the trail…this section is in an old burn scar…overgrown with vegetation…hard to follow. Surprisingly no rattlesnakes out. What was out was seeds. They cling to socks annoyingly.

Not much of this grass is native. Most of it was imported in the 19th and 20th century by ranchers for their livestock. These hills were stripped of all timber and overgrazed for decades.

That’s why we have “ The Big Ditch” that runs through downtown Silver City. Heavy monsoonal rains fell for a couple seasons towards the beginning of the 20th century. Because there was no vegetation to stop the runoff…it funneled right down Main Street and burrowed out a huge trench. The towns people turned their businesses the opposite way. The fronts of the buildings became the backs and backs became fronts.

Our curbs downtown are probably over 2’ high even to this day. Piss poor town layout…and the before mentioned issues with lack of mountain vegetation created the rushing chaos that placed a big ditch where a street once was. Beautiful.

^ Zoomed in….what modern Copper mining looks like. Santa Rita Mine aka the Chino Mine aka Santa Rita del Cobre …open pit mining. Hundreds of years ago an Apache showed a Spaniard where the Copper was. All these years later this is the result. They moved the town of Santa Rita many decades ago as the pit grew larger. Industry. It’s in your hand right now. Copper.

^ Artifacts. Found this stuff upwards towards the peak. The bucket was well made….probably guessing early 20th century. Why it’s way up there no idea. Somebody shot it up though. That’s what people do you know. Target practice.

Some of the other stuff is pottery for sure…but the redder pieces I was unsure of. Never seen red/earthen pottery in this area…although the Apache (who didn’t make much pottery) did make some earthen finished pottery. Sometimes it’s difficult to determine clay works from natural rock work….it can fool you. Not if it’s painted of course…although not all pottery was decorated…it’s usually the shape, weight, and smoothness of the surfaces that I go off of making a determination. These earthen colored pieces had a rougher texture to them…kind of suspect

* I’ve heard people say Gomez Peak is a portal. We call it the Portal just because it is very prominent overlooking town….and a gateway into the Gila. People have built an oval shaped rock stacked windbreak on the peak…and I’m most positive it is visited by witches. I feel fine in the spirit world. It’s ok.

 

[SmellyFlorist]

Happy birthday..!!
Also found pottery shards about 2years ago while botanizing/hiking around local caves. The curve of the piece giving it away, matchbox size. Think it's San pottery, but only 3-400 years old, Europeans arrived here around 200years ago...
Photos are tip top!! Regards