It was my last swim with Angie before we go off on our separate summer adventures; the last swim for Arwen, Sheila, Angie, and I all together. We arrived at the Albany Bulb at 7 and it was already as hot as a typical mid-day in the Bay Area. The water felt bath-water warm (also… Read More A Goodbye (for now) Swim (Day 161)
I’m out of words for today’s swim. I used them all to catch up on the blog posts I missed while backpacking. Most of them anyway. Here are a few: Silky and warm, the water rippled with energy, but not waves. Squadrons of pelicans flew overhead. The sun shone, clouds fluffed, and the air was… Read More Glad for Another Day in the Bay (Day 160)
Back to my home waters this morning and it felt great. I’ve been on a backpacking trip for the last three days swimming naked in gorgeous lakes (blog posts to come). It was an incredible trip, but even as I swim in waters more beautiful than the Albany Bulb, the San Francisco Bay feels like… Read More Home Again (Day 159)
It was the last day of our trip and we spent the morning packing up and removing all traces of our presence from the campsite. We hit the trail around 10 am and it was already hot. The hike back was remarkably different than the hike in had been. Two days ago rain had left… Read More Camp Lake #2 (Day 158)
I woke this morning to brilliant blue skies. We’d arrived at Bear Lake not long after our magical swim yesterday and though it was too late and cold for another swim by the time we’d set up our tents, I was awe-struck by the clear deep lake that awaited us. We began eyeing the water… Read More Bear (Bare) Lake, Emigrant Wilderness (Day 157)
Today was the first of a three-day backpacking trip with my swim buddies—Angie, Arwen, and Sheila—and our families. I had booked a permit for Desolation Wilderness last fall, a place Kevin, Eliza, Hazel, and I backpacked a couple of years ago. We had such a spectacular trip that I came home and booked it again… Read More Camp Lake, Emigrant Wilderness (Day 156)
This morning I read an article in Elsewhere, the Outdoor Swim Society’s monthly free newsletter about a guy who just finished his 3,000th consecutive swim and now I feel like an amateur with my measly 155 days. Peter Hancock is an aquatic ecologist from Australia who started off in 2014 challenging himself to swim in… Read More Eight Years of Swimming (Day 155)
I woke up in the mood for a pool swim today. It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed the steady, meditative back and forth of a lap swim; the blueish tint to the dimly lit space of the pool, the quiet hum. The smell of chlorine and wet towels. But the biggest draw of… Read More Swimming in the Pool with Anna (Day 154)
We had a very fun celebration of fifty-four years of Angie this morning. Arwen, Sheila, Colleen, Kim, Kira, and I arrived early to blustery winds, gray skies, and choppy waves at the Albany Bulb. It was also low tide and so it was another mud slog and flop into the water kind of entry. But… Read More Celebrating Angie (Day 153)
I met up with Gabe and Arwen after my Lift and Sprint class. Class was hard this morning, the sun beating down on us and radiating off the asphalt where we exercise. I left extremely hot and sweaty and eager to get into the cool bay. Some days going from my class to my swim… Read More Refreshing (Day 152)