Bill Pearse

Recent Posts

Cat and candle

By Bill Pearse on March 20, 2026 • ( 14 )

In the morning in the dark in the rain walking to the horse farms. A whisper of something floral in the air. Then the drip drip drip from the gutter as I lay in bed trying to keep warm. The… Read More ›
Squak-Connector Trail to Shy Bear Pass

By Bill Pearse on March 15, 2026 • ( 10 )

The snow was heavy and wet, not far from slush. My wife said you shouldn’t go into the woods because the branches could break and fall but I went anyway and when I got there it was just like that,… Read More ›
John Barleycorn must die

By Bill Pearse on March 13, 2026 • ( 5 )

We woke to snow. Hardly a flurry in the lowlands all winter, but finally it came towards the end. Tired from being up late I had to come downstairs to sit in the dark and be with it, the vibe…. Read More ›
Deceiver Trail

By Bill Pearse on March 7, 2026 • ( 2 )

The kids were up late monkeying around, you could hear them giggling in their room. It was the echo of little girls though that was a long time ago, now. They were playing a game on one of their tablets…. Read More ›
Factotum

By Bill Pearse on March 6, 2026 • ( 8 )

After a couple weeks our dog finally got tired of eating the landscape mulch. In the past she’d throw it up on the carpet, the grossest thing you could imagine. This time it just came out the other end in… Read More ›
My Beerdrunk Soul is Sadder Than All the Dead Christmas Trees of the World

By Bill Pearse on March 4, 2026 • ( 9 )

You could let yourself get down with the weather if you weren’t careful out here. Worse in the late fall and winter but spring could be tough for the long patches of rain too, the dreariness. Maybe that’s why Seattle… Read More ›
First Sunday in March

By Bill Pearse on March 2, 2026 • ( 2 )

I went back up Cougar Mountain for the first time in a long time. Back to Shy Bear Pass where the trail splinters off in many directions. There was Fred’s Railroad Trail to Clay Pit Road, the Cave Hole Trail… Read More ›
Holding boundaries

By Bill Pearse on February 28, 2026 • ( 10 )

Four years ago Russia invaded Ukraine while we vacationed at Laguna Beach over mid-winter break. I was two months into my no-weed sobriety and a year without alcohol. Going to a place as beautiful as Laguna Beach seemed cause enough… Read More ›
Glittering prize

By Bill Pearse on February 25, 2026 • ( 0 )

The Issaquah Alps are a series of mountains in western Washington stretching along Interstate 90 between Lake Washington and the Cascade Range. No peak is higher than 3,500 feet, roughly 1,050 meters. I’ve climbed the Tiger Mountain trails, Cougar Mountain… Read More ›