Recent Posts - page 13

  • The hissing of summer lawns

    By on • ( 5 )

    I loved bulking up before a big backpacking trip and then eating like a beast afterwards. There was no way to make up for those burned calories but boy I liked trying. My phone gave me an award for setting… Read More ›

  • Solitude (2014 remaster)

    By on • ( 6 )

    By the time I got to the rim trail I was feeling feral. Short with people, not making eye contact, combative. The rim trail comes out of the visitor center at a very touristy part of Mt. Rainier. Let’s just… Read More ›

  • After Forever

    By on • ( 20 )

    Here so early the espresso stands aren’t even open yet. Towns with names like Ravensdale, Enumclaw, Greenwater. Got to the ranger station two hours before they opened to be first in line. You can’t outcrazy me. Cracking the sun roof… Read More ›

  • The Friday overnight

    By on • ( 12 )

    Few things I loved more than getting up really early to go backpacking. Better if it was with a friend or deeper in the year nearing autumn. But today was best because it was happening today and just about to… Read More ›

  • Jockey full of bourbon

    By on • ( 3 )

    My hair didn’t look the best. I’d been trying to grow it out but made the mistake of going into a cheap salon (“Great Clips”) before a job interview to hack a few inches off the back and now it… Read More ›

  • Waning crescent

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    Andrew Irvine (back row, far left) and George Mallory (back row, second from left) were members of the 1924 British Mount Everest expedition. The two broke off from the team on June 8, 1924, in a push for the summit. Royal Geographical Society/Getty Images

    Once it started to mellow I’d sit in the late afternoon sun in a far part of the yard with the dog and some honey bees lazing about the lawn. I’d stopped cutting it so the clover flowered over and… Read More ›

  • Wild life

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    The grass was now the color of a pale copper coin not yet brown, more golden. The grass color had varied hues and smelled sweet and the smell reminded me of the harvest festivals of my youth. Further up the… Read More ›

  • Going down the rabbit hole

    By on • ( 12 )

    Just like that, my daily morning routine of walking in Soaring Eagle state park came to an end. Not one, but three signs were posted by the trailhead: recent cougar activity reported. The signs were white with red lettering, all… Read More ›

  • The Fool

    By on • ( 14 )

    I woke at 0300 and broke camp, reacquired the ridge above the lake before sunrise. The lake was pale like a dime in the predawn as seen from above. From the ridge you could see the snow-covered peaks surrounding the… Read More ›

  • A different kind of fish

    By on • ( 11 )

    I got to the Marblemount ranger station an hour before it opened, at 6, one other guy in a van with long hair, bearded, already there. They had a Please Take A Number stand and an LED display showing number… Read More ›