These posts for the next week or so are from a recent backpacking trip I made on the PCT with my dear friend Brad Shaffer. The post titles are taken from the great climber Fred Beckey from his Cascade Alpine Guide which… Read More ›
pacific northwest
“Complexes of talus and escarpments, valley bottom alluvium”
These posts for the next week or so are from a recent backpacking trip I made on the PCT with my dear friend Brad Shaffer. The post titles are taken from the great climber Fred Beckey from his Cascade Alpine Guide which… Read More ›
The vertical pattern relief
I took the 530 east off 5 toward Darrington, past the town Oso where they had that landslide in 2014 — but the fog came down at Union Slough and though the sun was up it made everything turn ghostly,… Read More ›
The pink question mark of chance
I asked Dawn if she wants to pet the dog to please do it outside because she’s shedding again and I have to vacuum like every day, and though it’s only the den, it fills the canister in just one… Read More ›
Touched by autumn’s finger
A low pressure system came down from British Columbia, had us in a headlock all week, the house around 60 with the windows open in the morning, you could almost see your breath. I was out in the dark one… Read More ›
Up Red Marble Quarry Road, Waitts Lake, Washington
I thought it was the shadow of a butterfly but it was just a leaf falling, they’ve started gathering on the ground. More days in the hammock with just the sound of wind chimes and jets, birds, kids: realizing I… Read More ›
What I learned giving speeches when I was 12
In last week’s Democratic National Convention comedian Sarah Silverman quoted her shrink, who said ‘we don’t get what we want, we get what we think we deserve.’ I don’t remember why I chose to compete in an oratorical contest when I… Read More ›
I sat with the same sadness I fell in love with
The buzz of some lawn equipment and jets overhead, when it stops the birds fill in. The hammock between two ponderosa pines on the outskirts of our property, a two-person version that kind of swallows you, I hold my book… Read More ›
How the week ends
The leather couch in the family room I thought would break in but never did, that reminds me of times we paused while climbing a mountain and the care required to anchor yourself on a glacier for fear of slipping… Read More ›
Faces in the driftwood the color of bone
At the Starbucks in Aberdeen on the Washington peninsula halfway to the coast with the kids and Ginger, the condiment bar a shit-show, the aftermath of a frat party, a scene from Weird Science but with milk stains and sugar wrappers and… Read More ›
Bill Pearse 