Rocky Mountain High, Colorado
After 46 hours of travel, two weeks gone and a whirlwind of significant life events, I came home needing to get away. We can call it running, because maybe it was. Away, I’d felt a yoke slip across my shoulders, felt the weight of it start to crush the best parts of me. I’d heard […]
Mojave National Preserve: Terra & the Tarantula
The first time I visited Mojave National Preserve, I was just passing through. It was at the end of a 10-day trip split between L.A., Palm Springs and Death Valley. I spent about five hours in the park that first visit. In those hours, I managed to hike 3.2 miles, met a coyote, got butt-ass […]
The Iditarod: A Different Sort of March Madness
When five-time Iditarod finisher Jeff Deeter asked me how I got interested in the Iditarod, I blamed Winterdance, Gary Paulson’s 1994 book on his 17-day run to Nome. But really, it seems like at least a small awareness of the Iditarod was always around. Maybe that’s just what happens when you’re raised by wolves. For the uninitiated, […]
Big Bend National Park in 4 Snarky Parts
PART I: The Arrival When I pulled into the designated parking spot for my campsite at Big Bend, I became immediately concerned it was, in fact, just a pile of rocks. I couldn’t see any semblance of a campsite from the car. The website said the sites weren’t level, sure, but this seemed excessive. Where was […]
Yellowstone, Part III: Where the Wild Things Are
Driving toward Hayden Valley, legendary land of Yellowstone’s wildlife, I decided to temper my hope. I would, I thought, release my expectations. I wanted to see critters. That’s why I was awake before the sun, why I was already on the road by six something, but I knew better than to hope. Mercury was in […]