The Struggle I Choose
You can’t run from Mother Nature. At least, I can’t. I grunted up miles of switchbacks, tracking thunderheads as they flexed their fluffy might maybe a ridge or two over. Now above tree line, a judgment call grounded in so…
Things I Have Ingested While Backpacking: An Incomplete List
Swedish Fish candies (red only) Chocolate pudding containing all of the things we couldn’t fit into our bear canister that night The charred remains of a solitary square of over-fried SPAM Multiple unidentified winged creatures, raw Crushed Pringles, with a…
(Emotionally) Naked and Afraid
In a flash of quick hugs and lingering dust, Marc was gone. I waved at his receding form a bit longer than necessary, my hand mindlessly stirring up the atmospheric inferno that was already brewing well before lunchtime. I shouldered…
The Pacific Crest Trail: An Epilogue
Three weeks ago, I sat slumped against a picnic table outside of the Tuolumne Meadows Grill, knocking back beer and fries with ravenous, calorie-deprived abandon. It was the end of my summer in the wild, living as free as I…
