Hikers and backpackers all know what it is like to seek healing on a mountain trail. I used to call it walking away from the pain. Over the years I learned that the message from the trail was always the same. Whatever it was I was worried about did not matter very much when viewedContinue reading “Lessons from the Sky”
Tag Archives: nature
A Long Winter’s Nap
How many times can summer turn to fall in one life? Charles Wright “It feels like fall.” That is what passes for small talk this time of year when commenting on the cooler temperatures, shorter days, or the brilliant reds and golds that mark the season. I mark this time of year with a varietyContinue reading “A Long Winter’s Nap”
Here There Be Predators
I come into the peace of wild things. Wendell Berry After last week’s post I was reminded by my readers that gear matters. How we protect our campsite and food matters, and hikers have a lot of opinions and ideas about how to do that best. As usual, whenever I post about gear I receiveContinue reading “Here There Be Predators”
Looking Back from Higher Ground
The great affair, the love affair with life, is to live as variously as possible, to groom one’s curiosity like a high-spirited thoroughbred, climb aboard, and gallop over the thick, sun-struck hills everyday. Diane Ackerman in A Natural History of the Senses For a period of about ten years I spent a week or twoContinue reading “Looking Back from Higher Ground”
A Peak Experience
Like most hikers and backpackers I have enjoyed climbing to high places over the years, though I would not consider myself to be a “peak bagger.” Dangling from a climbing rope or pounding pitons into solid rock has always been a little too scary for me. I prefer to have my feet on solid ground,Continue reading “A Peak Experience”
Holding the Sun
In the photo above I am smiling because the sun was shining. It lasted for about fifteen minutes, and for the rest of that four day trip it rained most of the time. My husband and I were hiking in the Olympic Rain Forest, so the weather was not totally unexpected, but it nevertheless wasContinue reading “Holding the Sun”
A New Companion on the Trail
The common denominator in all these conditions—whether in the lungs, the muscles, or the bones—is overwhelming pain… It’s not a question of whether you will hurt, or of how much you will hurt; it’s a question of what you will do, and how well you will do it, while pain has her wanton way withContinue reading “A New Companion on the Trail”
Making Choices
Like most hikers and backpackers I have long considered myself to be an environmentalist. I remember the first Earth Day in 1970. I was a sophomore in college, and it was a warm spring day. I stood in the commons listening to speakers tell us of various threats to the sanctity of our planet. NoContinue reading “Making Choices”
Hiking the Duck
In old age I shall walk quietly the beautiful trail. Navajo Prayer Last week I completed my first backpacking trip of the year. Ordinarily such an event would be no big deal. Until a few years ago I typically would do an early trip in the spring, several short ones during the summer months, andContinue reading “Hiking the Duck”
With Love from Red Reef Rock
Dream or nightmare we have to live our experience as it is and we have to live it awake. Jacob Bronowski When I was about five years old my family camped at Staircase Campground in Olympic National Park, as we did for many years. It was one of our favorite campgrounds, and I always lovedContinue reading “With Love from Red Reef Rock”
The Solitude Trail 