Posts Tagged ‘Musings’
2,280.1 miles!
2023 was an excellent year for me on the trail! I ended up tallying just under 2300 running and hiking miles which included some pretty memorable experiences. And despite that I upped my game when it came to ultra-running, I actually ran 41 miles less this year than last! I must be slowing down! I…
Read MoreCalifornians blame influx of Washingtonians for Trail Crowding
Throughout the Golden State from the Redwoods to the Sierra to the Mojave Desert, Californians are growing tired of the influx of out-of-staters, particularly folks from Washington State on their trails. In fact, increasing numbers of Californians are blaming many of the state’s trail problems and park incidents on these out-of-staters. “They compete with us…
Read More2,285.8 miles!
While Covid-19 ebbed and flowed and then raged on, 2021 wasn’t too bad of a year for me when it came to running and hiking! The year started out rough as I battled some heath issues that turned out to be an auto-immune condition called Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR). Years of stress and anxiety at…
Read MorePandemic Ponderings
It’s been a long past 12 months. But on this First day of Spring 2021, the sun is finally shining a little bit brighter on us. I spent a lot of time on the trail this past year doing a lot of thinking about us as a society, our relationships with the land, and what…
Read MoreThe Moose is Loose in Washington State
I grew up hiking in New Hampshire, one of the moose-densest states in the union. Moose are everywhere in the Granite State. Highway signs warn of hitting them which is a real road hazard in the state. On return trips to my home state to hike and paddle, I almost always see these largest members…
Read More“We Need the Tonic of Wildness”
“We need the Tonic of Wildness,” wrote Henry David Thoreau in the 1840s while living on Walden Pond. Back then, Walden Pond was an island of wild surrounded by farms and a newly industrializing landscape. Thoreau constructed a tiny cabin in a grove of pine and oak above a cove on the placid kettle pond.…
Read MoreCougars in Heat–a Chilling Encounter!
Okay, before I get started here. Absolutely no jokes about attractive older women in pursuit of younger men or randy Washington State University students here. This post is about mountain lions following nature’s orders to make more mountain lions. And it’s about how a few autumns ago I nearly walked in on a mating couple.…
Read MoreHang Up and Hike!
Okay, I admit it—I have my cell phone in my pack when I hike. Mostly because I don’t leave anything of value (even if it is an old flip phone) in my vehicle when I hit the trail. And it is almost always turned off. But, I have made a few calls from the trail…
Read MoreBuen Camino 21st Century Pilgrims
This weekend I along with my wife and a group of friends watched at Mount Vernon’s Lincoln Theater, the new film Walking the Camino: Six Ways to Santiago. It was an engaging and fascinating film shining light on six modern day pilgrims from different backgrounds-walking for different reasons on El Camino de Santiago (The way of…
Read MoreAvy Advice–snow go or no go
I love winter. I love snow. And I love winter sports! I grew up in New Hampshire where we had a saying that the weather there consisted of 11 months of winter and one month of damn poor sledding. Point-when you live in an area that has real winters, those winters can be long unless…
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