We had eaten dinner at our campsite after a long day of trail work in the North Cascades National Park, installing new signage for the Pacific Crest Trail and brushing huckleberry bushes back from the trail as it made its way around Howard Lake. I warily walked down the steep boot path to the water…
It is 2019 and time to look forward to what I want to get out of my time outdoors and on public lands this shiny new year. The older and hopefully wiser I get with each passing year, taking time to make a list and plan out where I long to go and what I…
This week’s topic for the #NatureWritingChallenge is a memorable rainy or snowy day on public lands and the truth is that I could write volumes on this topic. I live in the Pacific Northwest, right? Most of my memorable experiences on public lands are in the rain or snow. That’s all we get around here. …
I can think of a billion reasons to #OptOutside the day after Thanksgiving. In fact, I can think of quite a few reasons to #OptOutside for Thanksgiving. And I have done so quite a few times in recent years. This week’s #NatureWritingChallenge topic is all about why we should #OptOutside on public lands and the…
Dear Santa, I hope it isn’t too soon to be writing out my Christmas wish-list but see, there is this Nature Writing Challenge thing and this week’s theme is “Your wish-list for Public Lands” and you seemed like the perfect person to share my wish-list with. You the professional procurer of wish-lists and all. Santa,…
I bet if you ask anyone who has hiked the Pacific Crest Trail through Oregon if they made time to stop and visit the Dee Wright Observatory while crossing the summit of the McKenzie Highway through the Willamette National Forest, you will most like get a blank stare. The what? I imagine if you ask…