climbing

Only rock and sun

June 5, 2015 Uncategorized

Our summer of the Weekday Warriors has begun. Friday through Sunday I get up before it’s light and work until the heat of late afternoon, walking the floor of the nursing home until I sweat and ache, counting over 10,000 steps, lifting frail bodies, coaxing heavy limbs to move, fielding orders, savoring tiny moments of connection with souls who are mostly lost to other dimensions, and earning just enough to pay the rent and buy coffee beans. Monday through Thursday, the world is now very different. NoRead More

Triple Crown

May 29, 2013 Uncategorized

My plans for the long weekend were patchy and unconfirmed as I set out in my car alone on Saturday morning, but I had three goals. I wanted to climb. I wanted to camp and explore more of the valley that runs out from the Coulee’s dramatic basalt columns into a dry glacial plain before diving over the cliffs of the Columbia River Gorge. And I wanted to sail. A good friend of mine was going to be starting aRead More

The mountains in us

May 13, 2013 Uncategorized

Another season of gathering is here, only this one takes place not indoors around stoves and fireplaces, but out in open spaces. Instead of wrapping blankets around ourselves, we spread them on the ground and lay back with our eyes wide to the heavens. This is the season that reverts everyone back to their 8-year-old selves, floods us all with a heart-punching nostalgia for the simplicity of being young and dirty and half-clothed and free.