hiking

Salt water, stone walls

September 28, 2019 Uncategorized

Two weeks in the central valley, and I’ve pretty much spent it elsewhere. A recap: I. Floating in a sway of kelp forest, I come to find the lineup is shared with a sea lion lurking under my frozen toes. I wouldn’t be out at this break if Daniel hadn’t led us down the stairs from West Cliff Drive past the dead surfers’ memorial to the high tide line crashing on algae-covered rocks. But he slipped and jumped in, so,Read More

These days, well-lived

July 5, 2016 Uncategorized

Part I: Airplane Mode [listen: Morning, Tom Rosenthal] In the trickling down of glacial rivers you can hear secrets of a life well-lived: an afternoon spent eavesdropping on hummingbirds, leaning against the trunk of a whitebark pine. Last night we watched the sun go down for hours — stood in silence to watch a coming tide of sun-seared clouds roll, tuck under, twist, and scatter as they hurled themselves upon the stonewall of our volcano fortress for the night; sleptRead More

To Oregon, with love

August 17, 2013 Uncategorized

After the island trip, where I sat half-clothed in a hot pool with several naked strangers, I had a few days at home before my next adventure-in-trade assignment required another u-turn of sorts: south to the Willamette National Forest. On a sweaty slog down the Interstate 5, I paused in Portland to hand deliver my application and calm my jittery nerves with an afternoon coffee. It took me a white-knuckled hour to navigate through the snarl, but finally the roadRead More