“Hiking is not for everyone. Notice the wilderness is mostly empty.” – Sonja Yoerg It seems counterintuitive that an otherwise social being would be so quick to seek out solitude and empty spaces. But that’s generally where you’ll find me when the opportunity arises. Let the record show that I love interacting with people. I…
Finding relative quiet is challenging but not impossible at Muir Woods
Seeing the iconic Golden Gate Bridge from many vantage points during a long coastal walk
Rivers and stones are foreverin allegiance with gravitywhile we ourselves dream of rising.– Mary Oliver, Mysteries, Yes How do you explain yourself when someone jokingly asks you the question, “You don’t watch TV, what do you do?” I heard that question yesterday, smiled and said I keep busy. For how do you tell someone who…
This hike was meant to be a compromise to myself. No salt water weekend, no longer hikes to knock off another 4000 footer or three. But still spectacular, still a light workout on a beautiful trail, and the real payoff; seven waterfalls in a relatively short span. I had my doubts. You walk to the…
You ask me:Why do I liveOn this green mountain?I smileNo answerMy heart sereneOn flowing waterPeachblowQuietly goingFar awayAnother earthThis isAnother skyNo likenessTo that human world below~Li Po, On The Mountain: Question And Answer (translated by C.H. Kwôck & Vincent McHugh) Three days later and I’m still on a mountaintop. The aches and pains fade but the…
Hot, muggy August days create hazy, sweaty conditions for hiking, with a dash of risk for thunderstorms. But it’s been six long months since I’d last hiked a 4000 footer, and I was way overdue to notch one or two more. The question then is, who do you hike with? For me, the answer for…
If time is the ultimate currency, why do we spend it frivolously? I wondered that as I drove north, breaking away from work on a rainy Monday to chase a waterfall. I knew the drive, and thought that maybe I should have combined it with a hike, or another waterfall, or a meeting with an…
You go through life thinking you’ve got things pretty well figured out (while knowing deep down that nobody does), and suddenly you trip over something you never thought of before. That’s the beauty of travel and expanded reading – you discover things that challenge the way you think. When you consume the same information every…
It’s funny how things cluster together. Bursts of activity that lump together depending on the place that you’re in emotionally, physically, developmentally. Like jumping rock-to-rock to cross a stream, these places are where we land at a given moment in our lives. Some are easy to identify: “student” to “early career” to “committed relationship” to…
