Escape From Bishop: Ski Mountaineering into the Kearsarge Basin
The trip sounded great: we are getting the gang back together, going in with packs and alpine touring skis to High Sierra backcountry over 11,000' Kearsarge Pass, and spending a week skiing and skinning along the Sierra Crest, in some of the most remote and spectacular mountain basins in North America.
Of course, I underestimated the damage which rental ski boots could do to my feet in less than 2 days, and overestimated... Read Full Story
My dogs know what it means when the suitcases come out, and they whine and slouch around the door. I am going again, and they can't stop me, and yet I must wait a bit. Every traveler knows the feeling, just before leaving home (again) for a big outing in the world. The accelerating rush of preparation mixed with work tasks, the must-do-before-I'm-gone list, the gradual shift in perspective from " I can get it all done before I go", to "I can get all the vital stuff done", to "ah, this stuff... Read Full Story
Just when I thought I was done with another Grand Canyon river trip adventure, I relaxed, patted my self on the back, sighed, and then got my butt kicked by the Grand Canyon. Let me explain.
River to Rim is a Mighty Long Walk
Last June, our small group of river buddies hiked out from the Colorado River on the Bright Angel Trail, sadly departing on day 8 from a private river trip to return to our families and lives. The rest of our river tribe was still down there, preparing to run the big... Read Full Story
From Hayes Family Trip, Pavones, Costa Rica
"A Family Vacation is a Contradiction in Terms"
1) A Scarlet Macaw, the most outrageous of wild birds, settles into Almond Tree outside the Cantina, as Ben and I watch. Two-foot long ridiculous tail flutters above us as we creep forward across the parking lot and watch it crack nuts. The locals leave their bar stools to come gaze with us, and smile with satisfaction.
2) Goofy children grinning and splashing in the hotel pool, well, like... Read Full Story
ONE GREAT THING
And I think over and over again,
of when, with a North wind
I drifted in my kayak along the Great River
and thought I was in danger.
My fears,
those small ones
that I though so big
for all the vital things
I had to get and to reach.
And yet, there is only
One Great Thing
the only thing:
to live and to see,
on journeys, in camps, and at home
the great day that dawns
and the light that fills the world... Read Full Story
Santa Cruz, California, March 2008
Returning again to Santa Cruz for a week of work, I realize how much work it is to stick there. It may be the coolest town on the planet, but being part of it is not as easy as it looks.
Now, I am no tourist here. Santa Cruz is a skein of memories for me: I lived there 20 years, got a grad degree at Slug U., had my children, bought and sold houses, raised a family and a business. I got the secret local knowledge you can only acquire over years, and I paid... Read Full Story
Phantom Ranch Guitar
The guitar at the Phantom Ranch cookhouse hangs on a wooden peg in the old mess hall, in reach of any hiker, river runner, or Grand Canyon wanderer who comes in and wants to play. It’s an old nylon string cowboy guitar, sturdy and a little battered, with the loving words, "Be Gentle Please" clearly lettered on the side. It has no visible brand, no fancy logo on the headstock, but it has the unmistakable patina of age and seasons, and the touch of countless caring hands... Read Full Story
Bad Night in ViIla Rivera
On my ninth or tenth night in Bolivia, sleeping back in our cozy Villa Rivera hotel after a weekend of partying in big-city Cochabamba, I awoke with bad stomach pain. Not really my stomach, I realized with a gasp, as another surge of scary intense pain cut through my guts. Deep in my guts pain, from below the belt line, and quickly radiating into my lower back panels, like the worst slipped-disc pain I ever had. I had been dreaming about being attacked by tigers... Read Full Story
From 30,000 feet, the Amazon Rain forest fills my window, stretching unbroken in all directions to the horizon, a level sea of green treetops, with towering clouds and several great rivers visible meandering through it. An image of vast unknowable wildness: an lifetime stock of weird bugs and unvisited riverbanks! I know there has been lots of rain forest lost, but on my flight to La Paz, Bolivia, I finally grasped how large the Amazon still is. And now, here come the Andes.
My first trip... Read Full Story
