One year ago, I was sitting at a desk. It was a nice desk. The chair was padded and it swiveled; I had an entire drawer dedicated to colored paper, glue sticks, and craft foam; a painted alligator made of egg cartons and cardboard boxes watched me work. It was a lovely desk. Fifty-two weeks …
Wild Child(ren)
"What's this tree's name? C'mon, we just went over it." I point to a slender tree with gray bark peeling off like wallpaper. The kids look at it uncertainly. "I know it!" A girl exclaims, tugging on her braid. Her eyes widen in revelation. "A shaggy hickey!" …
To Disappear
Last summer I thru-hiked the Northville Placid Trail with my father. It was 133 miles of mud and mosquitoes, storm-ravaged bridges and swollen lakes. The trail only crossed four major roads (except for a several mile road walk at the end), and my dad and I could walk an entire day without seeing another soul. …
/arrival/
There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind. --C.S. Lewis There are things that bring you comfort. The familiar weight of your backpack hanging from your shoulders. The peppermint scent of Dr. Bronner's soap. Curled pages of poetry that have kept you company around the globe. These are the things that you …
Leaving/Left/Gone
Bilbo: I'll be alright. Just let me sit quietly for a moment. Gandalf: You've been sitting quietly for far too long! Tell me, when did doilies and your mother's dishes become so important to you? I remember a young hobbit who was always running off in search of Elves in the woods. He'd stay out …
What You Share With The World
What you share with the world is what it keeps of you. --Noah and the Whale Situated on the northern coast of the Big Island overlooking the Maui Strait is Moʻokini Heiau, said to be the first temple built on the Hawaiian Islands. Legend says that the temple was built in a single …
Memories Are Stronger Than Bone
I met a guy in Moab, and I can't remember his name. He told me about how he was airlifted off Mount Whitney along with the body of a dead girl, a girl who went hiking with her fiancé and came down with AMS, but instead of following her down, her fiancé chased the summit …
Putting Price Tags on Parks
Once upon a time, a man named Gutenberg invented the printing press. Before that books were copied by hand, making them expensive and rare, available only to the societal elite. And then along came Gutenberg and everything changed. There were more books in circulation. More people began to read. The worlds of ink and paper …
Of Mice and Mountaintops
I am writing this at 10:09 PM on a Thursday night in a Walmart parking lot. My car smells overwhelmingly of curry. My car does not normally smell of curry. When I committed myself to a solo road trip—a mini foray into the shallows of vanlife—I was ready for the Big Stuff. Mountaintop vistas. …
Women of the Wild
"Where's your boyfriend?" a man asked me on the summit of Slide Mountain, the highest peak in the Catskills. It'd been a bad week, so I'd left work early that Friday and escaped to the mountains, my go-to move when the world's feeling extra heavy. This was my third summit of the day, and I …
People in Parks 