"Do you need to call someone? Let them know where you are and what happened?" The guy in the driver's seat asks. The darkness is nearly finished settling and the snowy peaks in the distance are quickly disappearing. A truck drives by every 10 minutes or so, but the road is fairly empty."No, I'm good," …
perfect moments
one It is early in the season and my night walks have not yet become habitual. This is the first time on one of those walks that I am not alone. We are walking and the fog is rolling in, covering the stars slowly like a blanket being pulled over bed sheets. It feels like …
Three Moments (Part II)
One I am sitting at the check-in desk waiting for weekend arrivals. It is early in the fall season, and I'm still adjusting to the shift. Cabins in place of tents, refrigerators in place of bear canisters, paperwork and formalities in place of primal summer wildness. I am sad to see summer go. Even …
Thank You
"Strawberries first shaped my view of a world full of gifts simply scattered at your feet. A gift comes to you through no action of your own, free, having moved toward you without your beckoning. It is not a reward; you cannot earn it, or call it to you, or even deserve it. And yet …
Almost
Winter is over. Almost. Just barely. Light lingers. Ice cracks. Buds on your parents' magnolia have emerged, green and fuzzy. when the world is puddle-wonderful, e.e.cummings once wrote. The world is slowly turning puddle-wonderful. You've tapped into your animal nature these past two winters, your mind and body yielding to the gray winter days. Hibernation involves …
Three Moments
One I have a group of eight students. It is their first week of school. We're going to do some get-to-know-you games, I say. To start, let's go around the circle and say our name and favorite holiday. You can go first. I gesture to my left. The boy shakes his head as he looks up at me. …
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!" …
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 …
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 …
Farewell, Pennsylvania
I never wanted to live in Pennsylvania. The cities weren't big enough and the land wasn't wild enough. To me, Pennsylvania was the Liberty Bell on one end and the Steelers' stadium on the other, with the strange groundhog that rivets the nation for one lone day in February somewhere in between. Everything about it …
People in Parks 