Last updated Oct 23, 2020 | First published on Nov 5, 2014 | USA
No one expected to step out of the Jeep into a full-on blizzard. Sideways snow blew in 45 mph wind, creating a total whiteout—my second mountainous whiteout of 2014 already. The trail itself was hidden by a foot of fresh snow. Adrenaline pushed us forward, desperately...
Last updated Nov 12, 2018 | First published on Sep 16, 2014 | USA
The soundtrack for our breakfast was the booming of distant rock slides and avalanches. They couldn’t be seen, but they were certainly felt. We heard the first earlier that morning just as the hike began. Strange creakings and rumblings in mountain tongues; warnings...
Last updated Oct 6, 2019 | First published on Nov 16, 2013 | Philippines
Happiness is the sag of heavy insects clinging hungrily to a mosquito net. The warm glow of a blood meal just inches away drives them mad while I sleep soundly beneath. The click click of legions of hermit crabs climbing and falling on rocks, holding secret meetings...
Last updated Jan 8, 2018 | First published on Nov 3, 2012 | India
An earthquake — the second of the day — rattled the glasses around my rooftop cafe. Exciting stuff, and the first tremor that I’d felt since waiting to climb a volcano in Sumatra last year. The tremor was just enough to remind me that I was in the...
Last updated Oct 31, 2018 | First published on Aug 27, 2011 | Sumatra
Amazing how sore a few days on a motorbike can make your bottom. There are two types of motorbike drivers in Southeast Asia: those that have already fed the concrete and those that are going to feed the concrete with skin and blood. Luckily, I’m still a part of...
