Last updated Jul 29, 2022 | First published on May 19, 2021 | USA
No, it wasn’t a large dog—that was a small black bear on the prowl! I saw the bear, my first in the lower 48, shortly after having crossed the longest tree-based canopy walk in North America (880 feet)1. The day before, I had been surrounded by sharks. Admittedly, the...
Last updated Jul 29, 2022 | 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 (Camp Muir on Mount Rainier was the first). The famous Appalachian Trail itself was hidden by a...
Last updated Aug 7, 2022 | First published on Oct 11, 2014 | USA
Even though riddled with danger, communists, monsters, and a dark confession, this entry hardly does my six weeks of vagabonding in Seattle, Washington, justice. But then again, I’ve got to write something about the experience. Unfortunately, it seems, much of what...
Last updated Apr 19, 2022 | First published on Sep 16, 2014 | USA
I lost count of the avalanches heard while hiking to Camp Muir on Mount Rainier, the highest point you can climb to in Washington State without technical skills. The avalanches couldn’t be seen, but they were certainly felt. We heard the first rumble earlier that...
Last updated Jul 29, 2022 | First published on Aug 18, 2014 | USA
American interstates have a way of changing perspective. And scrambling brains. I learned this firsthand during my recent Great American West road trip. Not all, but most American West roads are so utilitarian and straight-as-an-arrow efficient that you start...
Last updated Jul 18, 2022 | First published on Jun 7, 2013 | USA
Hunter S. Thompson went across the desert while on his infamous quest to find the American Dream but he didn’t go to Disney World. Maybe he should have. He didn’t seem to find his idea of the American Dream. And while the Mazda 6 I hired wasn’t...
