PNW

Five courses, forty feet

November 28, 2015 Uncategorized

A Friendsgiving adventure from Pickett Butte Lookout in the Umpqua National Forest We woke up early and threw bags of clothes, sleeping bags, and food into Sara’s jeep, and rolled over to the local coffeeshop to wake up a little bit more. Four hours of driving later, we reached Tiller, a don’t-blink town at the edge of the South Umpqua River and the national forest that bears the same name. From the lonely highway that curls inward toward the Cascade range, we could see where theRead More

The mountains in us

May 13, 2013 Uncategorized

Another season of gathering is here, only this one takes place not indoors around stoves and fireplaces, but out in open spaces. Instead of wrapping blankets around ourselves, we spread them on the ground and lay back with our eyes wide to the heavens. This is the season that reverts everyone back to their 8-year-old selves, floods us all with a heart-punching nostalgia for the simplicity of being young and dirty and half-clothed and free.

In which frozen water makes us whole again

February 20, 2012 Uncategorized

Nature always wears the colors of the spirit, said Emerson. A photographic review of the past 15 hours speaks to this truth. Waking at 5, after sleeping fitfully while the storm battered my window all night, was hard. I groggily put on layers, washed the sleep lines from under my eyes, and trudged out to the car with my gear. The wind had left finally, and all was hushed and cold but no longer biting. The sky was dark butRead More