-
The packout
The snow was crunchy, crisp toe snagging crust over three inches of powder, freeze dried into substancelessness by weeks of sunny days, cold nights and wind. But I saw the buck before I heard him. Antlers moving through gaps, left to right, the faint, neat snap of hooves echoing behind. It was the penultimate evening…
-
The death of Purple
I’ve cracked three nalgene bottles in the past two decades. The first was a classic 1 liter in milky plastic, before lexan invaded REI and college lecture halls. It was ancient and wrapped in duct tape, and split radially when I dropped it in the Sylvan Lake parking lot, which was sad. I think I…
-
Montane Allez Micro Hoodie review
Not necessarily a huge amount to say here: the Allez Micro is a hooded quarter zip baselayer shirt, made from Polartec High Efficiency, a fabric which was one of the very best innovations of the past decade. I reviewed the Patagonia Capilene 4 hoody back in the day, when it was one of the very…
-
Much thanks
In spite of, or because of, it all, there are many objects for thank today. I want to thank all of you. With few exceptions writing has been tough this year. With a head crowded enough that bare basics are generally daunting enough, and big, unpleasant, hard to grasp things doing that clogging, putting thoughts…
-
Old dread
These words, two months ago, have proven to be good guidance, and underline one of the more astounding things about my 2020; that I haven’t been sick at all. Not with COVID, we’ve been quite cautious with that, but with a cold or a flu. Between working in schools and having plenty of stress upon…
-
My favorite shoes
This fall I’ve been wearing little other than the Astral TR1 Merge, and for the sort of walking I like to do these days, they are far and away the best pair of shoes I’ve ever had. While they don’t have a tremendous number of miles on them, almost all of those miles have been…
-
Shame
…shame occupied a permanent and necessary place in the Trumpian scenario insofar as it was externalized and lodged in the left: the left seek to shame you for your guns, your racism, your sexual assault, your xenophobia! The excited fantasy of his supporters was that, with Trump, shame could be overcome, and there would be…
-
A hunting story
This weekend I went hunting. After a week of peculiar weather that began with 2 feet of snow and lows below zero and ended with sunny highs near 60, it was a quiet day. The snow had been melting so fast I found no set tracks, new or old, and by the late afternoon had…
-
The Frank Open 2021
Bonanza to Fenn Ranger Station. Saturday April 24th, 0600 MDT. (?) That’s 126 straight line miles. Here’s what is in my head about this. First, that is a big route. Probably close to 200 miles on the ground. Second, that time frame has the obvious potential to be quite challenging. Third, and most important, I…
-
The mighty 5
Last week we did what we used to do every fall, and spent a week in the Colorado Plateau. In this we’re fortunate; the number of things we did differently, because of Coronavirus, amounted to almost nothing beyond wearing masks into gas stations and always getting restaurant food to go. Camping, biking, climbing, backpacking on…
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Bedrock & Paradox 
You must be logged in to post a comment.