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Concerning sandflies
The sandfly is a fact of life in New Zealand. Forrest McCarthy called them the countries top predator, which is in a sense quite accurate. The “bloody sandflies” are both widespread and annoying, and coping with them requires a few special preparations. Thankfully, sandflies are no where near as obnoxious as mosquitoes. Yankees familiar with…
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The Harsh Fiords
The first day on Doubtful Sound was the most trying of our whole New Zealand trip. The first third of a 26k day in tandem sea kayaks lulled us into complacency, before the main arm turned a little more westerly and the full force of the 30 knot winds slammed us in the face. Progress…
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New Zealand logistics for the DIY hunter
In New Zealand, all big game (and a lot of small game) is non-native, which is why you can hunt Canada Geese with a rifle. Before the arrival of Maori 700 years ago, and of Europeans 400 years later, New Zealand was one of the more distinctive ecosystems on earth. The largest mammal was a…
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Forests of the Heaphy
The centerpiece of our New Zealand trip was the Heaphy track. At around 80 kilometers, it’s the longest of New Zealand’s Great Walks, and located at the far northern end of the south island. The Heaphy promised great variety, from alpine forest to coastal beaches, and as a Great Walk featured huts and well-maintained tread.…
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Trophy country
New Zealand. It’s plain I will not have time to do things justice as we go, likely not until long after we’re back in the US, so snippets will have to do. First on the list, due purely to the location along the circle we’ll eventually draw, was hunting in the alps near Mount Cook.…
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One day lost
Wednesday afternoon we spent in the Dallas airport, waiting for the Qantas desk to open so we could recheck the rifle, having had to leave security after our flight from Des Moines to do so. That had its adventures (firearms logistics will get a post of their own in due time), but soon enough we…
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The Human Factor: The Only Factor
Black Diamond, Powder Magazine, and writer David Page completed a series on avalanche risk entitled The Human Factor, which I suggest just about everyone read, here. Taken as a whole, I find the article frightening. It is full of passages like this one: “The report, like most in the genre, is long on details about…
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Hunting, land, and a moral failure of American capitalism
Hunting is expensive. Non-resident elk tags in the lower 48 run between 500 and 1300 dollars, when all costs are included. Deer tags are generally a fair bit less. Any other big game species (bear, moose, mountain goat, sheep) is generally quite a bit, or exponentially, more expensive than elk. Sheep tags cost between 1300…
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The 12 best miles of 2014
Not the best hikes, skis, or floats, but the best single isolated miles of travel. The ones which are worth a lot of potentially frustrating work to find. Presented in chronological order, with one photo and one mile for each month of 2014. For organizational and review purposes; January was a long time ago, and…
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First steps towards 2015
December north of the 45th parallel wants to be a quiet time, and in the last six years I’ve learned to let it be just that. So in the three weeks after hunting season I did only as much of anything as I wanted to, which added up to a few hikes and snowbike rides…
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Bedrock & Paradox 
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