Exploring the divide: Inside Outside

I always figured folks viewed the wilderness like I did: A place to cherish and protect. A place for quiet observation and reflection. A place where humans could be brought to their knees by the elements or by simple wonder. As I get older and […]

Species Parade, Week Two

I’m reading Wallace Stenger’s Beyond the 100th Meridian, John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West. In 1883, Powell was telling Westerners and prospective Westerners: “Gentlemen, you are piling up a heritage of conflict and litigation over water rights, for there is not […]

A rare pair: Women and Fire

My first journalism job was as a sports reporter for the Providence Journal-Bulletin in Rhode Island. I was the only woman in the department. At games covered by multiple papers, I was always the only female reporter. Decades have passed. Women now make up […]

Species Parade, Week One

“Wilderness. The word itself is music,” wrote Edward Abbey in Desert Solitaire. There are songs of wind and of light and shadow. There’s a fabulous rhythm to animal movement. And, of course, there are the more literal songs of birds: buzzes, chips, whistles, screeches, caws, […]

Brilliant Backyard Booze

Rain and gardening neglect have given me scads of mint, which might have been planted intentionally at some point, but now grows weed-like in our yard. With semi-arid conditions and ledge for soil, it does well where next-to-nothing else will. (I miss my Maine garden, […]

Brilliant Backyard Booze

Ramblers Way suits this rambler

The parcel from Ramblers Way arrived with perfect timing. I was packing for a 20-day, 6,000 mile, truck-camping trip to Maine and back. I might see a washer and dryer at the midway point, but nice-looking, packable, stink-resistant tops would be key. They’d have to […]

Klymit is now warm

My backpacking friends reacted with surprise and delight, like they’d just been served lobster and champagne on a camping trip. When you’re used to mac ‘n’ cheese and tuna surprise, how else would you react to the comfort of the Klymit’s new insulated Static V […]

Klymit is now warm

Am I in Utah or Maine?

Scientists say weather patterns will be more stormy and unpredictable with climate change. But a switcheroo of states? That’s what’s happened to Maine and Utah this May. Most of Utah has received at least twice its usual May precipitation of two inches. Some towns are […]