Backpacker as a museum piece

“I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.” John Muir Reality is scary and boring. Wilderness is beautiful and tiresome. Getting Out is serene and challenging. Getting Out, […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

In the Line of Fire, Part II

It was a sobering reply. I had asked Riley Pilgrim, a captain with the Unified Fire Authority, if he’d send engines to defend our home in the event of an intense, fast-moving wild fire. “Probably not,” he said. And Pilgrim is a nice guy. […]

Finding Fondness for Cheese and Chocolate

I live on the outskirts of Herriman, a fast-growing, baby-filled suburb of 30,000 on the southwestern edge of Salt Lake County. It’s a landscape devoid of independent business. Read of one restaurant that stands out. Finding interesting stuff means leaving town. Yesterday, it was to […]

Finding Fondness for Cheese and Chocolate

Allosaurus Art

A long time ago (about 150 million years), dinosaurs ruled southern Utah. When they died, if the conditions were right, their bones turned to fossils. Most fossils here are from the Morrison Formation, a huge swath of sedimentary rock from the Late Jurassic period, extending […]