4/13/19 Mileage: zero I'm awake at 5 a.m. when a bird starts singing outside our motel window. It's a magic crystal vortex Sedona bird, exalting in the clear pure light of another miraculous dawn. The bird is barefoot, with white dreadlocks, linen clothing, carries a woven basket of wilted purslane. Muffy shuts the window against … Continue reading Mogollon Rim Trail day 4: zero in Sedona

4/12/19 Mileage: 20 50 miles hiked Another incredible nights' sleep, apart from the moment when I woke briefly from a dream in which my sleeping bag was something trapping me and cried out "How do I escape?!" before discovering the zipper and remembering where I was. Now it's morning and it's not raining, even though … Continue reading Mogollon Rim Trail day 3: beautiful things for rich people

4/11/19 Mileage: 15.2 29.9 miles hiked I fall asleep in my incredible sleeping bag (the western mountaineering versalite) as soon as I zip it up against the cold, at 7 p.m., and wake at 4 a.m. feeling like I just had the best sleep of my life. I'll tell you something about me: I go … Continue reading Mogollon Rim Trail day 2: sycamore canyon, knifey bois, a storm threatens

4/10/19 Mileage: 14.3 14.3 miles hiked I wake in the night to the sound of Sycamore creek making small water noises in the dark. I was dreaming that Muffy and I were packrafting with all three of our chihuahuas; the chihuahuas were wet, cold and miserable, and we couldn't figure out how to keep them … Continue reading Mogollon Rim Trail day 1: never packraft with chihuahuas

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't been posting very much on here. I've been working so hard this winter on my second book, the manuscript I've been chipping away at for thirteen years. And a month ago I finally sold it! Focusing entirely on the second draft of this manuscript for the past five months, here … Continue reading The Mogollon Rim Trail

Update: orders closed for Long Distance Hiking Zine #3- thanks to everyone who ordered! This issue is 35k words/80 pages of my best hiking writing, collected, along with 10 prints that go along with the stories. The zine is $25, shipping included. Like the previous issues, there are only 200 copies available total. Each copy … Continue reading Zine update: orders closed 😀

8/1/18 "Did you see the bear?" says Bunny. "What?" I say. It's 3:30 a.m., and I just woke up on account of my need to pee. "It was pushing my boat!" says Bunny. "I thought you were moving the boats up higher in case the water came in. But it was a grizzly, shoving my … Continue reading Noatak river paddle day 14: Noatak village

7/31/18 Mileage: 39 356 miles paddled I fall into a deep blackness on my bunk in the ranger cabin until nearly 8 a.m. and wake up groggy and happy with sleep. The river is still huge, today, it still seems slow but still scoots us right along. . A storm arrives midday and the whole … Continue reading Noatak river paddle day 13: oops wrong channel

7/30/17 Mileage: 35 317 miles paddled I get really sucked into Stray City when I should be going to bed and by the time I finally drift off it's after midnight. In the morning I wake, groggy and exhausted, and drink my tea while the bugs hum against the mesh of my tent. What even … Continue reading Noatak river paddle day 12: fish camp

7/29/18 Mileage: 35 282 miles paddled I sleep. I sleep so, so well. The sun sleeps too, in its way; not going down but dimming, greying, growing long enough and low enough behind the ridge that the moon is there, full and silver and hanging, reflected, above the rippling water, when I get up to … Continue reading Noatak river paddle day 11: scooting right along