The most terrifying event of my life happened in Old Oraibi when I was 8 years old. I haven’t been back since, but I’m heading uphill out of Moenkopi Farms and onto the Hopi Reservation toward First Mesa and Old Oraibi. Huge sensually green expanses of Mormon Tea remind me of spring Kansas wheat fields,…
Category: Trails
Ice Lake
Ice Lake, San Juan Mountains, Colorado Just getting to the trailhead for Ice Lake outside of Silverton, Colorado is a delight to the senses. The San Juan Mountains are quite a treat for a desert dweller in the summer, even what the locals were calling a heat wave felt refreshing and energizing. Just two miles…
Wolves, Wilderness and the Last Grizzly Bear
There are places on the land where events and ideas take place that are more significant than the landscape itself – places like Gettysburg, Thebes, Monticello. Places like Escudilla (ess-coo-dee-ya) Mountain. The third tallest mountain in Arizona at 10,912 feet, beautiful as it is, is not as impressive or majestic or even as noticeable as…
Arizona’s Southwestern Desert
If the Colorado Plateau is Rachmaninov, Arizona’s far southwestern desert is pure Black Sabbath. This country is so intense you swear you can smell the heat and the dramatic sepia tones of the landscape. Your ears ring in the silence of midday. At first glance, you are convinced that there is simply no life here…
The Needles
Utah’s a place that just gets better the deeper you get into it – that’s just a plain fact, and that’s a good thing today. The wind just blew the Bluff town limit sign down so I don’t know where I am, but I know I’ve spent some time here before. That doesn’t bother me…
Rutharitas
In October 2008, I had the good fortune to walk a cross country backpacking loop off the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We were a party of six, and when it came time to figure out how we would divvy up group gear, trip member Bob Wade kindly volunteered to “bring evening cocktails”. We…
Red Rocks and Psychics
There is an intense and spiritual place at the southern edge of the Colorado Plateau in northern Arizona where canyons, spires and mesas are carved into and out of the red sandstone layers. Often associated with vortexes, crystals and new age psychics, there is no question that there is something special going on around Sedona….
Sierra High Route
I love off-trail hiking. The mental and physical challenges of picking a way through unmarked wild country are very satisfying, in spite of the fact that off-trail travel is often slower and almost always leaves marks in the form of abraded skin and gear. And I love the Sierra Nevada of California, especially the high…
A North Rim Classic
About 5 million people a year visit Grand Canyon National Park, the vast majority of whom go to the Visitor’s Center, which overlooks the South Rim. If you want to leave the crowds behind, look no further than the North Rim. A mere 10 miles to the north across the Colorado River, the North Rim…