I WAS ONLY AWAY from ‘my’ mountains for two and a half weeks, but during that time the snowpack in the high country forests has all but vanished. Right before leaving for a family visit at sea level I experienced gruelling travel and a snowstorm camp… but on my return I’ve come back to summer-like
BACK IN EARLY APRIL, and again last weekend, I snowshoed into a spacious mountain bowl, the fabulously, poetically but often inaccurately named Hell’s Hole. Of course, it wasn’t hellish for me in any way – although some people might have considered it to be! For one thing, travel on both occasions was truly, truly gruelling.
DESPITE TRANSPORT CHALLENGES and family commitments I managed to squeeze in another brief foray into the hills over Friday night. In the dampness, the fresh snow and the wandering mists of what is turning into an exceptionally wet May here in Colorado, the outing was absolutely delicious. The heady forest scents, the roughness of being
TODAY, ON MAY 11, 2023, the rain here in Golden, Colorado is fabulously determined. It’s been cascading from the sky since late last night; the creeks are running high and are stained brown with earth; trails are muddy and gushing; the soil is saturated, with puddles spreading ever-wider; hilltops are lost within mist and sodden
JOURNEYS ARE BETTER when they don’t go as expected, when surprises lie around the corners, when plans go awry. And so are the seasons – or so I think – better when they don’t unfurl as they ‘should’, better when they slip from one to another and then back again in a way that makes
EARLIER THIS WEEK I went for a spur-of-the-moment run/walk up Rogers Peak in the Mount Evans Wilderness – although hopefully the area will one day become the Blue Sky Wilderness instead. It’s a wilderness area that I’ve spent a fair amount of time in so far this year, and all for a new project, a
MY IGLOO CAMPS last month set me thinking about my first igloo adventure. It took place in January 2016, in Rocky Mountain National Park, and it wasn’t only memorable for the igloo but also for whom I went with: the one and only Igloo Ed! I originally shared these photos and captions on social media
MARCH SEEMS TO have become ‘igloo month’ for me, and this year was no exception. Building a shelter from snow (ie, being an adult but playing like a child) and then sleeping in it is a hard-to-beat mountain pleasure – and it’s a pleasure that’s made even greater when shared with friends new to the
FOR THE PAST few weeks (well, months) I’ve been meaning to share an update on the status of my books, on a whole bunch of outdoor adventures, on life, and most of all on two exciting new book projects that I’ve been working on… but I haven’t quite managed to get to it – as