SPUR-OF-THE-MOMENT decisions can often be the best decisions we make. Throwing caution to the wind, acting on a whim, jumping upon an opportunity when it presents itself – what could be more adventurous, more freeing? The alternative – planning every detail minutely – can ruin a perfectly good adventure. Life is better when spontaneity is […]
Some idiot forgot the bloody matches! Read More »
THE FORECAST MIGHT have been off-putting. The scientists up at NOAA were predicting severe thunderstorms in the mountains, not as a possibility but as an absolute certainty. Lightning was likely, torrential rain extremely probable, and even flash floods were on the cards. From the look of it, rain was going to be falling from the
Bad Weather – a celebration Read More »
IN LAST WEEK’S BLOG I mentioned backpacking discomforts. I commented on how photos of backpacking trips seldom show them. I suggested that backpacking photos lie because of it. I was thinking about it again during this week’s outing, a single overnight trip in the Colorado foothills with good friend, Igloo Ed. The discomforts of backpacking
Gratitude, Not Discomfort Read More »
A MONTH AGO, on May 11, I set out for a short overnight trip. It was to become one of the most unforgettable ‘spring’ camps I’ve ever made. Conditions were cold and wet down in Golden, and up in the mountains snow was still piling up. In fact, the snowpack was as deep as it
The Perfect ‘Spring’ Camp Read More »
THE FORECAST LAST night was too good to resist: clear skies, little wind, mild temperatures, a full moon, and shortly before sunrise a lunar eclipse… sleeping indoors with all that on offer would contravene everything I believe in! The only argument against heading out for my 20th mountain night of the year was the extravagant
No lunar eclipse. But no complaints! Read More »
WINTER HAS RETURNED to the foothills of Colorado’s Front Range, as it so often does this time of year. Mid April? Spring? Hah! With flakes wafting down and cold nipping at one’s exposed digits you’d barely know it. Which made it the perfect time to share a night in the hills with Igloo Ed. Igloo Ed is
To Vegas with Igloo Ed Read More »
Or, The Unexpected Benefits of Sleeping Without a Tent. ONE OF MY goals this year (aside from successfully publishing The Earth Beneath My Feet) is to sleep out at least fifty-two times. That’s once every week on average. Fifty-two mountain nights. As quests go, it should be easy, right? Once upon a time it would
The Fifty-Two Night Quest Read More »
IT WAS A fairly typical spring week along Colorado’s Front Range: snow one day, warmth the next; clear one moment, cloudy the next. As winter ebbed into spring and then slipped back into winter each day brought something new. For a wanderer on foot, it was just about perfect. Despite a busy week I
Exclusive accommodation Read More »
TWO WEEKEND’S AGO I camped at 11,200 feet high in the Colorado wilderness. To say the February night was cold would be an understatement. Sure, it wasn’t Himalayan or polar cold, but the minus five Fahrenheit (minus twenty Celsius) I recorded INSIDE my tent wasn’t tropical either! For me, it teetered right on the edge
How to stay warm in the cold. Ten Winter Camping Tips. Read More »
THE FORECAST was irresistible. It called for snow, arrival of an Arctic airmass, and with it the coldest temperatures of winter so far. Overnight lows were forecast to plummet to -13 Fahrenheit, -25 Celsius, which was impressively frigid, or even life-threatening, under certain circumstances. But as I saw it, perfect conditions for my fifth night
Igloo or Quinzhee? A snow shelter comparison. Read More »