April 14, 2020
Walking Alone – A Different Kind of Luxury
I am standing alone next to the lodge where last September, in the final crepuscular moments of a long summer, I crouched in silence watching a beaver slip out of...
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April 12, 2020
Walking Alone in a Chihulean Wonderland
The moon is setting over Admiralty Island and the sun is about to rise over the coastal range when I arrive at the trailhead. I am surprised to see a...
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April 9, 2020
Walking Alone, Leaving Butt Prints
The first light of this day is a few minutes old when I turn off the road into the Breeze In. Vowing not to visit a store until I need...
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April 8, 2020
Walking Alone with a Couple Old Friends
Alone, I walk along the snow-covered boardwalk, pausing to look up the shallow, swift creek spilling its way through the moraines, where the roots of alder, willow, and cottonwood trees...
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April 6, 2020
Walking Alone – Creating Ripples
Cautiously, I transfer my weight to the snow, and find that rising temperatures and a new layer of flakes have softened it since my last visit. Forty-eight hours ago, just...
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April 4, 2020
Walking Alone – First Black Bear Edition
Boot spikes crunch loudly in the hard, crusted snow, drowning out the calls of varied thrushes. Pausing to listen, I smile and feel my beard stiffening with a building coat...
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April 3, 2020
Walking Alone, Hearing Voices
Alone, I walk the snow-covered path from the trailhead, over the Fish Creek bridge and through the shaded wood until I come to the pond where I pause in the...
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March 28, 2020
Still Walking Alone
Alone, I walk the narrow plank trail zigzagging through the beaver pond. The snow has melted away, and where earth is exposed, the yellow-green heads of skunk cabbage peek from...
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March 27, 2020
Walking Alone
I test the glassy roadside ice, then climb back in the truck to stretch spikes over my boots, then click across the bare roadway to the trailhead. Off the road...
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