This has been a year to go down in the annals of blogs, wikis, and feeds for the ages. I’ve fared better than most I think, but my life has changed completely. I’m now sitting at a desk in a bedroom in Phoenix, feeling tired, uncertain, hopeful, determined, scared, cynical, stoic, weak, strong. How, broadly,…
Plan to vote now
I made my voting plan tonight. Well, actually Ann did, but I did some of the thinking part! We can’t help each other too much, or too soon, and the time to do it is now. Online Tools There are a plethora of websites out there purporting to help us through the voting process. I’m…
Twice As Old: Following Suit
This is the second chapter in a series exploring a Pacific Crest Trail hike that began on April 16, 1996 and didn’t end until my partner Peter Miles Bergman and I had doubled in age and fulfilled a 23-year-old pact, completing a TAOist thruhike. In the first chapter I looked at how the planning of…
2019 all PaCT up
New Year’s greetings to you! I promised a 2019-wrap-up post and this is it, short and sweet. My year was dominated by my 2-month hike on the Pacific Crest Trail, fulfilling a pact made 23 years ago with my hiking partner Pete. That journey, which we refer to by the name PaCT, will continue as…
Twice As Old: The Plan
This is the first of a series exploring a Pacific Crest Trail hike that began on April 16, 1996 and didn’t end until my partner and I had doubled in age and fulfilled a 23-year-old pact, completing a TAOist thruhike. Anyone who has tried to hike the Pacific Crest Trail, or any long trail, will…
The PaCT is fulfilled
I’m now home in Reno after two months on the Pacific Crest Trail that defied many of my expectations. I plan to digest and write about it in the months to come. Though I didn’t carry a phone, Pete did and he posted some amazing photos and stories on Instagram. I have a stack of…
Gone Hikin’
It’s time to hit the trail! I expect this will be unlike any hike I’ve done. There won’t be any updates here until I return, but Pete may manage some posts on pact.report and Instagram. Ann is dropping us off, mailing packages, tracking our progress, and joining Pete’s wife Heather to meet us at the…
PaCT – walking beyond the horizon
On this day, May 31, in 1996, I hiked up a snowy Mount Whitney with my hiking partner Pete. We were 767 miles into an attempt to hike the Pacific Crest Trail, and had no inkling how much snow lay ahead of us in the Sierra Nevada mountains. It was our first time wielding an…
Good night 2018
This was a tough year for some of our friends and family, and though it had some challenges for us also I feel fortunate as it comes to a close. I’m finishing the year in good shape and gearing up for a big year to come. Here are some things that come to mind when…
A handful of days disconnected in the Willowa mountains
I spend much of my life online, something I once reveled in, but have always sought to balance by disconnecting and going outdoors. This year, 2018, I made the longest solo backpack trip I’ve managed since Ann sagged me on the Continental Divide Trail in 2004. On that trip my longest stretch between resupplies was…