Everyone has different objectives when they visit a Wild Place. Some go to escape, some go to return, some go to get exercise, some go to fish or photograph or climb or rest, and some go to play with gear. I love playing with gear at home, in my backyard. I loathe having to mess [...]
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A 3.7-Ounce Ultralight Laptop Sleeve Case for Macbook Air 11
Perspective This laptop sleeve case has one third the volume of what it replaces – a Domke F-803 satchel, which weighs 54 ounces with a shoulder strap and padded sleeve from a popular bagmaker in California. This sleeve weighs 3.7 oz. So while the Domke bag can store 3 times more stuff, it weighs 14.6 [...]
Reflections of an Ultralight Life: Interviewing Andrew Skurka
Andrew Skurka and I met “online” (who didn’t, these days?) what now seems like a long time ago, while he was preparing for a trek across the CONUS from the Atlantic to the Pacific Coasts. At that time, he was asking me questions about how to keep his feet warm during the winter while trekking [...]
The Futility of Going Ultralight for Ultralight’s Sake
I love whiteouts. When I ski in a whiteout, especially in a wild place, I often think, “now what”? In a whiteout, everything else has been stripped away. There’s nothing to look at, no particular place to go (it all looks the same anyways), and your world has been reduced to the size of a [...]
Home Ownership: Broken Dreams and Delusions
This could be your home someday! No, I don’t mean that you can buy it, spruce it up, and live in it. (That door has been closed, because this neighborhood is slated for re-engineering into a green community, which is another way that developers make big profits in historic districts.) What I mean is that [...]
Tracks, Crud, and Powder
Climbers and fishermen seem predisposed to becoming philosophers, driving their daily lives between guide lines emblazoned in their brain chemistry from epic memories. “Thanks for the belay on that project deadline, man.” “Chossy meeting, eh?” “Watch your presentation, she’s pretty spooky this time of day.” etc. But skiers keep it simple. To a skier, it’s [...]
Tenkaranicity
“There’s more to life than fly fishing. In fact, real life offers, and demands, a lot more. And that’s a good thing. Because fly fishing can get really boring. Unless, well, you’re actually fly fishing.” – An anonymous truth ~ I love to fly fish. The satisfaction I get out of casting a rod, or [...]