I’d walked away from myself just as much as I’d walked away from society. After a month of silence, alone in the mountains, it was time to mingle with the other apes. I travelled south, from Breckenridge to Fairplay and beyond by connecting local buses, to end up stealth camping in Salida. Then hitchhiking from […]
There are mistakes you make without realizing it. And then there are the ones you carry 30 miles in a Ziploc bag. The pizza was good. In town. Yesterday. Pizza doesn’t belong in a Ziploc bag in the Arizona sun for 12 hours. I knew that. I did it anyway. It deserved better than what […]
The town came alive below me as the sun sank behind the ridge. I’d followed the Pine–Strawberry Trail out of town without much thought, just climbing until the noise softened and the air cooled. Halfway up Strawberry Mountain, I found an alligator juniper and leaned back into its bark, patterned and solid, like it had […]
I wasn’t thinking about the trail anymore. Somewhere around mile ten, walking into the Mogollon Rim Ranger Station for a dollar ice cream and three sodas, my body kept moving forward, but my mind had already left. It was fixed on something warmer. Tastier. Alive in a different way. Empanadas. PIEbar. Thirty miles off trail […]
Hiking with no socks slowed me down, but only slightly. I was taking my time, laying around, trying to catch Scrub Jay’s in my hand that thought maybe I’d fallen asleep with snacks left out in the open. The trail was starting to get crowded. Northbounder’s mixing with southbounder’s. Nobo’s slowing down, trying to figure […]
Milk run into town. From Santiam Pass it’s an easy hitch into and out of the town of Sister’s… except for the news. Two people that I cared about had passed away. My Mom’s husband, Fred, and a good hiking friend named Spider. It will take a while to sink in, that they aren’t there […]
Craving a change of pace and a refreshing half gallon of milk, I knew it was time to switch gears. My body was pleading for respite from the relentless miles, a sign that hitchhiking was the only way to catch my train out of Tucson. But first I had to get out of the mountains […]
Sedona seemed determined to keep me within its grasp. The canyons I ventured into felt like relics of a forgotten era, their ancient aura casting a timeless spell that slowed my pace, and made me hesitant to leave. What was meant to be a straightforward six-mile hike to the bus stop morphed into a three-hour […]
I woke up in the middle of nowhere and decided to hitchhike. Down the road to Roosevelt Lake where I could finish the leftover pizza still heavy in my pack. Cell service had been faint at best and quickly died off, contributing to the overall sense of quiet. From Roosevelt Lake I hiked up and […]
Hitchhiked 170 miles from Pie Town, NM to where RT 66 passed through Holbrook, AZ in just under four hours. To me that’s impressive when it’s a three+ hour drive without having to wait for people to pick you up. Time to let the snow melt before I jump back on trail. #hitchhiking #wandering