Today, a slideshow.
At the end of May, I helped my daughter move from North Carolina to Salt Lake City for her first job. Along the way, we managed to work in a hike or four. All were spontaneous, there was no planning. These were pretty much of the, ‘Hey! We’re in the Ozarks! Let’s pull over and hike” variety. Roadside hikes that were pretty dang awesome.
Tag Archives: Hiking
Trail etiquette: play nice
We head into the wayback machine again to revisit the timely topic of trail etiquette. The following first appeared here on March 19, 2010. It reappears today, with minor revisions.
Sunday, I was running the bike and bridle trail at Umstead when I came upon a sizable obstacle: a phalanx of hikers bearing backpacks spanned the width of the trail, spilling over onto the shoulders. The trail is quiet generous, a converted fire road that should be capable of handling boatloads of trail users without conflict. Provided those trail users are cognizant of other trail users. Which brings us to today’s topic:
Good or bad? A lesson in perspective
Grr, another creek crossing, or Yippee! Another creek crossing!
Thinking recently about the difference between a good experience and a not-so-good experience, I was reminded of a scouting trip I’d taken in December 2009. Here’s a brief reflection from that trip that originally appeared around the same time.
Take the picture, then record the memory
“You could take a picture of all this, but you’d lose the pictures. You look at it with your eyes instead, and it’s in your head forever. There’s not that many people can understand that.”
The sentiment was expressed by a hobo named Pete to apprentice hobo/author Ted Conover in Conover’s 1984 book, “Rolling Nowhere.” Pete made the observation as the boxcar livingroom they shared rolled through the northern planes of Montana.
Who needs a camera? philosopher Pete wanted to know. If you take in a scene, truly take it in, the image will last long beyond those Polaroids, those slides, even those digital images (which, yes, are ephemeral) that you shoot with abandon: five shots in a row — one is bound to capture the right light. But … what was the right light?
Hiking diplomacy
In attempting to explain his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Trump told ABC News last year, “I haven’t spent time with him. I didn’t meet him, I haven’t had dinner with him. I didn’t go hiking with him.”
Of the latter, we wonder: If not, why not?