I wandered into the heart of a battle, but the warning came too late. “Big Sur is burning,” the radio crackled. “There’s fire all over the place.” I already knew. I knew because before the morning voice broke...
“Western Australia,” she said. “Perth?” I replied. “Perfect,” I told the stranger. “We were looking for Australians.” We were looking for Aussies because our motley crew of travelers had already gathered an Olympic level of nomads: Irish, English,...
“Bilbo had come far and through many adventures to see it.” — The Hobbit Mount Shasta towers over the tent tonight. Though my fire crackles some 7,500 feet up her slopes, it makes a small light only halfway up the...
We met at dawn, but this was never the plan. Volcanic dust coated my shoes, sleep weighed heavy on my eyes, and the gas gauge hovered above “E”— the spoils of victory. Together, I celebrated a new day...
She reached out to me, exciting to have company, excited that somebody had finally taken notice again. In the past 18 years, precious few had. Once home in the hearts of thousands, the great ship lay bare now,...
SEATTLE— I rolled on with matted hair and baggy eyes and the memory of a shower that’s four days old. “Go west, young man,” the stories told. So I did. Now, there’s nowhere west to go. “Rock still...
This is the last gasp, I thought, the final dying breathe of the Great Plains. They’ve been with me since Day Two…never-ending expanses of prairie grass and sweeping hills that seem to roll into infinity. The plains knock...
The camera shutter sounds like a cymbal. It clashes and twangs with every shot. Nothing’s wrong with it. It’s just that quiet on the mountain. I don’t even really know which mountain. I’m somewhere high above several ranges...
6:00 a.m.— I’m alive. It’s the start of Day Eight and I’ve become so used to sleeping outside that my internal clock has me rising with the sun. That’s a good thing, because even in the places I’m...
