love poems to the world

PCT 2021: Rainy Pass to the Northern Terminus

Walking around Mt Tam

One of the most beautiful and least known poetical flowerings of that outpouring of youth and art we call the 60’s was, arguably, a journey on foot around Mt Tamalpais, in Marin County north of San Francisco. This honoring of “the quiescent one,” this circumambulation, a walk completely around the mountain, following with our feetContinue reading “Walking around Mt Tam”

High Sierra PCT under snow in 2019

This winter turned out to be a very good year for precipitation in the state of California, as experts working with the California Department of Water Resources kind of predicted last fall. This means that right now, in July of 2019, the John Muir Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail through the High Sierra fromContinue reading “High Sierra PCT under snow in 2019”

Soul-making is a crafting, said James Hillman

Soul-making is like any other imaginative activity. It requires crafting, just as does politics, agriculture, the arts, love relations, war, or the winning of any natural resource. What is given won’t get us through; something must be made of it. From The Dream and the Underworld, by James Hillman, a deeply informed exploration of theContinue reading “Soul-making is a crafting, said James Hillman”

Black Friday climate assessment: Katherine Hayhoe vs. Donald Trump on The World

The extraordinary Fourth National Climate Assessment, released by thirteen federal agencies coordinated by the US Global Change Research Program, established by Congress decades ago, came out last Friday. On the day after Thanksgiving, the notorious Black Friday. For some reason. Ironically, if this excellent interview and breaking news segment on the assessment on The WorldContinue reading “Black Friday climate assessment: Katherine Hayhoe vs. Donald Trump on The World”

a poem from the late Paradise

Please Excuse the Smoke Awakenings [from a Paradise resident and poet named Krystalynn Martin] November 16, 2018 A poem I wrote the other night while grieving the loss of my hometown of Paradise: I’m sorry – Please excuse the smoke. It’s just the dreams and hopes of 27 thousand yesterdays. It’s just the minuscule evidence ofContinue reading “a poem from the late Paradise”

Sea lion attacks kayaker with octopus

In an extraordinary incident, a sea lion flung an octopus at a young man kayaking near a New Zealand shore, and was caught live on a digital camera. The clip went viral around the world. National Public Radio’s Rachel Cohen followed up with a wonderfully thorough and appropriately playful story. Check it out: it’s astonishing:Continue reading “Sea lion attacks kayaker with octopus”

Dirt: People of the PCT (Oregon 2018)

This is Dirt, with whom I briefly crossed paths at about mile TK on the PCT. We had a short but interesting conversation that’s still very alive for me. Our brief dialogue touched on two or three or so topics, but seemed full of the immense uncertainty of human life. Quite possibly I might neverContinue reading “Dirt: People of the PCT (Oregon 2018)”

Great trees of the PCT — honestly, how is this even possible?

The force through which the green fuse drives the flower and this tree — my God Almighty, How is this even possible? The first vegetation of any stature whatsoever seen in miles and miles along the PCT through a laval field.

Fear of (wild) water: is it necessary to filter?

In February a brave writer in Slate published a column arguing that wild water is much over-feared, and that (with reasonable care) hikers in the mountains in places such as the Pacific Northwest need not reflexively filter or treat wild water taken from streams and lakes. To wit: To be clear, there’s no question that Giardia lamblia, CryptosporidiumContinue reading “Fear of (wild) water: is it necessary to filter?”