Category Archives: the land

For my pal Cary’s birthday a week ago we went on a backing trip. Not an easy trip–somehow, the Sespe backcountry’s always tough–but one that left us lots of memories. Cary had a great time, I can honestly report. We first went to the top  of the local ridge, the Topa Topas, at about 6500Continue reading “Sunset from the Topa Topas”

As Winnie the Pooh (or was it Piglet?) used to say: "Bak Sun" Back on Tuesday; probably post again on Wednesday. We’re off to celebrate a friend’s 50th birthday in spring in Ventura County’s back country. Believe it or not, sometimes it looks like this:

Via Chris Clarke’s Creek Running North. From Edward Abbey: The geologic approach is certainly primary and fundamental, underlying the attitude and outlook that best support all others, including the insights of poetry and the wisdom of religion. Just as the earth itself forms the indispensable ground for the only kind of life we know, providingContinue reading “My Favorite New Quote”

Hey, enough with the doomy gloom, says my daughter, away at college. And yeah, the wet cold spring makes our creek look lovely…

The famous farmer, poet, professor, and writer Wendell Berry confronts the industrial/scientific complex in a deeply troubling essay in a recent issue of The Hudson Review. When recently honored by the Smithsonian, Berry insisted that: "Part of the reason for writing all these essays is my struggle never to quit, to never utter those awfulContinue reading “Troubling Fantasies”

In a post below, I regretted the coming of spring in early February, which for Southern Californians could mean ten months or more of unrelenting heat, smog, and fear of wildfires…but my fears were premature: Winter has returned! Yesterday with my wife, a friend, and our delirious dogs, we walked all day to the topContinue reading “Winter Returns, Thank God!”

Consider a high-quality reproduction of a print by one of this country’s first great photographers, Carleton Watkins, which is available through the Library of Congress at a reasonable price. Here’s an example, a picture of Half Dome taken around 1865.