Going Longer: A Love/Hate Relationship with Backpacking
From the passionate essays I have read I am led to believe that there are people who find pure, blissful enjoyment from backpacking and wilderness camping. I don’t get it. I never…
Falling in Love with Alaskan Sled Dogs and a Chance at Fjallraven Polar
If anyone had told me 15 years ago that I would be dreaming of spending all my free time up north in the snow running sled dogs I would have…
Seeing Past Fear: How SUP has Made me Braver & More Independent
I stood on the edge of the water with my feet buried in the cold sand and my heart beating in my ears. I paddled a few circles and realized…
Montana Dry Run: Heartache, Climbing and a Campervan
It is late afternoon in Montana and it smells like earth and summer. Birds whistle and flies buzz. The sun and the PBR are taking their effect now as lazy…
‘I’ve always been a fainter’ – Experimental heart surgery and a half-marathon in Bhutan with Scott Jurek
The sensation of coming out of a dead faint never gets any easier. It never gets any less uncomfortable: the disorientation, the slow return to your senses, the wiggling of…
Spinning and Crying in Joshua Tree
“Pull your body in close to the rock!” I hear Jonathan yell from below me. “What does that even mean?!” I yell back, my brake hand held firmly down. I…
Overcoming self-doubt in the Grand Canyon
My heart was pounding, my hands were sweating, and my breath was short. One of my best friends and I had just obtained backcountry permits to hike to the bottom…
Readjusting to “Normal Life” After Spending a Year in the Wilderness
My husband, Dave, and I spent a year in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness – September 23, 2015 to September 23, 2016. For those of you who are unfamiliar,…
Misadventures in the Adirondack Mountains
“What was that?” my friend whispered, as we froze together in the fading light of the surrounding forest. We held our breaths for a moment before shakily letting them out…
That time I fended off a bear, or how I got over my fear of spiders
“Have you been warned about the bear?” the ranger asked after we exchanged pleasantries? “Yes,” I said, “the ranger at the wilderness office told me all about her.” “Did they…