I woke up on a tiny rocky ledge overlooking a sunrise. The air was almost-pleasant in its coldness, the rocks had made me aware of specific parts of my back, and I blinked through the haze in my eyes at the upside-down wash of peachy colors and layers of increasingly distant blue mountains like fragile... Continue Reading →
"Why should I climb it? Why does anyone actually care about getting to the top of things?" That's an actual thing I said, about the haystack on top of Mt. Si, around five years ago on one of my first visits to Seattle. I was visiting my partner, Wade, while I was still in college,... Continue Reading →
We climbed Wy'east (Mt. Hood) earlier this spring and it took about 7 hours round-trip, short for a Saturday trip for me. And they weren't the most try-hard hours of my life by any means; definitely a significant portion of that time was waiting around talking to other people on the mountain and me learning... Continue Reading →
It's harder to be adventurous in the winter, for me at least. I like at least some of my adventures to be solo, and I like to do as little planning as possible and carry as little stuff as possible. I am slowly learning to love (?) embracing winter activities like actually packing enough clothes,... Continue Reading →
I'm writing about 100 mountains in the northwest, big and small. The list so far is here. Tiger Mountain, I will admit, is more of a hill. Its name is confusing because, in addition to being literally tigerless, it really doesn't merit such a fierce name at all with its hospitable, forested slopes that reach... Continue Reading →
I'm writing about 100 mountains that are rad. The whole list is here. You might know this mountain as Mt. Adams, but its native names are Pahto and Klickitat. I like this one best, and it means "beyond," which is just a really great name for a big snowy thing, right? I have been to... Continue Reading →
Content Warning: Suicide Tell me what did you learn from the Tillamook burn, Or the Fourth of July? We’re all gonna die Sufjan Stevens: "Fourth of July" Several years ago, I closed my hand in a heavy door and tiny-fractured some of my fingers. When it happened, my hand turned black and I couldn't feel... Continue Reading →
I'm writing about 100 somewhat arbitrary peaks in the Northwest. Here's the list. "West coast snow peaks are too much," Gary Snyder writes in "The Climb," "If you want to get a view of the world you live in, climb a little rocky mountain with a neat small peak." It's true. Very big mountains can... Continue Reading →
I'm writing about 100 somewhat arbitrary mountains in the northwest, as I climb them and decide they are interesting. Here's the list. Lassen Peak in the summer is another seemingly underappreciated National Park (that I had never heard of). It's got a short hike to the summit and a visitor center with the video about... Continue Reading →
