The Farmers

  Today when I woke at 6:30 the sun was already shining.  Spring is coming to the northern Rockies and Plains and it is surprising and a little saddening.  This winter did not produce the snow I had hoped and therefore my usual activities of skiing and playing outside were limited somewhat.  A friend of mine said "The Dutch potatoe farmers" over in Amsterdam and Belgrade Montana said winter would not arrive until Febuary 28th.  They were right.  A week ago began a trend towards the snowy wintery side with storm totals around 25 inches on the mountain.  We finally hit a 60 inch base and the summer may not be so dry after all.  The question is how?  How did those farmers know that it would be such a late winter?  Why is that knowledge not commonplace?  Are we not all connected to the land the way we were once?  I will let you draw your own conclusions there.
  Everyone knows the most common telltale's of bad winters.  Wooly worms, and squirrels tails, but how many of us can say winter will be here on x date.  Not many.  I encourage you to watch the seasons again, pay attention, grow a garden and connect with this place we all call home.  Take the kids out into the yard, or the park, or the mountains.  Watch birds, fish, turn over rocks in the creek and see whats lurking there.  If we all just slow down a bit you would be amazed at what you see and notice.  Here's to the seasons!

    Funny how traveling always seems to inspire writing for me.  I admit that I am not often moved to write, an activity like people watching seems to move the creative juices some.  As many of you know, I am in the midst of developing an adventure travel company and adventure summer camp for boys ages 11-17 in Montana and Alaska.  It is a perplexing thing to say the least.  Adventure used to be part of an everyday lifestyle.  I suppose we are still  subjected to it on a daily basis however the definition might have changed a bit. 
  I have always found that doing something in the unknown, walking through an unfamiliar mountain range, floating a river that I don't know or exploring new cultures gives way to immense personal growth and a depth of experience that couldn't be had behind a desk or television set.  The challenge before me seems to be engaging people to dare!  Dream and explore outside the comfort bubble.  Pry away from schedule and email and simply walk or float or ski through something primeval and completely indifferent to you.  It is an enlightening thing.  But don't take my word for it.  Open the door to adventure and see what you find.  Fear, excitement, pride, belief.

I am currently building itineraries for the Escalante river in Southern Utah and the Owyhee river in Southern Oregon.  The rivers are run in small craft (Packrafts) and in an intimate setting of you, your boat, and a couple of others floating through the landscape.  Check the facebook site for more details and watch for updates on the website!

Well winter has come to the high plains and Rocky mountains here in Montana.  A storm is on the way and the temperature is about to plummet this evening to the single digits and negative temps in the high country.  This kind of weather doesnt always strike people as "friendly" but with the proper equipment and know how winter camping can be a truly magical experience.  Here is a short clip and a few gear tips on going into the wilds in the winter!  Enjoy......Winter Wonderland

Fall is my favorite time of year!  the nights are cold and the days are crisp.  Winter is just around the corner.  I find that in the fall people tend to grow closer. I was lucky enough to attend a local play the other day when I was spending a weekend in Jackson Hole Wyoming.  the play was called "Follies" and was held by the local Kiwanis club in a tiny little fairground building.  Basically it was a play on the local politics of town and the many issues that confront Jackson Holeites on a daily basis.  It was a real treat to feel so welcome in a community that I wasn't really a part of or knew nothing about.  My friend and I bumbled our way through the crown eventually being invited to sit at a table behind the Mayor and offered copious amounts of food for our troubles.  Times like that remind me of all of those little warm communities snuggled in the mountains and across the plains and midwest.  Things like this hold us together.

Hearth and Home

There is an old saying amongst cowboys, "a horse always walks faster when they smell the barn."   in other words the trip home is always faster.  I couldnt agree more.  it has been almost six months since I have slept in my own bed and i am looking forward to a good meal from my own kitchen, a bike ride around my town and a run in my local mountains.  the truth is that ecventhough i will be happy to get back home it wont be long until i feel the pull to ramble again.  last night i had already began entertaining the thoughts of a new adventure and cant wait to begin looking at some maps and making some plans.  hoplessley addicted to roam.  The continental divide trail has long been on my radar as the next long walk. The pacific trail which stretches from Mexico to Canada along the west coast of the country pales in comparison to the substantial distances and challanges the CD would provide.  Most of the trail is non existant and you are simply navigating along a route from point a to point b and are often just taking the path of least resistance.
  Few things on earth demonstrate the importance of simplicity and priority like through hiking.  For those folks unfamiliar with the term it simply means choosing a long trail and walking it.  It can be a metaphor for life, a huge adventurous endeavour a daily contemplation by foot or whatever you choose to make it.  It is a love of movement.  Storms, wind and secret places you can not drive to.  There are 3 long trails in the united States.  The most well known being the Appalachian trail stretching from Springer mountain a Georgia to mount katahdin Maine.  This is the oldest of the three and by far the most popular.  The pacific crest trail as mentioned before is a trail meandering 2600 miles through deserts and high mountain passes.  Running from Mexico to Canada it traverses the states of California, Oregon and Washington end to end.  Its difficult to realize the scope of distance until you travel it on foot.  There is nothing like it.  The third and newest trail is the continental divide trail.  It begins on the u.s. Mexican border and traverses the spine of the rocky mountain crest all the way to Canada.  It is the longest of the trails at around 3200 miles.  It has the most notorious weather and difficult route finding of all the trails.  What an adventure it would be! 

Fleeting

I am gripped.  A 50 knot head wind is powerful enough to make even walking down the street difficult.  I am not walking. I am flying.   I am in a Cessna 206 with 4 other people a cooler full of meat various duffle bags and backpacks slogging through Lake Clark Pass in October.  I am sure death is near but I remind myself that the pilot has almost 45 years of flying experience and I have flown with him in less than favorable conditions more than once.  It doesnt help and I struggle to hold on to the contents of my stomach as the plane is thrown around like a leaf in the wind.  In a word Dodgy!  I am in for an immersion in the world of mass transit and as I contemplate the reason US airways chose to route me from Anchorage to Pheonix to Austin to Dallas to Columbus I smirk and wonder if the money I saved on this flight was really worth it.  Probably not, yet here I sit in the Pheonix airport coffee in hand happily blogging away.  Things couldnt be all that bad.
  I am heading home for a funeral.  I have recently come to discover that my brother in law was very ill and over the course of about three weeks lost 35 pounds, his teeth and his life.  the circumstances arent really that important.  He was 47.  Its interesting to view the people of today in designer clothes roaming the airport.  The stewardesses hurrying to the next connection with the puppy dog like commuter bags following behind token to the trade of travel.  It simply reminds me of this big wonderful breathing moving thing that is the world.  How we travel through it, by foot, or plane or car.  150 years ago people were barely mastering the art of mechanized travel up until then people just rode horses or paddeled boats, rode in carriages or on dogsleds.  Have we come to take the speed of things for granted?  Perhaps its difficult to say.
  He was only 47.  He had so much ahead of him.  Imagine all of the things we are able to see and do by 47 now as opposed to even a century ago.  To visit distant relatives now only takes hours and not days.  We are fortunate in our advancement.  This posting wasnt meant to be gloomy but actually celebratory.  Celebrate!  Your time is fleeting and there is much to do so lets get to it!
                              

The Big Slow Down

Im not from Alaska but I have been fortunate enough to have worked here since 2002 when I first came here to instruct for Adventure Treks  I had been in the state the year before on a N.O.L.S. course in the Brooks range and that was the first time I had laid eyes on the big land.  Over the years I have been guiding for Alaska Alpine Adventures  I have explored much of the state on foot, boat, kayak and plane and have discovered no boundaries to its vast empty space.  I have spent winters in cabins for months at a time alone and endured the crowds of mosquitos on still warm days in June.  It is and will always be a true love of my life.  I first came to Lake Clark National Park in April of 2003 as an assistant guide.  I had never been someplace as raw and beautiful as that country.  Over the years I came to know its residents and the lifestyle of living in the bush. 
  The Alaska bush is a place born of endless space, hard work, fortitude and resourcefulness that could be matched by any culture that lives in the big wild places of the world.  The people here reflect that.  I have always found it interesting that the quality of life matches the biology of the place so closely.  By that I mean that things have such a short time to advance themselves, procreate, build and better within the narrow window that summer allows.  The work ethics of the people here are no different. 
  June is a frantic time.  Bugs are flying, flowers are blooming and people are buzzing in the long hours of daylight.  There seems to be no end to what must be done.  In a word it is frantic!  July ramps up to a new level.  Now the Summer is in full swing and there is no time for sleep.  Fish to be caught buildings to build, money to be made.  August is tired,  You see it in the eyes of everyone you work with.  Effort is made for the final push as the days get shorter.  September brings the beginnings of "The Big Slow Down" days are short, there is noticeable darkness and the weather has turned cold.  The leaves have all but fallen and there is a sigh of relief.  Time to rest.  October is the peak of fall in Alaska.  Nights are cold with snow in the high country and winds that blow for days.  A beautiful quiet time of year, the deep breath before the winter truly sets in. 
   It was then in October I found myself in the midst of the slow down.  Cutting firewood for Bella Hammond the elderly widow of former Alaska State governor Jay Hammond.  Chugging along under the falling gold and yellow leaves of autumn I pulled a trailer full of freshly cut wood through the forest on a tractor and thought how lucky I was.  Evenings were quiet, sitting in the homestead kitchen with Bella delighting in her stories of homesteading on Lake Clark and her eventful life, from Yupik Eskimo to first lady of Alaska. Dining on hot food from cast iron and fresh baked bread and butter.  A simple life and one that is perhaps falling by the wayside these days in favor of the mass transit, cell phones and clutter.  I will always treasure the time I have spent here and the people I have come to know and care for.  I have never met as many characters and been fascinated by as many stories as I have found heard and learned here in Alaska.  Perhaps we could all learn from the simplicity, dedication and hard work that the land requires of those that live here.  It will always continue to shape those that are here and perhaps those that are only passing through.