“Are you okay?”
It was my last full day of hiking. I began the day with the blissful energy of knowing that I didn’t have to push too hard to make the mileage. My pack was feel...
Tag: Sabbatical
The Clarifying Experience of Real Fear
Over the last 18 months, like most of us, I have experienced a large amount of anxiety. The chronic, nagging, exhausting awareness of collective stress that can...
Transitive Pattern
Transitive Pattern… Okay, read those two words and just ponder them for a moment. What do they mean to you? Nothing? Sound like some kind of dense jargon? When ...
Trail Community is Real Life
“Welcome! What’re your names?” I yelled to the couple who joined me at Davenport Gap Shelter. It was pouring loud rain on the metal roof and evening was falling...
Day 1, Mile 1: Let Go… and stop counting
I chose to hike for 10 days without a watch. It was a conscious choice. I didn’t want to be focusing on how fast I was (or wasn’t) hiking. I didn’t want to worr...
Guarding solitude & Walking light
After I finished putting everything into my backpack, it is 35lbs light. (I did not pack that candelabra you see on the table). I spent the last week at home go...
Mother Ocean, Sister Storm, & Holy Ghost Crab
We spent a week visiting the Atlantic Ocean from Fenwick Island, DE. My life began in the salt water of the Gulf of Mexico. My mom swears that I learned to swim...
“What’s the plan for today?”
No plan. “Well, what are we doing, then?” Well, what do you want to do? This is day one, sabbatical. I am away from my regularly scheduled life and I do not wan...