If you’re new to this blog and haven’t yet read Level II Fun, Part I, you might want to go back and do so. This post picks up where the last one left off. For those returning to the blog, recall that I had had a very bad day on Mt. Tom, was sunburnt, dehydrated,…
Category: Personal Essay
In Through the Out Door: How Going Out Into Nature Leads Us In to Our Truest Selves
Why do people go outside? I mean, besides the obvious, like having to go to work or move from the house to some other point in the world. What draws those of us inspired by nature out? Why do some people choose to suffer through freezing rain, sleet, sub-zero temperatures: or risk injuries that range…
Lacing up Your Boots: Picking up the Pieces After Relapse
St. Patrick’s day 2019, a bar in R.I. “Hey, are you doing car bombs tonight?” “Of course”, said the waitress, as I racked up another game of 8-ball for the four of us. “Bring us a round.” For the second time in a week, and in the previous seventeen months, I was drinking, attempting to…
Mountain Madness: The Limits of Human Endurance and Lessons the Mountains Teach
I was running down the mountain as fast as I could, while still being safe, trying to quickly return to the car to retrieve water so that I could hike back up the mountain to deliver some much-needed hydration to Logan. Then, I heard it. A shrieking howl piercing the wilderness, tearing through the trees…
How to Interpret Dreams
Last night I had the strangest dream. I was driving in an SUV, ran over a lovely flower bed on some private land and momentarily got stuck in a man-made trough or pond. A trough the size of a coy pond but square in shape. I got out, but as I did, another vehicle coming…
A Monster Hike: Arethusa Falls and Frankenstein Cliffs
I had to stop to breathe; this mountain was kicking my ass. The slopes at the base of the cliffs were talused, debris-filled, and more resembled sand than soil. Trees and rocks tenuously clung to the side of the mountain and every step was an effort not to tumble down the side of it. Grasping…
Mountain Buddha: The Origin Story
I never pictured myself as a blogger. After graduate school, most of the writing I did, when I did it, revolved around literary criticism. That was the original plan: get an MA, work as an adjunct for one, maybe two years, then apply to a Ph.D. program somewhere to finish up my education and get…
How (Not) to Become a Cyclist
(Photo credit: genuinebyjtyler.com) In or about 2006 or 2007 my baby bro, who was in his twenties at that point, had become interested in cycling—real cycling, the kind with crazy spandex uniforms that often incorporate stripes or polka-dots, with sewn in pockets to carry high calorie gel packs and high calorie food bars that don’t…
In the beginning…
First Blog Post! It’s humbling to think as I sit here and write this that I’m participating in a tradition that includes such names as Wendell Berry, Aldo Leopold, Annie Dillard, Emerson and Thoreau. And while I would not include the quality or import of my writing in such esteemed company, here I am…
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