Back Out West

So, on October fifteenth, my packed-to-capacity Kia Soul merged onto the Pennsylvania turnpike, headed west. Susan was in the passenger seat and Washington State lay somewhere out on the horizon.

Welcome to the Forest

So, I’m turning over a new leaf today, at least for a while, and writing a series on the basics – how to get started outdoors from square one, from venturing out your back door to pursuing fish to survival.

Didn’t See That Coming

Why do we put so much stock in the prognostications of the modern augurs who tell us what the future holds for us? Look at your own life and think about how little of what’s befallen you could have been forecast.

Before the Morels

And maybe it’s also all about learning to appreciate the things that aren’t morels – aren’t the most glamorous, desirable, well-publicized organisms out there, the stuff that’s often walked right past, crushed into the ground below our heels as we keep up a good pace to the morel patch, checking again today for first signs of disturbance in the thin leaf litter.

The Catfish of Affirmation

Catfish were simply the most likely fish that were in season, were probably waking now from winter semi-dormancy and could be found close to home. I knew the kinds of places one would set up for catfish on a typical summer night but these weren’t likely the right venues for tonight.

Crippling Complexity

On October 22, 1853 Henry David Thoreau wrote in his journal, “As for the complex ways of living, I love them not, however much I practice them. In as many places as possible, I will get my feet down to the earth.” It sounds nice but isn’t this merely the rumination of a 19th Century […]

Just the Fundamentals

I’m back in Export, Pennsylvania now, a quiet place just outside the Pittsburgh metro area. I’m still trying to, in a sense, get back to normal after a long walk across the continent. I don’t really think most people would find my life very “normal” in the conventional sense (no climbing of the career ladder, […]

Fear Not

Overcoming fear imparts the mindset necessary to embark on adventure, to pursue purpose and to simply get the most out of life. For me, the Long March of Liberty was all an exercise in overcoming fear, whatever else it may have been.

“Wild North Country 2022 Calendar” Now Available

Cross-posted from the blog at MarchOfLiberty.com. In recent years, we’ve been putting together a full-color twelve-month calendar showcasing Cedric’s photography. Each month features vivid images captured during Cedric’s journeys through the wild north country of the United States of America. This year’s edition benefits from his walk across the United States, with landscapes and creatures […]

Montana

Cross-posted from the blog at MarchOfLiberty.com, with apologies for the delay. July 27, 2021 The creature who stood there in the rain waiting for me was certainly a woman, but a woman who’d known abuse and neglect and sorrow and disappointment, all in doses higher than most of us will ever know. She stood at […]

the dying fish

Book info, ordering, about me, subscribe, etc. in upper right