Recently, I kayaked with friends through the upper reaches of a gentle riverine reservoir – an impoundment that still looks like a river but with greater depth and less current. Wood abounded in the watercourse and I wished for fishing tackle, maybe catfish tackle. Giant sycamores leaned precariously out over the inscrutable water – still […]
Read more "Get Ready, Your Woods and Waters are About to Change"I like to visit obscure places I find on maps, places not many others go, places of wild opportunity. But sooner or later I also find myself drawn back to the adventure hubs of the east, the places where I might sip something for a while under a sun umbrella and even socialize before venturing […]
Read more "Happiness Knows no Place"Each of the last few years, Susan and I have created a calendar of my outdoors photography which I sell to fund marketing for my book. Susan has outdone herself this year (it’s mostly in her capable hands) and has created yet another inherently useful work of art – our fourth Wild North Country Calendar. […]
Read more "Have a Wild 2020"I’m not a climatologist but I do think about the climate. Climate is a regulator of the biome and all the fungi, plants and animals in the woods that surrounds me. And, really, I can hardly help but think about climate. It has been forced on me by an American media who would have me […]
Read more "Climate of Fear (Part 2)"Environmental debates go so very wrong today because we listen to “environmentalists” who think politically, not ecologically. But, of course, this has been the case for a very long time. I’ve grown increasingly concerned this year as I’ve watched the evolution of the climate dialogue, though there’s little that could really be described […]
Read more "Climate of Fear (Part 1)"THE STANDARD DISCLAIMER: Do not go out and try to eat all the mushrooms pictured here. The author may or may not know what he’s talking about and he’s almost certainly mad. This morning I commuted into the city of Pittsburgh between six and seven. I don’t have to do it five days a […]
Read more "Mushrooms Proven to Induce Madness (It’s Science)"Where do we end up if we never start? I don’t write a lot about my running. It’s an activity that kind of fades into the background, a discipline that keeps me from putting on too much weight, keeps me physically ready for adventure and keeps my mind healthy. Any reader of this […]
Read more "In the Long Run"I don’t see wild places as too crowded. I’m generally alone when I’m in the woods. And I have no shortage of outdoor experiences to write about, only a shortage of time to write. I see people on social media and elsewhere complaining constantly about over-crowding and lack of opportunities though and I thought maybe […]
Read more "Hike Your Own Hike, Live Your Own Life"Susan and I walked around a community park in Pittsburgh’s north suburbs one evening a few weeks ago, circling the little pond and looking for things that might be living there. Suddenly, we were confronted by a thug, a ruddy fellow with two upraised weapons pointed in our direction. He meant business and he wanted […]
Read more "Invasion of the Cray – Cray"Between 2007 and 2011, I walked over 4,000 miles through the eastern forests, living alone in the wild for months at a time, walking northward most days and spending nights in minimal tents or none at all. This was the Eastern Brook Trout Solo Adventure, the best days of my adult life. Much […]
Read more "Seeing Like Nature"
the dying fish 