How to Start Your Appalachian Trail Walk

I’ve walked the Appalachian Trail twice, plus another 2,000 miles working as an Appalachian Trail Conservancy ridgerunner for seven seasons.. How did I start all this? By locating the nearest trailhead to my home and setting foot on the trail. That one hour greeting let me hear my call to the trail “If I just …

Oregon Coast Trail: Journal Anthology

September 29, 2019 “Done is better than perfect” Read my Oregon Coast Trail anthology: Oregon Coast Trail Beach Walking Discovery Since John and I completed the Oregon Coast Trail and drove south through  California to Borrego Springs and our winter home at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, I’ve been compiling the blogposts that I wrote during …

Oregon Coast Trail: Amanda

August 28, 2019 Although I have been disappointed by the roadwalking along 101, my suffering pales to that of Amanda, the Yachats woman, and the thousands of others, who were cheated out of their homeland here, tortured, murdered, and forced to walk along the lava rock coast to an encampment. It would have taken great …

Journey to the Oregon Coast Starts Today!

August 10, 2019 We’re headed to Oregon! Today, John and I will wrap things up in Ohio and begin our cross-country drive to Oregon. John has been researching the Oregon Coast Trail (OCT), learning that it’s quite different from the Eastern US trails we’ve walked! It’s relatively level It goes through or near towns frequently …

Deepening Practices

June 9, In everything I do, I strive for deepening my sensory and spiritual experience. I’m pretty sure you do too! I’ve picked up on some techniques from John Muir Laws (his real name!) through his Laws Guide to Nature Journaling. Two years ago, I launched a program at the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Visitor …

Journey Photos

October 17, 2017 Days in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park begin with radiant sunrises in a huge sky. Mountain vistas, rocky routes, and rare oases delight my senses and exercise my body! Here are a few photos from my first week here at my fun job as Park Interpretive  Specialist. Today, my ardent fan, a regular …

Majesty Transforming

August 24, 2017 What caught my eye on my walk this week through the Grayson Highlands, VA in the Mount Rogers Reccreation Area were decomposing tree trunks. I first noticed one on my ascent up Balsam Mountain, the actual mountain one climbs to reach Mt Rogers, the high point of Virginia. I took a photo …

Empty Space 

July 26, 2017 Raise your hand if you have stuff in a storage unit! Today, I get to celebrate that my rented storage space is empty!  I admit, I can’t claim complete victory over storage because my stuff has actually just been relocated to storage in my son’s new residence in Ohio, but this is …