The Labor Day long weekend is here, which finally gives me some time to explore a place that I’ve wanted to see for over twenty years now…..Mount Graham. High above the community of Safford, Arizona, this lone mountain is the perfect place to explore while escaping our brutal summer valley heat. The single road takes…
Tag: hiking
Finding myself in Sun Valley Idaho
Fifty plus years out here in The West, most of those spent in Northern Utah, yet it took me until 2024 to finally make it up to the Sun Valley area and the Sawtooth mountains. Yet I found that some things are worth the wait. I stayed in a little condo in the Sun Valley…
Big Water
I head back outside on a Arizona winter morning for another hike to stretch my legs. Back to the area just past Lost Dutchman where I can access the trail for free. This time I’ll venture off the First Water trail and go East on Big Water. I’m become more adventurous this time around, but…
Finding Sycamore Falls in the snow
I think this was my fourth attempt to try and find Sycamore Falls. Deep into the depths of Winter up in Northern Arizona, I slowly bounce along muddy roads as dark clouds swirl above me. It’s about two minutes from starting to snow again. I decide to hike from a new location, and soon the…
First Water
My first hike of 2024 finds myself in the Sonoran desert just outside of Lost Dutchman State Park. I’ve found a way to access the trailhead for free. I hope to have less than ten years until I retire, and so any way I can save money these days…. Hiking is pretty much my only…
Willow Hole, Ryan Ranch, and more for Joshua Tree 2023
It’s time for a good cry in my special spot in this world, Joshua Tree. The high clouds slowly wisp along the sky as I explore Ryan ranch on my first day back out here. The last weekend of October it is, and I let the tears flow down my cheeks as I hike, remembering…
Attack of the Common Swift
I’m ready for my final hike in the Faroe Islands. The land is covered in a cloudy fog, with occasional light rain sprinkling. I get going, with no one else around me. I take in the landscape, this place that I have fallen deeply in love with, with each slow step along the trail. The…
Large as God
It is my final full day here in the Faroes Island. I pick a random hike, wake up a little earlier than usual, and drive out of the capital and start heading up, up, up…. No one else is here at the trailhead. I feel as large as God, taking in the stunning landscape before…
The Seal Woman
Preface : I never made it to the island of Kalsoy, where this story originated, but the legend of the Seal Woman haunted me with every step I took during my time in the Faroe Islands…. Myths and legends have fed the imagination of Faroe Islanders for centuries. Stories of giants and witches, kings and battles,…
Elduvík to Oyndarfjørður
My afternoon was completely open, no plans at all. A light rain was falling as I sat in my car, waiting out the weather and trying to find something to do on my phone. I settle on driving around the bay in front of me to another small village called Elduvík. I eventually find the…
Fuglafjørður
I park the car in the center of the small town, and a woman that was tending to the flowers and plants in the park puts down her tools and comes over to talk to me. “You English?” “American?!?” “Welcome!” She then goes right into a tirade about her town being a whaling village, how…
Hiking to Lamba, inhabited by Huldufolk
On the morning of my sixth day in the Faroe Islands I decide to hike over to one of the oldest villages of the Islands, Lamba. Home to myths of water trolls that guard the mighty fjord, I excitedly get going, as the morning air is magical. Clouds hug far off misty mountain tops as…