We miss a lot with a device in front of our eyes, a filter between us and the real world.
Essays
Posted inAugust 3, 2015: Outflanked
Finding the quiet West inside
A writer remembers a week spent on a cattle ranch, and an unexpected discovery.
Posted inArticles
Rants from the Hill: Watching the desert flood
When the ghost rivers rage in Nevada.
Posted inArticles
Ranch Diaries: How to coexist with wild animals
When your livelihood depends on the boundaries you set with the natural world.
Posted inArticles
In the middle of nowhere, a Promised Land
A community with environmental sensitivities makes a home in Arizona’s desert.
Posted inJuly 20, 2015: Shredded
Is tech ruining the wilderness?
Documenting recreation on Instagram, Strava and YouTube is changing the way we experience the outdoors.
Posted inJuly 20, 2015: Shredded
Misadventures in packrafting
Is the new sport just an expensive way to get into trouble on the river?
Posted inJuly 20, 2015: Shredded
On death’s doorstep in the Grand Canyon
A misstep in the backcountry alters an avid hiker’s perspective.
Posted inArticles
Ranch Diaries: How the Triangle P grazes on tribal lands
Breaking down private leases and federal permits.
Posted inArticles
Rants from the Hill: Such Sweet Sorrow
An Airy Meditation on Flatulence and Independence.
Posted inArticles
Efforts to save Utah’s Cedar Mesa reach a crescendo
Conflicting county and state proposals would provide various levels of protection.
Posted inArticles
Ranch Diaries: Wildlife encounters in a life on the range
When herding cattle means meeting black bears, angry turkeys and tame elk.
Posted inJune 22, 2015: Dust to Dust
Reflections on the atomic blast test in Nevada
How the “typical American family” fared in “Doom Town,” 1953.
Posted inArticles
Ranch Diaries: An East Coast visitor adds some perspective
Sometimes hosting an outsider is the perfect reboot.
Posted inJune 8, 2015: Tree of Life
Lust for fungi
A writer has a holy experience while mushroom hunting in southern Oregon.
Posted inArticles
Ranch Diaries: Turning a mustang into a willing partner
What it’s like to start a horse who has a fear of ropes and an unhealthy sense of his own strength.
Posted inArticles
Rants from the Hill: The adventures of Sir Rantsalot in the dead tree forest
On the virtues of cutting and burning wood.
Posted inMay 25, 2015: Monument Man
Making a monument from scratch
A writer wonders if this piece of Northern California federal land is worth the new designation.
Posted inArticles
Ranch Diaries: An orphaned calf gets rescued
Surrogate parenting after a cow dies at the Triangle P in New Mexico.
Posted inArticles
Sightseeing at an open pit mine in Arizona copper country
The mines are still in business, yet towns that once flourished are now mostly gone.