When I quit my job and joined a pilgrimage of heartbroken dreamers staggering toward Alaska.
Essays
Posted inNovember 10, 2014: Fallout
‘Poverty with a view,’ in the rearview
I spent my 20s in some of the most beautiful towns in the West.
Posted inArticles
Rants from the Hill: What’s Drier than David Sedaris?
The Ranter Defends Both Nevadans and Count Chocula.
Posted inOctober 27, 2014: Defuse the West
The lost navigator
Before Parkinson’s, my father never needed to consult a road map.
Posted inOctober 13, 2014: Charles Bowden's Fury
On the edge with Edward Abbey, Charles Ives and the outlaws
One of Charles Bowden’s last essays.
Posted inOctober 13, 2014: Charles Bowden's Fury
On the edge with Edward Abbey, Charles Ives and the outlaws
One of Charles Bowden’s last essays.
Posted inOctober 13, 2014: Charles Bowden's Fury
Adiós Charles Bowden
The writer passed away in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on Aug. 30.
Posted inArticles
Rants from the Hill: How to Cuss in Western
When “Airin’ the Lungs” is registered at the swear jar.
Posted inArticles
KDNK speaks with HCN reporter John Calderazzo
Scientists who study climate change can be remarkably bad at communicating findings.
Posted inSeptember 15, 2014: Books & Essays
Teaching aliens to talk
How global warming made me change my life.
Posted inSeptember 15, 2014: Books & Essays
A new century with carnivores
Learning to see predators as companions, not competition.
Posted inSeptember 15, 2014: Books & Essays
How my Californian father adapted to Utah
He found solace in growing fruit trees, but never quite made the Beehive state his home.
Posted inSeptember 15, 2014: Books & Essays
Masters of Dig: A tour of authorial abodes
Visiting the homes of my favorite writers
Posted inArticles
Rants from the Hill: The Bucket List
When making a to-do list is the most important thing on your to-do list.
Posted inSeptember 1, 2014: Lost in the Woods
Watching the world slip away
How our children respond to a world threatened by climate change.
Posted inAugust 18, 2014: Alaska's Uncertain Food Future
Wolf pups, and the return of wild wonder
California’s fall from grace hit me in 2007, at around 9,000 feet in the Sierra Nevada. A friend and I were returning from a backpacking trip, still about a mile-and-a-half deep in the Mokelumne Wilderness, when a stroller rattled around a bend in the trail, its tiny passenger jabbering away as Dad navigated the rocky […]
Posted inRange
Rants from the Hill: Hunting for Scorpions
“Rants from the Hill” are Michael Branch’s monthly musings on life in the high country of western Nevada’s Great Basin Desert. Our seven-year-old daughter, Caroline, is a tireless athlete, while her older sister, Hannah, is the family intellectual. This is why my wife, Eryn, and I were surprised when Caroline chose for her weeklong summer […]
Posted inAugust 4, 2014: Idaho's Sewer System
A once nomadic firefighter decides to stay put
There’s a wildfire burning three miles from my house. Sparked by lightning, the column of smoke went nuclear yesterday, pushing flame through deadfall on the rugged shoulder of Chief Joseph Mountain in northwestern Oregon. This is a mountain we climb and ski and hike, the place where, with a glance, we can see the elevation […]
Posted inAugust 4, 2014: Idaho's Sewer System
Summer swimming in a Washington lake
When I was a kid, I swam all summer in backyard pools and at the city park, lessons in the morning, wildness all afternoon. My bare feet grew calluses, my hair turned brittle green, my shoulders got broad, my Lycra suits disintegrated. And then I left home. I’ve lived in this mountain town for a […]
Posted inAugust 4, 2014: Idaho's Sewer System
The Tea Party loses one in Colorado
John Pennington lost his primary election bid for sheriff of Mesa County, here in western Colorado, last month. I don’t know why he lost to Steve King, a former Republican state legislator who then canceled his own campaign due to a scandal, leaving the general election race wide-open for several new candidates. But I do […]