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A Clubhouse Sandwich and the Meaning of Life
My 60th birthday was several years ago. I think its fairly accurate to say that I am nearer to the end of my life than to the beginning of my life. Or, to say this another way, I am closer to the end of my story than to the beginning or the middle of my…
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Navigating Within the Catastrophe
In my previous post I talked about “moving” within the Catastrophe. In this post I will talk about moving with a Purpose … in other words “navigating” — adding Intention to movement. Let me begin by corrupting an old saying, and declare that “Nothing makes Mother Nature laugh so hard as when she sees a…
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Moving Within the Catastrophe
My Philosophy of Life begins with an acknowledgment of the Catastrophe. The Catastrophe is. It is a “Given”. It can’t be avoided. But it can be disrupted. The point and purpose of my life isn’t to avoid the Catastrophe, or pretend that it’s not there. Nor is it to surrender to the Catastrophe. The point…
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Solo Wilderness Travel
In my previous post I talked about how much I learn from going on trips with persons-of-character. In this post I am going to talk about how much I learn from going on trips alone — “Solo”. I really enjoy my own company (is that “normal”?). Overall, I like the person that I am. I…
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Character: Dancing with the Big Dogs
One of the absolute honours that I have had during my hiking career is witnessing the explosion of human spirit by some of my co-adventurers. There are some things that I cannot learn on a solo trip. There are some things that I can only experience when I witness another person demonstrating Character within the…
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Bearing Witness to the Wilderness
At the center of genuine wilderness adventure there is a capacity for silence, listening, and receiving. Adventure is not just about adrenalin and excitement. It is also about bearing witness. To bear witness to the wilderness means to see and to hear and to feel and to sense many types of “unfolding“. To witness the…
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A Theory of “Rain Skills”
I have a “Theory of Rain Skills” that I have been developing over the past few decades. And, given the amount of rain (and summer snow squalls) that I have experienced over the years, I have had lots of opportunities to test the theory and to refine it. It might be worth noting that the…
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My Better Self on the Summit Ridge
In antiquity the name of daimon was given to the human soul or to higher intelligences. — Pascal This story takes place in July of 2000 (22 years ago, speaking of antiquity!). I was on a 10-day solo in the Southern Chilcotin area of BC. It took me three days to march/stagger to Warner Lake. At the…
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The Flight of the Arrow
In the art of Zen archery there is a kind of a spiritual level reached when the archer realizes that the most important thing isn’t hitting the target … the most important thing is the flight of the arrow. There is a similar phenomenon in wilderness backpacking. And it begins with a bit of a…
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Riding the Magic Carpet
A Simple Flow Story Note: I did not take a camera on this trip, so the pictures in this post are just to help convey the story. This story takes place in June of 1998 on a trail system that runs from the Skagit Valley eastward into Manning Provincial Park in BC. I was with…
12 Ideas that Rocked My World 