This is part two of my Ptarmigan-versary story. Five years ago this week, my friend Brenda and I completed the Ptarmigan Traverse in the North Cascades, after much dreaming and planning. This entry into my blog details days 4-6 of our adventure. Click here to read about the first three days. “People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every...
Five years ago on July 29, 2011 my friend Brenda and I completed the Ptarmigan Traverse in the North Cascades of Washington. I wrote about our experience together on my previous blog (Toward The Mountaintop Inch By Inch), and to celebrate our 5-year-Ptarmigan-versary, I thought I would share the story again. It's funny looking back how much I've changed/improved in the realm of hiking and mountaineering (i.e. I haven't carried a 49lb pack since, and I never will again - what was I thinking?!), but...
“There is a voice that doesn’t use words. Listen.” — Rumi A few years ago I saw a photograph from the Wind River Range in Wyoming, and I decided that I needed to go. I did countless hours of research, poured over maps and scoured the internet for trip reports before settling on a route. We decided to do a 50-ish mile loop, starting at the Big Sandy Opening, near Pinedale, Wyoming. While some of the route was on maintained trails, much of the route required off-trail...
Climbing mountains hurts. Hiking burns your legs and your lungs. I mentioned before that I teach a backpacking class at an outdoor workshop for women. As a part of this class, I usually bring a book with photographs from various hikes/climbs that I have been on. My "parting message" for the class is simple: The best times of my life have been in the wilderness, but you can look at photos and get the wrong idea about what this is really like. It is not...
“In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.” — Coco Chanel Let me preface this post by saying that I wear a uniform for a living. For the past 12+ years of my life, I have worn the same thing to work everyday. This is perfect for me because it is simple and predictable. The side-effect of having such a low maintenance work routine is that I have become literally incapable of picking out fashionable outfits in my non-work time. Cleverly, I have solved this...
