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It’s mid-afternoon in Bellingham (WA), and a bonfire burns behind our house—split timber from last winter’s tree fall towered high and bright. An October breeze gently feeds the flames. There’s a break in a week’s worth of rain, and the wind has blown the grass dry, begging us to sit outside.   With me is David James Duncan—the revered author, …

Get out the candles—Ski to Sea celebrates its 50th birthday this year on May 28, and the celebration promises to be one for the ages. I love that week when you start seeing all the cars with boats, bikes, and skis on them, and it hits me that it is GO time. Inspired by the original Mt. Baker Marathon (1911-13), …

Water is life. The watercourses that flow through the mountains, hills, and valleys of Cascadia nourish the land, support terrestrial populations (human and otherwise), and sustain the salmon that have been, literally, the lifeblood of the Pacific Northwest since time immemorial. A network of sparkling tributaries feeds the branches of the Nooksack River, providing cool, clear water and offering refuge …

The moment I scooted along on my butt towards the airplane’s open door, I knew this experience was all about letting go. Of course, I generally understood how this particular act of faith would unfold, but I hadn’t allowed myself to think things through step by step. Instead, I was taking the, just do the next thing you have to …

If you’re like me, you’ve been on a remote hiking path in the North Cascades and thought to yourself, “Gosh, this trail sure is remote and rugged and well-maintained. I wonder who humped all the way up here to build it?” You’d be surprised at how often the answer is Russ Pfeiffer-Hoyt. Russ and his team of intrepid trail-builders have …

We expect judges to be impartial, to render calm decisions free of emotional baggage, but judges are human. There will always be some influence from their own experiences and personal outlook. Usually, they strive to limit that influence and render unbiased decisions. Their success in that exercise is as variable as the people who wear the robe.  William O. Douglas …

There are moments in life that shine into that liminal space between who we were and who we may be. In those spaces are opportunities to sense the world in new ways. The choices we make are powerful. Camus said we might choose each day whether we want to step into the arena of life or remove ourselves from it. People …

 Inhospitable.  That’s it, in a word. Inhospitable. The word for today—and for this landscape. The three of us were working our way across the terrain of the North Cascades, ostensibly out here recreating but more accurately, persevering. Here in the shadows of the White Salmon Basin, the sun will not crest the north face of Mt. Shuksan for some hours …

It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men’s hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air, that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit.                                      –Robert Louis Stevenson   What comes to mind when you hear the term “forest bathing”? To be honest, the …

Five fire seasons weigh upon me. My knees, though they have only seen 24 summers, creak and snap with each step; my wrists, elbows, and shoulders crackle from having absorbed the shock of uncountable swings of my Pulaski into compact, dark earth; my feet bear the memory of miles, flayed raw. Five fire seasons in the Pacific Northwest, and my …