For breakfast I have coffee and chocolate-covered almonds because when I’m camping and it’s 90 degrees out I eat whatever I want even if that’s barely anything. Our campsite is right next to the Mount Elbert trailhead. I didn’t pick the spot but when I notice it is right next to the trailhead I figure […]
Tag: camping
Leave no trace
What Annie Dillard has to say about how to learn to write: By “ruining [the page], but asserting your freedom and power to act, acknowledging that you ruin everything you touch but touching it nevertheless, because acting is better than being here in mere opacity.” ******* I went to the Utah backcountry last week with […]
Death and the night sky
I slept in the Utah desert for three nights last month. Just me and my bike. Like I do. And like I do, fear set in as soon as the sun started going down on that first night. It’s scary out there, alone in the wild. I tried to talk myself down on the drive–I […]
Time off
What makes the difference between a trip and an adventure? It is the length of the journey? Or the space between you and home? Are adventures built from no cell phone reception? Or from sleeping on the ground? Or from not knowing what’s next? From being lost–or at least feeling lost? I went away last […]
Hi meet your new basic girl
Maybe you are familiar with the term “basic” which is derived from “basic bitch” which refers to women who are, um, basic? Look, I really am not the expert on this but I think it’s like, mani-pedi, Madewell jeans, what did I miss on the bachelor, like my hair? gee thanks, just bought it, I’ll […]
Speaking of getting lost
In his book Deep Survival Laurence Gonzales writes about how to survive life-threatening situations in the wild. One of these life-threatening situations is getting lost. If you find yourself in this scenario, here is what you should do: When you realize you are good and lost, stop walking. Do not hurry to the ridge over […]
Swimming rules
After three hundred years of economic expansion, we are so impoverished that we lack the wealth and freedom of a squirrel. The indigenous people who lived here before the Europeans arrived had the run of the land. They had the simple freedom to say, “Let us climb that mountain. Let us swim in that lake. […]
Maine
Near Ogunquit Maine I saw a car with a bumper sticker that said: we don’t care how you do it in California. Well I don’t care that you don’t care I’m telling you anyway: when it comes to bike camping California does it better. In Maine, for the first time in all the years of […]
What I am learning on bike tour
What time the sun sets. How long it takes for it to get dark after the sun sets. What time it starts to get light in the morning. What time the sun rises. Squirrels are very busy collecting nuts. Squirrels are surprisingly noisy. What I am forgetting The day of the week. The day of […]
Anne Foster 