The more I think about it, the more I think 2014 was something of a boring hiking year because I didn't pursue any big ambitions. I had planned to do some major stuff, like attempting to summit Mount Marcy and do a couple weekend trips packed with miles in new terrain (like coastal Maine and Shenandoah National Park), but I stopped going to the gym ( Read more... )

My recent craving for excellent short fantasy fiction has, of course, reminded me of when I ran Scareship. Finances and time constraints mean I can't revive the magazine (or, more likely, start up a new one, with perhaps back issues of Scareship available on the future site) for at least a couple more years. But when I do it, I want to do it right ( Read more... )

( Talking about prospective hikes, road trips, and travel over the next nine or ten years. )

I'd hoped to take a hike in all fifty states and all ten Canadian provinces (though probably not the three territories) by the time I turned 40. At the end of last year I'd gone hiking in just six states (New Mexico, Texas, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut), but you may (or may not) remember the various posts I wrote detailing ( Read more... )

Reading this book put me in a Pacific Crest Trail state of mind. Of all the long-distance hiking trails in the US (or, for that matter, in North America or the world), I've wanted to "do" the PCT most. Hiking segments of the Appalachian Trail cooled my interest in thru-hiking the eastern corridor, but I've never lost my love for the Pacific Crest ( Read more... )

I've been to the gym twice now, after a hiatus of some 21 months. As expected, getting up at 6 am is rough, but so is the pain of putting my body to use after almost two years of inactivity. I managed all of twelve minutes on the elliptical machine on Monday, my first morning, and my calves have not stopped aching ever since. (Full disclosure, I ( Read more... )