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Tip-Toeing Up a Mountain

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“Hey, what’s going on?” Tim, my guide, is standing calmly on my right. Minutes before, he was 30 feet and several people above me in the rope team. I glance up. Crazy man climbs like a monkey. What did he ask me? Oh. Well Tim, I’m standing on the face of a mountain, 1,000 feet off the ground, and feeling a bit uncomfortable. “Standing” isn’t quite right. The toes of my crampon-clad boots are embedded in the snow piled on the vertical wall we’re climbing. It’s more like tip-toeing. I’m tip-toeing up a mountain. How did I get here? Right.   I chose to do a mountaineering course in Alaska. Today is another in a string of challenges. The daddy long legs that crawled across my face the first night we bunked down at base camp was just the beginning. No bathing. No toilets. Since I have to ask for the group trowel – named Kevin –for the more serious business, there’s been no hope of privacy concerning personal routines. Yet, every day I’ve hiked out of camp with a 60 poun...
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Rocky Mountain High

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Having visited a few of them by now, I've found that most national parks in the United States have a "park loop" road. This road can be one-way or two-way and usually winds through the park to allow access to overlooks and parking lots for trailheads. When I have had a limited amount of time to experience a park, it's the park loop road that has allowed me to make the most of that time and see as much of the park as possible. Needless to say, I have faith in the park loop road. That is, I had faith. On my first trip to Denver, my objective was to capture "Colorado scenes" for the new hospital my mother was helping to open in the area. But on our drive from the airport, we couldn't even see the Denver skyline as we approached the city. Wildfires in the northwestern states were creating so much smoke that was being blown across the country that Colorado and much of the west was shrouded in a thick haze. Those picturesque and majestic mountains were o...
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A Glance at Failure

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Sometimes, in pursuit of one thing, we discover something else that is unexpected and extraordinary. I finished up a week on a project in Salt Lake City, Utah and was supposed to fly home on Friday night. Instead, I extended my stay and drove down to Bryce Canyon National Park. I couldn't leave until 5pm and it was a four hour drive. The sun set over the mountains as I drove, a hazy pink and orange, and then I was surrounded by total darkness. The last hour and a half of the journey consisted of a narrow view of road that was lit by my headlights, and a black sky pierced by a million stars. As I neared the hotel I would stay in for the night, I caught quick flashes of large rocks near the road, illuminated briefly by the beams. There was almost a total absence of color - the world rolling by in black and white. I made it to the hotel and found my room. After a quick meal at the restaurant in the main building, I called my brother on the walk back to my room, which was in a bu...
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The Limits of Bear Spray (Literally)

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This photo was taken on a wildlife tour in Ketchikan, Alaska. You know, the kind where you go out on a boat and float around hoping to catch a glimpse of a bear or a seal or a moose. We saw a few bears and seals during the rainy ride, but I liked this shot best of all. As I peered across the water, I wondered whether the place was abandoned. It didn't really look like a house. Being back in Alaska reminded me of the first time I was there. A little less glamorous than this trip with its wildlife tours and indoor plumbing, the first time had been for an Outward Bound mountaineering course the summer before my freshman year of college. I was required to attend an OB course as part of my scholarship curriculum and thought I should choose the most extreme course I could find in the catalog since I'd probably never have a chance to do something like that again. And while I had gone camping with my family when I was younger, I wouldn't exactly say I was an outdoors-woman. But I...
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A Confirmed Wakeboard Spectator

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I remember the first time I wakeboarded. It was on Griggs Reservoir (Scioto River) in Columbus, Ohio with my friends Amy and Gerrie. Gerrie was driving the boat while Amy sat on the back, guiding me through the process of strapping myself to the board and giving me a tutorial on the handle grip, posture, and probably a few other things I didn't understand and don't remember. "You ready?" she asked me. "As I'll ever be!" I responded, trying to process what she had told me and feeling sure I was going to stand up on my first try. Whenever Amy strapped in and got into the water to ride, she did a cool shuffle off the platform on the back of the boat and seemed to just step out (impossible of course, because both feet were on the wakeboard) into the lake, facing the boat. Slowly, she'd sink into the water with posture straight and confident as the receding boat reached a distance equal to the rope length and gave her a little tug, pulling taut. Ver...
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Seagull Coming in Hot

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I was working on a project in Perth, Western Australia. This was my first time in the country, on the continent, and in that particular hemisphere so I was excited and scared at the same time. Aren't most of the poisonous things in the world in Australia? I'm pretty sure I read that somewhere. No, it was DEADLY. The seven most deadly animals in the world live in Australia. Yikes. That might not even be true, but you can see now how quickly these things can gain momentum. Since I was staying in a bungalow by myself for three weeks (it was cheaper for the company than staying in a hotel room for that long), I immediately purchased a giant can of insect spray and carried it with me from room to room. The only intruder I ever encountered was a cricket, but from what I can remember that thing was enormous. Like something from the jurassic period. Or Alabama. And I may have let out a chord-like keen of distress as I released half of the can's contents on the unfortunate guy bu...
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Location: Perth WA, Australia
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Monsters in the Couch in Maine

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A trip with good friends always includes laughter, ruined plans, at least one unforgettable moment (hopefully more), great conversation, and delicious food. On Tuesday, I experienced ruined plans, witnessed an unforgettable moment, and had a good laugh over delicious food. Avery and I awoke before the sun again, on a mission to capture the New England sunrise from a new vantage point. The weather forecast included rain but not until later in the day, so on Monday night I told Avery I would wake up at 3:30am and look up through the yurt skylight to make the go/no-go call. If I could see the stars, we'd get up and head to the park. If not, we'd sleep in. In the wee hours, I heard the tinkle of my cell phone alarm clock and laying on my back in the loft bed, opened my eyes to peer through the plastic bubble at the top of our yurt. Twice as many stars as appear in the Cleveland sky twinkled back at me and I smiled. Good morning, Maine. "Avery..." I whispered. ...
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Location: Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse, Lighthouse Rd, Bass Harbor, ME 04653, USA
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