There are things to fear at the edge of the forest. A man on the road told RK to carry a pistol on dog walks in case of coyotes, bobcats, and cougars. A woman screamed when Mack startled her on the trail, she said she thought he was a bear. And, I’ve been told, you have to watch out for unsavory characters. Our neighbors, usually reticent at best, have been all a-buzz about a recent cougar sighting just down the …
Tag: winter
I pulled into the parking lot at the trailhead a little before 6:30 on Thursday morning. The nearby houses were dark. There was one other car, a gold SUV, in the parking lot but no sign of the driver or anyone else. The trail disappeared into darkness until I clicked on my headlamp, creating my little circle of visibility. A half mile in, I perched on the edge of the meadow that sits like a shallow bowl below the hills. …
I am three weeks into a head cold that just won’t quit. I am well enough to go to work but, as I told my co-worker, I feel like half of my energy is going towards snot production. If I was bleeding as much as I am snotting I would be in the hospital for blood loss. I have two aching shoulders that keep me awake in the night, four months after a mountain bike crash. Only one was injured, …
We made it! A year-long clean slate is now rolled out in front of us to fill up with action, adventure, and unknown possibilities. Most everyone is now open to the idea of making a change. Whether to be brave or better looking, to travel, read, draw, exercise, quit something, start something. We can all soak in a week or so of heavy-duty can-do attitude from our surroundings. I love the brief season of optimism! Everyone has a different style, …
I am being reminded of the challenges of winter running. Glare ice under a thin layer of snow fluff that requires a short stride and careful steps. Snow packed into dirt, filling in the texture and making for slick descents. The curious duality of ice and goopy mud, side by side on narrow singletrack. Hand warmers shoved into my gloves to keep the backs of my hands from being stubbornly cold. It’s all just a little more work, a little …
Learning to be comfortable in different weather conditions is one of the benefits of spending a lot of time outside. Weather isn’t always ideal: hail, while one of my favorite things to watch and listen to, can be quite painful when you are out on a trail run. Wind can be exhausting and frustrating. Lightning can be terrifying if you are in the wrong place, like a ridge. But there aren’t many conditions that keep me from venturing out at …
Inaction gives me a certain amount of anxiety. I like to be in motion, changing things up, doing things, moving. Winter seems deliberately made for stasis, and in case you want to fight it, here’s some snow, and more snow, and ice, and mud and maybe some more snow. You have to shovel out, scrape off the ice, wear layers, bundle up, armor your feet, cover your ears and hunker down. Even my tires are deflating in the cold. It …
For those of us that prefer dirt to snow, sunshine to darkness, flip flops to boots, winter can be a little trying. It is tempting to settle in with a stack of books and a bottle of whiskey and wait it out. However, there is much to appreciate about winter, and it is inevitable for many of us, so we may as well have some great cocktails to help us enjoy the moment. A cold, refreshing G&T isn’t quite the right beverage to celebrate …
We have all noticed that the approach of the new year, usually a time of great optimism and anticipation, is weighed down this year with an elevated level of anxiety in many people. Our dogs, however, continue living in the moment. Anxiety only shows itself when outdoor clothes are being put on and they are uncertain whether they are going with us. Or dinner time is approaching and perhaps we have forgotten? Mack glues himself to my hip in the mornings …
We all know people who view the world in a very black and white fashion, but I am all about gray. I once infuriated an Austrian who I went wine tasting with. “Do you love it?” he would ask. “I don’t love it, but it is interesting.” “So you hate it,” he said. “No, I don’t hate it.” He didn’t understand the vast possibilities of the middle. I spend a lot less time loving winter than I do the other seasons, but …