Backpacking

Ramblings about hard times and getting outside to help you through them, and of course, my dogs and the backcountry.

Taking a young dog along on a backpacking trip can cause one to see things long taken for granted.

A backpacking vacation is the best kind - You become so absorbed in beautiful scenery, staying safe and warm, and well fed, and wondering what may come wandering by at night, that your normal life seems like from another world. (which it is).

Some people have a capacity of seeing things in nature that are blind to most of us. The trick is careful attention, patience, and passion and love for your subject.

Life as simple as it gets - walking up a Colorado Valley with all that one needs on your back; with two dogs beside me and beauty and discovery and wildness ahead;

Spring runoff means the high country will soon open up for summer backpacking trips. I couldn't wait, and climbed as high as I could, to set my tent on a east-facing ridge. I have no complaints, even when the temperature dropped below freezing right after dark.

Mountain Lions can be nearby, but we will almost never see them. They are masters at stealth and attack, and dog owners should keep their animals in the tent at night.

Some find the divine in a church on Sunday mornings. Others find it lone on a high ridgetop, in the midst of wild nature

According to the Colorado Mountain Club, when travelling in the backcountry "the most important thing to take on a mountain adventure is your brain — good decision-making skills, the ability to adapt to changing, even life-threatening, situations, and to make the most of the equipment and resources that you have with ...

As the days start to lengthen a backpacker's thoughts turn to the great trips of the best, and what adventures, beauty, and mystery might be encountered in the wilderness this season