A Newbie's First Post
And a little more about me...
To be honest, my second-greatest passion in life (second, of course, to my lovely wife Kris), is exploring new places, preferably outdoors and preferably on foot. I'm an avid hiker, biker, boater, traveler, wilderness enthusiast, Mars geek, cat lover, history nut, tour guide, volunteer for good causes, and allegedly, a wily wrangler of words.
I've authored and published four trail guides, including several in Washington state, plus an award winning guidebook to Washington, D.C., where I worked for a time as a senior outdoor recreation planner for a federal agency. We lived in Alexandria and toured the East in our off-time, including my ancestral roots in Rhode Island. Too many places, too few words.
Professionally, my focus has nearly always been on designing trails and trail systems, as a perfect means of reconnecting ourselves to the natural world. I hope I can do justice to these thrills and experiences in my work posted to Substack.
And should it be of interest, I grew up in Utah and Southern California before moving to the Seattle area at the age of 14, then inching my way northward to “excitedly subdued” Bellingham in the 1980s. We absolutely love having the Chuckanut Range, San Juan Islands, and North Cascades virtually right outside our door, as well as so many good friends to share it with.
I've enjoyed some tremendous experiences over the years, not all of them involving bears, mountain lions, rattlesnakes, or being chased off summits by lightning, or tiptoeing across chasms of ice in a blizzard, or catching my boots on fire ten miles from the car, or tracking down a lost schooner, or traipsing across Tierra del Fuego in the land of the Ona, or flying through jagged mountains in a Chilean police helicopter, or climbing 60 peaks at 60, or crossing paths with a few legendary mountaineers, or just stumbling around in the dark at camp wondering what that noise was.
Adventures, misadventures, travelogues, how-to/where-to info, rambling thoughts. And stories worth telling that ought to be told before they vanish into thin air. I'll share all of the above in the coming weeks and months, while summing up some coming attractions along the way. I hope you enjoy the ride!
