Previously published in the Dandelion Magazine Winter 2003
I’m well into my thirties and happily single. I’ll probably never have children, which, unlike a lot of people my age, doesn’t bother me.
There are those who feel the urge to make other little people, and then there’s me. If the survival of our species [...]

This article was published in “Appalachian Voices,” Winter 2001
I met Buford by accident. The tires on my Land Cruiser had seen too many years of sun. One of them was bubbling and another’s tread was peeling away from the casing. I was a fresh college graduate, barely self-employed, and couldn’t afford new [...]

A version of this essay closed “Backpacker” magazine’s “2001 Gear Guide”
The only time adults seem to have casual conversations about bodily functions is when we are raising toddlers or in the backcountry. I think there is something about both that reflects a more natural order of things; the cosmos’s way of reminding us that [...]

This article was written on assignement for Blue Ridge Outdoors in 2001.
Picture this. It’s an early December Saturday. The grass is long dead, the leaves have blown into the neighbor’s yard (finally, it was getting embarrassing), and the car is perfectly clean underneath all that road scum. Your significant other was up [...]

This was written on assignement for Blue Ridge Outdoors in 2001 as part of the “Thrill of the Chill”assignment.
If you’re planning on spending a few nights in the backcountry this winter, here are some tips to help you stay warm without burning through your hard-earned cash.
Tents:
In winter, tents must be capable of withstanding significant [...]

This was written on assignement for Blue Ridge Outdoors in 2001 as part of the “Thrill of the Chill”assignment.
Being competent in the backcountry is all about making good decisions. And when it’s cold, you won’t have any wiggle room in this key area. So here are some rules to live by when trekking in [...]

We stood at the bottom of one of the largest college football stadiums on the east coast and stared at an expanse of stairs so high that the last step looked like a little brick in space. She smiled and took off running. My thumb hit the play button on my iPod and, [...]

Sniff, sniff. I cracked open one eye. Sniff (pause), sniff, I couldn’t believe what I was smelling: not in the backcountry, not mothballs! Musty tents, sweaty socks, and dirt are the smells of backpacking; mothballs are the smells of my grandmother’s house. They were as misplaced in Denali as the steel mills [...]