NOLS courses are hard. My jaw thrusts downward and outward while my hands cup the sides of my mouth. “Rrreeddd tent, close your vestibule” I yell from my tent door…
jaredspaulding.com Posts
Click HERE to purchase Capitol Gorgeous, THE climbing guide to Capitol Reef National Park and Wayne County, UT. This is a small volume to big adventure and at $9.95, it is a…
My hand reached blindly into the predawn darkness, feeling for one of the two dangling chains on the bedside light. Catching one, I slid my hand down until it ran…
Editor’s Note: Back in the early days of the pandemic (April/May 2020) I took a writing class with Kati Standefer where she provided the above prompt. Earlier I documented the…
I went for a dog walk this morning and ended up on top of Devil’s Slide. I did have to put my Moose Alley Cones ceramic mug into my jacket…
Editor’s Note: I spent the better part of November 2022 through May 2023 working on a revamp of the NOLS Rock Climbing Educator Notebook. While there was some significant editing…
Friday, October 13th, 2023—Today I was on the other side of the news. Today, after twenty-some years of working for NOLS, I engaged very differently in a process that had…
Climbing vernacular is pretty ubiquitous at the crags. Most climbers are aware of it from the first several times they go climbing and then begin to develop a working knowledge…
“Mother thinks the road is long and lonely; Little brother thinks the road is straight and fine; Little darling thinks the road is soft and lovely; And I’m thankful that old…
Editor’s Note: I wrote this in the spring of 2020 while at Three Peaks. The writing prompt was a 360º write up of the landscape. Not quite the same, both…
Editor’s note: I haven’t done a lot of recreational writing as of late. This past winter most of my writing has been technical, professional, writing. In the process a co-creator…
It’s all the same, only the names will change. . .* Under towering cumulus congestus a game of cat and mouse, horse and (want to be) rider, catch me if…
iFrames are not supported on this page. Explore the map above or click here to go to the ArcGIS Online hosted version. In December of 2010, I launched jaredspaulding.com. Memories…
[Editor’s Note: Again, I have reached back into my archives to dust off an old piece of writing, this one from April of 2017. A lot has changed in my…
The sun spills into the small dining/sitting area as it rises above the distant mesa. The sky is void of clouds and blends seamlessly from grays to periwinkles and salmons…
“I’m skeeerd” I say. A twinge of over the top whininess tries to mask the actual fear behind my humor. I don’t climb a lot of overhangs, so, in addition…