About Me

My name is Jared Spaulding and I live and write and recreate on and from the current and ancestral lands of the Eastern Shoshone, Northern Arapaho, Apsaalooké, and Cheyenne.  My direct ancestors landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620 and were early contributors to the “Big Lie.”  My pronouns are he, him, his.

I believe life is a constant, evolving journey, one in which growth and change should be honored and embraced.  I believe in the complexity of humanity and that all people have value.  I believe, as Leonard Cohen sang, love is the only engine of survival.  I believe that people grow, learn, and do better when they know there is a safety net, when they know it is OK to fail.

I help others learn how to live and lead through teaching them how to climb mountains and rocks.

Open space feeds my soul: sagebrush steppe, pampas, deserts everywhere.  It makes me feel and it makes me think.  It inspires me.

Writing, drawing, carving spoons, & being resourceful are all things that I enjoy doing, but don’t do enough.

I grew up in a bed and breakfast in northern New Hampshire where my mother was my fourth grade teacher.  It was there I cultivated a love of the mountains and outdoors.

I am a privileged one.  I graduated from the University of New Hampshire in May of 2000. Since that time every job that I have had has required me to sleep outside.  Whether under the stars, under a tarp, in a Trango 3.1, Hilleberg, or a Nuk Tuk, I have slept outside.  I have seen the sun rise and the sun set, often times before I am home.  I have climbed some amazing peaks.  I have seen Orion hanging upside down in the southern sky and ate pork chops with Clayton Voss deep in the heart of the northern Wind Rivers.  I have started to learn the way of the horses and rode them deep into the mountains.  There were times when things were exquisitely clear to me; there were times when I didn’t have the foggiest idea what to do.  I have spent countless days in the mountains and in the desert.  I have seen the moon reflecting off of a frozen draw draped in tamarisk while walking back to camp amid big sagebrush and sandstone.   I have eaten beans and rice for dinner every night for 26 nights.  And I would do it again.

I have taught, learned and grown.  I have made mistakes and I have failed.  I have lived, laughed, and loved.  I have cried, grieved, and lost.  I have faced uncertainty and ran from things I shouldn’t have.

When I grow up I want to be an accountant or maybe just be an artist.

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