Category: The Inner Workings

Short, potentially scary, insights as to what goes on in my brain.

October 31, 2023 / / NOLS
June 30, 2023 / / Climbing

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…

March 31, 2023 / / Place

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…

February 14, 2023 / / Climbing
November 7, 2022 / / Family

My neighbors got a “new” truck last summer. The white, extended cab, Ram 2500 with an eight foot bed sits and idles its diesel engine on the street; there is…

July 31, 2022 / / 616

Years of outdoor education have helped build a habit of referencing things by cardinal directions and their ordinal “in-betweens”. “Use the entrance on the south door” I might say to…

June 30, 2022 / / The Engine of Survival

Editor’s Note: This piece evolved from some prompts I had in a writing class I took two years ago from author Katherine Standefer. Pieces of the current news coverage have…

March 19, 2022 / / Family

Devil’s Slide rises almost 800 feet above my boyhood hamlet of Stark. As a child the deciduous forest that stretched northward across the railroad tracks from our house felt immense.…

November 7, 2021 / / Family

Author’s Note: The November 7th of 2021 marks the 25th anniversary of my father’s unexpected passing.  He was 46.  In the 23rd year after his death I actively engaged with…

October 26, 2021 / / Family

My tears take the long way to the pillow. They trace a line over my cheek bone and down to my chin, being slowed by week-old stubble, before depositing themselves…

September 19, 2021 / / 616

The pandemic reinforced my love of tea and tacos.  Here is the beginning and the end to 2021’s daily grind: ~ the pot: with Andy home it is a two…

August 28, 2021 / / Horses

I lost Luke twice.  He was my first love.  I remember the tears rolling down my cheek as I wrapped my arms around him.  I buried my face into his…

July 31, 2021 / / Alpine Notes

I have no tattoos.  That story is one of lazy summer days, friendship, and happenstance.  But it is not for here.  Here is where I tell you what tattoos the…

May 24, 2021 / / Alpine Notes

Editor’s Note: The author lives and writes from the current and ancestral lands of the Eastern Shoshone, Northern Arapaho, Apsaalooké, and Cheyenne.  His direct ancestors landed at Plymouth Rock in…

April 27, 2021 / / NOLS

Editor’s Note: I wrote this piece, taken from an interview with a NOLS alum, close to two years ago.  The interview was done in the process of writing a NOLS…