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…
Category: Wyoming
They call it the Equality State. I call it home. Call it what you will, these posts are in some way related to the Cowboy State…
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…
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…
“Well, I’m not sure if this is helpful” I yelled, with barely competing decibels. . . “but this is probably one of the top five worst nights I have ever…
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…
September 2017–I knew it was there somewhere. Deep in my second floor storage closet in the Noble Hotel was a rectangular, blue, Tupperware bin of tools. There was an…
I lean on the rusty pipe rail fence, watching a dance of equine and person. Within the confines of the sandy arena Des methodically moves a small black flag up…
The phone rang. I looked down at my desktop and saw a 307 number–Wyoming–but not one I recognized. I picked it up. Three weeks earlier in mid-March, NOLS had…
Jeremiah was born in a holding cell and raised in prison. He never walked shoeless through rolling, windswept sage and greasewood; his hungry stomach never ached for saltbrush or winterfat…
From the beginning, I was skeptical. That is what drew me in; that and a desire to be involved. I read the paperwork; the .pdf described various recommended practices. We…
As per usual, nothing quite went as expected. From the start we opted for the “easier” option of not schlepping sleeping bags or cook stuff up to the cirque. The…
At least the horses were easy to catch, even Doug. “Huh, our list of horses here says Cooper” I say running my eyes over the packing list for the re-ration.…
“I’m willing to bet that the drive and the walk will take more time than the climbing will, even with three of us.” Above us lay 200 feet of granite…
June 1997 — We spent the overcast and wet day practicing skills. Placing snow protection, clipping through fixed pro, traveling on a rope team, ice axe use and self arresting. …