The sweltering oppressiveness of a Deep South summer in To Kill a Mockingbird that hangs in the air with the same suffocation as that of the story’s racial injustice. The silent and hopeless expansiveness of the Texas desert that is nearly as menacing as its villain in No Country For Old Men.
Mmm, That Looks Delicious
The rain that had rocked us to sleep was now a distant memory, the moisture on the lowland grasses and the faintly muddy trail the only reminders that it had even been there at all. The morning began with some brief x-country walking followed by a climb up a rough herd path that eventually delivered us back to the top of the Rim.
Red Rock, Meet Blue Sky
There's very little that the Pacific Northwest and the desert Southwest have in common, except for one important detail: they're both landscapes defined by water. So much of the lush green Pacific Northwest and it's snow-capped peaks is owed to its surplus while the arid desert and mesa of the Southwest have a character shaped by its near-complete absence
Forever a Student
No two hikes are ever the same and no matter how many miles you have under your feet there’s always something more to learn—that’s part of what makes it so much fun. Whether it’s learning how to not shower for a week or more (surprisingly easy) or learning new ways of walking when blisters or foot pain make it difficult to walk normally (harder)…
The Five Senses
Sandwiched in between the snowy Crystal Range to the west and the parched Carson Range to the east, Lake Tahoe sits as the second deepest lake in the country and somewhere deep within its inky blue waters lies the California-Nevada state line.
Limits
When I reached out of my hammock and lit the stove for coffee, the contrast of the dull warmth of the stove’s heat against the chill of the morning air only amplified how cold of a night it had been. Nestled into a basin all its own, Star Lake had made for a beautiful but cold night under another blanket of stars with the Milky Way on full display.
The Movable Cheering Squad
The southern portion of the Tahoe Rim Trail sweeps well away from the lake itself, so much so that it’s possible to forget the lake is even there at all let alone your orientation to it. Today, however, we began making our turn back towards the lake while also heading closer to the Nevada state line and the drier eastern portion of the hike.