Archive

Saturday’s “new thing” was a late spring leap into the frigid Wallowa Lake. This lake, mind you, sits at 4400 feet elevation outside a town that had snow as recently as last Thursday. It is four [...]

The idea seemed simple enough: Friday’s “new thing” would be a long, level hike hovering between 4K-5K in elevation along Bear Creek just outside the town of Wallowa. One canyon over from the [...]

Oh, what a fine day it was for mushroom hunting! A light mist fell throughout the morning as my two pals and I headed up the mountain for this spring’s bounty of morels (and today’s “new thing”). [...]

[Yesterday’s “new thing” was a 19-mile bike loop I hadn’t done yet. For today’s, read on…] “You can’t get there from here” not only applies to the Zumwalt, but also currently to the deeper Forest [...]

I’m going to try visiting a new place in Wallowa County every single day until I leave. Yesterday, I hit the Zumwalt. Today, I sought breathtaking views from an old ranch road called Rail Canyon. [...]

“You can’t get there from here” isn’t just a saying monopolized by Appalachia. It’s just as true in Wallowa County, where we have 9,000-foot peaks alongside the deepest gorge on the continent, [...]

[Apologies for no customary post yesterday—I am under the weather.] It’s Week 19 and I officially have 1 day of teaching left to conclude my nearly 6-month residency here in the Wallowas. If I [...]

I set aside May to tackle a query letter, book summary, marketing plan, agent search, and publicist search. Initially, one month seemed more than sufficient for this task. Of course, that month [...]

My favorite phone message from today: Eric, saying, “Is this the next great American novelist?” My favorite phone conversation from today: Wesley, saying, “Remember that you feel the way you do [...]

There are places here where no human foot has pressed into snow or onto rock face. Cliffs so steep, even nimble marmots and sturdy mountain goats slide to their deaths. Swaths of mountain-face [...]