(Click slider photo to see caption) I was 15 on the first Earth Day in 1970 and don’t remember it too well—but it certainly affected my life and ideology a few years later. The first Earth Day was organized by … Read More
(Click slider photo to see caption) I wanted to celebrate my 71st birthday backpacking through San Rafael and Dick Smith Wilderness areas near Santa Barbara, CA. The previous year, a 70th birthday hike in same area almost got me drowned(!) … Read More
(Click slider photo to see caption) Every year 1.5 million people visit Summerhaven, a village near the top of Mount Lemmon in the Santa Catalina (Catalinas) mountains. Most drive the winding Catalina Highway Scenic Drive from Tucson, also called the … Read More
(Click slider photo to see caption) The Wilderness Act of 1964 mentions little about trails in wilderness and many interpret the Act to restrict use of modern technology for trail development and maintenance—even though many existing wilderness trails were built … Read More
(Click slider photo to see caption) In late August 2025, we visited the Wind River Range (Bridger & Popo Agie wilderness) in western Wyoming to see an area we backpacked in the 1980s, hike part of the Continental Divide Trail, … Read More
(Click slider photo to see caption) Wilderness was set aside “for the use and enjoyment of the American people” according to the Wilderness Act of 1964. But in hiking more than 300 miles through two of the country’s largest wilderness … Read More
(Click slider photo to see caption) For more than 50 years, I’ve hiked and jogged on funky flat fleet. I was born with minimal arches and was prescribed “saddle shoes” as a child. Obsessed with long distance runs and rough … Read More
(Click slider photo to see caption) David did very thorough research for our one-month trek across Frank Church and Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness summer 2025 in Idaho and Montana, seeking cleared trails. The two vast wilderness areas once boasted more than 4000 … Read More
(Click slider photo to see caption) I wanted a minimum 70-miles of backpacking to celebrate my 70th birthday. When David had reached this milestone in 2021, he took a 70-mile solo trek on several trails in the Rincon Mountains east … Read More
(Click slider photo to see caption) Getting lost is one of the risks of hiking in rough areas with poorly marked trails. In 49 years of hiking together, we’ve been lost a few times. On a 1975 Grand Canyon trip, … Read More
(Click slider photo to see caption) My December 2023 blog claimed I was “Bionic but better”—having hiked 1000 miles through 15 wilderness despite three joint replacement surgeries between 2021 and 2022. The same week I posted that blog I had … Read More
(Click slider photo to see caption) In a previous blog, I described a 40-year battle with osteoarthritis. Arthritis had won the latest match. A cranky left knee abruptly cratered on Day 3 of long backpacking trip in the High Uinta … Read More
It happened on the third day of a three-week trip in the High Uinta Wilderness in northern Utah. I was coming down Red Knob Pass—the second, steep thousand-foot descent of the day. The first was a skittery scramble on washed-out … Read More
(Click slider photo to see caption) Avoiding crowds in popular areas is always a challenge; and California’s iconic High Sierra mountains have always drawn people. First, they are only hours from the heavily populated California coastal cities. Second, their iconic … Read More
Last month we celebrated my birthday with a backpack trip in Saguaro Wilderness east of Tucson—perhaps my 14th visit since 1970s hikes with the University of Arizona Ramblers. The area—astride the Rincon Mountains that roll up from 2,700 feet at … Read More
We try to stick with public lands on our hikes; private land often spells trouble. In the 1980s, a week-long backpacking trip on national forest land in Colorado’s San Juan Mountains ended abruptly at a landowner fence. On a 1990s … Read More
Last May 2019, I posted Wildlife management: predators and prey in the Phoenix suburbs, where my sister and her neighbors shared misadventures of a mallard duck and her family. The female had grown up in my sister’s yard (nice duck … Read More
In 1980, Congress took 200,000 acres out of the 55-year-old Gila Wilderness and named it the Aldo Leopold to honor its namesake. Conservationist Aldo Leopold spent his early career years with the Forest Service in New Mexico and persuaded the … Read More
We emerged from Four Peaks scratched, beaten and sporting minor injuries. My left knee—whiny under any circumstances—started to “pop” as I clambered up steep slopes through heavy brush in Alder Canyon. David, who clipped back manzanita and thorny ceanothus branches … Read More
Year 2020: unprecedented. Unpredictable weather continues. Phoenix, our winter home, missed its monsoon rains last summer but got them in fall and winter with cool temperatures. In late January we returned to Idaho for skiing. One small snowstorm and no … Read More
It started in Virginia. And it led to revisiting favorite places across the country and rediscovering our own need for wilderness. A plan to visit all the wilderness in Virginia—and write a book about our adventures—was born in summer 2012. … Read More
I recently made my 10th visit to the Gila Wilderness in southwestern New Mexico—the nation’s oldest wilderness lying along a vast ridge and valley landscape with forests of ponderosa pine and oak-pinyon-juniper on ridges above Middle and West forks of … Read More
My WildernessNeed blog has been selected by Feedspot, an international marketing/promotion company, as one of Top 30 Wilderness Blogs in the world on the Internet. This Top 30 is an eclectic collection of adventure travel, advocacy, therapy and personal views … Read More
As an avid hiker I’m saddened by loss of legacy trails, especially on National Forests. The U.S. is blessed with a vast trails system on public lands. Some were early Indian and trapper routes; others built for mining, grazing and … Read More
Thru-hiking seems on the rise. Some even do a “triple crown”—Appalachian (AT), Continental Divide and Pacific Crest (PCT) Trails for a total 7,750-miles. I love trails. The idea of the 2000-mile trail AT intrigues me. I longed to do it … Read More
Blogger’s note: since I have other interests besides hiking wilderness (including reading, writing, music, physical fitness, triathlons, spirituality), I will sometimes weigh in on these topics when we’re taking a break from our explorations. An earworm, also known as a … Read More
I’ve posted an article on our recent revisit to Grand Gulch—a long canyon in southern Utah winding down from high mesas to the San Juan River and chock full of cliff dwellings, granaries, kivas and petroglyphs from a group of … Read More
Wildlife are up close and personal in northern Phoenix. A patchwork of desert preserves, parks and arroyos along with an artificial river/ lake environment offer habitat for the original residents of this desert valley. My youngest sister’s house backs right … Read More
Okay, I admit. I’m a bit jealous. David and I met at the UA Ramblers hiking club in 1975. We soon were known as the “hard core” hikers. My minimum backpack day was 15 miles and 20 was about right. … Read More
The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it. (Psalm 24) A brief talk and book signing officially launched my new youth novel Return to the Wilds Saturday, April 20, at Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Arizona. Almost all of … Read More