NRIM-- 05.2005--   © markie p. images

  ...on Camping and making cowboy coffee- if gnats 
and biting flies-- just keep moving-- they do settle down right about sun-fall-- Camping on NRIM 30-40 miles west of NRIM NPS road out on the Kaibab Ranger District-- if close to rim then very 'scenic' view to awaken to-- besides -- all the stars and milky way strands plus the deafening quiet only broken by a fly's buzz-- occasional passing jet or better yet the soundings of wind vortex arising out of the Canyon itself during the overnights...-- Old school camping, isn’t it nice-- none of the distractions, all there is to do is enjoy what’s around you... it’s that what we really seek when on the road. So much beauty out there.

Thanksgiving trip 2017-- So. Rim, GRCA  Steller's Jay and Raven

 

Over time 'home' for me has become 'place'. This place.

Back from trip to NRIM AZ--
buffalo in the rut...

 

hi there--

would you be so kind as to leave a written message here if you are reading my posts?

thanks for your time and efforts--

April 21, 2015

Reading list:

• Hidden Alaska : Bristol Bay and Beyond / photography by Michael Melford ; text by Dave Atcheson.
• Blood Orchid : An Unnatural History / Charles Bowden.
• The complete encyclopedia : Antarctica and the Arctic / David McGonigal, Lynn Woodworth ; [foreword by Sir Edmund Hillary].
• Auschwitz: a history / Sybille Steinbacher; translated by Shaun Whiteside.
• The last flight of Poxl West / Daniel Torday.

Ansel Adams California / photographs by Ansel Adams ; with classic California writings ; edited by Andrea G. Stillman ; introduction by Page Stegner.
 

Frost on ground cover this AM.

The naturalist remembers to observe, do and be in the environment with purpose in the doing. The political religious military complex has little bearing when the senses are fully engaged—

April 1, 2015

Grand Canyon; Vault of Heaven, Susan Lamb

“…I came to the Canyon as a naturalist in 1983, to learn and tell the story of the people who lived here centuries ago. Yet in asking ‘how did they live?’ I grew to appreciate more about the plants and animals from the rim to the river, and how the sun, the wind and the rain determined so much about life here then as now. I learned how the very walls of Grand Canyon are part of the answer, and why people might make their homes in such a demanding place.

“Descendants of the Pueblo people who lived here long ago consider Grand Canyon to be where they emerged from a dark and self-centered past into the glorious present. They regard the time they lived here with great reverence. It can be that way for us too. Grand Canyon can draw us out of ourselves and into an awareness of how remarkable our world truly is. Although it is challenging and can be dangerous, the Canyon is inspiring as well. There is something nameless that we all seek, beyond mere survival. The Pueblo people found it at Grand Canyon long ago, as we can today….”

The above passage inspired me to write today.

February 19,2014
the warm before the Storm-- birds are chirping-- geese flying-- sun warming-- all around a morning to be grateful for...

February 4, 2015
Photosynthesis begins in the larger organisms HERE next week!

December 29, 2014

Nice five mile walk w/ Ellie— ice- fog.

Temperature dropping — hard snow; lighter snow; crunch under foot and as the temperature drops all I think about is winter camping!    14°F. —  at Elev 5440 ft 39.73 °N, 105.08 °W —

October 27, 2014

Reading List:

• Acid Test: LSD, Ecstasy and the Power to Heal— Tom Shroder
• Summer of Fire— Jim Carrier
• Requiem for the West— Roger C. Brown

The so-called warm before the storm is past and the temp. is dipping southward. Trees still appear about 50% gone [turned]. Chill in the air however as is the usual here in the Denver Basin warmer days are ahead!

Can use a good dose of camping about now!

September 22, 2014

The autumnal equinox brings the fall season to the Northern Hemisphere on: September 22 at 10:29 P.M. EDT.

Went over to East Portal yesterday and walked in the storm—rainy bands and breathed-in the fresh air with the leaves and tress on the air.

Was good at elev. [9100’].

I enjoyed as I think Ellie- Mae did as well. 

    

September 1, 2014

Labor Day —[US holiday]—

Ever notice that when out and about here in America’s “quiet places”— National forest campgrounds, the National Parks/ state parks etc.—that the object is to eat all the food, come back lighter— hopefully “refreshed” and save the memories on camera?

Ever notice the Inuit in northern latitudes when stopping in the quiet places— they look to set traps, fish for graylings and look for meat to carry them through? They seem to come back heavier after the work out. They call it ‘shopping.”

“We call going to the mall shopping.”

Question to you my friends— why are Americans so preoccupied and stressed- out with relaxing and lightening the load?

From— CHARLES RUSSELL:

Shortly before his death in 1926, the great western artist, Charles Russell, was asked to speak at a Montana Booster Club meeting. When Russell heard himself introduced as a “pioneer," he stepped to the rostrum and addressed the boosters...

“In my book, a pioneer is a man who comes to a virgin country, traps off all the fur, kills off all the wild meat, cuts down all the trees, grazes off all the grass, plows the roots up and strings ten million miles of barbed wire. A pioneer destroys things and calls it civilization. I wish to God that this country was just like it was when I first saw it, and that none of you folks were here at all!”

August 13, 2014

Photosynthesis has slowed/ stopped in the trees here at this latitude north. Some are paling- out/ some duller green and the late summer wildflowers are yellow. The rabbit brush is healthy and full and the seed heads are nearly ready to pop.

The reading list follows:

                                    .

• Arctic Aurora : Canada's Yukon and Northwest Territories / John Holt. 

• Arctic sun on my path : the true story of America's last great polar explorer / Willie Knutsen and Will C. Knutsen ; foreword by William W. Fitzhugh.                                       

• Cold : adventures in the world's frozen places / Bill Streever. 

 

• Curse of the black gold : 50 years of oil in the Niger Delta / photographs by Ed Kashi ; edited by Michael Watts.                                                                                                                      
• Blue-eyed boy : a memoir / Robert Timberg.

Reading list-

• Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt,  Michael Lewis
• The Housing Boom and Bust,Thomas Sowell 

 

• 

  

 Reading List:

• Off the Grid: Inside the Movement for More Space, Less Government, and True Independence in Modern America; Nick Rosen

• Long-Distance Hiking; Dan Feldman

• BelievingBullshit: How not to Get Sucked Into an Intellectual black hole: Stephen Law

 

Sometimes the things in life are cumbersome emotionally but the hiker remembers that emotional emergencies are better left to those most qualified. Moving in rhythm to the path or bush-whacking a way through becomes mechanical and it is this routine that helps us with clear thinking and direction.

Emotional emergencies do not have the power over the mature hiker that seemingly engulfs most city-folk.