Monthly Archive: March 2026
Frequent readers of this blog will be familiar with my affection for the Gila Wilderness of southwestern New Mexico. Ever since Scatman introduced me to its red rock canyons, lush riparian trails, and ancient...
The highest point on the Pacific Crest Trail is Forester Pass at 13,153 feet. It is about 775 trail miles from the start on the Mexican border. We had camped near 11,000 feet, right...
Up and down the West Coast, we have had unusually warm and clear weather this last week. On Wednesday, I decided to take advantage of it and embarked on an overnight trip in the...
Today’s picture was taken in May 2014 when I was near PCT mile 620, passing through the western Mojave. I had been climbing up a treeless desert mountain all afternoon. There was no shade....
The Palisades Fire in California last year sure has messed things up. Not only was it devastating to the communities in Santa Monica and nearby towns, it burned large swaths of the adjacent Santa...
It was 2019, and I was on my second long section hike of the Continental Divide Trail, having hiked from Mexico to central Colorado the year before. I was now north of Rawlings, WY....
8 responses to “Mark’s Photos #2”
Amazing picture! And nice hang.
Thanks! It was one of the more interesting hangs, although not the first time I’d used a fence.😁👍
You pulled a “slobro “!!
More of a MacGyver, I think.😁
What a sky! The things you have seen! I had no idea that “Rain that falls in the Basin does not flow to the Atlantic or the Pacific.” Clearly, your backpacking has made you quite the resourceful character! And I mean “character” in the most positive, endearing way!
The sky makes that photo. Also, my pathetic little tarp looks so small in the immensity of that land. Always gives me pause. And It’s pretty fun to figure out a way to hang a hammock without trees. Once, in the Grand Canyon, I used a picnic table and pole for hanging food away from critters. I was only about an inch off the ground, but it worked.
Read “Everett Ruess- A Wanderer through Beauty”. A great but tragic story.
A writer, artist, and poet disappearing in the Utah desert in 1930’s aged 20.