Edward Abbey

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.

• Earth Apples: The Poetry of Edward Abbey (1994)

Edward Abbey was an exceptional person.  He was at once an ideological outdoorsman, and an eloquent writer.  It is my hope that this blog, and whatever it becomes, will reflect his stories and his writing, but above all, his experiences.  His determination to experience the outdoors in its most raw and natural state is an inspiration for how we should live our lives. 

bullseye

Night Time

One of the things that makes the outdoors great is that it´s vastness reminds us of how small we are.  Sometimes it´s good to feel humble, and remember that there´s a LOT more outside - outside our buildings, outside our circle of contacts, outside our knowledge, outside our daily lives.  Night time is especially great for this because, while the sun spoils us with undivided, one-on-one attention, the stars are innumerable and distant.  They are literally and figuratively aloof.  For an outdoorsman, the awe of looking up into a night sky free of any and all light pollution is one of life´s pure joys.  While it doesn´t compare to actually being outside, this time lapse video of the stars over the plains is amazing.
   


Plains Milky Way from Randy Halverson on Vimeo.

on the fifth day...

After the earth was created (or evolved if you will), and before man as we know him was in it...it was good.  And much of it is still very, very good.  This blog is devoted to the outdoors, specifically stories from the outdoors...camping, hiking, climbing, rafting, fishing, hunting, kayaking, running, biking, photography, etc etc etc...I´ll even consider bird watching if the story is compelling enough.