Hiking, web development, best practices, and general awesomeness
With the cooler temperatures of the Arizona winter something unexpected happened - backpacking in the Superstition Wilderness suddenly sounded appealing. And I'm not talking about the eastern end, the green hills around Reavis Ranch and Campaign. The western and central Superstitions, the desert…
A few miles from our house in Gilbert is a little county park that I have barely explored. Well, maybe I misused the word 'little'. San Tan Mountain Regional Park is over 10,000 acres and offers miles and miles of trails. Until now the only loop I've really explored is the Goldmine/Dynamite, both…
It's not easy to get my two sons out on a hike these days. Their nap schedules conspire against family activities, being offset just enough to limit the amount of time everyone is awake. The days are short with the coming winter. And then there's the weather to deal with. Even though we live in the…
For the last two years I've been regularly flying to New York to sync up with my coworkers. See, I work as a remote engineer for Shutterstock, and while we do a lot of things to maintain healthy communication over different channels there is nothing like some solid face-to-face interaction a few…
Frost sparkled evilly on the tent's rainfly under the dim light of my headlamp. Against my will my teeth began to chatter ferociously and I shuffled in place in a vain attempt to warm up. It was terribly cold this morning in the eastern Superstitions, much colder than either Chris or I expected, and…
Trying to get motivated to go for a hike in the hot Arizona desert was tough after Isle Royale. Nine days of midwest weather on Lake Superior had spoiled me, and I still had sore knees and feet to heal. Chris finally convinced me to head out on a relatively easy loop, one that we had been eyeing up…
There are a lot of hiking options on Isle Royale that are more reasonable than my ambitious perimeter loop. Most people would rather have short days and time to relax at camp, with the additional bonus that this could lead to repeat visits in the future. This was apparent by the discussions I had…
Planning for the Isle Royale solo adventure stretched out months before I stepped onto the Queen at Copper Harbor. There were itineraries to sync up, pieces of gear to purchase, calories to count, and more than a few tests of physical readiness. Even after all this preparation the island would teach…
Several thunderstorms had passed over Moskey Basin during the night. These were the real thing: bright flashes of lightning ruining the darkness, bursts of thunder rolling over forested hills and water, and heavy rain dumping down on the shelters roof above me. Yet now everything was quiet. For the…
Soft pinks and purples swirled above the chilled fog on Lake Siskiwit. Shivering through my sweaty shirt I continued to pump water from the swampy inlet on the western shoreline. It was early, still thirty minutes before the sunrise, and I had made darn good time this morning. Close to four miles…