Hiking, web development, best practices, and general awesomeness
Wind roared off the Kaibab Plateau, tumbling over gullies and canyons and thrashing through pines, plummeting into the fire-scorched forests of Saddle Mountain Wilderness to slam in the side of my Jeep. Huddled behind the tiny vehicle, curled under a strapped-down sleeping bag, I made a feeble…
South of Mount Lemmon and the Santa Catalinas is another sky island, a shorter one, that has been spared from the devasting wildfires of the last few decades. The Rincon sky island sprawls across several mountains, including Mica Mountain, Rincon Peak, and Tanque Verde, and supports a large stand of…
Galiuro Wilderness is a relatively short sky island located between the Santa Catalinas and Pinalenos. Compared to those two mountain ranges, with their lofty 9k and 10k peaks, the highest point in the Galiuros is Basset Peak, a mere 7663'. While it may lack the elevation of its neighbors, this…
The moment my feet dropped off the rim I was buffeted by gusts roaring up the canyon walls, forcing me to lean forward, against my trekking poles, to avoid being pushed off the narrow trail. A long, dark fall down hundreds, if not thousands, of feet was not how I imagined this day would start. When…
The last year has lasted an eternity. COVID-19 has impacted, well, the entire world, and my family wasn't spared. I don't mean to complain - we are blessed and privileged and are able to react to the uncertainty - there is just no question that every event in the last twelve-to-thirteen months has…
Faint morning light outlined the bulk of Mount Lemmon ahead, a majestic scene as I eased into Catalina State Park. I paid the fee and parked at Romero Canyon Trailhead on the east end. There were a dozen vehicles scattered around the lot, a surprising amount so early in the morning, and I wondered…
For the last two years I've been working on a little side-hustle. A side-hustle that took up more than forty hours a month, pulled me away from a ton of family events, pushed me physically, and didn't pay a cent. I'm talking about Mountain Rescue, of course. And earlier this year I found out the…
This summer I haven't had much free time to pursue my usual passion of solo hiking and backpacking. Instead, my weekends have been full of Mountain Rescue and parenting. Sure, the kids and I go hiking together, it's just not the same as the epic twenty-plus mile death marches that I prefer. Anyways,…
Tall pines shushed in the light breeze over the narrow two-track, and I practically had to pinch myself to make sure that I wasn't dreaming about the Huron Mountains of Michigan. I was in the Sierra Ancha range, still in Arizona, and I didn't even have to drive all the way to the Mogollon Rim to get…
For the last ten months I've been training to be a member of a local search and rescue group. The first half was spent doing pre-certification - first aid, rock climbing classes, posse training, etc - and more recently we've been working as a recruit class on foundational pieces. In fact, in May we…