Hiking, web development, best practices, and general awesomeness
A brisk wind whipped around the Lost Goldmine parking lot, whistling through the saguaros and shaking the creosote bushes and snatching one of my gloves from the car seat. Grumbling, I reached down and picked it up, stuffing my hand into the stiff folds before the wind took it again. I was stiff…
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…
My free time during 2018 was overtaken by Mountain Rescue and family. Which isn't all that bad, nor was it that unexpected, just means that some of the hobbies I used to enjoy and some of the goals I set for the year did not survive through December. And, to be honest, looking into 2019 probably…
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…
After a lengthy delay, I took a second climbing class from Arizona Mountaineering Club in April. Lengthy delay because I took the first class, 'basics', last fall and haven't climbed since, so it felt a little awkward coming back to the group for anchors. The knots and some of the techniques came…
My goals for last year got massively derailed. I did not hike the Grand Canyon, take my boys backpacking, or do any significant work on my website. Two events forced me to pivot: the creation of the Mazatzal Project and joining up with a local search and rescue group. So, I suppose that 2017 was…
Being part of a search and rescue group is something that I've been thinking about over the last few years. There are a lot of reasons why it makes sense, why I think volunteering for a group would be a good fit, though I think it all comes down to how difficult I found Arizona hiking to be. Chris…
Last month I took a two-week course on rock climbing, offered by the Arizona Mountaineering Club, which covered everything from basic knots to self-rescue techniques. It was an experience that, after some initially doubts, was something I ultimately enjoyed and would recommend. And yes, this was my…