Posts
If you’d like to join a 2023 guided trip and if you’ve not yet applied, for some trips this post is effectively a last call. The open application period ends: All applications received by the deadlines will be considered equally. All applications received after the deadlines will be eligible for remaining spots on a first-come…
Since 2014 I’ve asked our clients to complete a post-trip survey to gather feedback about our guides, locations, meals, and curriculum, plus their overall satisfaction. Reviewing the results is a time commitment — this year the document is 247 pages, plus a few more pages of tables with quantitative data! But it’s entirely worthwhile, as…
Next week we are hosting free “office hours,” starting Wednesday, December 14 and concluding on Friday, December 16. Schedule a chat to discuss anything related to backpacking: If you’re a guided trip alumnus, you can schedule a session to just relive great times, too. Each one-on-one session is 15 minutes, enough to go deep on…
The first iteration of our 2023 trip schedule is now live. View it below, or open the full sheet in a new tab for easier viewing. In this first iteration, I’ve settled on trip locations, trip dates, and trip types. And I’ve estimated the number of groups in each session, based on historical demand and…
The 2023 guiding season is almost underway: a trip schedule will be released later this month, and the application period will open in mid-December. To help me run the program next year, I plan to hire an Assistant Director. This is a full-time and year-round position, and I hope that the candidate steps up as…
The 2022 Boston Marathon is just two weeks away, and the most difficult and most revealing workouts of the training cycle are now behind me. So where am I at, and what am I expecting on race day? Goals I think it’s useful to include some degree of flexibility when setting goal times for a…
Earlier this week Amanda and I went under contract for a 1962 ranch in Boulder, less than a mile away from our current home. We’re excited about its potential and also intimidated by the work ahead — it’s like a time capsule, complete with its original intercom system, whole house vacuum, mid-mod hallway sconces, and…
A reader, AnnaJoy G, recently wrote me: I’m a ciswoman and looking for bidet advice for folks with vaginas. Conventional bidet methods seem to involve dirty water trickling down the butt and towards the vulva, the perfect recipe for a UTI. Online advice columns presume the hiker is a cisman and seem oblivious to the…
Leave No Trace principles are a framework of best practices that are critical knowledge for anyone who spends time in nature. They were developed to minimize the impact of backcountry travelers on sensitive ecosystems. Especially with the increasing number of people recreating outdoors, acting in accordance with these principles is essential if we wish to…
Hikers love to talk about food almost as much as they like to talk about gear and bowel movements. When it comes to trail food, there’s often a lot of uncertainty about how much and what types of food to take. In this post, we’ll address each of those topics as well as share 58…