Nobody takes pictures of the Tuesday morning walk. There’s no dramatic waterfall at the end. No rock scramble, no 900-foot elevation gain, no spontaneous four-hour detour to a hidden sandstone pool in southwest Virginia. It’s just me, the trail I know by heart, and whatever is going on in my head that day. Eight to…
I want to talk about May. Not the pretty parts — the wildflowers and the longer days and the way the trail smells after rain. I mean the real May. The one that showed up at my door with a full suitcase and stayed longer than welcome. It started with work. I went on a…
What started as a bold kayaking invitation turned into the most meaningful friendship after 40 I could have imagined. I ambushed Christine. I’m not proud of it. Well, actually, I am a little proud of it — because it turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. We met on a…
I remember the exact moment I realized the house was too quiet. I didn’t know it then, but I was about three weeks away from starting hiking at 47 — and everything that came with it. It wasn’t dramatic. Nobody was crying. There was no big sendoff or empty-nest breakdown moment that I could point…