Los Angeles Times: “Column: Bears thriving at Yosemite. Clear skies. Does coronavirus reveal a ‘World Without Us’?” — “Skies have cleared over the smoggiest urban centers, wildlife runs free in parks, streets and plazas, flowers rise from the cracks of formerly well-trodden sidewalks and birdsong replaces the more motorized score of modern daily life. WithContinue reading “The World Without Us: Nature and the Coronavirus”
Author Archives: starkswanderingwest
Flower Gazing Meditation:
Practice deep breathing while exploring unusual flowers of the desert. Flowers can be powerful vehicles for meditation because there is something inherently relaxing about their form and beauty. Celebrate the Earth, relax into the ground and enjoy these photos from our travels.
My Favorite Outdoor Adventure Books
Behind every great adventure are the stories that inspired it. We read before we go and after we arrive. In the freedom of far-flung places, we invariably find echoes of the voices that led us there.
Shelter-in-place
Well…we didn’t anticipate this. I can’t help but feel selfish to focus on myself in the midst of a global health crisis. What privilege we had to take time off from work and throw ourselves at the universe for a few months of adventure and travel. The irony of the clashing times slaps me inContinue reading “Shelter-in-place”
White Sands
The sandy desert amidst a mountainous valley. Great wave-like dunes of gypsum sand engulf 275 square miles of desert, it is the world’s largest gypsum deposit, a gigantic dune field. Rising from the heart of the Tularosa Basin it is a bizarre landscape – unexpected glistening white sand in New Mexico. It is quite possiblyContinue reading “White Sands”
Diaries of Big Bend Backpacking: Day III
I wake before sunrise to find that the water bottle in the tent is empty. Jon drank the remaining water in the night. We have only 10oz left and so we make the decision to head straight for the visitor center to refill. On the way, we pass the campsite we reserved for the thirdContinue reading “Diaries of Big Bend Backpacking: Day III”
Diaries of Big Bend Backpacking: Day II, Part II
January 16, 2020 The leaves crunch as I set my pack down. It’s cooler here, a quiet forest inside the canyons of the Chisos Mountains. I pull out a small ziploc bag of trail mix and climb up a massive downed tree up to the top of a tall boulder in the middle of theContinue reading “Diaries of Big Bend Backpacking: Day II, Part II”
Diaries of Big Bend Backpacking: Day II
February 15, 2020 Hiking socks make my calves look fat! It’s a seriously not cute overall look for my short legs. The hiking boots do not help. All clunky and chunky – my entire legs look stubby. There’s a fly that really likes sitting on my socks and watching me write. I haven’t showered inContinue reading “Diaries of Big Bend Backpacking: Day II”
Diaries of Big Bend Backpacking
February 14, 2020 My head hurts – it’s throbbing a bit. The view is amazing though. Carrying anymore water up here would have added a significant amount of extra weight that my back could not have taken. I have three large water bottles. Had. I drank one on my way up here. Ranger Jason recommendedContinue reading “Diaries of Big Bend Backpacking”
Around the Big Bend
We returned from Mexico, grabbed dinner with our buddy Alex in Dallas, slept over again at aunt Darlene and uncle Charlie’s (thanks again you two!), then hit the road to the one thing in Texas we decided we had to see before we officially left the state – Big Bend National Park. It was aContinue reading “Around the Big Bend”
Stark West Travels 