Way Out There: Adventures of a Wilderness Trekker

For years I’d heard all kinds of stories about how extreme fatigue can cloud your judgment, but I never thought it would happen to me. Now it could cost me

thought that maybe what I really needed was an attitude adjustment.

The Twitya had a reputation. I already knew how cold the water would be, and this river would be much bigger than any of the others I had crossed. And it was getting closer. Two days had

I find the process of detachment immensely invigorating. It is the cerebral side of backpacking and one of the most intriguing aspects of a long, remote hike.

descending into long gullies, ascending back to the ridgetop, contouring across knolls, negotiating rough, scoparia-covered slopes, and detouring around rock buttresses on highly exposed ground. The going was slow and deliberate: I cautiously moved

My Montana blisters healed, and I was left with lasting recollections of a splendid time in a marvelous natural setting.

was a jumble of diverse emotions: enormously relieved, severely chastened, and psychologically drained.

The fifties are an interim decade of life, like the thirties. In the thirties, one still has the energy of one’s twenties, combined with the judgment (sometimes) of the forties. In the fifties one still has the energy of one’s forties, combined with the composure of the sixties. The forties are the old age of youth and the fifties the youth of old

Dying because of an accident or injury was a risk I accepted. Dying because of a dumb mistake was humiliating and much more difficult to accept. I managed to stay relatively calm and devised an admittedly meager plan.

Neither of us was complaining. In a situation like that, you try to enjoy what you can and block out what you can’t.