Way Out There: Adventures of a Wilderness Trekker

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

Days like these make you appreciate how fortunate you are to experience the extraordinary beauty and majesty of the natural world. Hiking

Being in the wilderness is not just about things like self-sufficiency or situational awareness, it is also a place where you can learn grander, more meaningful lessons about life and how it should be lived. It can make you a better person.

today. It showed me that one should never be afraid of being afraid. I

like getting away from home and reverting to a simpler, less complicated way of life, where concerns are as basic as averaging a certain number of miles per day, deciding where to spend the night, and finishing the trip before running out of food. Simpler doesn’t mean easier; simpler means hard

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

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

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

Jay is the ideal trekking partner. Not only does he have all the requisite backcountry skills; he also has a good attitude—that essential attribute for this kind of endeavor. He keeps his sense of humor even when he is hurting, and he carries his weight, literally and figuratively. He is there when you need him, but he never steps into your solitud