A weekend in Bears Ears

You’d be hard-pressed to find anybody in the Western US today who hasn’t heard of Bears Ears. It’s become a rallying cry for conservation and recreation and generally not letting public lands disappear. (If you need a refresher on Bears Ears’ contemporary history, here’s a good primer from a Native perspective.)

I’d driven through parts of the Monument, but never spent any significant time there. So when we started making plans to spend a holiday weekend in the desert with friends, I jumped at Bix’s suggestion to make for Cedar Mesa.

Continue reading “A weekend in Bears Ears”

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Something smells fishy

“Best Backpacking Meals—You Won’t Believe You Didn’t Think of This!”

Everyone I know is portioning out the ingredients for Mediterranean Pizza Flatbread and wrapping shit in damp paper towels so it’s fresh when they get to camp and piling up sticks for a makeshift dutch oven so they can make cinnamon rolls in the morning. Continue reading “Something smells fishy”

No news is good news

It’s 9:30 on a Friday night, and I’m dozing into the sweeping panorama of some David Attenborough Planet Earth documentary when my phone sputters to life, vibrating amidst a chorus of chirping by both the device and the leopard seals of Antarctica. Continue reading “No news is good news”

Ladies’ night out

Spoiler alert: we don’t just talk about ill-fitting gear and the challenges of peeing outside. There are plenty of gross jokes. Our conversations would definitely pass the Bechdel test.

This year, I got a head start on the answer to my perennial springtime question: How am I going to take advantage of the extra day off for Memorial Day weekend? I started considering my options in the midst of ski season. Continue reading “Ladies’ night out”