Last Wednesday, around the ninth switchback in the M Trail at the University of Montana, my legs and lungs screamed…
Category essays
Probably every other time my friend Lee and I came to the end of an approach hike at the base…
Here’s a thing you may have experienced: You’re about to head out on a trip in the outdoors, for three…
A couple hundred feet from the top of Avalanche Gulch on Mount Shasta last Monday morning, my friend Abi and…
Just east of Green River, Utah, on Interstate 70, I looked over from the passenger seat to see the car’s…
Ten years ago last weekend, my old friend Jarrett didn’t have cancer anymore, so I thought it would be a…
A couple years ago, I was talking to my dad on the phone and asked about his plans for the…
A lot of things felt like they were on the verge of breaking down in the six months of training…
One Sunday last August, maybe halfway through a 22-mile trail run in 85 degrees and full sun, the day after…
Last Saturday night, I was running one of my favorite trails in the dark. I had gotten a late start,…
A few weeks ago, someone put a sticker saying “Does this Sprinter van make my trust fund look big?” on…
Note: I first wrote and published this post on December 29, 2011, calling it “Make 2012 The Year Of Maximum…
Here’s something that didn’t happen: Tommy Caldwell, in the days following the first ascent of the Dawn Wall, being interviewed…
I sit on a rock along the White Rim Trail in Canyonlands National Park, assembling a camp stove and filling…
I went to a memorial for the son of some friends this past weekend. He was a climber and a…
Don’t argue with people on the internet. Use your car horn to communicate with other drivers for emergencies, not to…
If you talk to people about drinking coffee, they will often say things like “I just love the ritual of…
Hilary and I drove four hours to stand on a gravel road north of Scottsbluff, Nebraska, for two minutes of…
A couple weeks ago, a friend shared on Facebook an opinion piece by David Brooks titled The Golden Age of…
Dear New Guy At The Climbing Gym, or lady running around the track at the park for the first time,…
It happened again yesterday, like it always does, about three-quarters of the way through my run: I started to try…
I tried counting all the ways someone could contact me the other day, and I stopped at 22 different methods.…
A few years ago I was at a coffee shop and I started chatting with the guy next to me…
I plodded my way up the Hayden Trail, headed up toward my fifth “summit” of the day as the sun…
“A lot of the young doctors I hire work for me for a year or so and then they want…
My friend Jayson and I were out trail running on Saturday, for long stretches exposed to a 50 mph wind.…
At 5:55 a.m. Denver is dark and fairly quiet as Syd and I have an excited conversation about new movies…
About five years ago, my friend Tommy told me what I thought was an insignificant thing: that he’d taken a…
Note: I first wrote and published this post on December 29, 2011, calling it “Make 2012 The Year Of Maximum…
No matter what you think of 2016, from “Wow, I’m glad it’s over soon,” to “It just flew by,” you…
Here’s the thing about women: It is possible for a woman to be stronger than you. It is possible for…
Dear Phone: I love you. I mean, not in that Joaquin Phoenix-falling-in-love-with-his-operating-system way. But maybe in the I’d-probably-hug-you-if-I-hadn’t-seen-you-in-a-few-weeks-and-we-finally-got-together-for-coffee kind of…
Last Monday, my mom and I stood behind a fence at Arches National Park and took a couple photos of…
The Q train clicks and groans across the Manhattan Bridge, half-full of passengers on their way to Brooklyn on a…
That’s right, it’s fall, aka autumn, aka your favorite season, that fleeting changing of colors, temperatures, clothing layers, and footwear…
I was sitting at the counter of Higher Ground in Salt Lake City back in 2012, tapping away on my…
Thanks for your email. I took the morning/afternoon/day off to ride my bike, or go rock climbing, or go for…
On all the stops on my book tour this year, I show a slide that’s a list of reasons people…
I sat at the counter of a Mexican restaurant in Pinedale, Wyoming, a couple Saturdays ago, and watched two guys…
My dad, Joe, retires today, after 41 years of work at one company and about two years of worrying if…
I’m about halfway through my talk in the community room at the REI store when I see the two guys…
1. Go into a coffee shop. Approach the counter, greet the barista and clearly and concisely state your order. Say…
I could never get into Shakespeare when I was in high school, or classical poetry. The reading seemed too arcane,…
Pretty much everybody has a singular moment marking each realization that they’re not getting any younger: You find a few…
Five years ago this week, I started this blog, hoping a few people might read it and get something out…
I was sitting at a coffee shop with my girlfriend last Sunday when she saw a sign hanging on the…
Well, I’ll be damned if it isn’t almost the end of another year of what I call “my mom’s favorite…
Sometime after dinner on December 24th, my father and I will sit down in front of a television and watch…
For no real reason in October 2014, I made a rule for myself: I would not give homeless people a…
My girlfriend is generally better than I am at being in the moment and expressing gratitude for all the little…