“The trees were friendly, they gave me rest and shadowed refuge. Slipping through them, I felt safe and competent. My whole body was occupied. I had little energy to think or worry.”

“Beneath hot sun, desert roses bloomed. Under cold moon, I still refused to.”

“And so, despite the complex web of paths, waterfalls, cliffs, as a hiker wanders downhill, drainages merge, faint, abstract paths coalesce, thicken, until there is one path the one, natural, trodd...”

“I was passive by nature. I had always been. Arguing felt unnatural and uncomfortable. I was always agreeing even when I didnt really, instinctively looking for ways to forfeit power, to become more...”

“This was trail magic. Sea Breezes fire, his light, his heat, his life, remained, their salvation. It is a fact that all drainages, if followed downhill, lead to the same lowland water body. Lost an...”

“I saw now that bad men existed who would take advantage of any weakness and insecurity they found when violating a victim. I saw it was not my fault; I did not choose to be raped or kidnapped. But ...”

“But to believe that getting stuff is the purpose and aim of life is madness. ”

“The more I want to get something done the less I call it work.”

“Many people achieved important goals in their lives, but hardly any of them seemed any happier for it. Even worse, some complained that other areas of their lives had suffered along the way. The re...”

“Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity”

“I love going out of my way, beyond what I know, and finding my way back a few extra miles, by another trail, with a compass that argues with the mapnights alone in motels in remote western towns wh...”

“These are things you should notice anyway. To live only for some future goal is shallow. It's the sides of the mountain which sustain life, not the top. Here's where things growbut of course, witho...”