Season of Completion: Leadership, Transition, & Renewal
Dropping off my two riders after my 24th CHS hike on September 30th, I felt something I haven't felt before. Not because I’d led four 17-mile graduation hikes in a…
Trusting Desire, Embracing Obstacles on a Memorable Hike
On paper, my longest hike of the season looked perfect: 18 miles, 5,000 feet of elevation gain, and a creative route I had cobbled together for my Mountaineers CHS-2 graduation…
Cascade Pass Backpack: Beyond Our Expectations
When we planned our 2-day family backpack to Cascade Pass, I pictured the classic North Cascades adventure: high camp at Sahale Arm below the glacier we climbed over two decades…
How Guiding Intentions Can Transform Your Adventures
When most people prepare for a multi-day adventure—whether it’s a trek to Everest Base Camp, Bhutan’s Snowman Trek, or the Tour du Mont Blanc—their focus tends to be on the…
Trail-tested Confidence: Lessons for Work and Life
The hour before a new client session, I get the same knot in my stomach that I sometimes get as I pull into the parking lot of a tough trailhead.…
What Is Enough: Three Lessons from the Trail
I have led more Mountaineers hikes than I ever imagined possible—23 of the 43 hikes hikes I've done so far in 2025. And we're only in July. Yet I find…
How to Stay Hydrated for Summer Hikes
This season, I’ve been reminded how crucial it is to stay hydrated during hot-weather hikes. One CHS student (Conditioning for Hiking Series) recently visited the ER after a long, exposed…
Four Years Along the Trail of Change
Milestone Post / A Reflection Essay Blog post 180 is longer than usual. It's a 3,000-word look at how four years of blogging, hiking, and leading have shaped the way…
Bridge the Confidence Gap: From Desk Doubts to Trail Trust
For several weeks I've been reflecting on how widely different I feel on the trail and at work. Why can I feel so totally in control in one area but…
Wins: A Week of Wi-Fi Woes, Wildness, and Wisdom
Sometimes the most memorable weeks aren’t the ones that go smoothly, but the ones that test our patience, resilience, and creativity. This week, a four-day internet outage forced me to…