Resources

Curious what’s below you when you’re visiting a desert graveyard? Buried in an arid environment, it takes about fifty years for human tissue to dry out, leaving mummified skin and tendons over brittle bones. In one hundred years, the bones break down and become dust, leaving only teeth and any synthetic fibers buried with the corpse.

Leath Tonino is a writer, wanderer, and almost perilously deep thinker who lives in Colorado. He has no internet calling card.

Brian Vernor is a California-based photographer, filmmaker, and cyclist. brianvernor.com, @vernor

Stillwater Canyon is fifty-two miles of calm water through some of Utah’s most starkly beautiful landscape, including Canyonlands National Park. A paddle down the canyon takes anywhere from three to ten days, depending on the route. For more, visit americanwhitewater.org

Sinuhe Xavier is a filmmaker, photographer, and off-road enthusiast. His last story for AJ was “Highlighted Route” in AJ06. sinuhexavier.com, @sinuhexavier

The Siples were wise to avoid the Darién Gap. At least sixty-six miles as the crow flies, but much farther when bushwhacking through and around jungle, it’s bog meets steep mountainous trails, populated by venomous snakes, countless biting insects, and the bodies of trekkers and migrants who failed to make it through. Nearly any injury can be fatal, as there are no services and no easy way in or out.

Alex Strickland is the former editor of Adventure Cyclist magazine. alexstrickland.com

But do animals dream? Scientists have known since the 1950s that most birds and mammals enter REM sleep, the state in which humans dream. Recent research has shown brain waves of mice in REM sleep are identical to waves of those same mice when running a maze, so it may be they’re dreaming of scurrying along little labyrinthine walls—or escaping to the other side.

Krista Langlois is a Colorado-based writer who’s currently working on an essay collection about humans’ relationship with animals. She’s a frequent contributor to Adventure Journal. kristaleelanglois.com, @cestmoilangois

Illustrator Obi Kaufmann was profiled in AJ07 (“The Veneer of a Deeper Narrative”) and now he’s a contributor—yay for that! coyoteandthunder.com, @coyotethunder

According to Popular Mechanics, the eleven thorniest plants in the world and therefore the worst to encounter while bushwhacking are holly, agave, acacia, blackberry, bougainvillea, crown of thorns, firethorn, honey locust, Oregon grape, porcupine tomato, and rose. According to us, the most charming name is porcupine tomato.

Mark Dale is a Washington-based climber, skier, and paraglider pilot.

According to research from United Van Lines, Vermont—not Montana, as you might expect—saw the most inbound moves of any state in 2021; Nevada had the most outbound (more room for the denizens of its cemeteries).

Cassidy Randall is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, and the Guardian, among other places. cassidyrandall.com, @cassidyjrandall

Wondering about the foggiest place on earth, other than the human brain before first coffee? It’s the Grand Banks, a series of underwater plateaus east of Newfoundland. The cold Labrador current sweeps south into the warm Gulf Stream flowing north and the mixing of the two creates fog almost every day of the year.

This story first appeared on Last Word on Nothing, lastwordonnothing.com.

Sarah Gilman is a writer and illustrator in Washington state. sarahmgilman.com, @Sarah_Gilman

Photographer Nathaniel Wilder lives in Anchorage, Alaska. nathanielwilder.com, @wilderphoto

As of summer 2021, when you drive Highway 120 across Tioga Pass at the eastern entrance to Yosemite, you will be greeted by signs that say “Chiura Obata Great Nature Memorial Highway.” 2021 also saw the first “Obata Art Weekend” celebration at Yosemite National Park and it’s planned to be an annual event. yosemite.org

Skjulskäret translates very roughly as “hide the insert” which we can only assume is in reference to the tiny inlet suitable to hide a boat. It’s one hundred fifty kilometers west of Helsinki, near Finland’s southernmost tip. project-o.fi, @project_archipelago

Through their project Fresh Off the Grid, Megan McDuffie and Michael Van Vliet have mastered the art of making camp food more fun, delicious, and nutritious than anything you can boil in a bag. freshoffthegrid.com, @freshoffthegrid

Maria Lax is a London-based photographer, with works appearing in Vice, WIRED, and Financial Times, among other places. Some Kind of Heavenly Fire was published in 2020 by Setanta Books. maria-lax.com, @maria_lax_