camp notes

A Letter to All the Tents I’ve Loved

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To my very first tent, that nameless damp canvas cavern propped up in a small clearing just north of Green Hand Bridge, within smelling distance of the wetland. You were my shelter from a merciless thunderstorm…until we abandoned you for drier ground. Still, I’ll never forget our time together, as brief as it was. To … Read more

A Recipe for Disaster Pudding

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My very first foray into the Yosemite backcountry occurred in The Year of Our Backpacking Naiveté, 2010. My friend Rebecca and I were avid day hikers at the time, but distinctly lacking in overnight experience, so we enlisted her college pal Laura, then a ranger at the park, to act as trail companion and erstwhile … Read more