11–17: Yesterday Twig and I walked what’s called the Canyon Trail (at StillWater Cove) along the creek eastward to its terminus at private property. (The distinction between a canyon and a valley is, even in dictionaries, very loose, which allows plenty of room for privately tinged definitions. I tend to…

11–15: I walk the trail out of the campground [on the Pacific coast now at Still Water Cove a hundred miles north of San Francisco] and can make a left when I reach the valley bottom and find myself in a small cove a quarter mile to the west. A…

9–11: We walked again today, this time west until we crossed the bridge and turned east and eventually found a fallen pine a hundred yards from the River where we sat in silence for a while. Twig seems an unusual dog in that she can sit still as long as…

Many readers will recognize the above ethical declaration as a paraphrase of Aldo Leopold’s well known “Land Ethic.” I came to know and respect Leopold’s work over thirty years ago but haven’t had occasion to revisit him for quite some time, until recently when I began thinking about writing this…

9–9: The Sierra and Yosemite were never only Nature, beauty, wonderment, and the place I most liked to go. They were experiences of physical engagement, of combining exertion and sweat with the dust of a trail and the sights along them. Now I see how crucial that kind of engagement…

*9–13: Since I wrote previously about nonattachment, I read this: “A certain recluse monk once remarked, ‘I have relinquished all that ties me to the world, but the one thing that still haunts me is the beauty of the sky.’ I can quite see why he would feel this.” The…

8–31–2021: If it were possible to believe that gods created the Universe, the next belief might be that they had decided to use Earth for the indulgence of their artistic talents. To see just how much beauty they could create in, from their perspective, a limited space. When the god…

8–7–21: I often write notes to myself when I’m reading, and more often when I’m camping. These used to be called “commonplace books” and have been maintained since antiquity; I’m sorry I’ve not spent more time on mine, both writing in them and rereading, which I rarely do. I don’t…

I read a book a few months ago called Entangled Life. It describes the astonishing activity beneath my feet, especially when those feet carry me through a forest, a place where fungi and roots commingle with lubricious-level abandon, and microbes, invertebrates, and insects join as well in their different ways…