The Gypsy Wanders: Arizona Trail

Kind readers (yes, that is plural, as it is addressed to both my mother and my father):

Your author, ever eager to wander will soon be fortunate enough to do just that. My employment came to a merciful close this past week. All of my worldly goods will be tucked away into the wee automobile and stored at a friend's house, except for those few items I need to support my bag of bones while thru-hiking the Arizona Trail. The nearly two years I've spent in Kodiak will conclude and I will be set loose upon the unsuspecting firmament.  

What is this magical trail I speak of? How is it magical? You've asked the right questions! I knew you, my readers, were intelligent, the moment you clicked into this website. Let me spin you some truth.

Yukon Episode Four: Mists of Meandering

Mary and I hitch from Fairbanks to Eagle, float a canoe to Circle, then hitch back to Fairbanks. 

This is episode four. Read the first, second, and third episodes.

August 2013 - Yukon River

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Thirty-five miles today. Though we were in no hurry, the allure of paddling kept our vessel steaming along the rivers pulse. The time too had an undercurrent, a thing already in motion on whose back we were riding, and slid away with each pull of the paddle and twist of the wrist. We lay on the float making up songs or remembering those others have made, reading aloud, imagining a history of this landscape being formed by mythical creatures, and wordlessly breathing in our surroundings.

Bellingham or Bust Episode Five: Further into the Future

The fifth episode recounting a summer skin-on-frame kayak build and solo 130 mile kayak journey. 
From the start - read the first, second, third, and fourth episodes.

it is a short journey

a brief race

we each one take

upon the planet's spinning face

though viewing each day

as blessing

or curse

the rain as dreary

or poetry

in liquid verse

the sun as wilting

or warming

glow

failures

as devastating end

or new routing

on which to begin:

a boat flipped

may yet be righted

and paddled again.

26 - 30 of June 2014 | Meadowdale State Park -to- Burrows Island

Early rise from my blue tarp tent and scurry through breakfast before slipping boat back into the waterway. Covered about 4 miles in the first hour, then pulled off the side of the watered highway. Sat on a sandbar for an hour watching waves build with the incoming flood tide, churned up by a waxing southwest wind. Spent the next hour portaging 1 to 2 miles up the beach, wandering through the waves and tidepools dragging boat behind like a toy trailer full of dreams.

Bellingham or Bust Episode Four: The First Two Days of Paddling

The fourth episode recounting a summer skin-on-frame kayak build and solo 130 mile kayak journey. 
From the start - read the first, second, and third episode.

wraiths ghosted in the mist

then burst forth into the light

shattered, laden with moisture

heavy and bright

the horizons widen

and the sun begins to glow

off in the distance,

some rain falling,

falling into the ocean below

the land is here

and time is here

and all is well

24 - 25 of June 2014 | Bainbridge Island -to- Meadowdale State Park, Washington

Set out upon the water early the morning of June 24, vessel loaded-to-capacity. Eight miles north, changed route to due west, and skidded up on the shore of Eagle Harbor. Boat tied fore and aft to a pier to prevent its meandering about as the tide rose, then a squishy-footed trot into town after slipping the drysuit skin to stow inside the boat. Picked up my passport at the post office, general delivery, had a snack and called a friend, then sloshed back to re-enter the boat and continue north.

On Barometer

Barometer Mountain, Kodiak. Suzan Hailey. January 2007. Pics4Learning.