Six hours from the trailhead, 2 hours past his turn-around time and with storms filling in from the valley, Alex Theissen was at the edge of panic. What had started as a unremarkable spring outing in the White Mountains was going south quickly and the prospect of spending the night exposed at the timberline, with […]

The trout literally leaped to snag our hooks as we cast them again and again into the small pools of Trout Creek as it cascaded down through the brush, waterfalling from rock to rock.  No, really, that is one of those rare memories from childhood that stands out as a boggling phenomena, one of few […]

Maybe you don’t need to learn about survival clothing. Maybe you always hike with a spare jacket. Perhaps you never go out into the wilderness overnight, but just for day hikes. Or you bring lots of warm clothing when you do go backpacking. Nonetheless, hundreds of people die or come close to dying every year […]

I still can’t believe it.  It’s been 40 or so years since that fateful summer.  My buddies Steve and Larry and I were around 12 years of age when we were dropped off early in the day on a rainy, muddy little trail of a road off  Highway 135 north of Gunnison, Colorado up toward […]