Choose Your Own Adventure

As M. and I hiked along the Pacific Crest Trail today on Mt. Ashland, he said, "When I was a kid and liked playing in the woods behind the elementary school, I would've freaked about trees like these." It got me thinking: If I look back, I now see indications that maybe I've always been the type of person who would enjoy pushing through knee-tall grasses on a foot-wide, dusty trail on top of a mountain. "There were decision points, I see now," I told him. "You know, like if I'd been in a Choose Your Own Adventure book, I could've turned to a different page."

M. on the PCT near Mt. Ashland in Southern Oregon

We were quiet for a little bit, until I spoke up again. "I turned to the more familiar pages, because this"--I swept my arm at the forest around us--"was completely inaccessible to me. It was as foreign to me as the friggin' Taj Mahal."

Flames

Oregon and Northern California are on fire.