Tag Archives: friends

November 13th, 2014

November 13, 2014
November 13, 2014

We have a history with this song and it played at a moment while we were packing up my old room that seemed too perfect to just be the clever programming of a streaming music site’s algorithms. The feeling as if we were caught in a narrative (rather than real life) amused me.

I’m not sure I quite captured it, but trying new things is what this project (and my life in general these days).

November 7th, 2014

November 7th, 2014
November 7th, 2014

This was an incredibly hard day in an incredibly hard week, but this moment of levity between me and some of my favorite people is exactly the way I want to remember it.

Which I suppose is obvious, since I wouldn’t have written a comic about it if I didn’t.

But I just want to acknowledge how sometimes this comic captures the hard moments from a good day and other times it captures the good moments from a hard one.

Keep the Mountain to your Right

Keep the Mountain to Your Right

 

Four days, three nights, roughly 41 miles, all of it with some sixty pounds of gear and food strapped to my back. While on the trail, I made a comic when I woke up, one when I stopped for lunch, one next to the fire in camp in the evening, and one during my normal time: at night, right before I fell asleep.

Day One began at the Timberline Lodge with 40 mile an hour winds making me seriously question some of my assumptions about the trail. I said my electronic goodbyes, pulled on the coat I thought was just for emergencies, and hiked the ten miles to Ramona Falls.

The Mountain 1-1
The Mountain 1-1
The Mountain 1-2
The Mountain 1-2
The Mountain 1-3
The Mountain 1-3
The Mountain 1-4
The Mountain 1-4

Day Two was probably the most solitary day, and certainly the one with the most forest to walk through. I climbed Bald Mountain, I walked about 10 miles, and I camped out at Coe Creek.

The Mountain 2-1
The Mountain 2-1
The Mountain 2-2
The Mountain 2-2
The Mountain 2-3
The Mountain 2-3
The Mountain 2-4
The Mountain 2-4

On Day Three I faced the difficult and dangerous crossing at Eliot Creek. Along the way I met Richard, a 20 year old who was also solo hiking the trail. We’d somehow started at the same time but not bumped into each other. He became my traveling companion until the last stretch of the hike on Sunday.

We talked about life, hiking, relationships, our childhoods, and a hundred other secret things that we only shared with the rocks and trees.

The Mountain 3-1
The Mountain 3-1
The Mountain 3-2
The Mountain 3-2
The Mountain 3-3
The Mountain 3-3
The Mountain 3-4
The Mountain 3-4

The final day was across long, open stretches with nothing but harsh sunlight to keep us company. I was tired, but the end was so close.

The Mountain 4-1
The Mountain 4-1
The Mountain 4-2
The Mountain 4-2
The Mountain 4-3
The Mountain 4-3
The Mountain 4-4
The Mountain 4-4

I’m writing this weeks later and could tell you a thousand details that I missed in these comics and in the stories I’ve told friends and loved ones, but the main thing I want you to know is:

I miss the mountain.