Yeah, Jacob has a blog. Check out his posting activity.
With uncomfortable summer temperatures in the Phoenix valley, Katie and I decided to take advantage of a long-standing invite from some of her relatives up in Show Low, a small town that sits above the Mogollon Rim and is surrounded by pine trees and… [read more]
While sleep was hard to find, perched on a hammock near the Pueblo Canyon overlook, watching the moonlight play over the Sierra Ancha cliffs and Cherry Creek valley was simply breath-taking. I didn't begrudge the multiple times I woke up from a… [read more]
Tall pines shushed in the light breeze over the narrow two-track, and I practically had to pinch myself to make sure that I wasn't dreaming about the Huron Mountains of Michigan. I was in the Sierra Ancha range, still in Arizona, and I didn't even… [read more]
Sheep Bridge, and the greenery around the Verde River, did not look far enough away. Sunlight was beginning to leak into the five o'clock sky and I had already walked five miles along the Dutchman Grave Trail this morning, yet from this saddle my… [read more]
When June rolled around I had a startling revelation: it was almost halfway through 2018 and I hadn't stepped foot in the Mazatzal Wilderness. That's a dirty shame. With time constraints holding me back from doing anything too intense I came up with… [read more]
For the last ten months I've been training to be a member of a local search and rescue group. The first half was spent doing pre-certification - first aid, rock climbing classes, posse training, etc - and more recently we've been working as a recruit… [read more]
Hackberry Spring is a great destination for a family hike. It's a short distance from the First Water horse lot, a good portion of it is in the shade, and there is a pleasant spot to rest (and play) near the spring. The only annoying thing is that… [read more]
In the ever-present struggle to find a reasonable hike for my boys there was one option that was simultaneously filled with potential and unknowns: Coon Bluff. This small hill sits near the confluence of Salt and Verde River and is in an area known… [read more]
Dull blue clouds hung low overhead, making me feel oddly claustrophobic as I tromped along the quiet desert trail. A few city lights glimmered in the west, and below me the headlights of large trucks coming down AZ-87 from Payson would glare then… [read more]
After a lengthy delay, I took a second climbing class from Arizona Mountaineering Club in April. Lengthy delay because I took the first class, 'basics', last fall and haven't climbed since, so it felt a little awkward coming back to the group for… [read more]
Driving up to Lone Pine Saddle hasn't gotten any more fun since the last visit. It's been almost two years and the long haul up AZ-87, boring swing down 188, and then bumpy drive up El Oso wasn't missed. At least I had my sister and her boyfriend as… [read more]
There is a lonely trail on the east side of the Verde River that doesn't connect to anything, barely sees any traffic, and isn't even part of the Mazatzal Wilderness. It's along the foothills of those mountains, though, so I decided to include it in… [read more]
Managing my daily life with a todo app is the only way I can hope to function any more. In college I used a combination of OneNote and good ol' paper and pencil, and since 2009 I've been using Remember the Milk exclusively. And by that I mean I use… [read more]
Coffee is something that has embedded itself into most of my routines, as it has most red-blooded Americans. It started in college with cream-and-sugar concoctions that the thought of makes my stomach churn and has since changed into a purer… [read more]
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