George Anders
The trail. The map, The water and snacks. The cozy destination over that pass for the night. And then comes the snow, and impending dusk, and talk of snow slides ahead. What do you do?
Nantucket Forever
By Paul Lancaster
Few things are sweeter than the return, summer after summer, to the same vacation house. Here, an unearthed celebration of many summers long ago.
The True Cost of Fishing on Cape Breton’s Majestic Margaree
David N. McIlvaney
The salmon can be elusive on Cape Breton Island’s magical Margaree River. But so much of the joy is in the fishing.
Welcome to Your Cancer Journey in Ten Short Lessons
By Neil King Jr.
The word has lodged in your brain and spirit: Cancer. It is the start of a long and grueling journey. Here are ten short lessons from the trenches to buck you up and get you started.
Conversations with a Christmas Ornament
By Neil King Jr.
Christmas trees sparkle but they also notch, like nothing else, the tick tock of our years. But on this tree, a boyish lute player on a tin-can lid has all the time in the world.
A Vagabond Fisherman Finds Harmony on a Treasured Virginia Creek
Mike Tapscott
Done with cancer and moving on with life, a Mississippi fisherman hits the road and finds layers of meaning along the way.
The Last Will & Testament of an Extremely Loved Cat
David N. McIlvaney
Wherein one proud and august cat, Pelburn Betula Birch, expresses her satisfaction at a life well lived and a mouse well stalked, and leaves behind her final testament.
Fresh Powder, Aging Legs: A Telluride Ski Legend Keeps it Young
By Christopher Rhoads
A chance encounter on a Telluride chairlift shows how a love for the rad and gnarly never dies.
Nervous Dads, Friends, Siblings: Now Everyone is Stepping Up to Officiate Weddings
Bob Davis
I was hesitant and nervous about officiating my daughter’s wedding, but got good advice: Know what’s in her heart. In stepping up, I joined a boom in weddings without rabbis, ministers or priests.
Fishing Cape Cod’s Monomoy Flats in Beep’s Jeep
By Peter Fritsch
When my dad died with a few big dreams unmet, I jumped to fulfill one of my own in his honor. I bought a boat to fish the gorgeous shoals of Cape Cod’s Monomoy Island.
When in Iceland to Fish, You Fish, No Matter What.
David N. McIlvaney
Iceland is a Shangri-La for the flyfisher, but you can’t be picky in your choice of fishing days. Sheets of rain? River flowing in a torrent? Gale-force winds? Just get to it. This is Iceland.
A Pilgrimage to the River Spey
By Chris Santella
For a week, I hurled flies into named pools along the storied River Spey, and it hardly mattered that I never landed a single salmon. Just being there, casting in such a place, was what really mattered.
Looking Back, Seeing More: The Rewards of Returning to Old Places
By Janet Hook
It’s tempting, with the pandemic receding, to strike out for new, unexplored places. But surprises and new awakenings abound when you revisit destinations from your past.
Paddling the Seven Seas of Central Park
By Neil King Jr.
How a fixation on paddling all seven lakes and ponds in New York’s Central Park turned into a magical , full-moon night of exploration–and a view of the city as never seen before.
On Nymphs, Delicate Dries, and the Unstoppable “Little Black Shit”
David N. McIlvaney
I fish plenty but no, I don’t tie flies. If I did, I’d miss the unbeatable deals and pearls of wisdom you find in any dusty fly shop. Like, “Try some ‘Little Black Shit.'” And boy did that turn out.
You Need a Place of Renewal. Mine is Out West, Far Up a River
By E.M. Hunt
We can only be so lucky, to have a place hidden in our past somewhere, a place to visit that renews us when we’re there. My such place is way up the Columbia River Gorge in Eastern Washington.
Three Cheers for the Far, Far, Far Away
By Neil King Jr.
We have a cottage that is very, very far away. You may think of that distance as a demerit. I have come to see it as the ultimate blessing, as the force that protects the place and makes it was it is. Distance, I’ve learned, now ranks among the world’s most elusive treasures.
When a Beautiful Boat Becomes the Emblem of an Unlived Life
By Neil King Jr.
When you buy a boat, you buy an imagined future, a dream you want the boat to play out. But when I could never find the right place for a gorgeous mahogany guide boat, she became the symbol of an unrealized aspiration.
My Once and Future Life as a (One-Night) Rock Star
By Bryan Gruley
For one giddy night at 17, right at the end of the summer before college, I learned what it meant to feel like a rock star. This fall, 47 years later, my old band and I are going to do it again.
What Happened When A Tick Took My Voice
By Neil King Jr.
Twenty months ago a tick took my voice. That dose of Lyme disease sent me on a journey of doctors and whispers and long spells of silence. A journey that still isn’t over. We record it here simply in the interest of science.
To Norway, To Swim
By Neil King Jr.
What better way to celebrate a big life transition that several days of swimming, well before summer, in Norway’s gorgeous but bracing fjords? That’s what we did right after my eldest daughter graduated from college.
We Shared A Love, Dad and I, For That World Called Middle Georgia
By Paulo Prada
Fancier folks want to call it Central Georgia, but the area where I grew up is lost in the middle between Atlanta and Savanah. A place my dad and I loved to drive, and savor mile by mile.
My Long Quest to Savor All of Brazil’s Coast by Bike
By Douglas Engle
It all started when I rode down the coast from Rio for five days. And then took another long coastal ride, and another. I’ve now devoured more than a third of Brazil’s Atlantic rim over 10 or so trips, with 5,000 more kilometers to go. Here are 12 of the best moments, snapshot by snapshot.
There’s Joy, Pure and Simple, In England’s Coastal Trails
By Neil King Jr.
We Americans have our hiking trails but none can shake a stick at England’s glorious South West Coast Path. It is among the greatest public gifts to the common man anywhere in the world.
Slowing Down, Taking Notice: How the Pandemic Opened My Eyes To Birds
By Janet Hook
This awful pandemic has had at least a few upsides. It has slowed us down and opened our eyes to new things. For me and millions of others, it has sparked a deep fascination and appreciation for birds, among the oldest of all living species.
First Light: Boyhood, a Promise, and the Catch of a Lifetime
By Tom Cohen
It began as a mumbled promise but became, for the boy, a solemn pledge: to fish at first light on our last morning in camp. What transpired was a gift of nature that has clung to me ever since.
How One Insane Game Became a Lifelong Source of Hope
By John W. Miller
For more than half my life I had yearned and strived for this one thing: To take a team to the International Little League World Series. The outlandish, utterly improbable way it finally happened became, for me, a lasting well of optimism and enthusiasm I now take wherever I go.
Emptying the Mind on the Island of Naxos
By Tyler Maroney
The beauty of wandering this island in Greece, or swimming its waters in search of an elusive octopus, or having that second or third cappuccino, is there is no why. Except, as someone once said, glory does accrue to those who hunger after the unusual.
In Praise of Mediocrity
By Neil King Jr.
We wallow most days in mediocrity and fall far shy of perfect in nearly all we do, but at least we have a window into that exalted place. And occasionally, in a single swing of a cue stick or brilliant shot at tennis, we know what true excellence is.
Got a Case of Teen Travel Angst? Find a Herd of Mountain Sheep
By Abdon Pallasch
Sheep suddenly blocked our route on a mountain drive through Wyoming. And what a favor that was. Like a biblical parable, those sheep woke up our teenage daughters and added, for all of us, a dash of the new and exciting. They launched our summer vacation.
An Off-Season Trip to Maine Becomes an Autumn Master Class
By Janet Hook
Heading to my summer cottage in the full throes of fall taught me much I’d forgotten or never knew about the changing of the seasons. The sun, the birdlife, the constellations overhead–everything was different.
Notes on a Drive Down the North Atlantic Coast
By Neil King Jr.
I had to ask myself during that thousand-mile drive to New York from the outer ends of North America: Was I addicted to the sight of evermore sea crashing against evermore rock? Ocean porn, I called it.
Hunting the Elusive Mushroom in the Forests of Bohemia
By M. Winfrey
Finding mushrooms in the forests of northern Bohemia goes like this: First you wonder if they are really there. And then you calm yourself, and they emerge, and you wondered why you ever had any doubt. Like you imagined them into being.
These Kangaroos Keep Baseball Hopping in the Heart of Europe
By John W. Miller
This summer, I went back to play baseball in the capital of Europe, where it’s a scrappy, underground sport kept alive by the sacred and the possessed. Wonders ensued.
Three Boys and Their Jeep: Reliving a Rocky Road Trip
By Bill Grueskin
Two buddies and I took a pre-college road trip to the Canadian Rockies in the summer of ’73. It didn’t all go as planned. When we dug up our diaries 48 years later, we were in for still more surprises.
Taking Over Heaven with a Five-Pound Axe
David N. McIlvaney
When you bring down an 80-foot maple with a five-pound axe, you and the axe meld, and time slows down.
Into the Maine Woods with Old Sugarfoot
By Peter Fritsch
Meet Dave Mosher, one of those legendary, tireless, old-time fishing guides that still haunt our lakes and streams. May it always be so.
The Foursome in Front of Us
By Bryan Gruley
Sometimes what you remember about a long ago game of golf has everything to do with the folks in front.
A Younger Maclean Returns to Where the River Still Runs
By Lloyd Green
In his new memoir, John Norman Maclean returns to the beloved Montana his father made famous–and pays tribute to generations of love for family, rivers and the joy of fishing.
Painting the Elusive Brook Trout
By Steven Weinberg
Trout may be sneaky and elusive in the river, but capturing them in water colors is still trickier. The first touch of brush to paper makes or breaks what comes next.
In Praise of Winter Geese
By Neil King Jr.
Spend a winter among geese in unpeopled places and you come to realize that we honking humans–too loud, too numerous, too fertile–are the real pests.
A Trout Guy Hits the Blistering Flats of Tulum. Wonders Ensue.
David N. McIlvaney
I’m a trout guy who likes to cast flies on rivers, not gaudy streamers for furtive bonefish across 70 feet of saltwater. But when I went to Tulum to do just that, I caught the bug for fishing the flats.
Plunging into the Perfection of Fly Fishing in Patagonia
David N. McIlvaney
Finding laughter, beauty and every imaginable kind of fly fishing in one of the most gorgeous stretches of the Argentine Patagonia. Here, you can “fish fish,” and more.
Scent of Deer, Descent of Man
By Neil King Jr.
In the meadow of my winter refuge, it’s a constant war of noses between me, my dog and the resident herd of deer. And a steady lesson in how inferior we humans are when it comes to the most potent of senses, smell.
Seeking the Essential During Our Long Covid Lockdown
By Abdon Pallasch
We have had so many 2020 stay-at-home orders, each more challenging than the one before it. A month into our first, we sought our own taste of the essential a short drive from Chicago. We found beauty, yes, but also an earful from an angry cop.
Knots, Rivers and Human Perfectibility
By Neil King Jr.
Thoughts on human fallibility and perfectibility, distraction and focus, impermanence and permanence, while standing in a river and trying to tie a knot.
Travel, Water, and the Suspension of Time
By Neil King Jr.
We travel to disrupt time, to stretch it like taffy so that it resembles the constant newness of when we were young. And nothing suspends time like swimming. Or more to the point, like diving into very cold water.
How My Life’s Course Was Set, at 19, Aboard a Swedish Freighter, Heading for the South Seas
By Barry D. Wood
Restless at 19 and seeking adventure, I went West with dreams of finding work as a sailor. My five months aboard a Swedish freighter opened my eyes to the world and helped set my life’s course.
Fly Fishing the Apocalypse with the Legendary Glenn Brackett
By Neil King Jr.
He is a wise man, a Buddhist and an extraordinary bamboo fly-rod maker. Glenn Brackett also knows every post-industrial fishing hole in all of greater Butte, Montana. We hit a few, and talked.
Cape Breton’s “Chair Man” Gives New Life to Old Traps
By Margery M. Cuyler
Out at the far end of Cape Breton, where the lobstermen rule, people show gratitude with gifts of lobster and squash. Legaré Cuyler’s currency are the chairs he makes from old traps.
The Heartbreak of LosingA Family Cottage I Loved
By Bryan Gruley
The cottage on a lake in Michigan was one of those whimsical purchases parents make. Over time it became our true home, the vessel for a million memories. We had no cause to think it wouldn’t be ours forever.
The Late-Summer Sadness of the Adirondack Chair
By Neil King Jr.
Set along lakes and ocean fronts in two, threes, and fours, Adirondack chairs are the emblems of passing summer leisure and idleness. And of imagined moments that never happen as we pass them by.
How Conquering Hills by Bike Keeps Me Sane
By John W. Miller
Nothing gives joy in these dreary times like grinding up the hills of my hometown of Pittsburgh. A workout that’s half pain, half ecstasy. On every hard ascent, there’s a moment of despair that raises a question everybody’s thinking now: Can I really get through this? Say yes, and you’ll soon feel the joy of gravity pulling you toward Earth.
Our Covid Road Trip Became a Love Song to a Huge SUV
By Neil King Jr.
A monthlong 6,200-mile, 20-state road trip from Washington DC to Montana and back was made all the more glorious by the land yacht we rented to take us there. Bigger than a Conestoga, she cost a tiny fraction of what the Oregon-bound settler would have paid for his covered wagon and oxen. So off we went into America for adventures unknown, smack in the middle of a global pandemic.
Zen and the Art of Baseball Coaching During Covid-19
By John W. Miller
A part-time job coaching preteen baseball in Pittsburgh is one of the few things keeping me sane, and happy, in the dog days of Covid. We’ve learned to play each game with intensity, knowing it could be our last.
Hitting a Curve
By Brendan Murray
These dreary days of distance and self-imposed quarantine have revived the remembered glories of Wiffle ball in a Chicago alley decades ago. All you needed then was an alley and an ageless will to play.
An English Elm in Brooklyn
By Tyler Maroney
I fell under the spell of an English elm one morning two Octobers ago during a walk through Brooklyn’s Fort Greete Park. That elm has now entered our family mythology.
River of Dreams
By Tom Cohen
I have canoed all my life, from the spring-fed streams of Arkansas to the mighty Zambezi of Southern Africa. On the banks of the Noatak in northwest Alaska’s Brooks Range, the countless strokes of those previous journeys had delivered me to the perfect place of worship for my pantheistic spirituality.
Comforting the Dead Donkey
A donkey I’d known for years died the other day. I heard the horses whinnying through the trees as the rain beat on the porch roof and when I went to investigate, I found Buddy crumpled in the mud along the fence, more the discarded effigy of a donkey than the angular, craggy soul he was on hoof.
Bobbing in the Wake of Pleasure Craft
It was as though the past had called and found me out fishing. At the end we gave one another a hearty farewell, knowing we weren’t likely to talk again.
Every Man a Ruler, And Yet Nothing Pleases
By Emanuel Howitt
Have we changed in 200 years in our rumbling, inchoate discontent as a nation? Not that much. In the fall of 1819, a 28-year-old Englishman named Emanuel Howitt came to the young United States to see if he might settle there. He didn’t much like what he found.
On Walking
By Henry David Thoreau
Thoreau was one of his era’s great practitioners of ecstatic walking and often sang of its virtues in his works, but nowhere so potently as in his essay Walking, published in The Atlantic…
Just Once More, Please
By Neil King Jr.
Surely more than once you have hiked atop mountains spilling to the sea or downed a glass of wine that had no equal or plunged from a dock into an emerald bay and thought, “This is so perfect. If I never do this again in my life, I will be satisfied.”
In Patagonia, With Rod, Reel and Humility
A week unlike any of the other 3,000 or so I have spent on Earth began as a birthday surprise from my wife. Seven days at a remote fly-fishing lodge in Argentina, in the far south of Patagonia. It was the surprise that just kept on surprising.
Alone Among the Maddening Crowd
By Neil King Jr.
What is it about travel and crowds and iPhones and Instagram and the quest for that magic photo moment? Let us muse for a moment on the difference between rapture and photos suggestive of rapture.
The Relevance Now of Thoreau’s Call to Keep it Simple—and Wild
By Neil King Jr.
Naturally, when the dictate came to self-isolate, more than a few of us thought of Thoreau. There he is, our national prophet of solitude, pottering among the beans in his garden and skinny-dipping in Walden Pond. Is that him cresting the hill in his sole pair of baggy pants, out on another of his rambles?
On Forgetting to Remember
By Neil King Jr.
For two hours we wandered the famous Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires, that glorious monument to human vanity and our craving to remember, to memorialize, to put the passing flicker into stone. Nothing says “Nothing lasts” quite like that everlasting favorite, the decaying crypt. In Recoleta, Argentina’s rich and illustrious buried their beloved dead and swore unending remembrance and love, only to see the years and the rain and the weeds weave a different story.