10/22/2025
Chicago basin. 2025
The alpine diesel train that took us on a 30 mile journey into the San Juan forest and dropped us off at the trailhead is as magical as it sounds ✨ . Choo chooing on the edge of a cliff overlooking a river just hits different 🏔️ 🚂
We got robbed at needlepoint by a massive porcupine. It snuck into our campsite at night and chewed up anything it could find. It especially liked things that seem like they could be food but aren’t like cork or rubber. It also scared the absolute s**t out of me when it crept under my rain fly in the middle of the night making alien clicking noises. By the time I turned my headlamp on we were face to face and it was staring directly into the windows of my soul. To be fair, we were the unfamiliar strangers intruding into his territory.
The San Juans will be a place I return to over and over again for years to come. Grateful to have a body that is capable of traversing this remote landscape. Grateful for friends who are down for these tough and rugged adventures. Grateful for this incredibly sacred and beautiful land that brings us home. Home to our hearts, home to our bodies, home to presence.
