Spring 2021
As the seasons seem to more and more every year, this one really got away from me. I moved out of my winter home and back into the car in late April and once again began the shuffle of staying somewhere new every couple of nights. It was, in a word, overdue. All winter long I was antsy returning to the same place every night, but now getting to wake up with the sun, make coffee outside and then ski some killer corn made me one happy boy.
EMT class wrapped up in the middle of May and I was able to pass all of my exams on the first try, which was enormously exciting. Later this year I’ll be taking a class to upgrade to Wilderness EMT, as well as working in the medical tent at the Tahoe 200 Trail Race. Hello dehydration and rolled ankles!
By late May it was time to head back to the farm to prepare for another season of hemp growing. As part of the Midwest Hippie Relocation Project, I was able to convince my friends Blankie and Hannah to come out and work for the season; it’s been a blast hanging out at the ranch with good pals!
In just a couple of days Hannah will be driving Blankie and me to Portland to hop on a train over to Glacier National Park. There we’ll begin our 1,250 mile thru-hike of the Pacific Northwest Trail, a seldom traveled and yet incomplete route from Montana to the Washington coast. If all goes well, we should hit the ocean in right about two months. Of course I’m excited, but the gravity of the physical turmoil I will soon endure weighs heavier on my mind every day. Still, I’ll take physical pain over real-life induced mental pain any day of the week!
“I didn’t shoot much this season”. I feel like I say it every time I post one of these. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how many images I’ve taken even in the past couple of years, but the number seems to taper off the more time goes on. Maybe it’s because I’m unmotivated to spend time behind the shutter only to then have to stare at another screen, but I’ve definitely been slacking. So many of the most special moments in my life don’t get any documentation, and I often find myself thinking “this one’s just for me”. Honestly, that’s alright. Not every cool view or thing done needs or even deserves to be shared. That said, I still was able to pull some decent images of springtime fun, so enjoy!
