Exploring remote and primitive backcountry since 1955 - the Inside scoop on an Outside guy
Stateline Mine
Like the whimsical professor within the curtain enclosure at the timeless Wizard of Oz castle, there is a fellow behind The Old Trailmaster, and, like the curiosity of Dorothy, perhaps you wish to pull back that drapery to learn more. Hence, for those of you who may be curious, I thought I'd tell you a little bit about myself, providing a glimpse of my character, personal abilities, achievements, and goals. Who knows, perhaps someday we'll meet up on safari, so you should know that I'm a pretty decent fellow you can count on in the outback. If I were to adopt a personal description of my overall essence, it might well be what was said of famous Death Valley prospector, Jean Francois de Lamoignon (aka: Jean Lemoigne) by a writer of the late 1800s: " ... calm, polite, philosophical; with polished manners, a ready smile and all the ways of a gentleman." How's that for a self-serving statement? Are you smiling?
Planet Earth first made itself known to me in the mid twentieth century, where black and white televisions and Father Knows Best shows were the norm. It seemed that my family life was mirrored in those half-hour comedies. I grew up around mechanized transportation because my dad was an automotive journalist during my maturation. He always impressed upon my young mind the need to keep vehicles in excellent condition so that they would make the trip back home without breakdown. Dad also taught me to respect and protect the land we enjoyed, along with the natural vegetation and wildlife. And he encouraged my need to hike the country we visited because he understood my desire to learn about wild places up close, and knew that my devotion to the land would someday exceed his.
Hiking was my all-time favorite activity while growing up. Since I spent quite a bit of time in the wild outdoors with my family, and more specifically my dad, I learned to appreciate what nature had to offer. Exploring the feral places of the Planet has always been a high priority to me. Much of this love of the land grew from my childhood experiences in the primitive Mojave Desert of southern California, as this was an immense swath of territory that my dad knew well, and he always enjoyed taking me to its most isolated corners, where people rarely visited. We camped often, at one with nature, our cots under the desert sky with unobstructed views of the stars. My amazement with the universe began on these outings as dad would submit for my consideration the known science of the night heavens.
During summer vacation in 1973, my longtime friend from second grade, took me over an old four wheel drive mining road high in the Rocky Mountains of southern Colorado (from Ouray to Telluride), further deepening my already growing appreciation of nature's wild places. The call of the wild's flame burned brighter than ever!
In 1975, I traded in my street wheels for a little backroad buggy called a Jeep CJ5, so that I could pursue my own discovery of the untamed territory that beckoned from beyond the fringes of metropolitan infestation. From there my enthusiasm for exploring the backcountry has continued to grow. It ultimately matured to the point where I felt compelled to share my passion - to help others experience what I had known for much of my life: the personal joys to be experienced while exploring those remote dirt roads and hiking trails that only the most adventurous choose to follow. Thus, the seeds for my websites and books had been planted, and began to blossom in 2006, and with it, a new chapter in life.
My first visit to Death Valley was as a small child in 1955, when my parents felt compelled to introduce me to this region of which they were especially fond. Dad initially took mom there shortly after world war two, on his classic Harley-Davidson motorcycle (well, at least it would be a classic nowadays, but it was just a normal bike back then). Their first stop was the tiny village of Death Valley Junction, where they arrived late at night, and learned that they had to use candlelight to access their room because of an electricity failure in the area. What an adventure they had on that trip!
After a few visits myself, I too was hopelessly hooked, later doing school reports on Death Valley, building a scale model of the Twenty Mule Team, and even placing an 22x28" painting of the Team on my bedroom wall. On television, one of my favorite shows was Death Valley Days. At age 18, my goal was to become a mining engineer, but after a semester's classes involving the chemistry, I opted for other paths. I recall one warm night, as my family was camping at Furnace Creek, when my dad told me to turn around and behold "who" was looking at me ... I was pleasantly startled to see a gigantic full yellow moon rising over the Funeral Mountains, so large that I swore I could have reached out and touched it. Memories like these are what keep me drawn to explore Death Valley regardless of age.
MY TWENTY MULE TEAM PAINTING:
Unlike many folks, I have never placed my primary focus in life on a job, tending instead to seek the independence that comes with the ability to be mobile regionally, as well as professionally. Life is short, there is much to experience, and it seems to suit me best to not get caught in any one situation for too long. Although, as I age, a sense of place does begin to edge its way forward in my priorities. With a mind that tops out at 132 on that supposedly accurate intellectual scale (sharper than a marble, duller than a tack), I readily adjust to new challenges, and find that life's journey is sometimes as exciting as a week's trip into the wild outback.
The ultimate goal for me is to live rurally, hopefully on some acreage, in a modest cabin where solar and wind will generate my power needs, and a garden will largely fulfill my dietary needs. Earning money will be in a manner consistent with my environmental preservation beliefs, and from a job that brings only what I need to sustain the daily requirements of a modest outback inhabitant - nothing elaborate. Being an organic vegan as much as possible, providing my own food becomes easier and less expensive than back in the days when I used to eat cows, fish, and chickens. My focus is to exist in a manner consistent with a pure natural world, where living neither produces nor receives environmentally destructive agents.
Personal circumstances and worldly observations have positioned me as a health and fitness enthusiast of the highest order, and functional longevity is a prominent goal for me (did I forget to say that I used to own a fitness center?). To fully enjoy all that the backcountry has to offer, one must be fit, and since there is so much to explore with so little time in which to do it, who wants to dwindle away one's time being ill and frail? I strive to remain vital at all stages of life. When I do go though, let me be in the wild backcountry doing what I love!
To pull it all together, I have grown into a guy who loves to have a good time exploring our natural world. I am very easy going and mellow, and realizing the finiteness of life, have decided to spend the second half of my life doing that which is now #1 on my list of Great Things to be Doing ... in other words, sharing my knowledge and abilities with happy and uplifting people like you who "just have to" get out in the backcountry. Some may call me a dropout from the traditional 9-5 way of living, and that's fine with me because .... well, I am! No more shirt and ties for me. I am now "living on wilderness time," as author Melissa Walker phrases it in her book of the same title.
Essentially, I am a fellow who loves exploring remote natural areas of the backcountry via old dirt roads and hiking trails from bygone eras, and through my sensitivity and treatment of the terrain I travel, I attempt to be an example that environmentally concerned people can use mechanized transportation in a responsible manner to visit the natural realm that they cherish.
WildDeathValley.com - Your backcountry guide to Death Valley National Park
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