Sarah fed the rope through her belay device as Seph climbed overhead. He was scaling a fin of limestone that rose 120 feet off the valley floor. A cool breeze rattled the fronds of stunted palms studding the canyon walls around us.
Above us, Seph shrieked. "Jesus!"
Read MoreI found the Luna Mono 2.0 to be an exceptionally comfortable sandal as long as I didn’t wear it on terrain with inclines that exceeded about 25 degrees.
Read MoreAt their best, stories invite us to discover for ourselves.
Read MoreInside a steep, cascading gully filled with boulders and fallen trees, I rappelled through a cold waterfall. It was pitch black except for the stark beam of my headlamp, and the faintest gleam of moonlight behind silver clouds. I opened my mouth wide to the fall, gasping in water. At that point, losing what was left of my mental clarity to dehydration was more dangerous than possibly contracting giardia.
Read MoreThe next afternoon, I encountered my first big hill. The wind was stronger than before, but was now working against us. The nearly sea-level plane we had been coasting across suddenly rose up 300 feet over the course of half a mile. I shifted my back gear to the lowest setting, and began to exhale sharply out of my mouth.
Read MoreI checked my gas meter. I'd accidentally missed my turn to the Barnes and Noble, but was still driving aimlessly talking to my Dad. “Values don't necessarily save you from being a hypocrite,” I thought to myself as I pulled into a parking lot to turn around. I was wasting gas while talking to my Dad about how humans are screwing the Earth.
Read MoreAs the plane lifted from the tarmac, my friends stood assembled on a bridge directly beneath the path of our initial take-off. The pilot flew low, maybe twenty feet over their heads, and I could see them screaming at us and mooning the plane below. My laughter was drowned out by the roar of the engine.Read More
A weakened, orange half-sun sunk low to the horizon. The boulder-studded hills of Southern Castile were mute except for the far-flung screech of a Golden Eagle. The thunderous thud of hooves shook the silence first, and was soon joined by the clinking of steel.
Read MoreThomas would not remember the brilliant blue vein of light usually accompanied by the mineral laser coming on, but he'd never forget the sound of the intercom system going offline forever; a deafening electrical snap. This was followed by a quiet explosion within the lab.
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