November 19, 2013
by David Ryan
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Wandering Around the Backcountry of Breaking Bad

If you’re a Breaking Bad fan, the name To’Hajiilee should mean something to you. To’Hajiilee is a satellite section of the Navajo Nation located about thirty miles west of Albuquerque and is where Walter White of Breaking Bad fame started cooking meth in an old RV. It’s where the tumultuous accumulation of his poor decision-making came home to hit him with the death of his brother-in-law Hank and the stealing of his ill-gotten fortune. In fact, the title of one the shows of the final Breaking Bad season is To’Hajiilee.

If you have seen Breaking Bad you know that To’Hajiilee is a land of multi-color sandstone bluffs, canyons, arroyos, and high desert landscape. Although most Indian land is off limits to wandering, there are several sections of public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) tucked within the Indian land that are open to wandering. I visit this area quite often to look for archaeological sites.

This picture from a previous visit is typical of the Breaking Bad backcountry.

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November 7, 2013
by David Ryan
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A Spontaneous Stair Wandering in Portland, Oregon

Public stairways are featured in The Gentle Art of Wandering because they are perfect for wandering and exploring in the urban environment. A little over a week ago I had another chance for a stair wandering adventure when I visited my daughter’s family in Portland, Oregon. It started when my daughter mentioned to me that she noticed some stairs along U.S. 30 in the Linnton neighborhood of Portland. Before she had a chance to change her mind, we were on our way to check them out.

We spotted several stairways along U.S. 30 and parked the car when we saw a set of stairs at 107th Avenue. Before venturing up the stairs we took a couple of minutes to read a set of signs at the base of the stairs that told the story of Linnton.

These are the stairs at 107th Avenue and U.S. 30 (St. Helens Road). The descriptive signs are to the right of the stairs. There is also a bus stop to the right if you want to make your adventure entirely on foot.

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October 29, 2013
by David Ryan
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Getting Ideas for a Backcountry Wandering Adventure from a Map

The basic premise of The Gentle of Art of Wandering is that you can have an amazing adventure no matter where you are if you allow yourself to see. But you won’t have that adventure if you never get out. That’s why it’s worthwhile to have a backlog of ideas to keep you going out.

As mentioned in the book, if you need an idea, a map is a good place to find one. And last week I used a map to find a very different and excellent backcountry adventure.

This adventure started several months ago when someone told me about an old masonry dam in the middle of the desert on a river that is only wet when it rains. The dam was built in the 1890s to provide irrigation for a very questionable real estate scheme.

Although the dam’s foundation was built on bedrock, the surrounding land and flood plain was (and still is) a combination of sand, silt, and mud. As you can imagine, when the first big storm came, the surging water quickly dissolved the dirt and went around the dam.

With the dam rendered worthless, any hope for the real estate project washed away with that first surge of water. The real estate project is now very isolated range land. The dam is still there and, except for a handful of cattle, all alone in the desert. Continue Reading →