April 3, 2012
by David Ryan
1 Comment

Micah True – Caballo Blanco – Copper Canyon

By now you’ve probably seen or heard about ultra-long-distance runner Micah True / Caballo Blanco not returning from a 12-mile run and being found dead in Gila Wilderness in southwest New Mexico. You may have first heard about Micah True in Christopher McDougall’s 2009 best-selling book, Born to Run. The book feature’s Micah and his life of running in Mexico’s Copper Canyon with the reclusive Tarahumara Indians.

In February 2005 I had the opportunity and pleasure of spending a week wandering through the wilds of Copper Canyon with Micah. Continue Reading →

March 23, 2012
by David Ryan
1 Comment

A Simple Backcountry Wandering

In The Gentle of Wandering the principles of wandering are described within the context of hiking in the backcountry. If you have never ventured into the backcountry, you may want consider a simple wandering like the one described below to give it a try.

The idea for this wandering came from looking at a topo map (see below). The area of this topo map is a bit south and west of Socorro, New Mexico. Continue Reading →

March 18, 2012
by David Ryan
18 Comments

Keystone Stairs – Miami, Arizona

While driving on U.S. 60 from Phoenix to Albuquerque last week, we passed through the old copper mining towns of Miami and Globe, Arizona. Wondering if they had stairs like Bisbee, we stopped in at the Globe-Miami visitor’s center to find out.

When I asked if there were public stairways, the people working at the center didn’t know what I was talking about. When I repeated the question, someone mentioned that there are some stairs in Miami where people have an annual stair climb. Continue Reading →