April 10, 2012
by David Ryan
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Dinosaur Tracks in Red Rock Canyon in Nevada

If you’ve read the Gentle Art of Wandering, you know the book opens with a pair of hikers finding a dinosaur while wandering in the New Mexico backcountry. A friend of mine from Chicago, Nick Saines, told me about a group of hikers who found dinosaur tracks in the Red Rock Canyon area a few miles west of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Nick, who now lives in Las Vegas, is a professional geologist and is now an Interpretive Naturalist / Geologist for the Red Rock Canyon Interpretive Association. The Association helps the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) manage the Red Rock Canyon area. As part of his position, Nick was conducting a geology training session for a group of BLM volunteers. During the session he mentioned that “it was a matter of time” before someone found dinosaur tracks at Red Rock Canyon. Continue Reading →

April 3, 2012
by David Ryan
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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
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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 →