Ken Campbell, Author at The Last Wilderness

Plasticized, part 2

Posted by Ken Campbell February 9, 2012 0 Comment 1128 views

I don’t want to be depressing. It’s already a foggy, rain-soaked morning and it doesn’t need any help from me to seem more gloomy. The Ides of February, as it were. But I’ve been doing a bit of reading lately – “Reading rots the mind,” Ed Abbey used to say- and I’ve been reading a […]

A Break in the weather

Posted by Ken Campbell February 7, 2012 1 Comment 1237 views

The spate of good weather we’ve been enjoying for the past four or five days is about to come to an end. So say the weather watchers who are paid to know about such things, anyway. It has always seemed to me that we get a week or two of very mild conditions during the […]

Drifting

Posted by Ken Campbell February 5, 2012 0 Comment 1242 views

In October 1832, the junk Hojun Maru left Japan with a load of rice and ceramics. After being swept out to sea in a typhoon and drifting for 450 days, the ship ran aground on the rocky Olympic coast just south of Cape Flattery. The only survivors were the captain and two cabin boys, who […]

Shouting out

Posted by Ken Campbell February 3, 2012 0 Comment 1135 views

I just got off the phone with my good friend Chris. Talk of lots of things, from Backpackers Supply to the upcoming Pummel at La Push to surf stories. Which is when he told me about this new site he’s been writing for – actually, I don’t know how “new” it is, but it’s completely […]

Japanese flotsam, Part 2

Posted by Ken Campbell February 1, 2012 1 Comment 1331 views

I was taught that flotsam is a term that refers to floating debris, while jetsam denotes stuff that has washed ashore. I don’t remember how old I was when I was instructed thus, but I do remember who told me, and he was incorrect. Confident, but incorrect. So, just in case you’re ever in the […]

Don Starkell, 1932 – 2012

Posted by Ken Campbell January 31, 2012 0 Comment 1382 views

I have been reflecting lately on the way that the idea of death intrudes on the living as time goes by. When we are young, death dwells in the province of older folk, so distant and separate, almost on a different planet. But then, as we age, death comes a little closer. Imperceptibly almost, stealthy, […]

Commencement Bay solo

Posted by Ken Campbell January 30, 2012 0 Comment 1229 views

Mary and Micah dropped me off right at 1pm. I was a bit surprised that I didn’t see any of the other paddlers at the park, but maybe they were running a little late. I packed my gear and got the kayak down to the beach, waited around for the group to show. The sky […]

Getting my retail on

Posted by Ken Campbell January 28, 2012 2 Comments 1184 views

Even though I mentioned it in a blurb there on the right side of the page, I think this bit of news deserves its own special entry: Azimuth Expeditions, the guide service and kayaking instruction outfit I started back in 2003, is going to be going through a major change. Azimuth grew out of Tahoma […]

On ice

Posted by Ken Campbell January 27, 2012 0 Comment 1170 views

There used to be a bar at the Paradise Inn up at Mount Rainier. I don’t know if it was a good bar or not, but I seem to remember that I had a pretty good time there. There was one time, seven of us in our party, me and Tony, and 5 Brits. I […]

The wrath of Aeolus

Posted by Ken Campbell January 25, 2012 0 Comment 1329 views

I was awakened by the wind this morning. Actually, I woke up at a few points during the night to the sound of the gales whipping through the trees on the hillside above the house and the waves crashing on the beach. There are some who profess to like the wind; I am not one […]