Ken Campbell, Author at The Last Wilderness

Carpe now

Posted by Ken Campbell October 15, 2009 0 Comment 1187 views

My morning paddle ritual has been going through some changes. I used to spend the winter predawn hour kayaking across Commencement Bay and now it finds me on a paddleboard, gliding on the silky waters of the Foss, in downtown Tacoma. (I am sure the kayaking mornings are coming back soon… as the weather gets […]

See you next year

Posted by Ken Campbell October 14, 2009 0 Comment 1016 views

The Puget Sound Challenge held its official closing ceremony and barbeque at the waterfront park in the little town of Allyn last Saturday. I tried to count the paddlers as they came in below the Allyn dock, but there was no way to keep an accurate tally, at least not once I got past 40. […]

Dotted lines

Posted by Ken Campbell October 14, 2009 0 Comment 1003 views

I like it when the pavement turns to gravel. Makes me think that something worthwhile is probably just around the next bend.

Wood

Posted by Ken Campbell October 12, 2009 0 Comment 1044 views

It wouldn’t be a National Forest without the wood. It’s worth remembering, in our headlong rush to be productive and efficient (two of the more odious yardsticks by which we might measure ourselves), that it is dangerous to destroy what we cannot create. I was sitting by the campfire last night after the boy had […]

Oooh, that smell

Posted by Ken Campbell October 8, 2009 0 Comment 1058 views

Hamma Hamma, in the parlance of the local tribes, meant “Stinky Stinky.” Seriously. On account of the many thousands of rotting carcasses that remained after the salmon had spawned out. There aren’t as many of them now as there used to be, but the name of the river remains.

Stinky, stinky

Posted by Ken Campbell October 7, 2009 0 Comment 1031 views

I asked the boy where he wanted to go camping this weekend. We were sitting at the breakfast table this morning, chomping through our English muffins and reading the funnies. I had talked to him about maybe getting out this Saturday, and he gave it some thought before he replied. “I go to Hamma Hamma,” […]

That place that I can’t refer to by name

Posted by Ken Campbell October 6, 2009 2 Comments 934 views

In 1978, Congress passed a law that gave the United States Olympic Committee exclusive control and allowed for trademark of several terms, including Olympic, Olympiad and Paralympic. The committee also has wide latitude to sue for infringement when words are used that it sees as being too similar to the terms it owns. At the […]

October sun

Posted by Ken Campbell October 5, 2009 0 Comment 1033 views

Best waves of the summer, especially considering summer is over. That was the Hobuck Hoedown for me, just wave after perfect wave, set in the most beautiful blue-sky days imaginable. The contest itself was no big deal for me – there weren’t enough SUPers out there to make a competitive heat – but the waves […]

I can’t believe I’m taking firewood

Posted by Ken Campbell October 2, 2009 0 Comment 839 views

A beach is a place where a man can feelHe’s the only soul in the world that’s real. The Who

Hobuck

Posted by Ken Campbell October 1, 2009 0 Comment 1148 views

I remember once, years ago, I stayed at Hobuck Beach. There was no campground there back then, although I stayed in the ruins of what had been an RV park of some sort, before my time. I didn’t know then that the Makah reservation is one of the dry type, and I built what might […]