Ken Campbell, Author at The Last Wilderness

The coming darkness

Posted by Ken Campbell September 29, 2009 0 Comment 1103 views

It rains more around here in the winter. It’s colder too, and snow is not only a possibility (like it used to be), it has been a much more common white reality in these parts the last few years. There is no shortage of differences to be found between summer and winter, but for me, […]

Foss dawn patrol

Posted by Ken Campbell September 27, 2009 0 Comment 1135 views

There is a north wind this morning. Skies are clear and the new sun is painting the eastern horizon, but the north wind never blows warm. No matter. When it comes to the weather, we have had a very good year. Out early this morning, a black water paddle down the Foss Waterway here in […]

Car camping

Posted by Ken Campbell September 26, 2009 0 Comment 1179 views

Home already. I suppose I was gone for about as long as I expected to be, but it seems impossible we were able to see as much as we did in such a short time. But we did… and the fact that Micah and I were able to walk and paddleboard the entire length of […]

Going to the beach

Posted by Ken Campbell September 24, 2009 0 Comment 1034 views

We’re leaving today for the Port Townsend symposium, right after swim lessons. It’s just me and the boy going up this time, a couple of nights in the Hotel Westfalia with the progeny. It will be good; he travels well. I don’t know what to expect from this year’s edition – I don’t expect much. […]

Advice

Posted by Ken Campbell September 23, 2009 0 Comment 1130 views

It’s four in the morning and I can’t sleep. I’m sitting in front of the computer, looking ahead to the Olympic Grand Circle, next year’s planned circumnavigation of the Olympic Peninsula. It’s been done once before, that I am aware of, and I am hoping to do it in one continuous loop next July. Jordan […]

Olympic Outdoor Center is moving…

Posted by Ken Campbell September 19, 2009 0 Comment 1084 views

… and they’re having a party. The long-time Poulsbo kayaking stalwart announced its move to Port Gamble a while back and the day is almost upon us. September 26th, right in the middle of the Port Townsend symposium, and so close by. If you are one of those who has made the trip out to […]

Mid-September

Posted by Ken Campbell September 19, 2009 0 Comment 1062 views

From a kayaker’s standpoint, September is the transition month. If you are a casual kayaker, one of the solar-powered paddling dilettante set, it is the end of “kayaking season,” whatever that means. (After all, it’s not like eating season is over when you put the barbeque away.) For the 12-month paddler, September brings the time […]

In the fog

Posted by Ken Campbell September 9, 2009 0 Comment 1144 views

I’ve always liked photos of sea kayaking in the fog. Perhaps it is the image of confidence in the face of confusion, the audacity that comes when skill and boldness are joined together. Or it could be that I am taken with the idea of being able to navigate the unknown and the unseen, not […]

Flat

Posted by Ken Campbell September 8, 2009 0 Comment 1006 views

Flat. Like a manhole cover, an Ashlee Simpson tune, or the proverbial pancake. We came to the Straits in search of waves, but the waves were somewhere else. A let-down at first, after having come so far, but it allowed me to see what else was here. What was left, once the waves had been […]

Always here, sort of

Posted by Ken Campbell September 6, 2009 1 Comment 1141 views

An article on the editorial page caught my eye this morning (Damn that Sunday paper!) Columnist Leonard Pitts writes about the possibility that it may no longer be an option to be completely off the grid. Out of touch. To light out for the territories. He spends part of his article commenting on a piece […]