Ken Campbell, Author at The Last Wilderness

Research

Posted by Ken Campbell February 16, 2009 0 Comment 953 views

Looking ahead to my upcoming SUP trip on Hood Canal, I have been perusing the web for tales of other touring paddleboarders. There are a few, but not many. I suspect that will change very quickly. One that I enjoyed was an account of a paddle around Cape Scott, at the northern tip of Vancouver […]

9 – 5

Posted by Ken Campbell February 16, 2009 0 Comment 1132 views

Got back from the family ski trip… Mary did the skiing part, I threw rocks in the river with the boy, hiked all over the town of Index and waited for trains to pass by. Which is just how we liked it. Suffice to say that we saw one very long train, hopped on many […]

To the mountains

Posted by Ken Campbell February 13, 2009 51 Comments 1241 views

The long weekend is here. To celebrate our fortune at being able to string four days together where we don’t have to work at someone else’s behest, we’re off to ski the weekend away at Steven’s Pass. Our family is part of a group of about 15 that will all be staying together in a […]

Fresh water

Posted by Ken Campbell February 12, 2009 0 Comment 1274 views

I finally got out of town at about 1:30pm. Not exactly an early start. I hadn’t planned on the snow either, but judging from the number of cars in the ditch along my route, neither did most of the other drivers out there. By the time I got to Belfair, it was already 3:00pm. Belfair […]

Kenstruction

Posted by Ken Campbell February 10, 2009 0 Comment 964 views

I’m sore. Feeling my age, I suppose. Normally, I feel a little fatigued after a couple days of paddleboarding, not before. But I’m leaving today for Hood Canal, gonna do a couple days on the water and see how far I get. It’s my reward to myself for getting the fence done. (“Done” may not […]

Gimme shelter

Posted by Ken Campbell February 9, 2009 0 Comment 918 views

The U.S. Forest Service went into the shelter-making business in the late 1920’s and the 1930’s on trails throughout the Olympic peninsula. As trails were being carved in to the land, shelters were constructed as part of the Forest Service’s multiple land use management policy, intended to encourage backcountry recreational use. By the late 1930s, […]

Selling books and telling stories

Posted by Ken Campbell February 7, 2009 0 Comment 818 views

A rainy Saturday in the Pacific Northwest. I’m heading up to Mercer Island today to do a couple of presentations for the Washington Water Trails Association Winter Sea Kayak Seminar. It’s always a crap shoot how these things will play out. This year, with the vagaries of the economy weighing heavy on everyone’s mind, it […]

In the map room

Posted by Ken Campbell February 6, 2009 0 Comment 909 views

When I plan a trip to a place I’ve never been before, I get every last bit of information out of the maps and charts I have for that area. I’ll get out the dividers and break down the route into discrete segments: At approximately 1.3 miles past the point, there should be a small […]

Rescheduling

Posted by Ken Campbell February 5, 2009 0 Comment 993 views

I’ve heard it said that life is something that happens to you while you’re busy making other plans. That sounds about right. I was scheduled to go to a 3-day ski demo next week up at Mission Ridge. To tell the truth, I was looking forward to it, maybe learn a thing or two… at […]

Super Bowl Sunday

Posted by Ken Campbell February 2, 2009 0 Comment 853 views

Sunday morning. A quiet morning with the air not too cold, not too hot, no wind (or not much, anyway). I can think of a lot of things to do that would not be nearly as pleasurable as time spent on the water with my wife. There was a time, before the boy arrived, when […]