Explorations and Adventures?

The Jaws Of Defeat

They say an adventure is a well planned trip gone awry -- what the hell is it when a piss-poorly planned trip goes to hell? It seemed so easy in "Into The Wild": get on the train, and wait for it to take me places. I decided to give it a try with a week of reading period and less than scholarly study habits, and packed my bag for some semblance of a backpacking trip. A little bit of research seemed to show that the westbound tracks led to Chicago, or at least Cleveland, or failing all else Buffalo, and…

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Dental Dispensary

Unfortunately I lost all my photos from 2007-08, so this is all I have left from one of the first and still best places I've ever explored, the Eastman Dental Dispensary. Solitary staircase Missing steps Extra steps Forgotten steps Unloved (all its long existence) Unclimbed (at least half) Unforgiving atria Revulsive chambers, still Echoing silence louder than sound Ceiling (palate) nesting parasitic aviae. Cubicle tongue stretched through unfound door Vitreous teeth Sharper than canine Protruding unsteady exfoliate walls; Fluffles of feathers Visceral confetti Surrounded in sanitary-green destruction --One last victim of long-lost therapy Resting in newfallen snow~ Dissected, forgotten-- Spattered…

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Apollo 12

I said I was looking for adventure -- it didn't take me long to find it! I climbed Mt Marcy (5348', highest point in New York State) last weekend with my scout troop. Lesson learned: mountains are big! It was an epic experience, even if it's an experience that a certain someone doesn't believe I could ever do, despite the photo evidence! I should have known from the start that this was a bad sign, that not many people go this way. The beginning of the hike was flat and easy enough, about 5 miles to Calamity Pond, where we…

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In The Beginning

I should have seen the signs for a while, maybe I even did see it; summer of 8th grade year, getting absolutely covered in poison sumac, and all I did was apply to be a CIT at my camp, come back for four weeks of it. Then once I got there, it was almost a calling, teaching wilderness survival. It came naturally to me, I felt like it was useful knowledge I'd need someday. Sure, I could have avoided a lot of deerfly bites specializing in basket weaving or rugby, but I couldn't stop learning the ways of nature. Then…

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