Aer Parris

Oregon is cracked. It is hot. It has vast expanses where openness reigns. I am in love with this state, so strange and different…

Today was a beautiful day. We left camp late, at nearly 10am, and stopped just two hours later for a long lunch. Just an…

I woke up today close to one of the few shelters on the trail. There were a million people. Maybe even two million. I…

This swelling of love surges — I run my hands over the long, supple grass that has overtaken the landscape. I look out past…

I didn’t feel like leaving town yesterday. I didn’t feel like leaving town today. I still had chores and packing and coffee to drink….

I woke up so early this morning. It was the morning that I would head into Ashland. Ashland has been this mythical town. I…

I must have left a piece of my heart at the Oregon border when I flew over it in April on my way to…

Birds pooping on my sleeping bag woke me. Plop, plop, plop. I wondered what the noise was, then faded back into dreamtown. I woke…

I awoke at 7am today, and congratulated myself on turning 26. This day is the day the last of adulthood settles upon me: the…

Hiking with another person changes my brain chemistry. It is bizarre. I can’t explain it. But it is lovely. Felix Felicis hiked with me…

I woke this morning, stumbled out of my tent (creaking and ouching like the busted up creature I have become), and called my dad…

I woke up late, but excited to head into town. Etna! Everyone on trail has been twittering about how hiker friendly it is. I…