New Article! "Golden Trout" on Matador

I've got a new feature up on MatadorTravel.com, about searching for Golden Trout in the Wind Rivers of Wyoming. I think it's one of my better stories, and I hope you enjoy it.

Here's the link:

Golden Trout

Happy Holidays From Patagonia!

With 18 hours of daylight (and a bright full moon at night) it doesn't quite feel like Christmas in southern Argentina. I miss my family, but my friends are here - 5 of my best friends from Williams, down to celebrate together by the shore of a lake, drinking Malbec, eating steaks and (hopefully) catching some enormous trout.

I feel so lucky, and so grateful. Sadly, the wind today makes uploading photos impossible, so my Christmas Card photo will have to wait.

Until then - Happy Holidays! - and lots of love.

What Henry David Thoreau Taught Me About Travel

I've got a new post up on BNT about how travel is a state of mind independent of location.

"Thoreau understood something that many of us modern day nomads would do well to recognize: travel is a matter of perspective, not location. With curiosity, an open mind and a broad horizon of free time, it’s possible to travel in your own backyard."

Read the full essay!

Just Another Day At The Office

Tyrolean traverse over the Fitzroy River en-route to Cerro Torre, near El Chalten, Southern Patagonia.

Ice-climbing on the glacier above Laguna Torre.

Patagonia Photos

Here are a few photos from the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares, near El Calafate.

This afternoon I'm off to El Chalten, a trekking village founded in 1985 at the base of Mt. Fitzroy and Cerro Torre.

High In Patagonia

You know those magic moments?

The times when everything falls into place, and happiness just wells up and overflows and you can’t help but grin and think: I wouldn’t trade this feeling for anything in the world.

That’s why I travel. And that’s how I feel right now.

I’m writing in El Calafate, gateway to the glaciers of Southern Patagonia. Today I went on a – free - Land Rover expedition into the barren hills a thousand meters above town, overlooking Lago Argentino and the high peaks at the end of the Andes.

The wind blasted over the high desert, erratic boulders scattered on the plain. We stopped for lunch in a yurt sheltered by sandstone pillars above a little meadow where horses grazed. I ate fresh grilled steak on a baguette and drank a glass of Malbec wine, then another steak, then another Malbec and then someone filled my cup again, up to the brim, and Man the sunlight was pure and everything was wonderful and the Land Rover bucked and plunged, pointing straight down one moment, so that bright turquoise Lago Argentino filled the windshield - baby icebergs scudding like sailboats far below - and a moment later, rocking back in our seats the mountains loomed above, wispy gray clouds and – straight up now – the most brilliant blue sky.

Back in town I was dropped off at my new hotel – free - the best in town. The bellman insisted on carrying my pack upstairs and put the keycard into the slot by the door, so that the power went on – the TV went on too; it was tuned to a music channel and a song by The Killers was playing and I felt like the luckiest kid in the world.

The only thing is, I wish I could share this feeling. I want to go out and get another bottle of wine and toast everything in sight. So – friends and family, wherever in the world you are, raise a glass with me and remember how magical this marvelous world can be.

I wish you were here.