There are places that ask something of you the moment you arrive, not through words or signage or even difficulty, but through presence alone. The Owyhee River is one of those places.

In the Southern Willamette Valley, organizations like the Disciples of Dirt are working to ensure mountain bike riding will continue on public and private lands where appropriate.

The Pacific Golden Chanterelle (Cantharellus formosus) is a treasure that some of us have delighted in eating, and even fewer have indulged in foraging for themselves.

Fall is also the time of the humble surf perch, of empty beaches and breaking waves, of hit and miss coastal excursions where casting a fly line into the mighty Pacific brings me as much joy as a forty pounder if only for the absolute absurdity of the endeavor.