Kicking the Bucket List: In Praise of Serendipity

Kicking the Bucket List

In Praise of Serendipity

Many blogs and websites now showcase bucket lists. They’re as important to the modern traveler as his smartphone. But is this a good thing? Last week, Farwell weighed up the bucket list’s destructive potential. And this week? With a little help from the princes of Serendip, he’s digging deeper.
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by Farwell Forrest | February 2, 2018
Originally published in somewhat different form on July 18, 2017

Bucket lists are all the rage these days, touted by legions of bloggers and countless chambers of commerce. The former are probably in the game for the notoriety: “Hey, guys, I just got back from checking out the seals on Elephant Island. That was Number 125 on my list. Awesome!” The chambers of commerce aren’t into bragging rights, however. As you’d expect, they have their eyes fixed firmly on the bottom line, and any list of must‑see attractions is tailor‑made to lure ever larger flocks of sheep to the shearing pen.

What’s not to like? Bucket lists bring clicks to bloggers who’d otherwise have nothing to say and tourist dollars to rural communities with little left to sell but scenery. So why am I not a fan? Well, there’s more to … Read more »

Kicking the Bucket List

A Declaration of Independence

Kicking the Bucket List

As flash mobs assemble on lonely summits and “binge hiking” enters the working newshound’s vocabulary, it’s time to take a closer look at the bucket list. Is it a benign phenomenon, just the latest New Big Thing to engage the attention of a networked nation desperately seeking diversion? Or is it something else — a final breach in the last wall protecting wild places, say? Farwell opts for the latter alternative. And today he makes his case.
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by Farwell Forrest | January 26, 2018
Originally published, in somewhat different form, on July 4, 2017

I‘ll be the first to admit that Oscar Wilde isn’t one of my favorite authors. A flamboyant egoist, he epitomized camp a century before camp was cool, and his personal life was a tortured, untidy muddle that ended in tragedy. But I can’t deny that he had a way with words. And when, in reading “The Critic as Artist” for the first time not so very long ago, I came across Wilde’s plaint that “the old roads and dusty highways have been traversed too often[, and] their charm has been worn away by plodding feet,” my thoughts turned immediately to … Read more »

Boyz in the Woods: Coyote Tells It Like It Is

Boyz in the Woods

Coyote Tells It Like It Is

It’s the Chinese Year of the Dog, and just the other night we heard a distant coyote family howling under a full moon. So it seemed only right that we revisit this column from the early years of In the Same Boat. Coyote doesn’t have an easy time of it in the Adirondack foothills these days. Pursued by dogs, targeted by “varmint” hunters, “harvested” by trappers… Coyote finds enemies everywhere he turns. But make no mistake: He’s not giving up. Coyote is here to stay.
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by Tamia Nelson | January 5, 2018

A Tamia Nelson Article on Backinthesameboat.com

A Note to the Reader

It was early evening. Cool, but not cold—in the 20s, in fact. Warm for February. A light dusting of new snow covered the bare ground, reflecting the pale silver light of a waxing moon. I stepped outside. Except for a barking dog in the far distance, the ‘Flow was quiet. Suddenly, a shrill yip shattered the stillness. It was immediately answered by a second. The distant dog stopped barking. Silence. Then there was a third yip. And another. And yet another. And soon a swelling chorus of yips and tremolos sounded from one end … Read more »

A Paddlers’ Code of Conduct

A Paddlers’ Code of Conduct

Everybody Pitches In, and Nobody Gets Left Behind

Do your trips occasionally resemble an episode from Game of Thrones? Then Tamia has some good news for you: It doesn’t have to be that way.
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by Tamia Nelson | December 8, 2017
First published, in somewhat different form, on August 22, 2017

There’s safety in numbers. Or so the experts say. And I agree. Up to a point. But like most wise saws, this one is missing a few teeth. Safety in the backcountry isn’t simply a matter of arithmetic. It’s a matter of balance, and striking the right balance begins with choosing the right paddling partners. I described my approach to this vital preliminary in an earlier article. Now I’m going to take the next step, outlining what I call the “paddlers’ code of conduct.” It’s a summary statement of the rights and responsibilities of paddlers who choose, quite sensibly, to travel in company with other like-minded souls.

Let’s begin with the responsibilities of the group to each of its members. A paddling party is a collective enterprise, and the first rule in the code of conduct is therefore the easiest to state:

Nobody … Read more »