Washington

My Dog Lay Down on the Trail and Refused to Move Five miles into the Chelan Lakeshore Trail, my dog, Basil, walked past me, stopped in the middle of the trail, and lay down. Not the “this shade looks nice” lie-down. The other one. The one that means I have consulted my remaining resources and we are done here. Basil has never done that before. We were five to six miles from where I’d planned to stop for the day, it was pushing 90 degrees, and there wasn’t nearly as much shade as we were used to. The nearest camp was a mile away, and the plan I’d spent weeks building needed to adapt to the circumstances — fast. So I picked him up and started walking. ...

Backpacking the Enchantments: What Happens When You Aren’t Expecting to Win the Lottery The Enchantments are one of the most competitive backpacking lotteries in the United States, so in 2025 I entered the lottery fully expecting to lose. But I ended up winning on my first try (Fellow backpackers, don’t hate me!) So now I had a problem. I’d entered the Enchantments lottery the way you enter a sweepstakes on a cereal box: no real plan, no expectation of winning, and that when I eventually won in a few years, I would have much more experience and training under my belt. The plan was to enter for a few years, build up a proper gear kit, and eventually do it right. Instead, I got a permit for a July 4th weekend on my very first attempt. ...