Stories

  • Duncan Knob

    View on Duncan Knob, originally uploaded by Matthew Singer. I got up early this morning to hike before the heat of the day. I would have liked to have gotten up earlier to be at the summit for that early light, but I enjoyed what I got. I arrived at my trailhead by 8:00 and reached the summit of Duncan Knob a little after 10 and I had the trail and the rocks to myself. I basked in the sunshine and enjoyed the view for almost an hour before heading back. When I got back on the Gap Creek Trail,…

  • Life at Camp

    I haven’t been very good at updating this or my livejournal in a while. I’ve been fairly busy for the past few weeks. I returned to my job at the mountain campus (www.mountaincampus.org, check us out) in the middle of March and spent the first two weeks cleaning up and preparing for the season. With all of the heavy snow this winter, we had a fair number of trees fall in critical places, so we spent the better part of a week removing some of them. It’s been so wet, though, that we can’t get to all of them with…

  • |

    Asotin Creek

    The Deep Gorge Originally uploaded by Matthew Singer While we were out in Idaho, we had the pleasure of taking a day and hiking. While the Moscow area was devoid of any snow this year, the surrounding mountains still had a bit of the white stuff, and forget about trying to get to the big mountains. It was winter, after all. I’m particularly excited about the nearly year-round hiking available out there. In the summer, I can retreat to the high country. In the winter, I can head low into the canyons where it stays pretty warm late into the…

  • Heading West

    The Palouse, originally uploaded by Matthew Singer. Holy Smokes, it’s March already? My how time flies. It’s funny how time goes by when life is mundane and you feel like you’ve wasted the days. On the other hand, when you’ve got something to look forward to, it just can’t come fast enough. I suppose I ought to let you, my readers, up to speed on my future. In January, I received a notice of acceptance to the University of Idaho. So last week, Erin and I went out that way to visit the school and the area. Long story short,…

  • Photographing Birds on the Farm

    Fox sparrow Passerella iliaca White-crowned sparrow Zonotrichia leucophrys Northern cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis Today I took the camera out to photograph the birds. We’ve got a feeder in the front yard, but all the birds flock to the seed spilled on the ground. So I threw the dogs inside, scattered a can of seed on the ground, sat and waited. It didn’t take long for the birds to come in. Around the farm, I’ve been mostly seeing the usual winter birds: Cardinals, Chickadees, Titmice, Carolina Wren, Junco, Song Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, and some non-feeder birds: American Crow, Raven, Black and Turkey…

  • National Aquarium in Baltimore

    National Aquarium in Baltimore Originally uploaded by Matthew Singer Last Saturday, Erin had to go to Towson to take her riding instructor exam. I dropped her off at Goucher College and headed to REI, only to find that they didn’t open for another hour, so I drove down the road to Borders, looked at books I couldn’t afford, and played on the reliable fast internet for a while. It’s funny, when I went into the the store at 9:30, there were barely any cars in the parking lot. When I left at 11:00, the lot was full. I did make…

  • A new Mineral2.com

    For the longest time, I have been wanting to re-design my site to make it easy to update and manage content. At first, I thought a content management system would suit me, but I found them to be a bit daunting. Perhaps later I’ll re-visit the idea, but for the amount of content that I actually publish, a blogging platform would do me much better. I still have the photography up using Gallery2 and the main website is now using WordPress. I figured if I’m going to provide stories and updates, I might as well do it in blog form…

  • Memorial Day Weekend and more

    On top of The World Originally uploaded by Matthew Singer. Its Memorial Day Weekend already! My how time flies. There’s been a lot happening lately, and between illnesses and deaths in the family, I haven’t been out exploring and backpacking as much as I would have liked. I’m finally going to get out on my three-day weekend. I will be hiking the Three Ridges Wilderness loop with two nights out on the trail. Next week, Erin and I leave for Las Vegas for a friend’s wedding. I’m more excited about our week at Zion National Park after all the festivities….

  • A much needed update

    View on Kennedy Peak Originally uploaded by Matthew Singer. Wow. I realized I haven’t updated this place in quite some time. A lot has happened in the past year. I went back to Ferry Beach (www.fbes.org) in the fall and had some fun on the coast of Maine with weekends in the White Mountains again. I spent the winter in Hagerstown unsuccessfully looking for a job. And now I’ve finally found one in Luray, Va with the Sheridan School’s Mountain Campus (www.mountaincampus.org). I work at a facility nestled up against Shenandoah National Park, and literally somewhere in the photo above….

  • Chicago

    On Monday, I went into Chicago to meet up with the elusive Gloria Mui who I haven’t seen since Medfest 2005. She was in Chicago for some pharmaceutical conference. So yesterday I took the train into the city, and actually missed the train I wanted because I couldn’t find a parking space in the first lot. Well, I got into the city and met up with her and we took the L out to the Garfield Park Conservatory. The greenhouse and gardens are a bit larger than those of Lincoln Park, and much nicer too. I really liked their fern…