At the Green River crossing in Middle-of-Nowhere, Wyoming.
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Embedded into the backcountry areas of Zion National Park, the Sierra Nevada, Death Valley National Park, and the Mojave Desert, Courtney Purcell's ramblings have also taken him all across the country and the world. From hiking, climbing and peakbagging in the Rockies, the Andes, the high volcanoes of Washington and Mexico, into the depths explored in spelunking, and the canyoneering of the Colorado Plateau, here you'll find trip reports, route beta and "stuff" relevant to the world of...
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Topics
- Alps
- Andes
- Canadian Rockies
- Capitol Reef Nat'l Park
- Cascades (California)
- Cascades (Central WA)
- Cascades (Enchantments)
- Cascades (North Cascades)
- Cascades (Oregon)
- Central America
- City of Rocks
- CO Plateau (Bullfrog)
- CO Plateau (Escalante)
- CO Plateau (North Wash)
- CO Plateau (Robbers Roost)
- CO Plateau (Silver Reef)
- Coastal California
- Colorado Rockies (Elk Range)
- Colorado Rockies (Front)
- Colorado Rockies (Mosquito)
- Colorado Rockies (San Juans)
- Colorado Rockies (Sawatch)
- Colorado Rockies (Tenmile)
- Crater Lake National Park
- Death Valley National Park
- East Coast
- Glacier National Park (MT)
- Grand Canyon National Park
- Grand Teton National Park
- Lake Powell / Glen Canyon
- Lassen Volcanic Nat'l Park
- Mexican Volcanoes
- Moab
- Mojave Desert
- Mount Rainier National Park
- Red Rock Canyon
- Rocky Mountain National Park
- San Rafael Swell
- Sedona
- Selkirks
- Sierra Nevada (Big Pine Crk)
- Sierra Nevada (Bishop)
- Sierra Nevada (Convict Lake)
- Sierra Nevada (George Crk)
- Sierra Nevada (Lake Tahoe)
- Sierra Nevada (Lone Pine)
- Sierra Nevada (Mammoth)
- Sierra Nevada (North Lake)
- Sierra Nevada (Onion Valley)
- Sierra Nevada (Palisades)
- Sierra Nevada (Rock Creek)
- Sierra Nevada (Shep. Pass)
- Sierra Nevada (South Lake)
- SoCal High Peaks
- Spelunking
- The Great Basin
- Wasatch
- White Water Rafting
- Yellowstone National Park
- Yosemite National Park
- Zion National Park
About Me
Courtney Purcell in the Media
Links
- 13er Girl
- 14ers.com
- Adventure Internet
- AllZion.com
- American Alpine Journal
- Bogley Canyon TRs
- Canyoneering USA
- Cascade Climbers
- Cheap RV Living
- Climb-Utah
- Climbwild.net
- Dow Climbing
- Globalize This
- Harlan's Haven
- Highpointers
- Hiking 4 Health
- Hribi.net - Hiking
- Joe Braun Photography
- Lists of John
- Outdoor Gear
- Outdoor Sporting Gear
- Rick's Pics
- Summitpost
- The Mountaineering Blog
- The Pristine Zone
- WWWright
- Zion National Park
...those moments when time stands still. The catalysts are as varied as the individuals who pursue this path: a meteor shower; a night sky so star-filled that it snatches your breath; another rise of the sun over distant mountains vast and untouchable; dodging a rock careening crazily down a gully; a desperate icy struggle through whiteout and ground blizzard down to the safety of camp after an unsuccessful summit attempt; standing atop a mountain with a friend, the whole world at your feet, a blinding sun blazing out of a flawless sky, taking the time to watch that sun dip below the horizon even though camp is still many miles and many thousands of feet distant; stumbling over boulders and through brush in the darkness; watching the starlight and the storm wrest for possession of the night sky, seated on a narrow ledge beside your rope-mate with only the clothes on your back for shelter, shivering the night away, knowing that, sometime in a distant place you cannot now touch, the world will once again grow bright, the sun will rise, and you will look out on the infant day with new eyes.
-Bruce Binder
One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am - a reluctant enthusiast....a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards.
-Edward Abbey
-Bruce Binder
One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am - a reluctant enthusiast....a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards.
-Edward Abbey
Future plans? I used to think about it. Now I don’t. Another year—two—three in the canyons? Every new canyon, every summit, every day down here is just too valuable.
-Steve Allen