Once upon a time an enterprising rock climber launched a line of clothing for extreme sports. He named it “Patagonia,” a word that triggers a visceral reaction in adventurers and wannabes. Even the armchair traveler experiences a shiver visualizing one of the wildest regions on earth, a faraway place with strange creatures, rugged terrain and […]
Peru: So Many Mysteries, So Little Time
Machu Picchu, Peru’s “Lost City of the Incas,” made my life list when I was in junior high school. Now, at the end of my sixth decade, I’ve focused more intently on my “must see” goals — Egypt’s pyramids, Cambodia’s Angkor Wat, China’s Great Wall, the Rwandan mountain gorillas, etc. With the turmoil in the […]
West Virginia’s New River Gorge National River
If you’re a Baby Boomer (born 1946-1964), mention of the New River brings to mind intense whitewater adventures under Spartan conditions. If you didn’t experience it, you heard about it from friends who rafted or kayaked the Lower New in the 60s and 70s. They talked of paddling Class III-V rapids, eating soggy baloney sandwiches […]
Nature’s Roller Coasters
Nature makes the best roller coasters. Rafting is wet, wild and exhilarating—and no two rides on a whitewater river are ever the same. Today’s upscale outfitters won’t guarantee that anyone will stay dry—or even stay in the raft—but they do promise indulgences at the end of the day. In the 1970s whitewater rafting was a […]