An Experience that Changed the Trajectory of my Life
From one brutal hike came a 15-year journey—35,000 miles walked through wild landscapes and everyday life, and into the wilderness within.
On May 20, 2010, I stood on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, waiting for my friend Jon to arrive, trying not to shit my pants as I pondered what I had gotten myself into.
I had trained for the 46-mile rim-to-rim-to-rim “day hike,” but nothing could have prepared me for what unfolded over the next 20-plus hours. The physical agony and emotional unraveling I experienced in the depths of the canyon were brutal.
That journey broke me open. When it ended, I wasn’t the same person who had entered. Something inside me had awakened.
That day launched a 15-year trek—35,000 miles of walking, wandering, and sauntering. Not just across some of the world’s most breathtaking landscapes—in the Wind Rivers and Tetons of Wyoming, Iceland, the Camino de Santiago, the Swiss Alps—but also through my daily life, and across the vast, untamed wilderness inside myself.
Those miles taught me what it takes to live one's epic life. Not an easy life, nor a perfect one, but a life that will both break your heart and take your breath away. A fully lived and awake life.
That’s what my new book, Breathtaking: A Field Guide to Living Your Epic Life, is about.
It isn’t a “How-To.” It’s a “Walk-With.”
Eight field-tested lessons. Stories of failure, triumph, awe, and grit. Reflections and practices to help you chart your own wild and precious path.
This book is for seekers, leaders, and anyone at a crossroads who senses something’s shifting—or needs to.
The Poet, Mary Oliver, wrote, as her Instructions for Living a Life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.
For the past 15 years, I’ve paid attention. I’ve been astonished. And now, in Breathtaking, I tell about it.
(I write this with deep gratitude for the Grand Canyon, which is currently enduring the devastation of the Dragon Bravo Fire. I hold hope for its recovery, as I owe much of my own awakening to its vast and breathtaking embrace.)
Look forward to your book sharing years of self discovery through hiking thousands of miles on trails. I too felt an incredible connection to the Grand Canyon in 1998 when I hiked Rim to Rim (my love for the canyon began in 1991 when I backpacked to the bottom for the first time). I remember reading about your R3 (amazing!) on your blog (which I stumbled upon years ago). I knew then that you were an extra special person and proceeded to friend request you. Have loved following your life’s journey.