On traveler rudeness, small acts of kindness, unexpected celebrities, and a sightseeing experiment to examine a narrow, 20-year band of Rome’s history

A horseback ride into the Andes Mountains of Chile with a young guide and budding environmentalist.

On the third day, we broke camp early for a change and drove back through Missoula (pausing to stock up on groceries and, for the adults, to call home quickly and be sure families and work were getting along OK without us) then headed west on I-90 to rip some serious rapids and get a change of scenery along the […]

I was awakened nest morning by a woodpecker practicing his Morse code and the honking of Canada geese. Though hiking can take you to a greater variety of places, river trips trump backpacking in two key areas. You can just roll off your craft for a refreshing dunk in the river whenever you get overheated, and the boat can carry […]

The great thing about having former members of 116 scattered to the four winds is that the troop retains the right to call them back into service at any moment. Agnew and Dave Henderson were tapped to purchase the new van we had waiting when the troop arrived in Colorado. I came along to held lead (i.e.: drive) for the […]

“You guys want to take the shorter, easier trail over that low pass, or the longer, harder one straight up that way?” As soon as I asked, I knew I had sealed my fate. Also, John Agnew’s. No way six teenage Boy Scouts were going to let their adult leaders take the easy way over the Continental Divide. Never mind […]

We marched out to the van two by two–we always have to try and confuse hoteliers as to how many more people than we claimed we had were actually crammed into their rooms–and munched on cold, greasy pizza for breakfast as we drove east into Yoho National Park (www.parkscanada.ca/yoho). Yoho receives a mere fraction of the visitors at world renowned […]

We could tell we were in a strange, foreign land just from the roadside billboards: “CORN (Coming Soon)” “British Columbia Improvement Project; End of Project” “WARNING: Killer Highway Ahead” “Executive Realty, Call Us First” (and no phone number) “Studies Show Guys Like Cold Beer (That Was A Waste of Money)” As we wended our way east on the Transcanada Highway, […]

Troop 116 was an hour late, but in 116 terms that’s about four hours before I expected them. No worries, though, as it took me a full 90 minutes making my way through the Vancouver airport, given the grilling I got from immigration and, later, customs when–for the first time in my life (and I travel an obscene amount)–I got […]

I’ve learned never to argue with a man holding a machete. So when one of our guides, Mark Franco, Jr., whipped out his blade and said “Hey, you want to see something neat?” I simply hung my helmet on the handlebars of my rented Specialized Rockhopper and followed Mark into the jungle. Five minutes of hacking later, we arrived at […]