Brian Davis

A study in light from my rainy walk last weekend for #footpathfriday. #pnw #hiking

#silentSunday #pnw

@ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org when a thunderstorm is coming you can shout, "batten down the hatches!" I will be very disappointed if you don't.

#footpathfriday with my spirit animal: ursus americanus. Probably the best picture I've ever taken of a bear, from backpacking in the Olympics last summer in the first mile of my first day. 😁 #pnw #hiking

I'm not sure if we've forgotten this, or never really knew it, but we've believed a cultural lie that joy must be earned, that every injustice must first be righted, and every broken thing mended, and every messy thing cleaned up, before we can allow ourselves to partake in joy. It's baloney. Joy can coexist with grief, rage, and even depression. It doesn't require anything of me except my attention. But that's the problem, my attention is usually divided a thousand ways. 2/

@ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org Stick em on the curb with a "free" sign and some idiot will collect them and store them in a pile behind his shop cause he's "gonna build that greenhouse some day." It's me. I'm the idiot.

Speaking of alpine meadows, wildflowers were in their prime and how! Pasqueflowers! I always imagine them doing a little bobbing dance. Paintbrush, Valerian, Lupine, Asters, Buckwheat, Beardtongue, Pearly Everlasting, on and on and on. Did I mention the clouds of butterflies with every step? 5/

#footpathfriday #pnw #hiking This really impressive collection of Western Skunk Cabbage (aka Swamp Lantern) from our beach trip last weekend. I dunno that I've ever seen so many in one place and so big!

My two camp spots: Paradise Park and Elk Cove did not disappoint! I saw no bad campsites on the Timberline but these were both something special. Both places was within hearing distance of a water source and I could sleep with one eye on the mountain while still having trees for shade and convenient hammocking. There were some flies and midges at Elk Cove but hardly any mosquitos. 6/

It's #mountainmonday so I'm thinking about mountains. Not unlike other days that end in 'y'. 😄 #pnw #hiking

Third day had most of the above treeline travel. It was warm but the breeze helped a lot. Crossing a couple of small snowfields was easy without traction but made me wonder how much of this route was glacier travel 30 years ago. 7/

Comparing the Timberline to the Loowit (around Mt St Helens), Timberline is better maintained and more gently graded. There's much less scrambling but there are more river crossings. You spend more time with the mountain obscured and it never feels as close, but there are highlights like Ramona falls and the alpine meadows that don't really have analogs on the Loowit. Loowit feels more wild and remote, there's more wildlife and fewer day hikers. Everything about Mt Hood feels bigger. 4/

@mlanger@mastodon.world those plug in hybrid rav4s look sweet. I had an older ICE only rav and loved it.

Now the ambitious part. I'm collecting round-the-mountain trails and have been wanting to do the Timberline around Mt Hood. I hit the trail again Sunday morning planning to do all 40 miles in 3 days. Not a terribly unusual feat but a stretch for me, especially right after Adams. Sat: 9.4 mi +5146' (15.1 km +1568m) Sun: 12.3 mi +3840' (19.8 km +1170m) Mon: 14.6 mi +3640' (23.5 km +1109m) Tue: 14.6 mi +3210' (23.5 km +978m) Total: 50.9 mi +15,836' (81.9 km +4827m) 42.5 hours of traveling 2/

For #waterfallwednesday I give you the spectacular Ramona Falls. I had never been there before hiking the Timberline weekend before last. Well deserving its iconic reputation. #pnw #hiking

I was really pleased with how my body and gear held up on this trip. I tended to have some foot pain by the end of the day but recovered with food and sleep. Only real problem was my normally comfy trail runners were feeling snug on day 2 and gave me some nasty blisters by the end. Already ordered a bigger pair. Would have loved more idle time to soak it all in but there is something deeply meditative and calming about spending multiple days just walking. 8/

And revert to shouting slurs because they feel threatened by slightest suggestion they might be wrong. They avoid actually engaging with ideas on merits because they are terrified of looking foolish and learning they were wrong is too scary. That's the opposite of courage. My cat isn't being brave when she flips out because I tried to clip her nails. Her fear is in charge. These guys are doing the same thing. 11/

Planning the Timberline was a fun challenge. Typical is 4 days starting from Timberline Lodge and that let's you neatly divide the mountain in quarters and camp at the main highlights. For my 3 day itinerary I started from the Elk Meadows TH and went clockwise, camping at Paradise Park and Elk Cove. That divided up the mileage and elevation pretty neatly (see above) but technically I cut the corner off and skipped part of the traditional trail between Newton Creek and Mt Hood Meadows. 3/

That was all a preface to something I've recently realized about the folks hyping "real" masculinity, the anti-trans, homophobic, fascism supporting movement. When I hear these talking heads ranting about how wokeness is making us (American culture) weak, feminism is emasculating men, diversity is leading to the fall of the empire, etc, I had this gut reaction, I thought, "These guys are cowards." But I couldn't articulate why I thought that until just now. 9/

But better than that, it started a process to reframe fear as a signal to get curious and take another look. What was I afraid of happening? Was that a realistic outcome? Could the risk be mitigated? At some point I started to view fear as a sign that here was something that could cause me to grow. I think of Physical Courage as the ability to override the animal instinct to self preservation. Something like jumping off the high dive at the pool. 3/

All their suggestions for action are based on fear. They're afraid feminists are going to (somehow?) destroy the masculinity of real men, dominate women. Diversity is going to (somehow?) take away their strength, attack people who are different. Immigrants are threatening white culture, state sanctioned violence towards immigrants. For all their loud declarations of strength and manhood, questioning these tough guys' ideas causes them to go immediately on the aggression. 10/

The same techniques apply. Analysis: What am I afraid of? What are the legitimate risks and consequences of saying yes? Can those be mitigated? What will it cost me to say no to this? What outcome do I want? Planning: How can I work toward that outcome? What things are in my control? How can I practice scenario? Then, practice, discipline, experience, and growth. There's no universal heuristic. 7/

But we're all animals and capable of the same thing. I think it's worth sitting with that and learning from it. Fear is a signal to get curious. Courage is the ability to act against the urge of fear and requires preparation, practice, and discipline. 12/

@TimKStanton@mstdn.social Looks like a great place to wander!

@ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org why in world did they not just use lead? Or tungsten? Surely there was a significantly cheaper option.

Sometimes I say no because the risks are not acceptable. Sometimes I just don't have it in me today. Sometimes I say yes and regret it. Sometimes I do the thing and it's really hard and I fuck it up, but come believe it was the right decision anyway. I hate the fact that the right decision can feel wrong and the wrong decision feel right, but we do our best anyway. 8/

Without that preparation and practice, without having a plan and the physical ability to carry it out, we tend to freeze up. And this generalizes all over the place. Public speaking, hard conversations, finding out I was wrong, accepting accountability, being authentic and vulnerable, helping people in crisis, anytime that I realize my behavior (usually avoidance) is being directed by fear. This is another kind of courage, I don't have a perfect name for, let's call it Relational Courage. 6/

@ErikBussink@infosec.exchange @djwfyi@fosstodon.org @iostat@vmst.io Someone once told me that time was a predator that stalked us all our lives. I rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on the journey and reminds us to cherish every moment, because it will never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we've lived. After all Number One, we're only mortal. -Picard

And here's a question for the #photography crowd. I often have problems with washout (like the top of this image) on cloudy days like today. I usually try to resolve this by going to "pro" mode (Motorola phone) and messing with sliders. Usually the "shutter speed" (whatever that means on a camera with no mechanical shutter). Is there a better approach? What does that setting even mean for a phone camera?

@douglasvb@m.ai6yr.org @mlanger@mastodon.world @bhhaskin@social.bitsofsimplicity.com @ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org @LabSpokane@mas.to are you planning to sail around Antarctica?

@douglasvb@m.ai6yr.org @mlanger@mastodon.world @bhhaskin@social.bitsofsimplicity.com @ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org @LabSpokane@mas.to ha! Well that's a hell of an adventure. Isn't the antartic sea some of the roughest water on earth? Or is that just the Drake passage?

New instance, new #introduction time. Formerly intrepidhero@vmst.io. I post a lot of #hiking, #mountaineering, and #caturday pictures, #cooking, #gardening, #diy projects, esoteric #programming and grumpy #tech and #design thoughts, and #poetry, both my own and attributed. I like #scifi and #fantasy and when I post about politics it will get a CW. Posts are meant to be ephemeral. Anything I want to keep up long term will end up on my website. ☮️

There's only room for the intense, whole body focus that the activity requires. I think the state he's describing is the biological state that is created by the emotion of fear. The survival instinct takes over, heart rate and respiration increase, focus narrows. Everything becomes about surviving the next few moments. Being able to exist in that state and retain the ability to consciously act requires preparation, discipline, and practice. 5/

@tsupasat@infosec.exchange hmmm I see it. Maybe hasn't propogated yet?

Many people have a natural, physiological reaction to heights. I ask myself, is the activity legitimately dangerous? What are the risks? How can I mitigate them? Is the mitigated risk acceptable? Fear is the signal that starts analysis. It can trigger intense focus. But I don't want it to be the deciding factor. I saw an interview with Alex Honnold (first person to free solo El Capitan) and when asked if he was afraid he said something like in free climbing there's no room for fear. 4/