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Bushwhack Jack’s Tracts, by Jack Drury

I’m dying to meet you

I love Alaska. I’ve been there three times and each trip has been special. In 2005, I got to spend a week in Haines with Phyliss while visiting my son Dustin, who was working as a river guide. Lately I’ve been thinking about Haines, a picturesque coastal community in southeastern ...

Study the statistics, don’t become one

Do you hike up Baker Mountain? Do you bike the Rail Trail? Do you aspire to be a 46er? How about climbing Denali? Do you fish, hunt or travel outdoors for any reason? If you answer yes to any of these questions, then this column’s for you. It’s about the Leave No Trace principles. I first ...

A tale of unhappy trails

The Northville-Lake Placid Trail is an Adirondack treasure. Initiated in 1922 and completed in 1924, it starts in Northville and finishes in Lake Placid largely because when they planned the trail, it was where the railroads could drop off and pick up people. It is the first and longest ...

Things that go ‘Help!’ in the night

My wife, without exception, is the most caring person I know. You want someone with sympathy, empathy and charity, Phyliss is your gal. Whether you’ve scraped your knee or lost a family member, she’s going to provide comfort and solace. If you come to me with the same, I’m little help at ...

Pyres, planes and polar bears

I met Doc Bill Forgey when we both served on the board of directors of the Wilderness Education Association. Bill is a wilderness medicine expert, prolific author, entrepreneur and wonderful storyteller. He shared many stories of his cabin on the Little Beaver River in northern Manitoba. In ...

Gone to the dogs

If life is measured by family, adventure, passion for work and hobbies, and humor, my mother checks all the boxes. Kitty Drury came from an old New England family. She grew up in Warren, Rhode Island and spent summers in the family summer home in Cataumet, Cape Cod, where she learned to ...