Dispatch #37 - The Trona Pinnacles
This month marks the 11th anniversary of a random January camping trip I took in 2015 — one that would eventually rearrange the trajectory of my life.
I’m not sure which rabbit hole I fell into on the antiquated BLM website that led me to the Trona Pinnacles, but of all the tunnels I could have crawled into while looking for a place to camp, I’m sure glad it delivered us to those ethereal tufas.
We left Los Angeles on New Year’s Day, 2015 — my kids in car seats, my wife at home with our newborn. I remember thinking that no matter how this impromptu camping trip turned out, or what the Pinnacles looked like, we were going to have some kind of adventure. And that seemed to matter as much as anything.
Four hours later we arrived to the gravel entrance off Highway 178. We stretched, ran around, read the welcome signs, and then hopped back in our Element for the final six mile drive that would take us to the heart of the landscape.
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Dispatch #36 - A few of my Favorite Things from 2025
At the end of every year, I spend a few days taking inventory — an annual reflection on the people, trips, books, stats, images, and pop culture that shaped my year. It helps slow down time, but it also lends some wisdom and discernment as I plan for the year ahead.
One of those exercises is simply to ask: what sparked joy?
So here are just a few of my favorite things from 2025, outside of, you know, family and friends and the astonishment of having my own book released into the world.
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BLM Dispatch #35 - Whitney Pocket
The road to Whitney Pocket, the unofficial gateway to the Gold Butte National Monument, is paved all the way from Interstate 15.
There are potholes, gravel bars, and undulations that resemble the final scenes in One Battle After Another, but any vehicle could manage just fine.
We arrived at a circular gravel turnout at dark, a few hours past sunset. No one else around. Temperature: 41 degrees.
Reaching into my pack, I take out and then put on every single piece of clothing I brought. The bitter Michigan cold of my childhood and youth - a chill I once proudly believed made me a tough Michigander - has all but evaporated after twenty-two years living in annual warmth. 41 degrees feels like minus twenty…
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BLM Dispatch #34 - Gold Butte National Monument, Nevada
I think it’s safe to say Mason Voehl and I spent the entirety of last weekend repeating the same phrases, all of them orbiting shock, awe, and surprise.
We were camping and walking in Gold Butte National Monument, tucked into the far southeastern corner of Nevada.
I’m still processing everything I carried home from Gold Butte — the notes, thoughts, feelings, and photographs - so this week I’m keeping it simple and sharing a small selection of images from our time there…
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BLM Dispatch #33 - A Rock Called Snaggletooth
It was a new moon phase the first time I camped at a rock outcrop called Snaggletooth, named for the escarpment that rises from the Mojave floor like teeth, as if some sentient underground being were heaving its way toward the surface for a meal and then froze in time.
What’s left are jagged and jumbled striations, terra cotta colored with tiny islands of green scattered across the landscape by the likes of creosote, Mojave yucca, teddybear cholla…
This is prime desert tortoise country — the elusive reptile whose lineage reaches back millions of years, surviving heat and drought by sheltering in burrows and conserving water so effectively they can endure more than a year without a drink — a creature I’ve hoped to see in all my miles walking the Mojave but never have.
I arrived in winter, an hour before the sun fell out of sight, and immediately scampered up the one hundred and seventy foot climb from the desert floor to the top of Snaggletooth Rock for a good look around.
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BLM Dispatch #5 - BLM Campgrounds In the Eastern Sierra
One of the questions I hear most frequently from my Instagram community is whether there are actual campgrounds on BLM land.
It’s a great question because most people associate camping on BLM land with dispersed camping, the self-sufficient, rugged style usually done along roadside pullouts. Nearly all BLM land is open to this kind of camping, but I'll save those details for another newsletter.
But yes, there are hundreds of developed BLM campgrounds across the American West! And some of my absolute favorites are tucked in and along the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, just a short detour off famed Highway 395.
So, let’s dive into my favorite Eastern Sierra BLM campgrounds — with images, links, descriptions, and a beautiful illustrated map from my book…
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