Nature, environment, and a little philosophy
July 2020: plans to return to the Alps this summer crashed and burned, so we pivoted locally and went backpacking in Southern California's backyard: the Eastern Sierra. Eric and I aren't classic trail warriors. We prefer to follow our curiosity up pathless valleys and over unnamed saddles, walking quietly, treading lightly. Optimism is our strongest …
Every time I visit Joshua Tree seems like the last time I'll photograph it - for how many ways can there be to frame a yucca? Yet each season brings new colour and weather to the desert. In December, the buckwheat had turned a vivid burgundy, and it was stormy. Our first evening, we climbed …
October 2019 - Discovering the undeveloped beaches of Mexico half a day's drive and a handful of taco shops south of San Diego. For me, looking for rare plants is one of the most exciting aspects of traveling in Baja California. In the last photo in this gallery, I stand among critically endangered Shaw's agave …
May 2019 - The largest mountain range in New Zealand's North Island. Photos by Katy Chappaz, Eric Hengesbaugh, and Anne Chappaz.
It takes precision to steer a canoe down a rapid. Standing waves curl upstream towards the bow, ready to fill the boat. They should be skimmed, not ploughed through, though the canoe should be kept close enough to the turbulent current to avoid other obstacles. Precision is something Eric did not have on our third …
We traveled for a year. Then, in July 2017, Eric and I returned to my village in the French Alps, my "original place". The following is a journal entry that I recently unearthed, which I composed about a week after our return. It captures acute feelings of confusion and longing. Closing the chapter on traveling was …
Stars, like salt. 