Ken Campbell, Author at The Last Wilderness

Pick up artists

Posted by Ken Campbell March 16, 2014 0 Comment 2120 views

One of these days, it will be sunny. We have had our share of blue sky already this winter, but it seems like it usually finds a way to rain during scheduled beach cleanup days. Not that it mattered all that much yesterday. There were between 20 and 30 of us, kids and adults alike, […]

Epiphany

Posted by Ken Campbell March 10, 2014 0 Comment 2370 views

I remember it well, although it would be difficult to put an exact date on that one particular long-ago morning. There is so much I have forgotten through the years, as time eats away at memories like rust through a fence post, but I can still see me sitting there on the curb at the […]

Race to the bottom

Posted by Ken Campbell March 10, 2014 0 Comment 1981 views

“A tree falls the way it leans. Be careful which way you lean.” Dr. Seuss It was kind of ironic, me and the boy inside on such a rainy day, watching the Lorax on Netflix when this log ship goes by the house, loaded for Asia. So, while we’re watching the Dr. Seuss morality play […]

Riverwalking

Posted by Ken Campbell March 4, 2014 0 Comment 6949 views

I am not used to seeing the river like this. It rolls like muscle, looking heavy and fierce, covering the places that I know and changing the look of everything else to the point that I almost forget where I am. It is February, cruel and gray. The buds have not yet made their appearance […]

Done

Posted by Ken Campbell March 2, 2014 0 Comment 2071 views

If you hear the phrase, “The end of an era,” used often enough, there’s a risk you might not notice when an actual era does come to an end, when a section of history is cut out of the ongoing strand of time and is set to the side. It will happen in a few […]

Bare trees of February

Posted by Ken Campbell February 20, 2014 0 Comment 2064 views

A few minutes ago every tree was excited, bowing to the roaring storm, waving, swirling, tossing their branches in glorious enthusiasm like worship. But though to the outer ear these trees are now silent, their songs never cease. John Muir

An open letter to David Zeeck

Posted by Ken Campbell February 17, 2014 0 Comment 4591 views

David Zeeck is the Publisher of the Tacoma News Tribune. His piece in Sunday’s issue is a defense of the ad-bombing that the TNT is now doing all over its circulation area, delivering unwanted litter to Tacoma’s streets, gutters and the waters of Puget Sound. I couldn’t just let his column lie there unanswered. A […]

Different songlines

Posted by Ken Campbell February 16, 2014 0 Comment 6102 views

(I was recently talking with someone who had never heard of “A River Runs Through It,” the classic fly-fishing, Montana, newspapery, wilderness story by Norman Maclean. He hadn’t even seen the movie which, although it wasn’t as good as the book (natch), still gave homage to the wonder of the mountain west and the many […]

Return to sender

Posted by Ken Campbell February 15, 2014 0 Comment 2136 views

I will have more to write about this foolishness later. For now, a simple introduction is in order. The bags you see in the photo contain advertising circulars from retailers of all sizes. These plastic ad-bombs are then launched into yards, onto sidewalks and roadways, and many eventually find their way to the storm drains. […]

Out there

Posted by Ken Campbell February 10, 2014 0 Comment 2073 views

There is something about La Push in February. It is not that it is beautiful. It is always beautiful. The sweep of the beach, the way that the sunrise seems to set James Island ablaze and make me stand slack-jawed on the sand, just me, the dog, and a pair of gulls. A private show. […]