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Watch your hands!

Watch your hands!

Marty’s photo of the day #4694: I photographed this while backpacking in Borneo. I haven’t identified the species. While it’s probably harmless, it’s still one of the many reasons why Deb and I had to be careful about accidentally touching things during our adventure.

Waterhole side-eye

Waterhole side-eye

Marty’s photo of the day #4059: Of all the dogs I’ve had in my life, Nellie is the best at giving side-eye. And I swear half the time she does it just to be funny. DNA tests have confirmed Nellie to be one-half golden retriever and one-half Australian cattle dog (which also makes her one-fourth […]

Alpine aster

Alpine aster

Marty’s photo of the day #4057: Last week’s backpacking trip took Deb (wife), Nellie (dog), and me up to about 6,700 feet. That meant many of the wildflowers were still in bloom. This tiny alpine aster was one of those flowers. Note that a spider has a fly between the petals.

Prairie smoke

Prairie smoke

Marty’s photo of the day #4054: This is one of my favorite photos from Deb’s, Nellie’s, and my backpacking trip earlier this week. Prairie smoke was plentiful where we were hiking (in Anaconda Mountain Range of southwestern Montana), but it was difficult to photograph because the slightest breeze would swing the plant back and forth […]

Must . . . stay . . . awake

Must . . . stay . . . awake

Marty’s photo of the day #3951: This photo is from last summer, at the end of the first day of Nellie’s first backpacking trip. After hiking twice as far as Deb and me, Nellie really wanted to take a nap. But what if the day’s adventures weren’t over? She must keep her eyes open—just in […]

From the island of Borneo

From the island of Borneo

Marty’s photo of the day #3874: I generally do not post photos of plants or animals that I haven’t identified. I am making the exception today. I photographed this alien-looking flower while backpacking with the Iban tribe on the island of Borneo. I am pretty sure, however, that if you touch the flower, it will […]

River Art

River Art

Marty’s photo of the day #3672: During last weekend’s backpacking trip, I spent some time making photographs, looking straight down on a shallow, mountain stream. Even if I took the photos from the exact same position, each one looked different, because the water was never the same. It was river art! Here’s one of my […]

Mountain flowers

Mountain flowers

Marty’s photo of the day #3671: In the mountains, 1,600 feet can make a big difference. Deb’s and my house sits at 4,000 feet, and last weekend we drove 45 miles south of where we live and backpacked at 5,600 feet. While the flowers at home are mostly past their peak, the flowers where we […]

Camera nerd weekend

Camera nerd weekend

Marty’s photo of the day #3619: Deb, Nellie, and I have a backpacking trip planned for this summer as well as a fall trip to the very top of Canada. I usually carry a small pocket camera along with a Canon DSLR with several lenses. Our upcoming adventures served as an excuse to buy a […]

Defying death in Borneo

Defying death in Borneo

Marty’s photo of the day #3525: One of the chapters in my newly published sixth book, Hits, Heathens, and Hippos: Stories from an Agent, Activist, and Adventurer, follows Deb and me on a death-defying backpacking trip in Borneo with the Iban, a tribe once famous for headhunting. Here’s an excerpt from that chapter. Johnathan was […]

An anniversary in the rainforest

An anniversary in the rainforest

Marty’s photo of the day #3191: Being self-employed often means seldom taking a vacation. Before Deb and I traveled to all seven continents in four years, we had gone ten years without taking a vacation, other than occasional long-weekend backpacking trips. Even then, our seven continents of adventures were technically work, because I turned them […]

Kuching, Kuching

Kuching, Kuching

Marty’s photo of the day #2986: When Deb and I traveled to the island of Borneo, we spent a night in the city of Kuching before heading out on our rainforest backpacking trip. This is the city at night, photographed from the balcony of our hotel room.