An editorial and creative consultant, photographer, and writer, I wrote Solo: Venturing Alone in the Northern Wilds in response to requests from friends to publish a book about my varied wilderness canoe trips. I believe these trips created so much interest because: I traveled solo, often for weeks at a time; I explored locations far from any other human presence; I began these journeys quite late in life; and because I was not so different from those who wanted to hear and read my stories. I was not a celebrity. I was not an athlete, or an explorer. I was, put simply, one of them.

      Since my childhood I had been fascinated with the idea of losing myself in the wilderness and discovering just how I fit into the natural environment. I wanted to understand what it was like to be truly alone, away from the influences of family and friends, and divorced from the conveniences of modern life.

      As I approached my seventh decade, this fascination became urgent. I decided that, before I was too old to do so, I would venture north to confront the challenges of the wild, listen to the voices of my own inner wilderness, and test the capabilities of my aging body.
     Just this once.
     As it turned out, that decision was the beginning of a twelve-year sojourn. Every year, for more than a decade, I sought silence, solitude, and renewal canoeing the wild backcountry of the United States and Canada, from Minnesota’s Boundary Waters to arctic Alaska.

     Now I live with my wife Janet in Takoma Park, Maryland and River Ridge, West Virginia. I am a proud father and grandfather. My kids think I’ve held every job imaginable, and they are not far from wrong. My work has ranged from railroad Gandy dancer, U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee researcher, and inner-city high school teacher, to co-founder of Art for People, a graphics design firm assisting not-for-profit clients. Currently, I’m Editorial and Creative Consultant for the National Magazine Award-winning Psychotherapy Networker—a position I’ve held for four decades. I’m a songwriter, avid bird-watcher and photographer. These days I frequent the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia.