about

I first saw the grizzly bear's giant head half a kilometer downstream on the river bar. I knew by the way he snapped it toward me that my day had just shifted in intensity. His eyes were human. They were hazel and burned with disdain and even from that distance I could see how disapproving they were. We stopped in our tracks, talking each other through a hasty decision matrix.  We could go back up and over Anderson Pass or we could wait, or we could move forward. Luckily, after several minutes he ambled off into the willows, and after half an hour, my partner and I moved down the braided riverbed. That was the wrong choice.

 

As we passed the cut bank that he had climbed to enter the woods, we heard grunts and crashing branches. He shot out of the woods, splashing into the river toward us. He covered the 100 yards in 9 seconds. Faster than the fastest olympic sprinter but interminably long in the moment . His approach was feral and shocking but I noticed something about myself in that second that was gifted to me and would become a power. Time slowed to a standstill and every micro-element of existence became stunningly bright and real. I noticed the water shaking from the fur behind his intense amber eyes. I looked at the sky and noticed a plane's contrail. I saw the furled edge of a last fireweed bloom stand sentry against a blurred backdrop and I felt my own heart beating its final few hardest beats. 

 

It was incredibly calm and peaceful. I remember thinking, the next few moments will be painful. He will swat at me with his long claws then pounce on my back as I try to stay stomach down, guarding my vital organs and trying to keep my ears from being torn from my scalp. He will crunch my skull and if I am lucky he will leave Julie alone as he works me over. After 3 or 4 long moments it will be over.

 

He stopped 7 feet from us, popped his jaw, woofed, lunged back and forth, swinging his neck low and high, then smelled the ground and turned, sprinting away as fast as he had come.

That was during my first summer as a Backcountry Ranger in Denali National Park, Alaska. I had other encounters with bears. One morning as I grilled Pancakes at the Thoroughfare cabin I looked out the front window to see a Grizzly scratching his back on the nails that stuck out from the front door. The door entered inward. I quickly swung  the bar lock down so that he would not fall backward into the 10 by 14 cabin.

 

It  was the most impactful and moving summer of my life. I was involved in search and rescues, flew with the park pilot to inholdings west of the park, led guided hikes, and patrolled the backcountry to check on hikers and climbers. It was the greatest job. "I liked it, and I was good at it."

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What I found over the subsequent seasons as a Hut Warden in New Zealand, an Outdoor Educator and Life Guard on the North Shore of Oahu and a Ranger in Denali, is that I loved sharing with people my zest for the beauty I was experiencing. I wanted to show people where the little nooks and crannies were and I wanted to make sure they were safe, well fed and taken care of. More than anything, I wanted to bring them joy.

 

After 5 years, I made the fateful error of entering corporate surgical device sales and muddled through what became drudgery and later, real existential dread. Then it was over, and I pushed all my chips to the middle of the table, took a deep breath, spent a lot of savings, and started Travel-Well. It is the single greatest decision of my entire life—besides marrying my wife. I could finally get back to what provides joy in my life, which is providing joy in other's lives.

 

I hope you enjoy the website and the idea of doing active and adventure travel differently. I hope you enjoy the concept of a firm that cares, that is independent, that does the right things, and cherishes its integrity because it is the only thing that really matters in the end.

Why should you care, and why should you use our service? If you care about the firms you trade with being local, small, independent and fair in their dealings, we are for you. Secondly,  I am a travel savant. I’m not kidding. I have synesthesia. The moment that the Grizzly was charging us made me realize that I take in information differently than other people. Specifically geographic, color, position and feeling for a space or a place. It is a gift for taking in visual and sensory data, analyzing it, synthesizing it, and packaging it to effectively communicate a concept. I know more about the travel world, the geography, places, spaces, rivers, beaches, brights spots and low points, than most anyone. This trait gives me a literal superpower to guide our clients to the really good stuff.

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