Did a couple of days of hiking with my buddy last month. As a flatlander, I was so grateful for the chance to spend some time in the Rockies.

Did an overnight trip in April, camping at what the state considers a wilderness site on the tea-colored Batsto River.

The New Jersey Pine Barrens is the largest wilderness on the East Coast between Boston and D.C. It's a unique environment, with a lot of cool ecosystems. No virgin forest here, as industry had its way with the land and resources for centuries.

This trip was something like 20 miles through Atlantic white cedar swamps and pitch pine forests.

It might not dazzle like the west at first glance, but it's a place I love more than most.

I appreciate fiction, but I almost always read nonfiction. It's probably because I typically choose the books on topics I'm interested in and want to learn about. But I also love the way a great nonfiction writer can weave a narrative so strong that it's just as much literature as it is journalism.

Some of my favorite examples of nonfiction that do this well: Soul Full of Coal Dust, Toms River, Desert Solitaire (Abbey can be problematic, though, so be warned), The Pine Barrens, This Land, and on and on.

I guess I'm kinda stuck in the environment/nature section these days!