Pat Neal

PAT NEAL: Yes, Virginia, there is a steelhead

(WITH APOLOGIES TO Francis Pharcellus Church, editor of the New York Sun, Dec. 21, 1897.) I am 8 years old. My family and I have… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Flu season shots help

THIS IS A morning that can make you feel like a spawned-out salmon headed downstream tail first. Now, I am not going to waste valuable… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: The holiday marathon

IT WAS ANOTHER tough week in the news made even tougher by the long Thanksgiving weekend. For one thing, people are questioning the history, ethics… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: A Dirty Thirties Thanksgiving

THIS IS A story of an Olympic Peninsula family celebrating Thanksgiving in the olden days. It was back in the Depression, the Dirty Thirties. Pa… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Our disappearing ferns

IT ALL STARTED with an attempt to share in nature’s bounty and celebrate the harvest of wild foods. It was a bad idea that just… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Bring back the spawners

IT WAS AN early morning on the river. I was launching a boat in the dark. This is all part of a fishing guide’s client-hazing… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Getting along in the country

AN AWFUL LOT of city folks are moving to the country these days and they want to know how to get along with the country… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: A legend of the lost

THIS HAS BEEN a banner year for lost and injured hikers. As of Labor Day, 71 people were rescued or recovered from Olympic National Park.… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Pirates, patriots and plunderers

A LADY SAILED into Port Angeles last week. The replica seemed out of time and out of place with an aura of history when the… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Stop, drop, cover and hold on

IT’S BEEN ANOTHER tough week in the news. Government officials, geological prognosticators and conspiracy theorists have banded together for Washington state’s Great ShakeOut. This is… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Anatomy of an orchard

IT WAS DAYLIGHT at the homestead but I was more than a little late for breakfast. The cabin which had been built in the 1890s… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: It is never too late to panic

AS A STUDENT of wilderness survival, it has always amazed me how often wilderness survival experts offer the same wilderness survival advice, “don’t panic.” For… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Heading out to Neah Bay Fest

MAYBE I WAS born too late. Gone are the days when newspapers would send expeditions of stalwart adventurers to the remote ends of the earth… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Tips on getting lost

IT WAS THAT great American philosopher Daniel Boone who said, “I have never been lost but I was bewildered once for three days.” Of course,… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Things could be worse

THERE ARE FEW sounds more comforting than the steady drumming of heavy rain on the roof. Still, some people have a phobic reaction to rain.… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Wooden boat worries

PAT NEAL: Wooden boat worries

IT’S TIME for the 43rd annual Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival. Wooden boats are an integral part of our history. Native Americans started building wooden… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: Wooden boat worries

PAT NEAL: Backpacking tips

THERE’S NOTHING QUITE like the freedom of the hills, with the mountains spread before you in a scenic tableau of snow and rocky meadows stretching… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: So sad to see them go

IT’S SAD TO see an old friend go away. It begs the question, if they’re leaving why should I stay? It brings the sullen realization… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: The tourist’s revenge

IN LAST WEEK’S column, I was making fun of the silly questions that tourists ask. While it’s fun to have fun with tourists for asking,… Continue reading

PAT NEAL: More frequently asked tourist questions

WHETHER IT’S AN effect of climate change, the economy or the internet it has become apparent that we are in the middle of one of… Continue reading