The tragedy of it all as the day has come when the beard must go. Not all of it, but what is left could be construed as dirt from a distance. For months I was certain that I would careen through the Grand Canyon with a beard befitting a mountain man. Sadly, the reality of not being able to properly bathe for 18 days and a couple of experiments here at home with letting the thing get nappy convinced me that I would probably be better off reducing my responsibility of facial hair maintenance. But, this is certain – I am not going to trim my beard again before my next big backcountry journey, which happens to be next September when we are scheduled to do some horseback riding in the northwest of Yellowstone for ten days. Shalom Aleichem.