What is “The Third Thing?”

Have you ever finished a long ride, wrapped up a wild swim, or returned from an adventure feeling something deeper—something that lingers beyond the experience itself? That’s The Third Thing.

D.H. Lawrence describes it as the indescribable essence—the thing beyond the thing, the extra bit of life we can’t quite name but know makes it worth living. It’s what draws us to the outdoors, to wild places, to moments of awe that make us feel both small and infinite. It’s what makes standing in an alpine meadow or watching a river carve its way through stone feel like more than just science, more than just beauty.

The Third Thing explores this mystery through stories of nature, loss, and transformation—sometimes serious, sometimes irreverent, always rooted in a deep love for the world. Here, we talk about what it means to bear witness to vanishing landscapes, to care for a place without trying to freeze it in time, and to find humor in the strange, inevitable dance of change. We take cues from death doulas and hospice workers, from glacial melt and shifting sand dunes, from the tension between conservation and letting go.

This space is for those who feel too overwhelmed to keep up but too in love with the world to look away. It’s for the ones who find solace in the high lonesome places, who whisper thanks to old-growth trees, who know that loss and beauty often sit side by side.