Low Ground — a year of field notes kept by a surveyor in a valley that is on no map. About sadness, and about crossing it one contour at a time.https://empfish.net/lowground/en/enhttps://empfish.net/lowground/en/posts/clearing-not-sunshine/https://empfish.net/lowground/en/posts/clearing-not-sunshine/September, the end of the field year. On visibility, on what came back first, and on what to write on the back of a map.Mon, 21 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTweatherthe way uphttps://empfish.net/lowground/en/posts/how-this-map-is-made/https://empfish.net/lowground/en/posts/how-this-map-is-made/An appendix, as every survey has. The valley is drawn by a few hundred lines of code, and these are the notes on how.Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTcodewebglgenerativehttps://empfish.net/lowground/en/posts/books-for-the-low-places/https://empfish.net/lowground/en/posts/books-for-the-low-places/The books I carried down into the valley, and what each of them did on which kind of night.Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTbooksreadingcompanyhttps://empfish.net/lowground/en/posts/switchbacks/https://empfish.net/lowground/en/posts/switchbacks/In April the way out began. It went back and forth across the slope, and every leg of it was uphill.Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTthe way uppatiencehttps://empfish.net/lowground/en/posts/a-letter-to-whoever-is-down-here/https://empfish.net/lowground/en/posts/a-letter-to-whoever-is-down-here/At forty metres, the bottom of the route, I found letters left by others who had come this low — and left one of my own.Wed, 04 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTlettersthe lowest pointhttps://empfish.net/lowground/en/posts/how-to-draw-a-low-place/https://empfish.net/lowground/en/posts/how-to-draw-a-low-place/In February I tried to map a hollow and learned that a low place can only be drawn by its edges. You can try it here.Wed, 11 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTmapsmethodcontourshttps://empfish.net/lowground/en/posts/rain-generated/https://empfish.net/lowground/en/posts/rain-generated/A January night at 430 metres, rain on the canvas — and a rain you can turn on yourself.Wed, 14 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTsoundnightrainhttps://empfish.net/lowground/en/posts/things-that-weigh-more/https://empfish.net/lowground/en/posts/things-that-weigh-more/Unpacking at 560 metres in December rain — what each thing weighs, and what it weighs in the hand.Tue, 09 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMTinventoryweighthttps://empfish.net/lowground/en/posts/a-tuesday-that-didnt-end/https://empfish.net/lowground/en/posts/a-tuesday-that-didnt-end/One day of fog at 690 metres, logged hour by hour.Tue, 18 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMTfragmentstimefoghttps://empfish.net/lowground/en/posts/contour-interval/https://empfish.net/lowground/en/posts/contour-interval/The first entry. A valley that is on no sheet, and the twenty metres between one line and the next.Tue, 28 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMTmapsbeginnings