M photo.
Summer is in full swing here in the northern Rockies. We haven’t had a day not in the upper 70s or higher for weeks, which means that summer is almost over. Last year we got snowed on two of three days of Labor Day weekend (albeit only above 6000′).
Summer is high adventure season for most, which means that a bunch of you readers are doing some neat trips. And a lot of you aren’t writing about them. I’ve said many times that the inspirational, interpersonal value of adventure requires sharing, and the internet is a fantastic tool for that. To encourage lurkers to unlurk, and those who already post work online to aspire to greater heights, I’m announcing the first Bedrock & Paradox trip report contest.
The rules are simple. Between now and September 15th you post a trip report on BackpackingLight’s trip reports forum. You must mention that it’s an entry in this contest in the first paragraph. The TR can be little more than a link to another site, as the BPL interface is a bit cludgy. The entry must be a report which was written for the contest, no relisting of previous works. I will select a small number (5-8) of finalists, list them here on Sept 16th, and create an anonymous poll by which readers will be able to vote on the top three. The voting period will be short, no more than 2-3 days. After the results are in, the top three will be able to select their prizes, which will be shipped to them by me, at my expense. I’ll ship anywhere on planet earth, so international readers, go for it.
Judging criteria will be two fold: creativity of the trip, and creativity of the ways in which the story is told. With the former we’re going for internal epic-ness, so an especially unique sub 24hr overnight should stack up just fine against a big wilderness traverse. With the later the doors are wide open: video, photos, words, animation, whatever.
The winners will pick their prizes from the following list in order of priority (first place gets first choice, etc):
–Golite Malpais WPB jacket (gray, men’s medium)
–Yama Mountain Gear Microburst and Microbug, with poles
All were provided to me, free, for various BPL articles, and I’m hoping to share the largess and pay BPL back with a commodity which quite frankly it lacks (esp in proportion to the volume of gear talk and sales): passionate and creative trip reports.
You will not win our new 1979 Corolla.
So write some trip reports!
Bedrock & Paradox 
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