Category: Backpacking
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Reading Ed in the 21st Century
Desert Solitaire is a book I almost hate to love. It is not a safe subject at parties. Ed Abbey was, in Solitaire, one of those very best writers who so easily hide tangled ideas under the narrative veneer; the result being that depth is easily overlooked. Easy examples would be the categorization of Solitaire…
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2013 Bob Marshall Wilderness Open report
Almost eight years ago I made my first visit to Glacier as an adult. M and I were a few weeks into a period of living out of our truck, and made the all day drive from Theodore Roosevelt National Park anticipating the mountains. It was early November, cold and rainy, so we did what…
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The Breaks
I took my own advice this weekend, sucked it up, didn’t go to the Bob, and instead made the long drive to somewhere totally unfamiliar: The Missouri River Breaks National Monument. It was good to be hiking in cactus country again. Befitting the desert, water was a problem on my route. The idea was to…
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Applicability of the Alpacka Scout
2010 Yukon Yak at left, 2013 Scout at right. Earlier this year I bought the Scout to see if a lighter, simpler, cheaper but still high quality packraft could fulfill many of my requirements. The utility of the main line Alpackas are well established, but their packed size and weight (6 pounds for my Yak,…
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As the elk go
There is no question that I’ve grown more cautious as I’ve grown older, both in the woods and generally. Speaking to the former, I like to think that increased wisdom accounts for most. I’m better able to realize the full consequences of the more reckless things I’ve done, as well as visualize the long term…
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Colorado River National Park
Utah today is home to five major national parks. Zion is probably the most beautiful canyon on earth. It started life as we know it as Makuntuweep National Monument in 1909 (Taft carrying TRs legacy), and became a national park a decade later. Bryce Canyon, which has birthed a thousand postcards, became a national monument…
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Solo is safer
First, let us define our terms: solo mean alone, and safer means less likely to die. Most discussions of safety in backcountry activities are based on a naively passive and fundamentally flawed understanding of how accidents happen. Show me 10, or 20, backcountry accidents and 9, or 19, times I’ll show you situations where bad…
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It is alive
I looked out from my perch… It is alive, I thought. I listened to myself breathe as I thought this. Not life in the way I would imagine. It is alive in the way that water is alive, filled with direction and intention. The wealth of shapes plagued my eyes, so much happening all at…
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Acquisitionalism and the lure of the insider
The internet drives gear geekery, this much we know. I recall, back in my elementary school gear geek days, the excitement when the quarterly (and no more!) Patagonia and TNF catalogues arrived. Online “research” has sped up information dissemination, and decreased our attention spans. That this has led to gear fetishization taking the place of…
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2012/13 ski gear review
Plenty of skiing yet to done this spring (once it stops raining), but my gear focus is already on the fall hunting season, so it’s a good time to discuss what worked and what didn’t. I skied the above four skis this winter. 200cm waxable Fischer E99s (60/50/55), 176cm BD Currents (more here), 150cm Trak…
Bedrock & Paradox 
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