Category: Fly Fishing

• The Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act

  An interesting example of what I wrote about a few days ago is currently afoot here in Montana, the Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act sponsored by our senior senator Max Baucus.  The Front is a spectacular location, where the Bob Complex meets the prairie without mediation in a tangle of limestone reefs, broad valleys, and…

  DaveC

  April.5.2013

  Backpacking, Bikes and biking, Cultural critique, Fly Fishing, Hunting, Packrafting, Racing, Skiing

• The third way: morals in recreation

  Last week Lou Dawson of Wildsnow, who like most is best when he lets himself off the leash, wrote a worthwhile piece about the future recreation and those interested in it might play in shaping how public lands are governed in the United States.  It’s not useful for me to summarize the many salient points…

  DaveC

  April.2.2013

  Backpacking, Bikes and biking, Climbing, Cultural critique, Fly Fishing, Hunting, Packrafting, Skiing

• Glacier National Park: My master plan

   …access to wild places could be seen as an essential precondition to the pursuit of meaning in human life…national parks have done this by removing vast tracts of land from private ownership forever, an act and an ideal which contradicts such inextricably American things as manifest destiny and our pathologic fetishization of the right to…

  DaveC

  March.7.2013

  Backpacking, Cultural critique, Fly Fishing, Packrafting, Skiing, Social Justice Work

• Recognition in the age of online adventure

  It does not take much directed experience, either online or face-to-face, to conclude that communication is fundamentally flawed.  Note that I don’t need to say “human experience” of “human communication” because that would be redundant.  Because we are human we cannot speak coherently outside our own experience, and therefore any type of communication is necessarily…

  DaveC

  March.5.2013

  Backpacking, Bikes and biking, Climbing, Cultural critique, Fly Fishing, Hunting, Packrafting, Racing, Skiing, Social Justice Work

• Hill People Gear Runner’s Kit bag review

  I’d love to see a historical accounting of when outdoor recreation became, in the first world, bifurcated as it is today. My research indicates that by the mid 70s the effete world of hiking/backpacking/skiing/etc was well separated (in, among other places, ads) from that of hook and bullet. Cultural distinctions between these two have only…

  DaveC

  January.17.2013

  Backpacking, Bikes and biking, Cultural critique, Fly Fishing, Hunting, MYOG, Packrafting, Racing, Skiing, Tech

• 2012; the most beautiful year

  This has been a difficult year.  To use one easy example, the progression of my wilderness skills was orderly and logical in years past.  In 2008 Chris Plesko and I went to Yellowstone.  In 2009 Kevin Sawchuk and I traversed the Bob in October.  In 2010 I traversed the Thorofare alone in May, and learned…

  DaveC

  December.23.2012

  Backpacking, Bikes and biking, Climbing, Cultural critique, Fly Fishing, Hunting, MYOG, N.O.S., Packrafting, Racing, Skiing, Social Justice Work, Tech, Videos

• Beyond bear spray

  When writing with broad strokes, problematic human-bear encounters can be divided into three types.  Daylight visual encounters, where human and bear see each other before impact.  Daylight surprise encounters, which lack more than instantaneous forewarning; and night encounters which for these purposes will mean a bear swatting at or invading a tent with either curious…

  DaveC

  December.17.2012

  Backpacking, Bikes and biking, Fly Fishing, Hunting, Packrafting

• Buck PakLite sheath mod, and Megalight update

  The Buck PakLite series are good knives at a great price.  I bought my regular sized Skinner for 19 dollars, and it holds a pretty good edge for a pretty long time.  It’s thick enough (4mm) that you can beat on it while splitting wood with no regrets, but still filets a fish or guts…

  DaveC

  December.15.2012

  Backpacking, Fly Fishing, Hunting, MYOG, Tech

• Steelhead and Spines

  Solid work by the Provos.   

  DaveC

  December.6.2012

  Fly Fishing, Skiing, Videos

• 2012 Outdoor State of the Industry report and Holiday Gift Guide

  Yesterday I discussed how 2012 has, in the cycling world, been the year of the fat bike. Below I’ll examine various other categories, in a non-definitive fashion, to highlight similarly industry-shifting developments. These are products which speak of a significant and promising trend, and which I know from personal experience or reliable reports to be…

  DaveC

  December.2.2012

  Backpacking, Bikes and biking, Climbing, Cultural critique, Fly Fishing, MYOG, Packrafting, Racing, Skiing, Tech