Category: Packrafting
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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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Wilderness thigh straps and DIY tie downs for packrafting
Gluing stuff on to your Alpacka raft is a useful thing to know how to do well. There are all sorts of things you’ll want to do which the stock tie downs don’t. Two invaluable resources, from which the ideas below were developed, are the Alpacka How to Glue page and Luc Mehl’s pimp my…
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The best reason to buy new gear
There are three sorts of gear purchases: banal stuff you need, fun stuff you don’t need, and fun stuff you need. I suppose there’s banal stuff you don’t need, but why would you do that to yourself. Banal stuff you need is primarily the little things which wear, or whose upgrading is unexciting but will…
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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…
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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…
Bedrock & Paradox 
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