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Hiking with Ropes
M photo. First: hiking with ropes in Colorado Plateau canyons is probably the most satisfying thing you can do outside. The best parts of hiking, backpacking, rock climbing, and aid climbing are combined in an activity that’s hard enough to not just be fun, varied enough to not be monotonous, and technical enough to be…
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Ziene
Zion. Western edge and crown jewel of the Colorado Plateau. Like Yosemite, but not made of inferior rock. Home to true Dark Service-style crowds and regulations, as well as the most beautiful canyons on earth. First lesson: there is no S, the great refuge is neither plural nor possessive. Second lesson: it is one syllable,…
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Shenanigans
The manifold and subtle canyons of the Roost are one essential Colorado Plateau experience. The super tight slots are another. Knowing we were two days into a two week trip, and not in what one would call canyon shape, we headed south from Hanksville to North Wash, and Shenanigans. The story of how the canyon…
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The South Fork of the Roost
When we lived in Utah the Robber’s Roost was one of my favorite places, and two weeks ago I was reminded that it remains so today. Driving out the sage flats as the sun sank behind the Henry Mountains I concentrated on missing rocks and not flatting our little car. Views as you traverse the…
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10 years ago
..we went to Vegas and got married. It hasn’t always been easy, but in the last week down here in Utah we’ve had lots of enjoyable hours to think about how good every year has been. When I think about having become an adult over that same time period, coming to terms with constrained choices…
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Deciding the future
Later today M and I leave south. We’ll be spending two full weeks in southern Utah. While there we want to pick where we’ll spend the next three or so decades. Some, or many, of you may not know that we got married and lived in the Colorado Plateau. Before she started hanging out with…
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Make your year long
Yesterday morning I woke up in one of my best camps of the year. After a frustrating day stalking and glassing all over a series of hillsides and bottoms I retreated to the edge of a meadow near a major creek confluence to see what might come in the last hour of daylight. It was…
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Quit being comfortable
It has been noteworthy, and not just I think because I’ve been paying attention, how often comfort has been mentioned recently as a selling point for “ultralight” backpacking. For example, from the recent revival of Sierra Designs as a (hopefully) relevant brand; “…the Flashlight is the ultimate backpacking tent for those who believe that comfort…
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Clarity
I’ve been waiting for this trip for a long time. It’s a perfect plan: hunt your way upriver from the Meadow Creek trailhead, shoot something, and float it back out. At the low levels of autumn Salmon Forks down is floatable, and aside from a few shallow riffles and two rapids, everything is runnable in…
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How the Dana Design ArcFlex packs worked
[Both packs are sold.] The pre-K2 buyout, Bozeman-made Dana Design packs have achieved cult status. Some of this is the mythology of rarity, but a lot of it is based in fact. They’re heavy, and lack a few refinements considered mandatory today, but nothing subsequently made has been both as durable and had as good…
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Bedrock & Paradox 
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