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The Flathead at Flood
All three forks of the Flathead have been setting all time records for five straight days, after the warm snap from last week built to a crescendo of melt over the weekend. It’s a remarkable thing to see, the relatively placid river M and I floated at around 3000 cfs 10 days ago swollen eight…
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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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Local contempt
We humans are lazy creatures, by which I mean complacent in the face of habit. We do not need any particular reason to keep doing what we do on a regular basis, we need a rather particular reason to do anything else. Which is why it makes sense that Ryan got there first. I’ve driven…
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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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The killing hype
Photo by the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. I’m not going to say I told you so. I’m not going to say much of anything, other than that anyone who does serious backcountry travel, no matter the season, should read this incident report and the commentary and discussion here. Avalanches may or may not be the…
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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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Bedrock & Paradox 
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