Sometimes It Ain’t Rocket Science
byHerb and Jan Conn developed almost all of the early climbing in South Dakota’s Needles with a 60-foot rope, almost one-fourth the length of…
ADVENTURE
The Moments Before Your Big Moments
byI got an email from Statigram the other day offering to collect my “best Instagram moments of 2013.” I thought Why Not and clicked…
Do Things And Make Things Next Year
byMy parents gave me Brandon Stanton’s Humans of New York book for a holiday gift, and I spent the next hour flipping from cover…
‘The New American Road Trip Mixtape’ Available Now
byWith the help of a bunch of great friends, I spent the last couple years putting together a book called The New American Road…
Announcing A Book: The New American Road Trip Mixtape
byAbout 2 ½ years ago after a breakup, I moved out of my apartment in Denver and into my car, thinking I would go…
The Grand Canyon Guide To Parent-Child Relationships
byI hopped over a stream crossing the Bright Angel Trail, taking a big step from one rock to the next, then turned around to…
Tyler Durden, Yvon Chouinard, And Growing Up
byI watched Fight Club the other night for the first time in over a decade, out of curiosity if it would still seem as…
What’s The Best Rain Jacket?
byWhen you’re buying a rain jacket, you probably have lots of questions, none of which really matter besides “Which rain jacket is best for…
A Moab State Of Mind
byI sat under Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park, 60 minutes from Moab and 20 miles as the crow flies, on a busy fall…
The Three Types Of Directions
byDo you ever ask people for directions anymore? Or do you prefer to ask them, “What’s the address?” and just plug it into your…
The New Mid-Life Crisis Is: Being Awesome
byIn March of this year, at a Kmart in Petaluma, California, I bought my friend Amy her very first road atlas. She’s 45, and…
You Don’t Have To Go Inside Just Because It’s Dark
byI rolled down the packed trail, standing in the pedals, watching the 30 or so feet ahead of me illuminated by my headlamp. Hilary…
Pride Cometh Before The Fall
byAs a joke, I got my photo taken next to the Icebox Canyon trailhead sign: “Each year people are killed due to falls when…
You Wonder Why We Don’t Have Nice Things
byI sat down exhausted last Tuesday night next to my friends Chris and Forest in front of a granite shelter we’d just built on…
Dads And Dreams
byMy dad told me the other day he’d won a three-day Harley rental at a raffle. I said Dad, I think you have to…
Learning How To Say Yes
byMy friend Forest put this photo on Facebook last December, with this caption: It was a hot day in July. Navigating the lunchtime jumble…
You Can Walk Anywhere You Want
byI flew to Iowa to visit my grandmother in the hospital a couple weeks ago. She’s been in and out of hospitals for the…
Why You End Up Somewhere Sometimes
byYou call someplace home, and if you think about it, there are probably one or two big reasons for that. Maybe you grew up…
A Lesson From Fred
bySix summers ago, a guy named Fred sat down across from me at a picnic table near Wonder Lake in Denali National Park, the…
How To Get Your New Boyfriend/ Girlfriend To Hate Your Sport
byYou love snowboarding. Or climbing. Or mountain biking. You’ve been doing it for so long, you can’t remember what your life was like without…
A Bunch Of Dreams, One Film: The Making Of ’35’
byThis past Tuesday, a film called “35” went up on Vimeo — it’s 5 minutes and 17 seconds, including a ton of beautiful footage…
The Pure Joy Of Fixie Dave
byA couple weeks ago at a party, I saw Dave Nice for the first time in a long time. We started talking about the…
Are You A Beautiful And Unique Snowflake?
byI told my friend Dan I was getting tired of having long hair, that I often fantasized about trimming all of it off and…
Your Best Vacation Is Someone’s Worst Nightmare
byMy friend Aaron is a pretty normal guy, by most standards: High school math teacher, homeowner, happily married, good hygiene, pays his bills, et…
Make Plans, Not Resolutions
byIn a scene in the spaghetti western The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, the One-Armed Bounty Hunter finds Tuco Ramirez in a vulnerable…
Hopefully this beer is thanks enough: A gratitude scale for outdoorsfolk
byLast Wednesday, I was standing in my neighborhood liquor store trying to decide whether I should buy a bottle of scotch or a six-pack…