1. Ignore a small problem–the beginnings of a blister, for example–and it’s guaranteed to become a big problem. 2. If you don’t plan ahead, you will run out of toilet paper. Neither pine needles nor pages of the Audubon Society field guides are worthy substitutes.
From the monthly archives:
April 2008
Over the years, I have received countless tips and bits of advice on photography. Only two resonated and stayed with me. Yes, just two. But these two are so powerful, they run through my brain every time I shoot. Together, they’ve made improvements in my photography so big I can only begin to measure them.
Lasik? No way. Not when there’s something better and safer. The 95 percent success rate of Lasik eye surgery is a small comfort to the other 5 percent (up to 600,000 people) who have had complications or complaints. And even if the rate is just 1 in 100, it still seems a pretty big risk to take on something as precious as your vision–especially to athletes, photographers, and the other folks who might use their eyes from time to time.
It only takes a couple weeks in the backcountry to make you–well, me–miss steamed milk, unmelted chocolate, and pillows. But what about hard-core adventurers? Maybe they’re so core, they don’t miss a thing. Maybe they make us look like the big, fat wussies we really are … or do they?
Flipping through Surfer Magazine goes something like this: blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, shocking lime green, blue, blue, blue. There in each issue, jumping out from Surfer’s sea of epic waves and countless board short ads, is a rusty but glowing, chartreuse 1972 VW camper van, the icon and motorized doppleganger of Curious Gabe, Gabe Sullivan, who, every month, poses to ten complete strangers the kind of existential questions you’d expect to be asked in the pages of The Atlantic Monthly or in a dorm room at 1 a.m.
A journalist could spend all day hunting and gathering statistics and in the end not be able to verify them anyway, so I’m going to save my energy and tell you that I’ve read, but not confirmed, that the United States consumes 14 billion paper coffee cups a year.
You get it, right? Both plastic and paper shopping bags are bad. Plastic is an easier villain. It lasts for centuries, kills hundreds of thousands of birds and water creatures a year, and is made from petroleum. Plus, only a small fraction of the 80 billion bags used annually
are recycled. But paper has its own demerits. It’s bulky, expensive, requires more fuel to transport.
If your water bottle is made of polycarbonate plastic–and most Nalgene and Camelbak bottles sold over the last few years are–it’s probably unsafe for you to use…KEEP READING>
When I first saw the Oakley Thump sunglasses a couple years ago with built-in MP3 player, I thought they were silly, expensive, and ugly to boot. Then I used them, because, well, you know, it’s my job.
The desert in bloom is a terrestrial Milky Way, the bright blossoms standing in sharp contrast to the dry vacuum surrounding them. Across the Southwest, last winter’s consistent rains have created one of the best wild flower seasons in years. And while flower sniffing has always seemed a soft pursuit to me, it makes one heck of a good reason to throw on a backpack and get out there. So, last weekend, we did. I picked the spot (Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in eastern San Diego County), my son, Jackson, picked the date, and we aimed for Sheep Canyon at the northern end of the lower 48’s largest state park.
In this age of 40-pound monster mountain bikes, the simplicity of a fixed-gear bike is inspirational–elegant, fast, efficient, utilitarian. Stripped of adornment, it is the bike in its essence, a mechanism for the purest conversion of human effort into speed: One gear, direct drive, no coasting–and often no brakes.
60-Second Expert: How to Manage Your Climbing Skins
‘Pillow Line’ Is A Charming Stop-Motion Winter Delight
Telluride Contest Has a Winner: Home-Made Video Grabs the Loot
8 Days of Climbing + 10 Pounds of Tequila = New 1,100-Foot Tepui Route
The Gallery of the OIdest Living Things in the World
60-Second Expert: How to Make a Skiing Kick Turn
And the Oscar For Best Use of Sheep Goes To…
Clothes Make the Man…And They Make A Difference for Nepal’s Women
Surviving A Massive Earthquake and Tsunami: What It Feels Like
Waves That Will Make You Say ‘Hurry Up, Summer’
The New Snow Test That Could Save Your Life
Earth’s Day Shortened, Axis Tilted By Chile Earthquake
The Greenest Job? Might Be Professional Tree Climber
60-Second Expert: The Right Way to Clean Your Goggles
Before There Was The Hurricane, There Was the Double Daffy
