800!

Cold Splinters turned two a few weeks ago and this very post marks the 800th time I've gone looking for a somber, washed out old photo. Two years and 800 dedications to the great outdoors seems like a hell of a lot to me, so thanks in advance to anyone who makes me some lemon or peanut butter cookies to celebrate. Or if you'd like, you could make a replica of the campfire cake above, but I'm not much of a cake type of guy. Pick your poison.Thanks for being around. And the theme song...MP3: Allen Toussaint - Out of the City (Into Country Life)

Fredda Paul

Fredda and Leslie were both unpacking their things from a beat up Rav 4 when we arrived at the Deer Isle Hostel. Fredda didn't say much when Dennis, the owner of the hostel, introduced us all, and after an awkward handshake and a silent understanding that we'd probably be spending a lot of time together in close quarters during the next day, I went off with Kalen on a hike before the sun went down and dinner was to be served.When we got back from the hike, we washed up, had a few beers, played half a game of Scrabble and walked a few hundred feet from the hostel over to Dennis' cabin. We brought a bottle of wine, a loaf of bread from Blue Hill, ME and one of many small jars of jalapeño jelly that Kalen had bought for me at Reny's the previous day.Leslie was standing at the wood stove, heating up a half-opened can of sardines in tomato sauce and cooking a mess of greens from Dennis' garden. Dennis and Fredda sat at the kitchen table smiling and quietly laughing. When I plopped the bread and jelly on the table, Fredda's face lit up. "AH! JALAPENOS! YUP!"I sat in between Kalen and Fredda, and before we ate the massive spread of food that had been waiting for us, we all joined hands and sat in silence. When Dennis finally spoke and told us to eat, I made a comment about how much I enjoyed a canned sardine and Fredda whispered and chuckled through a long story about his life as a sardine fisherman in the 60s. We finished dinner, ate a disgusting homemade cream puff that someone had given Leslie for their drive down to Deer Isle from the reservation, did the dishes and read in bed until we passed out.The following morning, I woke up around 5 am to the rooster crowing outside my window, walked downstairs and saw Fredda sitting at the table, looking out the window, cane in hand. We made coffee together, talked about his life on the reservation, the smell of sweet annie at Common Grounds, my life in Brooklyn and how he had won several habenero pepper eating contests. ("I like spicy things. Like the jelly. YUP!") We walked down to the trees so he could smoke a cigarette, a habit that he claimed his wife didn't know about. He told me the names of plants in Dennis' garden and which ones you could eat and which ones made the kids on the reservation sneeze. Fredda and Leslie had driven to Deer Isle to give a seminar on native medicinal plants at the hostel that day, so after a few hours of talking and walking, we went back to the house so he could start setting up.At 7 a.m., Dennis woke up and took me down to the beach and taught me how to dig for clams. An hour or two later, we walked back to the hostel with two big buckets full of the slimy creatures, packed our stuff and started our descent back down to the coast.Visit Fredda and Leslie's website and order some red willow bark, that when smoked, helps a man get some sleep.(I'm pretty sure this is one of the first pictures of myself I've ever posted in these parts, so enjoy it.)

Camden Hills State Park

Camden Hills State Park is located in Camden, ME, just a few hours north of Portland, ME and a few hours south of Acadia National Park and Deer Isle. It's a perfect place to go camping after a breakfast at Friendly Toast and a beautiful drive up Route 1 in Maine. On a clear day, you can hike up Mt. Battie and see Cadillac Mountain at Acadia. It's quite the view, friends. The camping is all done right next to your car, but the sites are big(ish) and quiet if you get there early enough in the season. I can't vouch for July and August.Go to Maine. Listen to Thin Lizzy. Enjoy the sun. Sing karaoke with sailors at Cuzzy's.MP3: Thin Lizzy - Running Back

Lodge Dutch Ovens

Joseph Lodge began making iron cookware in the Appalachian Mountains of South Pittsburg, Tennesse at the end of the 19th century. If you've ever used cast iron while camping (next to your car as it's heavy as can be) then you know that a) it cooks your chili so that the aroma generates rapture akin to a lover's kiss and b) it'll last you a lifetime. It's also surpisingly cheap. Kleenex is to tissue as Chapstick is to lip balm as Lodge is to cast iron.Dick Proenneke went on and on about sourdough biscuits and jam in the morning, so if you've got yourself a Lodge, and I'm sure you do, then make sure you try making them at least once. Nothing, and I mean nothing, tastes better after waking up from your tent than sourdough biscuits. And of course, Lodge has a recipe right on their website for the beauties. If you don't have the time or the motivation to make your own sourdough starter, try using this. The picture above is from Campground Cooking, a book that I've been admiring at home for the past couple of months after seeing some scans on Old Chum's Flickr.

Dorothy Waugh

After graduating from the Chicago Art Institute, Dorothy Waugh worked in a commercial art studio in Chicago. She relocated to New York soon after and became the manager of the children's book department at Alfred A. Knopf. In addition to her work at Knopf, she was production supervisor of the National Park Service doing copy, layout and artwork. In the late 1930's she was appointed special lecturer and critic to the New York School of Fine and Applied Art where she also taught typography and design. See the posters above much larger after the jump and then head on over to the Library Of Congress Shop and buy "The Lure Of The National Parks" for yourself.

Cold Splintas Stickas

Y'all, I've gotten several emails in the past couple of days asking where your Cold Splinters stickers are. Many apologies for the delayed shipping on these. The sticker company I used is run by a bunch of SUPER nice idiots who love to either send me poor quality stickers or send said poor quality stickers to the wrong address. Add that to a week long trip I just got back from and you have yourselves some pretty poor excuses on my part.Anyway, they'll be there soon. Mid-next week. I promise. And if you still want to order one or two or three, you can send $3 to coldsplinters@gmail.com on Paypal.MP3: Roy Orbison - Only The Lonley

Songs Of Freedom

One of my favorite things about turning 16 and getting my license (and growing up a suburban white kid) was being able to blast the first disc of Songs Of Freedom while driving through the "farmland" of Northern Illinois during the summertime. Yeah, there are better Bob Marley records to turn on, but we all got our musical keepsakes from teenage yesteryears. Turns out that CD sounds just as good in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York. Shocker.Enjoy it on the way to wherever you find yourself going this summer. Free anti-depressants for everyone..MP3: Bob Marley - Mellow Mood MP3: Bob Marley - HypocritesMP3: Bob Marley - Thank You Lord MP3: Bob Marley - Back OutMP3: Bob Marley - Mr. Brown****And one more in honor of Best Made Co's newest arrival:MP3: Bob Marley - Small Axe

Canon In The Parks

The wonderful folks at American Park Network (I spend all day, everyday with 'em) and Canon have again organized a series of digital photography workshops in Yosemite National Park. They're going down twice a day from June 7 to June 28. There will be many more stops along the way for the "Canon In The Parks" program, but for now, find out more info about the FREE Yosemite workshops here.MP3: Bruce Cockburn - Thoughts On A Rainy Afternoon

Lupins/Lupines

Despite all the thrift/antique stores, miles of pristine coastline, and widow's walks that Maine has to offer, the stars of the show last weekend were the roadside lupins, which kept us ooooohin' and ahhhhhin' for hours. If you're going to be on up in Deer Isle, ME in a few weeks, check out the 9th Annual Lupine Festival from June 18-20th. You can stay with Dennis at the Deer Isle Hostel. More to come on that magical place in the next few days..

Have a Great Memorial Day

Dear Friends of Cold Splinters,Starting today, we'll be taking a week off from the Internets and heading out on a tour of New England. We'll be making several stops in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, so if you live in one of those great states, hoot and holler. We'll be back next week sometime, so you all have yourselves a happy and healthy Memorial Day and I'll see you real soon.Thanks for reading.Pink Houses,JeffMP3: Dr. John - Careless Love

Half The Park Is After Dark

To help meet the demand for night sky interpretive programs, the National Park Service Night Sky Program last year recruited 19 volunteer astronomers from around the country who were then placed in national parks, started a loaner telescope collection, produced audio podcasts and brochures, and supported the stellar night sky poster art by Dr. Tyler Nordgren, an astronomer at the University of Redlands, California.Nordgren spent a one-year sabbatical in national parks where he collected his experiences into a book and drafted the series of 14 posters that harken to the Works Progress Administration posters of the 1930's. The full series of night sky posters is available for browsing here.

Smoke

Light-winged Smoke, Icarian bird,Melting thy pinions in thy upward flight,Lark without song, and messenger of dawnCircling above the hamlets as they nest;Or else, departing dream, and shadowy formOf midnight vision, gathering up thy skirts;By night star-veiling, and by dayDarkening the light and blotting out the sun;Go thou my incense upward from this hearth,And ask the gods to pardon this clear flame. ***

Solitudes Volume 8: Sailing to A Hidden Cove

From Dan Gibson's Solitudes Volume 8:

The tug of the waves at the helm, the boat heeling until the lee rail slashes the surface, the workaday world far behind. And then, the sound of the winch, as the genoa is trimmed to a new course heading between land and a few small reefs, where gulls scream at our passing. Up ahead is a small island. When we sail close, we can hear the waves crashing on the rocks. An explosion of wings and cries tells us we are intruding on pristine territory. When we change course again, a following wind drives us through the narrow mouth of a long fjord-like bay. The boat slows as we move into protected waters, and we see the cove, hidden now by sheer cliffs and a rocky point. Driftwood rises in tortured shapes from the small sand beach. On a low hill above the cove, a beaver dam and the sounds of wildlife everywhere. We drop anchor and row ashore, towards the sounds - sounds from the trees, from the pond, from the sky. Superb digital recording, as true to life, will help you recognize each creature of the hidden cove.

Download the tracks at Closet Of Curiosities

Paul Petzoldt's Films of NOLS in the 60s

Paul Petzoldt (1908 - 1999) grew up in southern Idaho, and at the age of 16, made his first ascent of Wyoming's Grand Teton wearing cowboy boots. He soon recognized the need to have better training and better preparation, and in the early 1930s, started the first guide concession in Grand Teton National Park.In 1963, after years of developing mountaineering techniques, Paul Petzold testified before Congress in favor of the Wilderness Act. That same year, he helped establish the first American Outward Bound program in Colorado.Two years later, in 1965, Petzoldt founded the National Outdoor Leadership School in Lander, Wyoming. NOLS is the leading nonprofit outdoor education school, with more than 120,000 alumni. NOLS has 14 locations around the world and educates more than 3,000 students annually.The video after the jump was found "deep in the archives next to PPWE sleeping bags and under the wool knickers" by NOLS, who had their interns clean it up. Holy hell is it wonderful. Beautiful shots, wonderful narration by Petzoldt and some fine, fine musical accompaniment. One of the best things I've seen in a long while.WATCH THE VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP.

Mount St. Helens, May 18th, 1980

I'd write my own little summary about today being the 30th anniversary of Mount St. Helens, but Boston.com couldn't have done it better. They have a lot more amazing pictures, so be sure to click here.

On May 18th, 1980, thirty years ago today, at 8:32 a.m., the ground shook beneath Mount St. Helens in Washington state as a magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck, setting off one of the largest landslides in recorded history - the entire north slope of the volcano slid away. As the land moved, it exposed the superheated core of the volcano setting off gigantic explosions and eruptions of steam, ash and rock debris. The blast was heard hundreds of miles away, the pressure wave flattened entire forests, the heat melted glaciers and set off destructive mudflows, and 57 people lost their lives. The erupting ash column shot up 80,000 feet into the atmosphere for over 10 hours, depositing ash across Eastern Washington and 10 other states.

MP3: Link Wray - God Out West (thx)