Transamerica Bike Route

Two summers ago, my girlfriend and I rode our bicycles from southern Illinois to Astoria, Oregon via the Adventure Cycling Association's Transamerica Trail (est. 1976). In total we rode for 53 days and over 3100 miles, through 95 degree heat and white-out blizzards. The Transam itself is a route of country roads, lonely highways, and not so lonely thoroughfares stretching from coast to coast. Beginning in the east in Yorktown, VA, the "trail" takes you across the Appalachians, the Ozarks, north through Colorado and tracing the Continental Divide up through Wyoming and Montana, and finally across northern Idaho and Oregon. It's chalked up as definitely the best trip I've ever been on in my life. I could talk about this trip for days, and have, but we'll save the mushy stuff for another post.Check out the ACA for tons of other map sets here!Check out the pictures from our trip here!

ELDER OF THE TRIBE

Click on over to google books and read the June 1978 article in Backpacker Magazine titled Elder of the Tribe: Aldo Leopold. A great primer to Leopold and his "land ethic"."What I am trying to make clear", he wrote, "is that if in a city we had six vacant lots available to the youngsters of a certain neighborhood for playing ball, it might be 'development' to build houses on the first, and the second, and the third, and the fourth, and even on the fifth, but when we build houses on the last one, we forget what houses are for. The sixth house would not be development at all, but rather ... stupidity."After reading the article go to your local library, check out A Sand County Almanac and read it twice.

Open Road Pioneers

The Open Road Pioneers was a club started in 1927 by The Open Road For Boys, a boys' magazine encouraging the outdoor life that was published from 1919 to the 1950s.The Club Undertakes 1) To acquaint each member with the spirit and ideals of the frontier 2) to encourage each member to adopt the principles of courage, self-reliance, honesty, sportsmanship, endurance, progress and co-operation. 3) To teach each member useful things about woodcraft and outdoor life. 4) To familiarize each member wit the natural wonders which are all about him 5) to enlist each member in helping to conserve and increase the fish, the game, the forests and the other natural resource of his locality.*Learn more about the Open Road Pioneers and other old kids' clubs at Vintage Kid Stuff.

WEB BELTS

Made of polyester/nylon/cotton, these belts have been valued for a bit in the "outdoor world" for their light weight, durability, and range of tension. Without holes, the belt can be tightened to fit almost any size. You can swim with it on too, and look good doin' it. And we both know that's the important part.Love the top right guy, the Canoe Belt from Wintergreen Northern Wear, made in Ely, Minnesota (a la 10engines).

PANCAKE ICE

Pancake Ice is formed when temperatures hover right around zero degrees with at least moderate wave activity. The sections themselves can range from a few inches to several feet in diameter, with fairly even depth and slightly raised rims. The rim is built up with each compression of wave, being drawn together in each trough. Conditions in which pancake ice occur most are when there is a thin film of slush on the top of agitated water (sometimes called grease ice) that freezes into larger sections, or when a more solid base of ice breaks up into pieces. In high school we'd all pack into my rusted out '95 Neon to go check out the ice on Lake Michigan. It almost always ended in very irresponsibly running across these churning pancakes just off shore. And more than once somebody rode home with a frozen pant-leg.

FOOLS

"Mere destroyers, tree killers, wool and mutton men, spreading death and confusion in the fairest groves and gardens ever planted. Let the government hasten to cast them out, and make an end of them. Any fool can destroy trees. They cannot run away. And if they could, they would still be destroyed, chased and hunted down as long as fun or a dollar could be caught out of their bark hides. Through all the wonderful, eventful centuries since Christ's time, and long before that, God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches and a thousand straining, leveling tempests and floods. But he cannot save them from fools."- John Muir

Wilderness Medicine Institute Campus

Generous donations from Swiss biomedical entrepreneur Hansjörg Wyss and a Wyoming ranching family have given the Wilderness Medicine Institute (WMI) of the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) the holiday gift of its dreams: a wilderness medicine campus in the State of Wyoming. Take a look at a picture of the future location of the campus in Red Canyon, MT here and then read more about NOLS' plans here. Pretty darn cool.Eddie Hinton - Build Your Own Fire

ALL-IN TREK

Sam Gardner from Houghton, MI (far reaches of the Upper Peninsula) set off on January 1st to solo hike all four of the continental U.S.' long trails. Starting with the North Country Trail (which has only one recorded thru-hike in winter), Gardner will hike east to west, before moving to the Pacific Crest Trail, then the Continental Divide, and finally the AT. Back to back to back. To back. With the mileage totaling over 12,500, Gardner's lofty goal of finishing the trip in one year requires an average of over 34 miles a day. He does note on his site that his real goal is to finish, no matter what the time frame. You can follow Sam along on his trip at his site, which is regularly updated with his progress. We're pullin' for ya' buddy, Triple Crown +1.

The Miller Planisphere

Ever used a Miller Planisphere? Probably. If you haven't, do us all a favor and buy one already. Lord.Just dial the date and time and you'll see what's happening up there in the sky, then rotate the time dial to simulate sky motion. No math-heavy introductory astronomy college course required. Make sure you order the model number that corresponds with your latitude. Comes in a pocket size too.MP3: Iris Dement - Leaning On The Everlasting Arms

YUKON PASSAGE (1977)

From the National Geographic site..."It's thirty below zero in the Canadian wilderness, your long underwear is frozen stiff on the line, and you're about to relive one of the greatest adventures in North American history. Join four courageous young men on their 1,800-mile, eight-month trek to retrace the steps of the gold stampeders of 1898. You'll build a log raft and steer it through treacherous rapids, and when the river freezes you'll travel by dog sled through freezing rain and thigh-high snow-drifts. Bathe in an icy lake and share a tasty supper of moose meat. You'll reach the gold rush town of Dawson where you'll march in the annual stampeder's parade, and celebrate your thrilling journey through the Yukon Passage."Watch it online here: Parts I - VI

Geoff Holstad

I've been doing this Cold Splinters thing by myself since May 2008, a little bit more than two and a half years. There are going to be some big things happening in this neck of the woods in the Year Of The Rabbit, things I can't wait to work on, and the first of many is the addition of Geoff Holstad, whose brainchild, SO SWEATY, is one of my favorite places on the Internets. Holstad is an artist from Michigan with an amazing eye and a shared interest in all the things we like to write about on this rag. And it doesn't hurt that he's one of the nicest people in these United of States. Geoff has already written several posts here for your reading pleasure, and despite the spelling of his name, he'll be sticking around for good as a guest contributor. Make him feel welcome.Thanks everyone for reading and emailing and asking questions and commenting and just bein' around. You're the best.Happy 2011,Jeff and Geoff