DOMMY NO MATES

For 2 years and 2 months, Dominic Gill rode a tandem bicycle with racks, panniers and a trailer from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to the tip of Argentina. This ride has been done before, but Dominic rode a tandem, alone for more than 50% of the trip. He set off knowing that he wanted to make a documentary, inviting people he met along the way to ride with him, whether it was for a few days or through Main St for a quick chat. In the end, Dominic rode nearly 20,000 miles with 270 different 'mates'. Dominic's book about the ride, Take a Seat, was released not long ago and is available everywhere. The documentary is in the works, so check out the trailer after the jump.

R.I.P. JOHN HAINES

John Haines, pictured above in the red V-neck at the 1990 Alaskan Poetry Festival in Fairbanks, died last Wednesday at the age of 86. The NYT has this to say about the poet:

Mr. Haines may have been drawn to the far North in the manner of Robert Service or Jack London, but unlike them he came to stay and carve out a long life. He cleared forest, built cabins, planted gardens, chopped wood, cut trails, traveled by snowshoe and dogsled, trapped lynx and marten, weaved nets for salmon fishing, and had encounters with grizzlies.

Harper's critic Hayden Carruth labeled John Haines "one of our best nature poets, or for that matter one of the best nature writers of any kind." Jerry B. McAninch describes Haines in the Dictionary of Literary Biography as a "present-day pioneer," asserting that the poet "speaks as a man who not only lived on one of the nation's few remaining frontiers but who, both through long association and innate artistic sensibility, has come to embody that frontier in his writing."Read "If The Owl Calls Again" from his 1966 book of poems, Winter News, after the jump.If The Owl Calls Againat duskfrom the island in the river,and it's not too cold,I'll wait for the moonto rise,then take wing and glideto meet him.We will not speak,but hooded against the frostsoar abovethe alder flats, searchingwith tawny eyes.And then we'll sitin the shadowy spruceand pick the bonesof careless mice,while the long moon driftstoward Asiaand the river muttersin its icy bed.And when the morning climbsthe limbswe'll part without a sound,fulfilled, floatinghomeward asthe cold world awakens.

CAMPING AND CAMP CRAFTS

Yesterday I traded somebody an old drawing that I had lying in my studio for this book, The Golden Book of Camping and Camp Crafts (1959). I saw a couple images from this book on Vintage Kids' Books My Kid Loves and have been scouring used book stores ever since to no avail. The illustrations in this book are unbelievable. Also in the series are The Golden Book of Indian Crafts and Lore and The Golden Book of Nature Crafts. Keep an eye out if you please. More photos after the jump.

Mark Twain National Forest

A former coworker of mine sent me this gem of a brochure in an email a couple of weeks ago. This is the 2010 (yes, 2010) brochure for Missouri's Mark Twain National Forest. I mean, come on, no matter how small of a budget any public land has, to hold onto this thing until 2010 is, well, fantastic. I think...The MTNF covers approximately 1.5 million acres, 78,000 acres of which are Wilderness and National Scenic River area. It spans 29 counties and represents 11% of all forested land in Missouri. I've never been there. Have you?Download the full brochure here. The awesome pictures don't stop at the cover.

HOLLERIN

The 1978 film Welcome to Spivey's Corner just got added to Folkstreams a week or so ago and, like most of the films on Folkstreams, it's absolutely amazing. The film spotlights Spivey's Corner (then pop. 49) annual Hollerin' Contest which still takes place every year in this tiny North Carolina town. What's hollerin'? From Folkstreams.net:

Hollerin' is considered by some to be the earliest form of communication between humans. It is a traditional form of communication used in rural areas before the days of telecommunications to convey long-distance messages. Evidence of hollerin', or derivations thereof such as yodeling or hunting cries, exists worldwide among many early peoples and is still be practiced in certain societies of the modern world. In one form or another, the holler has been found to exist in Europe, Africa and Asia as well as the US. Each culture used or uses hollers differently, although almost all cultures have specific hollers meant to convey warning or distress. Otherwise hollers exist for virtually any communicative purpose imaginable -- greetings, general information, pleasure, work, etc. The hollers featured at the National Hollerin' Contest typically fall into one of four categories: distress, functional, communicative or pleasure.

Spend 17 awestruck minutes here.

VSO DAY

On Thursday, February 17th, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society announced a VICTORY IN THE SOUTHERN OCEAN DAY. The Sea Shepherd ship Bob Barker has been tailing the Japanese Nisshin Maru factory ship since February 9th, making it impossible for the whalers to continue their illegal whaling operations. The Japanese whaling fleet hadn't even taken 10% of their quota. Sea Shepherd estimates that over 900 whales have been saved this year.“I have a crew of 88 very happy people from 23 different nations including Japan and they are absolutely thrilled that the whalers are heading home and the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary is now indeed a real sanctuary,” said Captain Paul Watson.

MONKEY WRENCHER: Tim DeChristopher

On February 28, Tim DeChristoper goes to trial in the state of Utah. One month prior to President Bush leaving office, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) intended to auction off thousands of acres of southern Utah wilderness to private oil and gas companies. Twenty seven year old student and environmental activist Tim DeChristoper threw a stick in the spokes, and that stick was a bidders paddle.In their mad rush to sell the land before President Obama was sworn into office, the BLM failed to properly clear each bonded bidder, something that DeChristopher quickly understood when attending the auction. DeChristoper, intending only to protest and stir things up, realized his chance amidst the haphazard operation to stall the sale by buying as much land as possible. In the end, DeChristoper had bought over 22,000 acres of land surrounding Arches National Park, land that he never intended to pay for. The truth quickly surfaced that he bid falsely to save the land from sale, but his ploy worked. The BLM, now under the Obama administration, is still sorting out the sale.Abbey'd be proud.Check out this article for more info on DeChristopher, and his upcoming trial.

UPSTATE

The lovely ladies of UPSTATE have just given the world their Spring 2011 lookbook, full of the beautiful indigo-dyed raw silk wraps, scarves, ponchos etc. that Cold Splinters has been wild about for the last year. We don't talk about stuff like this very often (actually, never) but springtime is coming, so grab a wrap and stay warm by the fire.

CIRCLING ALASKA

Adventurer Andrew Skurka returned last September from a 4,679 mile hike, ski, and packraft around virtually the perimeter of Alaska. The trip took him through 8 national parks, over dozens of mountain ranges, and through some of Alaska's roughest and most scenic waterways. The guy is no joke, having finished the trip solo in 176 days (less than six months). Along the way Skurka kept tabs with us all over at his National Geographic Adventure Blog and Nat Geo wrapped up his trip with an article in the March 2011 issue. And he's definitely not new to trips like these, check out his rap sheet.See some amazing Nat Geo pics from Andrew's trip here and here.

1000

Over the last two and three-quarter years, it seems as though I've posted a couple of old camping photos. This one, the handsome Nat Geo picture above, is post #1,000. The never ending online camping trip. Meeting all of the inspiring and creative people that come around these parts has been one hell of an experience. Y'all are a special bunch.Melodramatic? Sure. It's a blog. I know that. But I hope I'll be able to write another 1,000 of these things. And if not? Maybe that's not such a bad thing either.See you out there, on the trail, down a river, on a ice wall in the White Mountains, or at a cantina in Bed-Stuy. Wherever it is, it'll be good.

The Ridgerunner

As stated before, over the summer of 2009 my girlfriend Sarah and I rode our bicycles from Grand Rapids, MI to Portland, OR via the Transamerica Trail. During this trip, we rode through Northern Idaho, which unbeknownst to me is one of the most beautiful, remote places in America. We rode alongside the Lochsa River coming down off Lolo Pass, and into the Bitterroot Wilderness. We didn’t see a gas station for days, and in the thick of it met a man named Stacey who has been living off his bike for years (by choice), drinking water from these same rivers, fishing for his meals, sleeping on BLM land, and drifting where the fair weather does. We stopped at a small stand of cabins, and camped one night at the adjacent National Forest Campground. The cabins were packed, teaming with excited white water rafters and guides, the Lochsa roaring just across the road. In the morning we grabbed breakfast at the mess hall, and I bought this book in the lobby.The Ridgerunner: Elusive Loner of the Wilderness by Richard Ripley:“During the early 1940s in Idaho’s expansive Selway-Bitterroot wilderness, a few items disappeared from a tent camp, a lookout tower, and a ranger station. Eventually, the continuing loss of food and supplies at such isolated sites confirmed the presence of a mysterious solitary. For years no one saw him, even though he entered Forest Service quarters while employees slept. In the winter, when he did leave tracks, they were found on the most inhospitable ridges and earned him the regard of locals who appreciated the cost of survival under such circumstances. Once apprehended, the Ridgerunner proved to be both witty and ornery - a man who said he simply wanted “to live like a coyote,” and who was so woodswise and contentious that he vexed the government and a major timber company for the next 20 years.”I’m just about to read this book for the fourth time. Grab it.Photo: Moreland (The Ridgerunner) raising the flag in front of his shelter at Milk Creek.

Wilson Bentley

Wilson "Snowflake Man" Bentley was one of the first known photographers of snowflakes. Bentley was born in Jericho, VT in 1865, and when he turned 15, his mother gave him a microscope. Bentley soon figured out how to capture a snowflake on velvet so it wouldn't melt before he could take a photograph. He captured over 5,000 images in his lifetime, famously never finding two snowflakes that were alike. Awwww.Bentley's 1931 book, Snow Crystals, contains more than 2,400 images and can be purchased right here.

The Complete Europe 72

No secret around these parts that Cold Splinters has a thing for the Good Ol' Grateful Dead. Especially for Europe 72. So a couple of weeks ago, when a friend sent us this link explaining that the Grateful Dead and Rhino Records will be releasing a huge and lavish box set of more than 60 CDs containing every show of the Europe '72 tour, mixed and mastered from the original 16-track tapes, we were more than excited. And yes, maybe this is old news to some of you, but after all the sunshine this week, it's hard not to daydream of driving with the windows down listening to "Ramble On Rose" on the way back from a three day stint in the woods.The 7,200 pre-order of the box set sold out in four days, but it seems as though the band will make the music available to anyone who wants to hear it. Thanks Bob.For those of you who weren't lucky enough to get the box set, I'll let you know how it is...MP3: Grateful Dead - Ramble on Rose

Eating Season

The mid-February thaw here in the Great Lakes and the visit from our ol' pal sunshine got me breaking out the Peterson Field Guide and brushing up on my local wild edibles. I know I'm jumping the gun a bit (a lotta bit), but seeing grass for the first time in months in bits and patches will tide me over. Cold Splinters toured Prospect Park, NY with "Wildman" Steve Brill (pictured above) a while back, but duck over to his website and get lost. The highlight of his site (aside from his real wealth of knowledge) is his archive of media surrounding his arrest in NYC in 1986 for "eating a dandelion". Spring!

HARDCORE

What is hardcore? Fitz Cahall over at Dirtbag Diaries (a CS fav) ponders this claim to be the "homecoming king of the outdoor adventure world". Remember, talk is cheap but does this even matter? Fitz picks apart the titles in this most recent Dirtbag Diaries podcast."Lots of us push ourselves towards something bigger. Busting our lungs on trail runs, entering cyclocross races, crashing bikes, skinning up ridges until we don't think we'll have the legs to ski down, kicking crampon steps a thousand at a time, wondering why we got out of bed and packed a backpack before our neighbors even got home from the bar. All of these are entry points to hardcore, things that can break you if you let them, but none of them by themselves is a universal litmus test for being hardcore. Perhaps hardcore can be pursued, but can never be achieved ...like enlightenment."Listen here and then subscribe to the podcast.

Pukaskwa National Park

Being that I celebrate the entire Bill Mason catalog, figured I'd highlight this promotional mini-documentary that he did in the early eighties for the Pukaskwa National Park on the Ontario shores of Lake Superior. The Pukaskwa Park is still really young, having become a National Park in 1971 to protect the natural wonders of our northern lakes, but more specifically the Pukaskwa Pits.The Pukaskwa Pits are small holes (1-2 meters long, and half a meter deep) dug by the ancestors of the native Ojibwa. The pits are dug in the rough, cobblestone beaches along the Superior shore. Theories on the pits purposes range from hunting blinds and seasonal food storage to spiritual sites. The park itself spans 700 square miles of thick, remote hardwoods, separated by the White River on it's way to the world's largest freshwater lake.Watch Bill Mason's take on the park over at NFB.ca.

Nicky and Cookie

Nicky and Cookie, husband (Cookie) and wife (Nicky), designers from London, bloggers, are walking through New Zealand as we speak on the Te Araroa, a walking and tramping (yes, tramping) trail that stretches from Cape Reinga in the north to Bluff in the south. The trail just opened up this year and is 3,000 km (1,864 miles) through the forest, across farmland, over volcanoes and mountain passes, along river valleys, on green pathways and through seven cities. (For reference, the Continental Divide Trail is 3,100 miles, the Appalachian Trail is 2,178 miles and the Pacific Crest is 2,654 miles.)Nicky and Cookie have been blogging about their trip, posting photos and commentary, looking like they're having the times of their just-married lives. Go to their website and follow them across that beautiful little country that I so badly want to visit. And when you're done, check out Cookie's video from his Continental Divide trek.I'm so sore that I could cry...MP3: Neill Finn - She Will Have Her Way

VTG CHOUINARD CATALOG

Caught this one over at the climber's forum on SuperTopo. This '68 catalog was still early Chouinard, noted on the site that at the time of it's release "the Chouinard crampon was just out and the Piolet still in the oven..." (the first Chouinard carabiners were nailed out in 1957-58). Four years later, catch up on the 1972 Chouinard Catalog, all archived here. And if you like what you see, you can buy it for $350. Yes, the catalog.