On The Mountain

If you're a fan of the old photos/magazines/advertisements/videos etc. that fill this rag on a regular basis, then you'll be happy to know about On The Mountain. They make the blank greeting cards pictured above out of recycled paper, then donate 10% of their profits to the NRDC. OTM was kind enough to send me a box last week, and though it's not even Thanksgiving, I'm already writing Christmas cards.Buy them here.

The First 70

The First 70:

Last May California announced plans to close one quarter of their 278 parks, a devastating move that is intended to save the state a mere $22 million per year. The closure list includes thousands of acres of park land, recreation areas, wildlife reserves, and 50% of the state's historic parks. By July 2012 Californians will be bereft of 70 magnificent natural parks. The media has done little to disclose the ongoing closures or emphasize their impact.Not wanting to miss the chance to see these places before they were gone forever, we decided to make our way across California in a converted airport shuttle bus, shooting as many parks and people as possible. Individuals we met along the way were concerned about the closing of their local parks, but no one had a collective firsthand experience of the overall picture. As we connected dots on a map, a pattern emerged. No one knew exactly what the conditions of closure would be, nor could they see how the state would ultimately benefit.
(Hat Tip: Geoff Holstad)

McCARTNEY IN THE WOODS

Pitchfork interviews Paul McCartney about the making of Ram:

Pitchfork: What are some of your early memories of loving nature?PM: I lived on the edge of Liverpool in a new housing estate, 'cause my mother was a midwife. I could walk for about half an hour and suddenly I would be in deep countryside. I used to take a lot of walks on my own and I had a little pocket book called The Observer's Book of Birds. I still have a copy, actually. I would walk around and, if I saw a bird, I'd look it up: "Oh wow, it's a skylark!" I loved that. I realized marvelling at nature was a deep pleasure of mine.The funny thing is, when I first bought the house in Scotland, that pleasure didn't occur to me. But when I met Linda, she said, "I heard you got a place in Scotland, can we go there?" And I said, "Yeah, sure." So we just went up and she said, "Ah, I love it." That's when I reconnected with it.

MP3: Thrillington - Monkberry Moon Delight

RIDING THE WIND

While driving around Hood River this last week, talking about a friend's past life working at New Balance, we got on the subject of Anton Krupicka's blog, Riding The Wind. (Krupicka is an ultra runner sponsored by NB.) Anton - his friends call him "Tony" - posts loads of photos recounting his running conquests around the parts of Colorado that CS would frequent while attending college (Mt. Elbert, Chautauqua, Green Summit etc.).The photos/musings of his training are a real treat, so head on over to RTW and get your ass out running.Enjoy it.MP3: Fruit Bats - Tony the Tripper

Ramblers Bone

If there is a heaven for hitchhikersthe road to angel falls in Zionis the road they dream of

Every morning I wake up to the sight of a lonely New Mexico desert, a landscape that's worlds away from the apartment I call home. Bummer. The photo is part of Mikael Kennedy's Odysseus and it's quite possibly my favorite thing that I own. (Brian Wilson, your 1 of only 100 signed copies of the hand-written sheet music to "Our Prayer" is a close second.)  Mikael and I have been buddies for a good while now, and two months ago, while spending the month living in Marfa, TX, Mikael flew down to visit and spend a few days in BBNP. It was our first time working together (I wrote an article for Garden and Gun while he took the photos), but certainly not the last.While Mikael was down south, he was all smiles, enjoying the nothingness of southwest Texas and getting his head straight for the adventure he's on now. And holy hell is it an adventure. The project, called Ramblers Bone, involves a sponsorship from Wolverine that allows both Mikael and Sean Sullivan to take a road trip through the western part of these United of States. Not bad.As promised, Mikael sent me a few pictures from the road (Zion to be exact) with the little ditty above he wrote to accompany them. If you're craving more - and I'm guessing you are - you can see more photos after the jump and follow the entire adventure here.

Faustino

I don't really know how Vice does it, but they do. And they do it well. For their newest episode of Far Out (remember Heimo?), Vice traveled down to Chilean Patagonia to meet Faustino Barrientos, who, since 1965, has lived alone on the shores Lake O'Higgins in a house built from the remains of a shipwrecked fishing vessel. More info below:

Lake O'Higgins comprises a portion of the border between Chile's Aysén region and Argentina's Santa Cruz province. Since 1965, Faustino Barrientos has lived alone on the shores the lake, in a house built from the remains of a shipwrecked fishing vessel. He's a pastoralist, living mostly off the land and his livestock, with few modern amenities. His nearest neighbors are in Villa O'Higgins, a small community of several hundred people, 25 miles away, accessible only by a two-day horseback ride through rugged mountain animal paths. Every few years, Faustino makes this ride to sell his cattle in town.Currently 81 years old, Faustino is reaching the end of his life, and his self-imposed isolation is being encroached upon by the forces of government, economy, and tourism. In December 2011, VICE went to document his lifestyle and speak with him about the changing face of Patagonia and the gaucho lifestyle.

Watch the video in four parts here.

Uncle Skullfucker

I've had the pleasure of drinking a few beers down in Texas with Daniel Chamberlin, the editor of the now defunct Arthur Magazine. If you've been to this rag in the past, you know that CS is a fan of the Grateful Dead, and after getting on the topic the other night at a bar in Marfa (where Chamberlin now resides), he pointed me in the direction of an article he wrote in May of 2009 called "Uncle Skullfucker's Band." In it, he explains the "discreet charm of the Grateful Dead" and, of all things, the relationship between Throbbing Gristle and American Beauty. Whether you're a fan or despise all things Grateful Dead (shame on you), I highly recommend you sit down and read it:

“When I think of the Grateful Dead, I think of a flag and I think of a rose and I think of a steak and I think of a gun,” said Richard Loren, a former Dead manager, in Carol Brightman’s Sweet Chaos: The Grateful Dead’s American Adventure. “I think of the West and I think of consciousness expansion. I think of irreverence and anarchy and I think of something pure.” I heard all of these things in American Beauty. But when I thought of the Grateful Dead I also thought of 16-year-old burnouts flunking chemistry class and gas-huffing drug addicts shooting cats. When punk friends made the switch to Deadhead, they sold me their Fall and Naked Raygun tapes for what I assumed was drug money, given their new logy disposition. I was heading with Jeremy to the parking lot scene at the Dead show looking to replace these associations with the ideal that Loren was talking about.

 MP3: Throbbing Gristle - Still WalkingMP3: Grateful Dead - Dire Wolf *

A Desert Life

A Desert Life is a film about Alf Randell, "a self-described 'dirtbag' who has spent nearly a decade of his life climbing amongst the soaring sandstone cliffs of Indian Creek, Utah." Austin Siadak spent last November climbing with Alf and documenting his life as a climber, living in a camper worth a dollar and making money by repairing climbing shoes and putting up fence around Moab. The film is a real beauty, so if you have nine minutes to spare, which you obviously do, I highly recommend clicking here.

Big Bend National Park

"I’d rather be broke down and lost in the wilds of Big Bend, any day, than wake up some morning in a penthouse suite high above the megalomania of Dallas or Houston."  - Ed Abbey

Cold Splinters and Upstate are gearing up for a southern adventure down to Big Bend National Park towards the beginning of next month. It's an area we've never experienced, so if you're lucky enough to have spent a night or two in that "barren, sun-blasted, apparently lifeless, stone-bleak ocean of the Chihuahuan Desert," drop me a line. Let me know where we should go (backcountry hot springs, please), and more importantly, where we shouldn't.MP3: Smog - Too Many Birds