Juana Maria

If you're like me, you probably read Scott O'Dell's 1960 novel,  Island of the Blue Dolphins, when you were in grade school. It's the story of a Karana, a young girl who is stranded for years on an island off the California coast. The story is based on the life of Juana Maria, a Nicoleño Indian left alone for 18 years on San Nicolas Island in the 19th century. It was believed that she lived in a cave on the island, and just a few months ago, a Naval archeologist believes he found the cave after 20 years of searching. Read more about that here.Go to your local thrift store, pick up a copy and spend a quiet afternoon reading this thing. It's quite the gem. Then come on back to CS and watch the movie after the jump... 

Bird By Snow

At the beginning of September, I spent a week with my Juniper Ridge family, hiking down the John Muir Trail and relaxing in backcountry cabins right outside of Inyo National Forest. There were over ten of us on that trip, including Fletcher Tucker, who owns Gnome Life Records and records under Bird By Snow, and Em Gift, aka Mountain Momma Long Legs, who runs the show at one of my favorite stores in these United of States, Gravel and Gold. Fletcher and Em go way back, but it was my first time meeting them both, so it's a real time for me to watch the new video for BBS's "Peering Out." Em is dancing around Big Sur, where Fletcher lives, and Fletcher, well, he's keeping the fire going. Read more about the video here.See you both in a few weeks.

Wrenched

According to the movie's website, Wrenched is about "HOW EDWARD ABBEY LIT THE FLAME OF ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISM AND GAVE THE MOVEMENT ITS SOUL." I gotta say, after watching the trailer above, this looks sort of wonderful. They're over 30K dollars away from their fundraising goal, and though I usually don't post links for such things, any movie dedicated to all things Edward Abbey is worth taking out your wallet for. Donate here.

Merit Badge Series

**Words by Bennet Bergman

Last month I made the trip up to the famed Elkhorn Flea Market in Wisconsin, where I picked up a dozen of these Merit Badge booklets from the 60’s. Similar to the Foxfire books or the American Boy’s Handy Book, these babies are chock full of information on good American pastimes. They’ll tell you everything you need to know to earn your Merit Badge in basketry or, say, Indian lore. You know, in case you're a Boy Scout or something. Chapter one of the camping pamphlet starts right in with the big question, “Why go camping?” And those scouts lay it out for us like no big deal:
“Every Scout probably has his own reasons for going camping. If you asked him what they were, he might not be able to tell you. It may be something he can’t put his finger on—like the smell of last year’s pine needles or the sound of bacon sizzling over a crackling campfire. He just likes the outdoors and everything about it—he likes to live on his own in the open, whether in the desert, prairie, or woodland—he likes to be a part of the great outdoors.”

Sounds about right to me.MP3: Talking Heads - And She Was

Hey Diddle

There's a remastered version of Paul McCartney's Ram out today, one of our favorite albums in the history of albums, so get on over to iTunes and grab it. Perfect for any spring/summer drive to and from wherever you're going. The new versions includes the song from the video above, "Hey Diddle."Hands Across The Water.

TWELVE LESSONS OF THE DESERT

A few weeks back, I was held up in southwest Texas - Big Bend National Park, to be exact - with Mikael Kennedy, writing a story for the wonderful Garden and Gun. (It'll be out later this summer, so stay tuned.) With work and travel and bla bla bla, this last Thursday was the first time that Mikael and I were able to get together since our little adventure. A winning combination of Guinness and Ful Medames.We both had books for one another, each one slightly commemorative of the Great Big Dry Nothing that was home for a few nights. I gave him a copy of The Desert Is Theirs and he gave me Twelve Lessons Of The Desert. Mikeal met Sam Richardson, the book's author, while down in Taos, NM two weeks ago, and after telling him about our time in Terlingua, Richardson directed him to the local book store.Twelve Lessons is a "collection of aphorisms, nature notes and essays written over a period of 17 years by river guide, artist, writer and storyteller Sam Richardson." I haven't started it yet, but when I do, I'll make sure to do a full report. In the meantime, learn more about Sam here.Thanks Mikael.

Rocky Mountain Land Library

Jeffrey Lee and his wife, Ann Martin, both employees at Colorado's Tattered Cover Book Store (a frequent stop when I was living out there), have amassed a 30,000-volume collection on "the land and people's connection to the land" called the Rocky Mountain Land Library. They've been storing the books in their Humboldt Street apartment, and after 23 years, the house is being sold. After years of looking for a site, followed by almost six years of discussion, Lee said, he is close to signing a 99-year lease for a residential land-study center at South Park's circa-1863 Buffalo Peaks Ranch along the Middle Fork of the South Platte River.Read the rest of the story over at the Denver Post.MP3: Sleater-Kinney - Wilderness

The Dark Glow Of The Mountains

Thank you to reader Brad for sending us the link to the English-subtitled version of Werner Herzog's 1984 documentary, The Dark Glow of the Mountains. The film, which was made for TV, is about an expedition made by Reinhold Messner and Hans Kammerlander to climb Gasherbrum II and Gasherbrum I all in one trip without returning to base camp.There are a lot of things I "recommend" seeing/watching/listening to/wearing in these parts, but this thing is really the toppermost of the poppermost. Watch it in full after the jump...

5.2.1970

Another Outdoor Retailer show, another long weekend of puffy coats and new friends. And another long flight home with music blaring on the iPhone as I curse the heavens for my inability to sleep on airplanes.It's been a while since there was any Grateful Dead in these parts. Mostly because it creeps up in the sunshine, but after a few straight days of 3.2% beer consumption that lasted from 4pm - midnight-ish, summer needed to come early. And Harpur College? May 2nd? 1970? Dick's Picks Volume 8? Whatever you want to call it, just listen.MP3: Grateful Dead - We Bid You Goodnight

Call of the Wild

Chapter 2: The Law of Club and Fang:

“…His development (or retrogression) was rapid. His muscles became hard as iron and he grew callous to all ordinary pain. He achieved an internal as well as external economy. He could eat anything, no matter how loathsome of indigestible; and, once eaten, the juices of his stomach extracted the last least particle of nutriment; and his blood carried it to the farthest reaches of his body, building it into the toughest and stoutest of tissues. Sight and scent became remarkably keen, while his hearing developed such acuteness that in his sleep he heard the faintest sound and knew whether it heralded peace or peril…The domesticated generations fell from him.”

Tis the season to dust this one back off, always worth the re-read. For a change, you can catch the free domain audiobook here, or watch Charlton Heston's take here.