Dan Richards

In 1972, then California Governor Ronald Regan signed legislation banning the sport of hunting mountain lions for five years. That ban was twice renewed before the voters passed Proposition 117 in 1990, which officially made it illegal to hunt the cats in the state.Last week, president of the California Fish and Game Commission, Dan Richards, traveled to Idaho where he shot a mountain lion. Legally. When the picture above started getting circulated around the ol' internets, people of The Golden State, including former SF mayor and current lieutenant governor, Gavin Newsom, were calling for Richards resignation.Pretty sticky situation if you ask me. The dude didn't really commit any crimes, right? He did go to Idaho to kill the mountain lion. But then again, there's the obvious part about him killing a mountain lion. Read more here.Thoughts?

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

CAMPING MUGS

I know how people are with their mugs at home. I'm the same way. Your mug is your mug and cross contamination is unnecessary and unacceptable. For most of us, that sentiment also translates to camping, and for me, that means always bringing along the old L.L. Bean mug I've had for way too long. That thing has been all over the country, holding some insanely bad cups of instant coffee, tea, whiskey (notice the Coke bottle full of bourbon?), noodles, and often enough, all of these things at the same time.Y'all got something special that's always along for the ride?

Texas Cowboy Poetry Gathering

If you're in the area, head on over to Alpine, Texas this Friday and Saturday for the 26th Annual Texas Cowboy Poetry Festival. Hells bells, there's even a tribute to Marty Robbins on Friday morning! (Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs was a major part of the soundtrack for Cold Splinters' Texas adventure. They even sold the album at the Panther Junction Visitor Center in BBNP.) Ima miss you Deep West Texas.MP3: Marty Robbins - They're Hanging Me TonightMP3: Marty Robbins - Running Gun

RICEMELLOW CREME

Fluff might not be the greatest use of space in the ol' backpack, and hell, most of you probably don't even like the stuff, but I've got a major soft spot for it. I NEVER had marshmallow creme growing up, so this is a rather recent development, but a peanut butter and Fluff tortilla (a rare occasion if the go-to crunchy peanut butter, Corn Nuts, and apples/bananas aren't around) can really hit the spot. And yes, it's hard to find, but if you're ever jonesin' for a little of the gooey white stuff, I want to point you in the direction of Suzanne's Ricemellow Creme, the version that uses brown rice syrup instead of egg whites and sugar. I prefer it to the original. Best for an overnight jaunt when a stove isn't imperative.Have at it here.

BACK FROM THE TRAIL

As the post below mentions, Cold Splinters spent the last couple of days in Big Bend working on a project with Mikael Kennedy. Thank you to everyone who emailed me over the last few weeks with recommendations for places to go in those beautiful Chisos mountains. Your notes were extremely helpful. I've wanted to spend time in that park for a long while now and the last couple of days couldn't have been better. Thanks to the lovely Kalen Kaminski of Upstate for providing the behind the scenes coverage (including the photo above) and the shibori trail shots.MP3: Sir Doug & The Texas Tornados - Cowboy Peyton Place

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...

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 *

Trail Mix Volume VII

The Outlier guys dream up a whole mess of wonderful things in their Brooklyn, NY headquarters. From the world's best hiking pants (sure, they're meant for biking) to their Hyperlite collaboration, I'm always excited to open their emails and find out about their newest creation. Their knowledge of fabric and garment design is more than vast, and they've been nice enough to teach me a great deal these last few months, always over a few beers and a good dinner.  If you're not hip to what Abe, Tyler, Roy and their team are doing, get on it. It's well worth your time. And if you do end up with something from Outlier in your closet, beware: You'll probably wear it everyday for weeks. Maybe months.A little bit of background for this week's Trail Mix from Abe:

"Conceptually I envisioned it as all as a one walk down the hudson along side the Amtrak tracks from Yonkers then across the frenzy of midtown and city life. It roughly splits into a river side and city side."

Download: Ventures In A Slipstream

Big Bend Mountain Lion

Maybe not the most interesting thing to post about (though none of this stuff is, right?), but Cold Splinters is down in Southwest Texas right now and, for the past few days, the mountain lion attack in Big Bend National Park has been the talk of the town. Well, one of the topics at least...Six year old Rivers Hobbs was attacked late Sunday as his family returned to their room from the park's main lodge. The boy's father, Jason Hobbs, pounced on THE BEAST as it clamped onto Rivers' face. Hobbs ultimately stabbed the animal in the chest with a pocketknife, causing it to flee. (Nice work, dad.) It took 17 stitches to close, and after returning home to Leander, TX, Rivers is going to have to get a series of rabies shots. See pics here.And there you have it...MP3: Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys - Deep In The Heart Of Texas

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.

Bear Spray

In case you're at work today wondering, or if you already know and want to reinforce your "outdoor knowledge," here's a quick tutorial about bear spray from Charles W. "Chuck" Bryant of SYSK fame.What is it?

Bear spray isn't unlike pepper spray that humans use to protect themselves from other humans. The main difference is that bear spray can shoot farther and casts a wider effective area. There are three main ingredients in bear spray:
  • Oleoresin Capsicum (OC): oily residue from hot cayenne peppers. Capsicum is a naturally occurring ingredient that causes a burning sensation when sprayed in the face of an attacker. Food-grade OC is used to give heat to edibles like salsa.
  • Base fluid: mixed with the OC to dilute it. It's typically oil-based to prevent separation from the oily OC.
  • Aerosol propellant: used to eject the ingredients from the can to the threat.

Is it Effective?

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service investigated human and bear encounters from 1992 to 2005 and found that people who defended themselves with firearms were injured about 50 percent of the time by the bear. People who used the bear spray escaped injury 98 percent of the time, and the few injuries they suffered were far less severe than those in the gun-toting realm. Why? Because it's difficult to stop a bear with a gun and wounded bears are more likely to become even more aggressive.

Read the rest of article right here:

Richard West Sellars

Another interesting article from good ol' High Country News, this time about Richard West Sellars, a former NPS employee whose 1997 book, Preserving Nature in the Natural Parks, showed the "gaps" in the National Park Service belief that it was a preservation agency. The book is widely credited for inspiring the Natural Resource Challenge, a 1999 initiative that made resource management and preservation the agency's top priority. Read the article in full here.MP3: Citay - Little Kingdom

Trail Food: TVP

Whether you're a vegetarian or just looking for an alternative to tuna/salmon/sardines/freeze dried beef stroganoff, you may (or may not?) want to try Textured Vegetable Protein the next time you're on the trail. Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP) is made from defatted soy flour that's been cooked under pressure and then dried. It's high in protein (12 grams per 1/4 cup serving) and, because it's soy-based, takes on the tofu-like characteristics of tasting like whatever your season it with. But unlike tofu, it's got the texture of ground meat and doesn't need to be drained. All you have to do is quickly rehydrate it, making it a perfect camping companion. And the kicker? It's wildly inexpensive. If you can't find it at your local grocery store, you can buy it here for around $2.50 a bag.*Recipe for Curried Sloppy Joes after the jump...Ingredients (Makes 2 sandwiches):-1 cup of TVP-A little less than a cup of boiling water-2 pitas-Chopped cilantro-Chopped onion-Small can of tomato sauce-1 or so tbsp of good curry powder1) Boil the water2) Pour the water into a bowl filled with TVP. Cover the bowl and wait 5 minutes.3) While the TVP is rehydrating, dice the onion and chop the cilantro.4) When the TVP is ready to go, pour in the tomato sauce and curry powder. Mix.5) At this point, you can either put the sloppy joe mixture back in the pot/pan with the onions, but, if you're like me and enjoy raw onions, throw the goods into the pita, top with onions and cilantro and eat dinner.

Trail Mix Volume VI

Via Boston, MA and Portland, ME, this week's Trail Mix comes from my personal King Of The Mixtape, Mr. Creepy Powers (aka Sean Turley). Sean and I's relationship goes all the way back to our younger years when he was a promising Eagle Scout with a rattail. These days, he's a gracious host and a wonderful tour guide whenever I'm hungry and traveling north and east of New York City. I've driven up the coast of Maine with Ali Farke Toure while Sean was living on the shores of Harpswell. He took me to my first Common Grounds, paddled our canoe down the Delaware Water Gap while I drank copious amounts of warm Coors Light, and over the years, as he's become bigger and I've become smaller, has proved a wonderful partner for a disgusting amount of thrift store shopping. And though Sean usually drives me bat-shit crazy, at the end of the day, after all the Nepalese lunches, late night music, and camping adventures, dude makes a damn good mix tape. And this one, Full Of Smoke, is among his best. Enjoy it and stay warm and dry this weekend.Download: Trail Mix Volume VI: Full Of Smoke