Topo x Cold Splinters

Topo x Cold SplintersTopo x Cold SplintersJedd and Mark at Topo Designs are two of the sweetest guys you'll ever meet. As soon as I heard about Topo a few years ago, I was so psyched that there was THAT kind of company making such great looking STUFF in Colorado. (The Topo Fleece rarely leaves my chest in the fall.) As I mention on this rag a lot, I went to college out in The Centennial State, and while I didn't grow up there by any means, I still think of it as another home. (As my friend Trevor used to say, "Boulder Boy From Ill-inois.")Anyway, I've been a big fan of these guys and what they're doing for a long time. I've written about them a bunch - on Cold Splinters and elsewhere - and am always excited to see them at all of the NYC/SLC/LV hoopla. So when we discussed doing a t-shirt together, I was all on it. K.I.S.S. 

TOPOCOLORADO

The Topo Designs x Cold Splinters tee can be bought here.

Sylvester Graham

Sylvester GrahamI'm not much of s'mores guy, but clearly that's the first thing a lot of folks think of when camping is discussed. Hell, I think some people go camping because they get to make s'mores. Is that stupid? Sure, but why the hell not, right? And though I would never pack graham crackers for a long excursion (for obvious crumbly reasons), those things are REALLY FUCKING GOOD. (Seriously, when was the last time you had a graham cracker by itself? Go now.)And who do we have to thank for the "bread" of our favorite camping dessert sandwich? His name is Sylvester Graham, a dietary reformer who preached an emphasis on a vegetarian diet as a cure for alcoholism and sexual urges.Think he'd be happy that his claim to fame has now been turned into a vehicle for chocolate (aphrodisiac?) and marshmallow (not vegetarian)?

Baked Is The New Fried

npsWhile seeing a new baby cousin yesterday afternoon, we started talking about the Grand Canyon and a family friend's recent trip there back in April. They had a great time, and while they knew it was nothing to complain about in the scheme of THE GRAND CANYON, they did mention how bad the food was. And while surfing around the ol' interwebs today, I find out that the NPS is taking a little initiative to make their food a little bit...better.I can't remember the last time I ate a meal at NPS concession, but I'm sure that the food is pretty bad. Though I would imagine that a teenager who was hired for the summer thinking he was going to drop some fries in a basket all day wouldn't be too psyched to find out he now has to make this shit:

To usher in the new Park Service food initiative, the White House sent over Sam Kass of the Let's Move campaign, who noshed on almond-crusted baked chicken with a fennel salad."You know, baked is the new fried, so that looks delicious," he told the chef.

Excuse my language NPS, but Sam Kass, you're an asshole.

Trail Days 2013

Trail DaysI missed this a few weeks back, but apparently 60 people were injured at this year's Trail Days, an annual Appalachian Trail celebration held in Demascus, VA. An elderly woman drove her car into the crowd during the Hikers Parade. No one was killed, thankfully, but what a tragic way to start off the thru-hiking season. If anyone has more info about what happened or the status of those injured, we'd love to know.

Memorial Day

Maine Sandy NassanCold Splinters spent the long weekend on a familiar stretch of the Maine coast, wet and cold from the rain that didn't seem to let up for more than a minute. Despite the unfortunate weather, we had a hell of a time seeing some friends and drinking Oxbow in a small shack in the woods of Newcastle.Along the way was a lot of Sandy Nassan, a damn fine soundtrack to a lot of gray skies. Thank you to our dear friend, Justin, for hipping us to this UH-MAZING album.MP3: Sandy Nassan - Here's That Rainy Day

The Tuber

Wells Tower Floating North FloridaThis Outside article is a few years old, but after recently finishing the WONDERFUL Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned, I had to sneak Wells Tower in here somewhere. And since this rag is all about the outdoors and such, this fits the bill perfectly. Read the entirety of "The Tuber" here:

Having constructed the greatest flotation device mankind has ever known, WELLS TOWER embarks on an ill-conceived, possibly insane crossing of alligator-infested North Florida via a string of seriously imperiled and incredibly beautiful rivers. (Yeah, it's a tube.)

Fishing With John

FWJI started writing my own synopsis of this show, but the Wikipedia version does a pretty decent job. If you've never seen FWJ, go go go go go. Start with Tom Waits.

Fishing with John is a 1991 television series conceived, directed by and starring actor and musician John Lurie, which earned a cult following. On the surface, the series resembles a standard travel or fishing show: in each episode, Lurie takes a famous guest on a fishing expedition. Since Lurie has no expert knowledge of fishing, the interest is in the interaction between Lurie and his guests, all of whom are his friends. Nothing particularly unusual actually happens, but the show is edited and narrated in a way to suggest that Lurie and his guest are involved in dramatic and even supernatural adventures.The guests featured are film director Jim Jarmusch, actor Matt Dillon, musician Tom Waits, actor Willem Dafoe and actor-director Dennis Hopper. The series ran for 6 episodes, each featuring a different guest and locale, except for episodes 5 and 6 which both feature Hopper in Thailand. Each episode has voice-overnarration by Robb Webb, which is sometimes bizarre and off-topic. The soundtrack is by Lurie, with several guest performers (see below).Fishing With John originally aired on IFC and Bravo cable channels in 1991. The Criterion Collection has released two different versions of Fishing With John, one in 1999 and another in 2004.

NH Fire Lookout Tower Quest

Screen Shot 2013-05-02 at 1.33.28 PMNew Hampshire is the second most forested state in the nation with 4.8 million acres of forestland. (It's next door neighbor, Maine, tops that list.) To maintain all those handsome trees, the NH Division of Forests and Lands operates 15 fire lookout towers from early spring to late fall. They also have something called the Fire Lookout Tower Quest, which, as you may have guessed, is a challenge to visit all of the towers in the state. What happens when you? Well, you get the pretty little patch pictured above.Download both parts of the Fire Lookout Tower Quest brochure here and here.