Running around Angeles

THIS POST IS SPONSORED BY EDDIE BAUER

I moved to Los Angeles last March and I still believe it to be one of the best decisions my idiot brain has ever made. Sure, Los Angeles might not be at the top of everyone's "I GOTTA LIVE THERE" list, but the beauty of the City of Angels is what's right outside of it. The best part of the surrounding area is Angeles National Forest, a 700,000 acre playground just up the road from my little east side neighborhood. It's a 25 minute drive to trails, campsites and pure wilderness. It's just another 20 minutes to the Pacific Crest Trail, where hiking, camping and exercise is imperative. The open space outside of this city is amazing, drought or not. It's open, it's wilderness and it's a perfect place to go after (or during) a long day at work. Grab your shoes, a friend, some clothes that wick away that hot southern California sweat and do your thing. Whatever it may be. That's the beauty of it. (And don't forget your necklaces.)

Cactus Club

Cactus Club 2

More prints from CACTUS CLUB are here.

The Story of Place

Our good buddy and frequent collaborator, Sinuhe Xavier, made one hell of a movie about them Canyonlands. Watch it over and over again here.

“What is this place worth in oil? Where do we want to steer our civilization? What do we want left when we’re done? — Craig Childs, The Story of PlaceCanyonlands National Park, and the lands that border it are part of a complex tale of political horse-trading, pressures for resource extraction and recreational opportunities. Above all, this land is the true Wild West, a rugged and vastly untouched landscape, a place where we can find our true human spirit.The Story of Place is a short film that takes us deep into the unprotected territory of the Greater Canyonlands region alongside Craig Childs, Ace Kvale and Jim Enote, who narrate the story of this grand landscape, how it has shaped each and every one of us. This region of southeastern Utah is a veritable well of human spirit, an endless supply of recreation, solitude, wonder and history. This place and its story are irreplaceable. This land is worth protecting.

ON SALE NOW

The Mountain Could Not Remember Your NameWilderness Poetry and Trail Paintingsby Obi Kaufmann****CLICK HERE****

A Walk In Those Woods

This post is sponsored by Eddie Bauer and Travel + Leisure.

In case you didn't know - and it's likely that you don't - I moved to California a few months ago. I was out here in Los Angeles doing some work and, after picking up a friend for dinner who mentioned the bungalow next to hers was for rent, I signed a lease, flew home the next day and started packing up the life I had lived in New York for the past decade. It was...impulsive.Needless to say, it's been wonderful calling the west my home. It still feels a bit surreal, but I'm getting used to it more everyday. You can hike before work (or during) and if you feel like sleeping under the stars after you've finished eating tacos, you can. You don't even have to think about it. Just keep your camping stuff in the trunk.Sure, the summer here has been hotter than F. 100+ degrees most days and barely an drop of rain since I got here at the end of March. Angeles National Forest is just a stones throw from my house, but driving up the Crest for a hike is usually an early morning or early evening activity so you can beat the heat. (And by beating the heat, I mean hiking in that "cool" 90 degree shade.)I partnered with Travel + Leisure and Eddie Bauer to document my favorite hike in the area. I asked Sinuhe Xavier, my favorite California/Colorado traveling companion, frequent hiking partner-in-crime and photographer extraordinaire, to come along for a sunrise jaunt up in Griffith Park last week. We were treated to a cool - dare I say chilly - morning of fog, a rare treat for us east side dwellers. Very few of the photos I take while hiking are gray, but I'm psyched that Sinuhe and I were able to capture that calmness here.Griffith Park is a special place. It's the woods, mountains and desert, all within a short drive from everyone's favorite restaurants and bars. It might not have the grandeur of the San Gabriels to the north, but it's just about the best urban hiking I've come across while traversing this great country of ours. And that's worth shouting about, right?Take a look at more pics from our foggy hike below. We were psyched to be wearing Eddie Bauer from head to toe (that's jacket (JACKET!!!), shirt, pants, shoes) while exploring a spot that Sinuhe and I like to call "Little Big Sur."  

Filson

I very rarely ooh and ahh about any type of clothing, but I can't help it with a few of these new Filson jackets. Maybe the ogling is because I now live in Los Angeles, California, where days of wearing coats seems to be long gone. I'm not sure. In any case, it's worth a few minutes of (tin) cruising the Filson website for a major....Schwing!

Dyatlov Pass Incident

One of our faves, Stuff You Missed In History Class, just came out with an episode about the Dyatlov Pass Incident. Listen here: 

In 1959, nine students ventured into the Ural mountains for a ski hiking trip, and never returned. While much speculation has swirled for more than half a century, no one knows for certain what caused them to abandon their camp to die in the cold.

Fountainsun + Fletcher Tucker

Friends, if you live in California and want an evening of pure joy this October, please go see a performance by my dear friends from Big Sur. Fountainsun + Fletcher Tucker (who used to call himself Bird By Snow) are coming to a town near you, so check out the dates above and grab your car/bike/skateboard/magic carpet and get on out there.**If you're in LA, come and give me a high-five at either concert.

Danner x See See

NYC FRIENDS! NYC ENEMIES! NYC PEOPLE I HAVE NEVER MET! COME JOIN ME TOMORROW NIGHT AT KINFOLK. BOOTS, BIKES AND BEER.

Nahanni Reforestation

Spread the word. Donate. Do your thing, people. It's a good one. From CH:

Nahanni Arntzen was born inside a teepee on the shore of the Kingcome River in remote British Columbia. Her parents were tree-planters, hired by logging companies to repopulate the large swaths of land left naked by clear cutting forestry operations. On and off for the first eight years of her life, Arntzen lived wherever the Nahanni Reforestation camp went—a free childhood spent pestering the camp cooks and playing with the camp dogs. From 1977 to 1987 her father, Daniel James, ran the operation, which he named for her. During this time, James and his operation of 25 to 30 men and women planted up to 12 million trees. And thankfully, James was there with a camera, capturing the ins and outs of daily life as a tree planting hippy in Interior B.C. Now after some 30 odd years laying unseen, James' archive of over 500 original images will again see daylight, though instead of a slideshow, they will—with the help of Kickstarter—take the form of a book.

Tincup Whiskey Presents: #WhiskeyOnTheRockies Pt. III

TINCUP WHISKEY PRESENTS:#WhiskeyOnTheRockies

It started off like an ordinary day. Bloatmeal. (Apple Cinnamon, of course.) Strong coffee. (Via, but don't tell.) We headed out of our campsite on Shrine Pass, did some bouldering on a huge rock in the middle of an enormous aqua green field (water!), then took off on a dirt road that would connect us back to Basalt. We could have taken the highway, which would have gotten us into town within 45 minutes, but that's no fun. We had a Eurovan and some Colorado backroads to explore.Within 20 minutes of driving, a gentle rain started from the clouds that had been lingering above us since after breakfast. We pulled over, watched the small storm hover quietly over the mountains, and continued on when the sun finally came to take over. After a short while, we saw a few cars stopped, with a small wiry woman on a horse leaning in to the window of the red Camry directly in front of us. She came over to our van with a voice that can only be described as EXACTLY what it was - Female Colorado Cowboy with a Carhartt Jacket and Studded Jeans - and yelled, "Don't Stop. Just Keep Going. Slow. But Keep Going. They won't hit you!"It took us more than three hours to get the through the cattle that afternoon. It started off hilarious. Wonderful even. We were in Colorado! Of course we're stuck in the middle of a cattle herd! But as the amount of cattle that we'd have to pass settled in (several hundred) and the time it would take to do it, the pictures stopped being snapped and the cursing began. And I can't even describe the amount of urine that sprayed from those beasts. I live in a city, yes, but I'm not "City Slicker," and even to me, it was a bit disgusting. It was constant. It was slow. But at the end, it was part of being in Colorado, so be it. Good thing we had a case of Tincup whiskey in the back.We descended into Woody Creek, CO, where Sinuhe took me to see Hunter S. Thompson's house, which is a shack amongst the Dwell-type houses that inhabit those hills. We oooh'd and ahhh'd, grabbed a beer at the infamous Woody Creek Tavern, then headed past Aspen. We stopped at an overlook, continued our beefless lunch sandwich making (each session would end with delightful swearing and compliments to the chefs) and watched the mountains get bathed with sun and knocked around by wind.Onward to Independence Pass, Tincup and the Hot Springs.... 

Tincup Whiskey Presents #WhiskeyOnTheRockies Pt. 2

TINCUP WHISKEY PRESENTS:#WhiskeyOnTheRockies

Like many Colorado adventures, ours started in the THC- laden Mile High City. Sinuhe Xavier, my traveling companion and photographer for the trip, had taken a few days to drive his Eurovan from the east side of Los Angeles, picking me up DIA on the summer solstice. I had been in New York for a week prior, walking around the city from meeting to meeting, melting on the concrete while listening to cheers from World Cup festivities.We drove straight from the airport to meet Mark Hansen, a friend and one of the founders of Topo Designs, for a tour of his new store and a couple of hi-fives. After a long, sandwich-filled lunch together, we got out of the city and made a quick stop in Silver Plume to see Dram Apothecary. The shop wasn't open, so we kept heading west, our eyes set on the Loveland Pass.We made it to a very chilly Continental Divide (11,990 ft.) in the afternoon, then slowly started to descend into Keystone, where we stopped to go to the bathroom at a shitty Mexican restaurant just outside of town. I watched two dreaded 20-somethings throw wet toilet paper at each other through the stalls, then ran back to the van so we could keep on moving.We decided we'd camp for the night somewhere off of Shrine Pass, located at the northern end of the Sawatch Range, along the border of Eagle and Summit counties west of Frisco and northwest of Vail Pass. We started on the pass early, driving through a few mounds of snow, looking for a large open spot to watch the sun descend upon the longest day of the year. We found something within the first half-hour of driving, pulling the van in slowly and setting up a small camp before walking around to see our accommodations. We were in an old hunting camp, surrounded by pine and steep hills, with a damp bog that covered most of the western part of the large field. After moving to southern California a few months ago, it was fantastic to see signs of real water.I lived in Colorado for four years while I was attending school in Boulder and Sinuhe had spent 10 years living in Vail, so we were both prepared for the "FOUR SEASONS IN A DAY" weather that could come at any moment. But on our first night, the night of the solstice, that first evening of adjustment from the stink of city life, we had nothing but sunshine and chilly winds.The night was filled with maps, whiskey, fire and soup, a combination that would become a ritual throughout the entire week. We sat around a large flame for a few hours, catching up, talking about whatever it is you talk about when there's whiskey and a fire, then quietly retired to our respective sleeping quarters at a respectable hiker's midnight. I was on a tarp near the fire, Sinuhe in the top of his pop-top van. I savored the minute or two that I can stand being on my back in a sleeping bag, watched the stars, then slowly fell asleep to the loud sound of nothing. Whispering to myself in the most melodramatic voice I could muster, I shook my head and quietly repeated, "Col-o-rado. COL. O. RADO." 

Tincup Whiskey Presents #WhiskeyOnTheRockies (Pt. 1)

 

TINCUP WHISKEY PRESENTS:#WHISKEYONTHEROCKIES

Two weeks ago, Sinuhe Xavier and I spent a few nights tromping around western Colorado, moving from camping spot to camping spot at a snail's pace, vowing to not take any major roads to any of our destinations. (Yes, sure, we spent a few miles on 70 in the first hours after eating lunch with the Topo fellas in Denver, but that's unavoidable, right?) We were rarely below 10K feet, save a few times we went into town for supplies and a visit to the local watering hole.  I lived in Colorado for four years, and though I've been back countless times since leaving, this time felt different. More special. Maybe even humbling? I'll get to the bottom of that as the "bloggin goes on," but it's impossible not to wax poetic on all those wild, lush, and aspen-white corners that Colorado throws you at every turn of the trail.We were equipped with Sinuhe's 2003 VW Eurovan (with GoWesty Suspension and National Luna fridge, for you #VanLife folks out there), dynamite sandwich ingredients and a case of Tincup Whiskey, our sponsor on this Colorado adventure. They make their whiskey with water from the Rocky Mountains, so it was our pleasure to drink a few nips around the campfire at the base of the mountains that help fill those beautiful bottles.I'll be posting about our #WhiskeyOnTheRockies adventure all week, but for now, enjoy Sinuhe's photos and have a look around Tincup's website. While we weren't able to meet Jess Graber, the founder of Tincup, this time around, we met lots of people who know him or knew of him and they were sure glad to join us for a drink. I guess camping and local whiskey really are a perfect combo.More to come, folks.

Range Of Light Wilderness

Friends in California! If you're going to be around Big Sur, Berkeley, SF, LA or Ojai, go and support one of Cold Splinters' favorites, Range of Light Wilderness. They're doing a few record release shows at some pretty nifty places. Go have a beer, listen to/watch some music and then sleep under them West Coast Stars. Dreamy.

Go Watch DamNation

GO GO GO.

On Thursday, June 5, Patagonia will present free screenings of the award-winning, feature length documentary DamNation, in 23 cities nationwide. DamNation is a film odyssey across America that explores the sea change in our national attitude from pride in big dams as engineering wonders to the growing awareness that our own future is bound to the life and health of our rivers.Across the country, screenings will be hosted in Patagonia retail stores in Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Boulder, Cardiff, Chicago LP, Denver, Freeport, ME, Georgetown, Palo Alto, Pasadena, Portland, OR, Reno, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Santa Monica, Seattle, New York City, St. Paul, Ventura, Washington, D.C. and Westport. For a full list of nationwide retail, festival and community screenings, click HERE. Screenings in retail locations are free and open to the public.

Byrd Baylor

We've posted this before, but can't hurt to post it again. She's the best. 

Earth First

It might be a reproduction but it's one fantastic t-shirt. 

Lewis: L'Amour

Light In The Attic does their thing again. This one is the toppermost. The story. The music. All of it. Go.

The Astral Guides

Our dear friend/cousin, Obi Kaufmann, he of Coyote and Thunder and Juniper Ridge, is releasing The Astral Guide cards today. If you have any sense of mind, you'll go follow the links here and buy them:

The Astral Guides work with light to help with particular quandaries. Each card is assigned a star, or a constellation of stars, that when in season, benefit from moving between the Earth and the arm of the Milky Way it lives in. Begin by shuffling the deck well, concentrating on the dilemma. Always consult the deck with specific intention. Draw one, three or five cards depending on the depth and importance of the quandary at hand. Arrange the cards in order, laterally so the orienting symbols on both sides of the card line up. Count the numbers, consider how the orienting symbols align, recognize the seasonality of each card, move through the poetry. If the numbers add up to an even sum, if the orienting symbols don’t align, or if the season isn’t right, don’t pay too much attention to the reading: the door needs to be open correctly for the guides to grant clear divination.

Benmont

Benmont Tench (second from the left, above) is obviously the coolest of Heartbreakers, playing organ not only behind Tom Petty but for a million other people as well. Last week he was on Marc Maron's WTF, so listen to him talk shop on Petty, Johnny Cash and his new album. He's fantastic.And I suppose it's fitting to mention that tonight is a full moon and he DID NOT play on Tom Petty's solo album, Full Moon Fever, despite begging Petty to do so. He talks about it in the podcast.