Rocky J. Squirrel Aint Got Nothin

1 comment November 30th, 2007

No More Crappy Gifts

This year my wife and I decided that instead of buying crappy gifts for the adults in our families, we’re going to do something more charitable. We’re buying holiday cards. And the nice thing is, they’ll be mailed for us. The Susan G. Komen For The Cure Foundation holiday card program is the way we’re doing it. You just upload an excel document with the peoples names, donate 5 bucks or more each, and voila, you not only get a warm-n-fuzzy, but you also get your holiday cards mailed for you. What else do you want in life this holiday season?

image from wikipedia

1 comment November 30th, 2007

Dirt Sweat and Gears

Outdoorzy is sponsoring a race down in Fayetteville Tennessee this spring called Dirt Sweat and Gears. It is one of the biggest mountain biking events in the country and the biggest in the Southeastern US. I’ll be blogging more about this in the future but wanted you to be aware of it so you can put it on your calendars for May 2nd and 3rd 2008.

Mountain Bike races for all classes
A “Vendor Village” with your favorite outdoor companies (including Outdoorzy)
Tons of prizes and give-aways
Free camping
A concert at night with great music
And the opportunity to hang out with alot of outdoorzy types

This should be a must-do for ‘08 if you’re into mountain biking, or just want to attend an outdoorzy-type event.

3 comments November 29th, 2007

Top 10 Indoorzy Activities this Holiday Season

Well it has been raining alot where I’m located. And with ski resorts being a flight away from here and opening up late, I’ve been enjoying a few “indoorzy” activities. Now, I don’t mind getting wet. I even went jogging in the rain this week. But sometimes I just want to stay in and do nothing but sit on my arse. So, without further adieu, here are 10 things you could do indoors if you can’t get outside…

10. Play an outdoor oriented video game like Wild Water Adrenaline or Downhill Domination and pretend you are better than you are.
9. Rent Touching the Void and be glad you are sitting on the couch.
8. Go to Starbucks and sip your hot caramel machiatto with the teenage guys wearing those choppy haircuts and really tight jeans.
7. Sleep, real sleep too… drool-on-your-pillow sleep…
6. Eat crappy foods. Because you know you’ll burn them off in the spring.
5. Grow a beard… (males only please)
4. Play around with your Outdoorzy.com profile… this one is obvious, but had to include it.
3. Yoga. Get your stretch on.
2. Shop… for yourself.
1. Plan your next adventure.

3 comments November 28th, 2007

I missed you too

while I was out…

caught some head high waves, (swell always comes as I’m leaving), took Mom on her first snorkeling adventure, drank too many fruitycoladabrewskis at the swim up bar, rocked hot karoke, saw an endangered turtle lay eggs on the beach and learned waaaayyyy too much about Speedos…. Came home, opened Vail, Crazy Inlaw Turkey Day, rode the Beave with Art’s crew, saw the best shred movie ever, met some male models, broke a snowboard,  saw superfan Huub, and got Tattood.

The weatherman promises tonight will be the answer to our prayers here in the high country, so keep your fingers crossed. 8 + inches means I get to play hookey!  

What were you up to?

Sorry Penpals, I Promise to be better.

2 comments November 27th, 2007

Dirtbag Diaries

You may have noticed one of the latest businesses to list itself in our business directory is Dirtbag Diaries. This is a podcast put out by Fitz Cahall and sponsored by Patagonia. Fitz contacted me and thought our members might be interested in these podcasts. I checked one out and they’re quite interesting. Next time you’re working on your computer, or surfing the web, listen to one of these podcasts while you’re doing other things online. It’s a good listen. Here is the description for a recent episode, “Help Wanted“.

There’s no such thing as a perfect job. There’s always a catch – nagging bosses, gossiping co-workers, crummy benefits. That’s why we get paid to work.

What happens when a bunch of climbers are left unsupervised with the keys to the Magic Kingdom? Find out. Some jobs are perfect, even if Tinkerbell is out to get you.

Add comment November 27th, 2007

7 T-Shirts To Go…

If you remember, we’re giving away 10 outdoorzy t-shirts. To win the shirts you must create a Group here on the site. If your group is one of the first 10 to have 5 members or more… you Win! Hilltopper Fans and I Love Outdoorzy.com! don’t count since they were created by us goofballs that work here.

Here are the winners so far…
gonzobeer for creating Climbers Galore
wdew23 for creating Trail Runners
greensap for creating Outdoorzy Singles

And we have a few groups that are close…. Outdoorzy Writers, and Mountain Biking are only 1 member away.

So if you’d like to win a shirt then create a group now. Or if you’d just like to join a group that fits your style, check out the groups out there so far.

4 comments November 26th, 2007

Adventure Xstream on DVD

This year’s 2007 Adventure Xstream Adventure Race Series DVD is available for purchase at Gravity Play. The DVD has over 1 hour of footage and features each stop on the AXS Race Series circuit as well as a slide show of team photos. It is available for $24.95 and will ship in December.

You can also check it out tomorrow at Noon on the Altitude Sport Network. (DirecTV - Channel 644, Dish Network - Channel 410, or check your cable listings)

Here’s a preview…

Add comment November 24th, 2007

Thanksgiving Camping Cobbler + bonus!

This recipe is delicious. I tried it a few months back while out camping. Word on the street is that this is an old boy scout recipe. I pulled this exact recipe from about.com, but we made it the same way. About.com also mentions the boy scout roots.

What ya need:

• 2 cups Bisquick
• 1 1/3 cups milk
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• cinnamon, to taste
• 2 large cans of fruit of fruit filling (about 29 oz.) - I like blueberry or blackberry
• 12-quart Dutch Oven
• heavy duty aluminum foil
• bed of hot coals

Use the aluminum foil to line the Dutch oven, and put it on the coals for 10-15 minutes to preheat. Mix all ingredients except for fruit. Take Dutch oven off of coals and pour in fruit (draining if necessary). Pour batter over top of fruit. Add cinnamon on top, if desired. Put lid on Dutch oven and place back on coals. Place about 8 pieces of coal on the bottom of the oven and 13-15 on top. Bake for about 45 minutes or until golden brown on top. Remove from coals and crack lid to allow it to cool. You can use a toothpick to check if the cobbler is done. This is about it. It is also great with ice cream…but seriously, what isn’t?

I also wanted to include a recipe for green bean casserole, just because it is way easy and one of my favorite things to make and take places. I am usually in charge of it for thanksgiving meals around the Emile household.

What ya need:

• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 1/8 tsp. pepper
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 2 cans of cut green beans
• 1 & 1/3 cups french fried onions
• 1 & 1/2 quart casserole dish

Ready…don’t blink or you will miss how easy it is. Open the cans and drain the green beans. Pour all the ingredients except for 2/3 cup onions into the casserole dish. Mix and bake at 350°F for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes take it out and top with the rest of the onions. Bake for five more minutes.

Done!

2 comments November 21st, 2007

Wade Interviews Andrew Skurka

I had the honor of interviewing Andrew Skurka this week. For those of you unfamiliar with Andrew; he is a long distance backpacker who has some amazing records under his belt. His most recent feat was to complete the Great Western Loop, a 6,875-mile footpath that consists of a network of five existing long-distance hiking trails. Yeah, almost 7,000 miles! It was also announced this past week that Andrew will be recognized as a National Geographic Adventurer of the Year. I’ve caught up with him a little over a week after he got off the trail from this 7 month journey, and here’s what he had to say.

Wade: With so many challenges and such an amazingly long trip, what was the lowest point for you on this trek?
Andrew: There were a handful of lows, all mental, not physical, though sometimes
the physical part exacerbated the situation. The first low was in
late-May/early-June in California, from around Donner Pass to Castle Crags
State Park — I had just had one of the most amazing backcountry experiences
in my life (through the High Sierra in mid-May, 5.5 days without seeing
anyone and 400 miles of this outdoor crown jewel all to myself) and then
walked into the logged-over and scenically inferior stretches of northern
California. Another low was near Washington’s Glacier Peak Wilderness — it
was the end of a 5-week 900-mile stretch in which I’d walked on snow and had
been tortured by mosquitoes every day while maintaining a 37.5-mile pace,
and I was completely mentally drained. The last low was after the Weminuche
Wilderness in southwestern Colorado, which represented the last major
challenge of the hike — once I entered New Mexico I knew I was going to
make it (because I was no longer at risk of getting caught by the winter
weather) and the terrain really mellowed out.

Wade: You’re known for going ultralight. What was the one item you wish you could
have had room for in your pack?
Andrew: While I’m ultralight I’m not a masochist. If I really wanted an item I
would have just carried it. So, to answer the question, nothing; I had
everything I needed and wanted. Gear is just a means, tools, to enjoying
the outdoor experience more — I don’t go light for the sake of going light.

Wade: What is the one piece of advice you would give to a would-be long distance
trekker?
Andrew: Long-distance hiking is incredibly romantic — the idea of spending weeks
or months at a time in some of the most beautiful backcountry areas in the
world is almost universally appealing, especially when contrasted to the
fluorescent lights, traffic jams, and overwhelming email inboxes of modern
life. But long-distance newbies need to realize that the reality of
long-distance hiking is not always pleasant: you can’t just “float” by like
you can in “the real world” — there are always miles to be walked, stormy
weather to fend off, fatigue and soreness to treat, discomforts to cope
with, etc. You have to earn the “Wahoo! moments” — the sunsets, wildlife
encounters, 12,000-foot ridgewalks, and trail magic from generous locals.
If you understand the work-to-reward ratio of long-distance hiking, and if
you’re okay with it, you’ll have much more success and you’ll enjoy yourself
much more.
I also strongly recommend to newbies that they get a step-up on the
learning curve before they begin their hike by: (1) reading backpacking
books and online content (start with the “How to GoLite” section on
GoLite.com and “Lightweight Backpacking & Camping,” edited by Ryan
Jordan); (2) following the experiences of others on your trail of choice
(like through trailjournals.com); and (3) most important, GET OUTSIDE in
order to develop skills, become more familiar with your gear and
maps/guidebook, and understand better the terrain and weather. Ideally go
with a more experienced backpacker who can transfer knowledge they have
learned from others and from their trials and errors.

Wade:What’s next?
Andrew: I just finished 1.5 weeks ago and I don’t have anything concretely planned
at the moment. I envision some “small” hikes this summer that share a
similar environmental message with the Great Western Loop and/or that I will
equally enjoy and learn from. The next opportunity to do a BIG hike will be
in 2009 because of the time it takes to develop the idea and to do all of
the planning. I’d have to imagine that this hike will be in Alaska or
overseas.

2 comments November 20th, 2007