I have just recently been trained to teach level one yoga classes through Yogafit, so when I saw Andria Baldovin’s DVD and reference book collections, I jumped at the chance to explore them! She and her husband run the Yoga Ventures website and among other things, produce DVD’s and literature through their publishing company, Brushy Mountain Publishing, Inc. based out of North Carolina.
Baldovin has combined her love of yoga and the outdoors to create, Yoga for Hikers, Yoga for Cyclists and Yoga for Climbers. Each DVD has two 28 minute yoga sessions and comes with a metal spiral bound reference book for use while in the outdoors.
I plan on reviewing each DVD, starting with Yoga for Hikers.
Yoga for Hikers
Baldovin wanted Yoga for Hikers to be approachable by a wide audience, so I started with this DVD. From the main menu, I could pick and choose workouts according how much time I had. Here is a brief review of each option.
The Intro
I found the Introduction very informative with lots of details for every pose. Baldovin explained that this DVD was more instructional based and not a replacement for a face-to-face yoga class nor was it designed as a typical workout session. These 28 minute segments were to be practiced and then taken out to the trail to be enjoyed outside.
Meditation Segment // Pranayama or Deep Breathing Segment
Baldovin’s meditation offers tips on how to calm mind chatter and stay in the present during a hike. She also teaches how to increase lung expansion through deep breathing exercises.
Session I
The first session is designed to warm up the body before starting on a hike. I thought it did a great job of stretching the calves and upper legs plus it really opened up the hips. My body was warm and ready to hit the trail.
Session II
The second session is designed for training before a long extended hike. If a hiker was preparing for the Appalachian trail or the Pacific coast trail (or any extended hiking trip) these yoga poses would help protect against injury by building strength and flexibility.
Overall Thoughts
Because of the detail and pace of the DVD, I found myself settling into each pose for a deeper, more intense and enjoyable stretch than I typically receive from my face-to-face classes. My only concern when comparing the DVD with a typical class was the time alloted to warming up before jumping into difficult poses. My personal preference would be to add several warm up poses like moonflowers or sunflowers before moving on.
Baldovin does a fantastic job of connecting each pose with a specific hiking need or issue, so I always understood the pose’s relevance and I think any avid hiker will appreciate that feature. The scenery included waterfalls, beautiful trails, and scenic bridges.
The reference book is meant to accompany a hiker on the trail and I think it is a wonderful idea. I know I couldn’t remember each pose without some help, and I love that the book is portable and convenient.
You may have seen the wingsuit video over on Epic Weather. But if you don’t subscribe to Outside Magazine you may not have seen that a wingsuit pilot is prepping for possibly the craziest stunt ever performed.
Jeb Corliss (Former “Stunt Junkies” host at Discovery) is going to attempt to jump from a helicopter 2,000 feet up, glide with a wingsuit at over 100 mph, and land in a tube. You can read more about the story over at the Outside site. The diagram below shows the plan.
This stunt is sure to end in instant fame or instant death. I’ll be wearing my adult diaper while watching this one.
I got the opportunity to spend some time trekking and exploring Peru last year. But I have to say the southern tip is my next stop in South America.
ArgentinasTravel.com is a great resource for finding out more about a trip to Argentina. They update their content often and have quite a bit of detail on specific locations. Just don’t forget that the seasons are flipped in the southern hemi. Right now it’s Summer, and our Summer is their Winter. Don’t worry though if you want to take a Summer vacation, there are plenty of climates to choose from.
A couple of weekends ago, my fiancé and I were watching MTV. They had a “True Life” marathon on and I will admit; I am a fan of the 60 minute documentary. When we turned on the TV we had about 10 minutes left of the current show and the Tivo guide showed us the next program, “A Map For Saturday”. Thinking it might be a True Life that involves the outdoors, I was ready to watch it.
As the show starts, the narrator goes into his story and about the show. The guy, Brook Silva-Braga, leaves a nice job with a TV network to travel the world with clothes in his backpacks and several pounds of video equipment. He sets out to see the world for a year by himself and along the way he meets many new people or as one guy puts it, “friends for a day”.
“It makes me laugh when people say I could never do what you’re doing. All our friends gave us six weeks and then we’d be home and it now been 14 months.”
Karen: 21, England
“In fifty or sixth years I’m dead. I want to say, ‘I had a good life’.”
Jens: 27 Germany
“I’d like to travel 364 days and go back for Christmas.”
Bill: 27 Northern Ireland
The people he meets along the way are also solo travelers, some are just starting out, others are in the middle of their adventure, and some are heading home. The solo travelers he meets and travels with from one location to another help tell the story of why and how they are traveling as well as share some personal accounts of their own travels.
At times lonely and difficult; more often joyous, and always adventurous. In the end, Brook travels for 12 month, and travels by plane, train, automobile and by foot to 26 countries on four continents.
The trail system at Mammoth Cave National Park will be changing. Trails will be re-routed, and mountain bikers may lose out in the deal. UNLESS people vote. I’ll be directing you to the voting at the end of this post, once I explain the voting options. You must vote by March 24th.
Mammoth Cave has traditionally been a hotbed of contention between hikers, bikers, and equestrians. The trails in the park are all open to hikers. Equestrians have access to all the other trails except one loop. It is the only dirt trail open to mountain bikers. There is a gravel trail now open to mountain bikers and hikers which runs from the park headquarters to Park City, Ky. Any trails open to horses normally have holes and ruts that can restrict hikers.
The trail proposal has five alternatives. I’ve been studying each one and I feel like option 4 is the best for all parties. In the end it’s very friendly to equestrians once again, and allows for a new mountain biking trail. Hikers would continue to have full access.
My comments in Italics.
Alternative #1: this is the No Action Alternative. It is required by National Environmental Policy Act to serve as a baseline for comparing other alternatives. In some cases the best solution to a problem is in taking no action, leaving a situation at the status quo. However, in this trail plan, the No Action Alternative is not acceptable.
Alternative #2: this alternative would allow bicyclists to use Sal Hollow, Buffalo, and a portion of Turnhole Bend (north) trails all year. All northside trails would be designated for hikers and horse users. This restricts hikers and bikers further. Not acceptable.
Alternative #3: this alternative would permit horse use on Sal Hollow from June through October (during the driest months of the year); except for this restriction, horses would be allowed on all other northside trails. Hikers are allowed on all trails. Bicyclists would be allowed on Sal Hollow, Buffalo, and a portion of Turnhole Bend (north) trails all year. This options allows horses on the only trail that mountain bikers and hikers own. This is not acceptable in my view.
Alternative #4: this alternative proposes a new six-mile, single-track loop trail which would be constructed east of the Green River Ferry Road-North for bicycle and hiker use only. All other northside trails would be designated for hikers and horse users. This option is acceptable. The mountain bikers would loose 2 miles of trail, but they would gain a trail designed for them. The only problem with this is that it doesn’t account for the transition. If you vote for this option please note that you want Sal Hollow restricted from horses while the new trail is being built.
Alternative #5, Preferred alternative of the NPS. This alternative would establish First Creek Trail for bicyclist and hiker use only. All other north side trails would be designated for hikers and horse users. This option could be an acceptable plan B in my opinion. It provides about the same amount of non-horse trail as Alternative #4, but the trail is not optimal for mountain bikes. The trailhead is more remote than the Alternative #4 also.
I strongly encourage anyone who has time, to drop by the Mammoth Cave site and vote (cough, cough… alternative 4). You’ll be helping keep the balance as fair as it can be for now, on these multi-use trails.
I got the opportunity to interview Don Mann the other day. He’s the brainchild of the Primal Quest Adventure Race series. Don is arguably the biggest organizer in the sport of Adventure Racing. Don has staged more multi-day, multi-sport races than any other individual in the world.
He not only commands the PQ, but has pioneered a PQ Sprint Series of 4-6 hour races that are fast and furious.
Here’s what Don had to say…
Wade: How the heck did you find yourself in this job?
Don: Back in 1995 I was on Team Odyssey. I booked our travel and did alot of logistical planning for our team for the races around the world. At the time it cost $16,000 per team to do it. I thought it would be easier and less expensive to do a race series in the U.S.
Then I planned the Beast of the East and people loved it. Then 7 years ago I went to Hawaii to do some team building with Bill Watkins. And now we have Primal Quest because of Bill and his wife’s support. (Bill discussed the race with Don and then Dan Barger was CEO/Race Directory for 3 PQs.)
Wade: Regarding the Primal Quest Sprint Series; it is billed as “The World’s Most Challenging Human Endurance Competition”!! What aspects of the races make them “the most challenging?”
Don: The sprint series will be 4-6 hours races. The winner should finish in around 4 hours. It will include trail running, technical mountain biking, and non-technical paddling. There will also be ropes obstacles; a cargo net, rope bridge, and low crawl. We will also have “log pt” which is running and working together while carrying a telephone pole.
Wade: The big PQ race this year starts June 21stin Montana. What were some of the other locations considered, and why was Montana chosen?
Don: Colorado, Idaho, and Montana were three locations we considered. We had friends in Colorado and Idaho who planned beautiful courses. But when we got to Montana and saw the course we knew. Conrad Anker and Jay Smith are out there working on the mountaineering part of the course right now.
Wade: What kind of loot can the winners of Primal Quest Montana expect to take home?
Don: $100,000 in cash. It costs $12,500 for a 4 person team. Newsweek called it “The Superbowl of Adventure Racing!”
Wade:For our Adventure Racing up-n-comers reading this, what would you say is the best advice you can give them on training for a race like Primal Quest Montana?
Don: If you’re an outdoor lover these are for you. Adventure Racing is a thinking persons sport. And, it is easier to train for an Adventure Race than other sports because there is less chance of burn out from the variety of training options you have. You can go to the gym, road ride, trail ride, paddle, or run depending the weather or how you feel that day. You can grab a bike, do some trails, then do them faster. It becomes so fun you don’t even realize you’re training any more. But, do it because it’s fun.
Good advice Don. Thanks so much for the interview!
Everyone be sure to check out EcoPrimalQuest.com for all the details on the Montana race as well as the sprint series.
TheGearJunkie.com has launched a new weekly gear giveaway contest.
Sign up at The Gear Junkie to be entered into a weekly drawing for prizes the likes of a half-year supply of Clif bars, Tech4O’s TraiLeader Watch, a pfd from Kokatat, the Thule Echelon Bike Mount, a Kelty Light Year XP 0º sleeping bag, and much more.
Now who wouldn’t want a half-years supply of Clif Bars? “…Clif Bar Stew, Clif Bar a-la-king, Clif Bar mush, Fried Clif Bars, Boiled Clif Bars, Clif Bar Pie, and when there was no Clif Bar, we ate sand.” - a little Raising Arizona for ya… Okay it was Crawfish, not Clif Bars in the movie. But it shoulda been Clif Bars Dammit!
As many of us outdoor nuts are aware, Into the Wild was snubbed by the Academy this year. Hal Holbrook was nominated for best supporting actor and was dissed last night. He did an amazing job. But I have to give cred where cred is due, Javier Bardem. He was pretty frikin scary in No Country for Old Men. Since watching that movie, I have stopped flipping coins for good.
What do you think, Hal or Javier?
We do know one thing for sure, if there was an award for worst haircut, Javier would have that all wrapped up.
You may have noticed all the ads for Eckerd Youth Alternatives on Outdoorzy lately. Eckerd is a new advertiser on the site, and is going to be advertising with us for a while. I wasn’t familiar with what Eckerd did until I started exploring their site last night. I’m very impressed with the way they provide opportunities not only for the children who attend their camps, but for the employees who work there.
Imagine having a job where you can backpack, camp, AND help teach kids how to enjoy all the outdoor activities you love so much. They have jobs all over the country, and from the looks of their job board they always have openings. There are part-time seasonal and full-time positions available.
Many people question the way they spend their days and wonder if there are more meaningful options out there. It looks like there are always jobs available at Eckerd.
I had no idea you could do this. Apparently you can take trekking trips through the Alaskan mountains with Yaks carrying your gear. The yaks were brought over from the Himalayan mountains as calves. Now that they’re all grown up they’re ready to start hiking. It’s not cheap my friends, but it does sound like a cool way to see the Alaskan backcountry and give your back a break.
next stop in South America.
I got the opportunity to interview Don Mann the other day. He’s the brainchild of the 
Now who wouldn’t want a half-years supply of Clif Bars? “…Clif Bar Stew, Clif Bar a-la-king, Clif Bar mush, Fried Clif Bars, Boiled Clif Bars, Clif Bar Pie, and when there was no Clif Bar, we ate sand.” - a little Raising Arizona for ya… Okay it was Crawfish, not Clif Bars in the movie. But it shoulda been Clif Bars Dammit!
