Off Yonder

Review: TrekSta Men’s Evolution Trail Shoe

Cameron — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:58:00 +0000

The TrekSta Evolution is a really great all-round shoe. Putting them on and experiencing the NestFIT insole for the first time was a unique experience. The textured insole felt odd at first, but once my foot was in the shoe and settled the tri-density footbed and well-researched last wrapped around my foot and felt very secure. Since getting a pair I have tested them in the Brooks Range in Alaska, along the shore of the Arctic Ocean, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, in the Mahoosuc Mountains in Maine, and on the rugged Sawatch Range along the Continental Divide in Colorado. Along with plodding through numerous airports (they slip off and on easily for security), mashed in my luggage, and on nice strolls in various parks. They handled each of these conditions admirably and remain my go-to shoe for anything active. Even replacing heavy hiking boots at times. In Alaska, I tromped across the tundra and soaked my shoes in the morning dew as well as in the marshy grasses where the permafrost has prevented the spring melt to absorb into the ground. My feet stayed perfectly warm in my Teko wool socks and the shoes dried easily by the fire that evening. The grippy sole did well along the wet rocks and logs of the White and Mahoosuc Mountains (though I did push the edge some and slipped here and there). And finally, amongst the jagged rocks on and off trail in the Sawatch Range in Colorado, the Evolution provided superb traction and support. Other technical aspects I appreciate about the shoe are the ribbed laces that keep them from coming untied amidst the rigorous pounding and the mesh sides allow for breathability. The downside of the mesh is the shoes are far from waterproof. The one feature I've not yet had a chance to test is the IceLock system built into the sole for icy conditions. I've been looking for a good trail shoe for some time and the TrekSta Evolution has filled the need nicely.

RMC Centennial Reunion

Cameron — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 21:23:06 +0000

Back in the fall of 2006 I enjoyed a beautiful season as the caretaker for a cabin in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. This weekend, I'm back in the small mountain town of Randolph to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Randolph Mountain Club (RMC) with many of the great people who have also served as caretakers as well as those who have worked on the trail crew. On Saturday morning Al (who hired me to be the caretaker) and I hiked up to Crag Camp where we sat in the mountain sunshine and chatted with a few folks who stayed up there that night. We then hiked over to Gray Knob Cabin where I lived for two months. The large logbook on the table only had a dozen blank pages left and was the one I had started while working there. It was fun to read the entry I wrote about the first substantial snowfall that season on the first page. I wrote a little note to document this visit and headed back down. That evening over 150 people gathered for dinner (I made a pot of chili to contribute), dessert, RMC trivia, and photos of previous caretakers and trail crews from each decade represented. We even did a photo of RMC Antarcticans as it seems this little club sends quite a few folks down to the ice. Below are some of the photos I took as a caretaker in the White Mountains. Photos of the reunion are most likely to be found on the RMC website. Click on any image to see more photos or to buy a print.

Arctic Rafting: Returned

Cameron — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 16:00:53 +0000

After 15 days on the Kongakut river, we've returned to Anchorage via Kaktovik and Fairbanks. We nearly got stranded on Icy Reef on the shore of the Arctic Ocean as a big storm was moving in, but we managed to squeak out and make it home. Below are some photos and a satellite map of the area with the river route and some of our camps marked. >>More photos<< >>More photos<<
View Kongakut River in a larger map

Final Touches: Kongakut River

Cameron — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 19:00:17 +0000

The trip is on. I departed PDX at 9.30pm in the dark and chased the sun down by flying north and arrived in Anchorage around midnight where, though it was overcast, it was still dusk out. Nathaniel Wilder with Sune and Lindsay Tamm picked me up and we stayed up until 2.30am catching up on all the corners of the world we had been to since seeing each other last, fully aware that we had the next 18 days to do this on the river and that we should get some much needed sleep.

New Gear & Prep for Alaska

Cameron — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 18:18:30 +0000

While I’ve spent some time on rivers, including a great 18-day trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, I have yet to experience an Arctic River like the Kongakut. I leave for that trip on 19 June and we’ll be on the river for 15 days or so. Follow the adventure LIVE (starting [...]

Ghost Town Visit

Cameron — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 04:09:14 +0000

After a wonderful few days of diving into the Gospel of John, Adventure Unlimited offered a few trips off camp for the boys. One group went to Leadville to check out the mining museum and I took a group to St. Elmo. Just half an hour from camp up a side canyon this little town has mostly been abandoned. Many old buildings still stand, and it does say that folks are welcome to wander down the road, but asked not to poke around in the buildings and someone does actually own them still. The town didn't keep the interest of the group much, but a nice hike further into the mountains was perfect after sitting and studying the bible for 3 days. Here's a few of the shots I got. Click on any of the images to see the rest of the gallery:

Antarctic Questions from Mrs.Higdon’s Preschool class

Cameron — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:18:43 +0000

This morning I got to answer questions from Mrs.Higdon's Preschool class. Mrs. Higdon and I went to college together and now she teaches in northern Indiana. The kids always have great questions and are so curious. These kids, because they live in a cold climate could understand some of the cold concepts better than the kids I've done this sort of stuff with in California. While I was in Antarctica I corresponded with[...]

Five Fingers Time Lapse

Cameron — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 01:44:23 +0000

While at Christmas camp, I set up my camera to take 30 second exposures for as long as the battery would last. Then I put another battery in and kept going. You'll see the frame shift now and then, that's probably a new battery going in. It's not the most exciting video you've seen, but then again, this is my experimentation laboratory. Welcome to it. I'll try to get a better one another time. Stay tuned.

Christmas Camp at the Ranches

Cameron — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:05:03 +0000

Christmas this year was a blast. I was up at the Adventure Unlimited Ranches in Buena Vista, Colorado with my mom. My primary job was to drive ski vans to Monarch and other ski areas as necessary, but I was also asked to put the "end of camp slideshow" together. Guests submitted their photos and Andy helped me sort through them (though, we asked the submitters to do a bit of editing themselves - this helped heaps). I took little video clips throughout the week and put it all together in iMovie. In looking for a good soundtrack, I texted my friend Alex Cook and asked if I could feature songs from his recently released "Tree of Life" album and he was all for it. Better yet, he was cool with me posting the whole thing to YouTube. Since YouTube limits videos to 10 minutes, the slideshow is in two parts, both are below. Enjoy! PART 1 PART 2 More videos at: http://www.youtube.com/offyonder

Backcountry Skiing

Cameron — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 21:17:12 +0000

At Christmas Camp in Buena Vista, CO we offered something new this year: backcountry skiing. We only had one camp guest sign up, but that was just fine as seven staff (including myself) went on this trip. The slopes were gentle and the weather was perfect. See it all in the video below. I originally had Tegan and Sarah's "Take Me Anywhere" as the sound track, but YouTube has a soundtrack copyright checker and disabled the audio. I think that's pretty neat that they can check for that sort of stuff now, but it forced me to choose one of their "approved" audio tracks which was just a touch longer than the video so it gets cut off and I can't fade it down for when I ask Daryl (our one guest) what he thinks of backcountry skiing. Fortunately, I had already added subtitles to the most important part of his response. Enjoy: