Last week, on the outskirts of Salt Lake City, I sat at a small table with Steve Fisher, considered by many to be the world’s best kayaker, two other friends, one old and one new, stuffed grape leaves, tabouleh, za’atar, some turkish coffee and a couple of local beers. We listened to a jet-lagged Fisher reminisce about his experience in Tibet’s Tsangpo Gorge, which would become a book, Hell Or High Water, by Outside writer Peter Heller, and a documentary, Into The Tsangpo Gorge, that you can watch for free on Hulu. It’s an amazing story, and while I had the advantage of hearing bits and pieces in between bites of pita bread, the short documentary on Hulu is well worth your time.

From IndieBound:

The Tsangpo Gorge in southeastern Tibet has lured explorers and adventurers since its discovery. Sacred to the Buddhists, the inspiration for Shangri La, the Gorge is as steeped in legend and mystery as any spot on earth. As a river-running challenge, the remote Tsangpo is relentlessly unforgiving, more difficult than any stretch of river ever attempted. Its mysteries have withstood a century’s worth of determined efforts to explore it’s length. The finest expedition paddlers on earth have tried. Several have died. All have failed. Until now.

In January 2002, in the heart of the Himalayan winter, a team of seven kayakers launched a meticulously planned assault of the Gorge. The paddlers were river cowboys, superstars in the universe of extreme kayaking who hop from continent to continent ready for the next death-defying pursuit.

Posted: August 9th, 2010 under Long Hairs, Music/Movies/Books.
Comments: 1

On June 22nd, rangers and NPS special agents joined a multi-agency task force for three weeks of marijuana raids and investigations on Forest Service, NPS and private lands in Shasta County, CA. Over the three-week period, they eradicated 176,974 marijuana plants worth $707,896,000, made multiple arrests, and recovered a hell of a lot of firearms and ammunition. The three-week operation included two days of raids in Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, where rangers eradicated a total of 20,226 plants, which alone represented a seizure of $80,904,000 worth of marijuana.

That’s a hell of a lot of grass in our national park system. According to the NPS, “Evidence from the investigations suggest that the growers were from Mexican drug trafficking organizations.” Go figure. The Mexican drug problems starting in the U.S? Shocker.

Read more at The Morning Report.

Posted: July 26th, 2010 under Long Hairs.
Comments: 4

From the 1991 NYTimes obituary for Lee Wulff, one of the world’s best known and most respected sports fishermen:

After attending art classes in various academies in Paris for a year, Mr. Wulff returned to this country, where his endeavors included being an art director for a New York City advertising agency and working for the designer Norman Bel Geddes. But even as he was laboring at what he believed would be his life’s work, Mr. Wulff was fishing the trout streams of New Jersey and the Catskills. He once observed that he could fish the Catskills for $3.50 a week, “gas to get there, cheese, bread and milk and a tent to sleep in.”

Youtube: Salar, The Leaper featuring Lee Wulff

Posted: July 22nd, 2010 under Long Hairs.
Comments: none

In case you haven’t read it yet, The Adventure Life reprinted a wonderful New York Times article by Chris Dixon from 2003 about the Volkswagen Sycnro. Why? Because Steve Casimiro, the man behind TAL, just bought one himself:

I have been searching for the perfect adventure vehicle for years. Pickup trucks with camper shells, SUVs, Sportsmobiles, pop-up trailers…none of them have been right for me. Then I discovered the Volkswagen Westfalia Syncro van. Forget everything you know about VW vans—this extremely rare model has a military-inspired chassis and full-time four-wheel-drive with locking differential. It sleeps four, has a fridge, sink, and stove, fits in the driveway, and will go anywhere.

Unfortunately, it hasn’t been made since 1991. And it was only available for six years, with just 1,500 sold. However, after 18 months of searching, I finally found the right one and last week I pulled the trigger and dropped a big pile of cash on a beautiful 1990 model. With a new Subaru engine, it cruises the freeway at 75 and, though I’ve only used one tank of gas, gets 24 mpg. I couldn’t be happier.

Read the rest of the article and see a ton of great pictures, including the sea-foam Syncro that Chris Dixon just fixed up for Jimmy Buffett, at The Adventure Life.

Youtube: Jimmy Buffett – God Don’t Own A Car

Posted: July 13th, 2010 under Long Hairs.
Comments: 5

The term “Ranger” was first applied to a reorganization of the Fire Warden force in the Adirondack Park, after 1899 when fires burned 80,000 acres in the park. The name was taken from Rogers’ Rangers, a small force famous for their woodcraft that fought in the area during the French and Indian War in 1755. The term was then adopted by the National Park Service.

The first Director of the National Park Service, Stephen T. Mather, summed up the early park rangers as follows:

They are a fine, earnest, intelligent, and public-spirited body of men, these rangers. Though small in number, their influence is large. Many and long are the duties heaped upon their shoulders. If a trail is to be blazed, it is “send a ranger.” If an animal is floundering in the snow, a ranger is sent to pull him out; if a bear is in the hotel, if a fire threatens a forest, if someone is to be saved, it is “send a ranger.” If a Dude wants to know the why, if a Sagebrusher is puzzled about a road, it is “ask the ranger.” Everything the ranger knows, he will tell you, except about himself.****

****Lots more photos after the jump.

Read more »

Posted: July 12th, 2010 under Long Hairs, Public Lands.
Comments: 7

Imagine a This American Life dedicated to stories about the outdoors and you’d get something similar to The Dirtbag Diaries. Fitz Cahall’s podcast is one of the best on the internet. Couldn’t be more entertaining. You can now listen to his latest and greatest, “Episode 38: The Accidental Journalist” right here:

As a child, Freddie Wilkinson was fascinated by K2 and the adventure narratives from 8,000 meter peaks. It led to an incredible career as an alpinist seeking out difficult routes on obscure peaks across the globe, but his interest in climbing the trophy peaks waned. In August 2008, 11 climbers lost their lives on K2. The ensuing media frenzy was just that — a frenzy. Facts were hazy and right from the start people began making broad generalizations even though the details had yet to emerge. Something about it pissed Freddie off and stirred his curiosity. What really happened up there? Freddie started asking questions and in the process he found himself chasing an incredible story. You don’t need a journalism degree or a press pass to be a reporter. All it takes is a little New England “Can Do Spirit” and curiosity that won’t rest.

Posted: June 29th, 2010 under Long Hairs.
Comments: 4

MP3: Sun Ra – There Are Other Worlds (They Have Not Told You Of)

Posted: June 22nd, 2010 under Long Hairs.
Comments: none

Y’all, I’ll be in and around Natural Bridge, VA for the next couple of days for work. Will be back later on this week sometime. Come on down and say hello if you’re in the area.

Posted: June 15th, 2010 under Long Hairs.
Comments: none

Fredda and Leslie were both unpacking their things from a beat up Rav 4 when we arrived at the Deer Isle Hostel. Fredda didn’t say much when Dennis, the owner of the hostel, introduced us all, and after an awkward handshake and a silent understanding that we’d probably be spending a lot of time together in close quarters during the next day, I went off with Kalen on a hike before the sun went down and dinner was to be served.

When we got back from the hike, we washed up, had a few beers, played half a game of Scrabble and walked a few hundred feet from the hostel over to Dennis’ cabin. We brought a bottle of wine, a loaf of bread from Blue Hill, ME and one of many small jars of jalapeño jelly that Kalen had bought for me at Reny’s the previous day.

Leslie was standing at the wood stove, heating up a half-opened can of sardines in tomato sauce and cooking a mess of greens from Dennis’ garden. Dennis and Fredda sat at the kitchen table smiling and quietly laughing. When I plopped the bread and jelly on the table, Fredda’s face lit up. “AH! JALAPENOS! YUP!”

I sat in between Kalen and Fredda, and before we ate the massive spread of food that had been waiting for us, we all joined hands and sat in silence. When Dennis finally spoke and told us to eat, I made a comment about how much I enjoyed a canned sardine and Fredda whispered and chuckled through a long story about his life as a sardine fisherman in the 60s. We finished dinner, ate a disgusting homemade cream puff that someone had given Leslie for their drive down to Deer Isle from the reservation, did the dishes and read in bed until we passed out.

The following morning, I woke up around 5 am to the rooster crowing outside my window, walked downstairs and saw Fredda sitting at the table, looking out the window, cane in hand. We made coffee together, talked about his life on the reservation, the smell of sweet annie at Common Grounds, my life in Brooklyn and how he had won several habenero pepper eating contests. (“I like spicy things. Like the jelly. YUP!”) We walked down to the trees so he could smoke a cigarette, a habit that he claimed his wife didn’t know about. He told me the names of plants in Dennis’ garden and which ones you could eat and which ones made the kids on the reservation sneeze. Fredda and Leslie had driven to Deer Isle to give a seminar on native medicinal plants at the hostel that day, so after a few hours of talking and walking, we went back to the house so he could start setting up.

At 7 a.m., Dennis woke up and took me down to the beach and taught me how to dig for clams. An hour or two later, we walked back to the hostel with two big buckets full of the slimy creatures, packed our stuff and started our descent back down to the coast.

Visit Fredda and Leslie’s website and order some red willow bark, that when smoked, helps a man get some sleep.

(I’m pretty sure this is one of the first pictures of myself I’ve ever posted in these parts, so enjoy it.)

Posted: June 9th, 2010 under Long Hairs.
Comments: 2

From Dan Gibson’s Solitudes Volume 8:

The tug of the waves at the helm, the boat heeling until the lee rail slashes the surface, the workaday world far behind. And then, the sound of the winch, as the genoa is trimmed to a new course heading between land and a few small reefs, where gulls scream at our passing. Up ahead is a small island. When we sail close, we can hear the waves crashing on the rocks. An explosion of wings and cries tells us we are intruding on pristine territory. When we change course again, a following wind drives us through the narrow mouth of a long fjord-like bay. The boat slows as we move into protected waters, and we see the cove, hidden now by sheer cliffs and a rocky point. Driftwood rises in tortured shapes from the small sand beach. On a low hill above the cove, a beaver dam and the sounds of wildlife everywhere. We drop anchor and row ashore, towards the sounds – sounds from the trees, from the pond, from the sky. Superb digital recording, as true to life, will help you recognize each creature of the hidden cove.

Download the tracks at Closet Of Curiosities

Posted: May 19th, 2010 under Long Hairs.
Comments: none