How to Pack a Backpack

Jun 15, 2021

Correctly packing a backpacking pack is one of those skills you don’t know you need until you’re walking down the trail with something jamming painfully into the small of your pack. Then you need to treat some water and you realize your filter is at the bottom of the bag. Suddenly it starts to rain and where did you put that dang pack cover? A little mindfulness while packing will go miles in keeping you happy and comfortable on trail. Fortunately, once you have the info it’s easy to do. Read on to become a packing ninja. If you are just starting out with backpacking, you should also take some time to become familiar with Leave No Trace practices, like how to wash dishes in the backcountry and packing out…

Read More

MSR Dromedary Bags: My Guardian Angels For More Than 50 Expeditions

Jun 1, 2021

MSR Dromedary Bags have become my guardian angels, providing me life—yes, literally providing life—on more than 50 expeditions around the world to complete major athletic goals. From first desert crossings in China to climbing huge first ascents on vertical rock walls in Greenland, on every continent and beyond, they have kept me alive. Let me explain: Water. It is the sweet giver of life. This transparent fluid forms the world’s streams, lakes, oceans and rain, and is the major constituent of the fluids of living things. We are water and water is life. And, of course, life is sweet. My body is anywhere from 55% to 78% water, depending on the day or my activity. To function properly I need to drink between one and seven liters of water per…

Read More

From Sea to Source: Misadventures & Camping on the Hudson River

May 27, 2021

In August of 2019, my friend Kirk and I fulfilled a childhood dream, paddling the Hudson River from source to sea. Growing up, my friends and I would explore my small hometown and go as far as we could get before making it home for dinner. We would go paddling, swimming, cliff jumping, hiking and occasionally jump trains when they were moving slow enough. Setting off to wander our town each day was an exploration, even if we had been there before. As kids, my friends and I were too naïve to even realize that our exploits rarely took us more than a mile or two from home, yet they still had a sense of adventure that built the kind of lasting friendships that are only forged in the outdoors….

Read More