Our homies at Patagonia launched a new Tin Shed a few weeks ago and I just got some time yesterday to look at it and it’s a great inspiration/read. Awesome photos and videos from trips and more. I noticed they also are hiding some new products they have in the works including a line of alpine/climbing packs. TCL (Cleanest Line) even mentioned on Twitter today that they did hide a sneak peak at one of the packs. There’s also a secret code hidden some where for a shop discount. If you have some free time poke around the Tin Shed.

Brrrr, feel that? Oh it’s nippy out there in them-hills. When venturing out in the woods in the winter months you need to make sure you are properly prepared especially in terms of fighting off the elements. I decided to share with you some of my favorite pieces of gear for enjoying the colder weather while on hikes or backpack excursions. In this installment I’ll just be talking about tops. Lets dive right in… Read Full Post

This past weekend I camped up at Lake Arrow Head (CA). While there I ventured into the woods known as Deep Creek in search of the “Devil’s Hole”. The Devil’s Hole is a really deep natural pool set amongst a scene of trees and cliffs. Further down the stream are water falls with other smaller pools. The trails leading to the “Hole” are 4×4 and motorcycle trails. We tried to venture down the dirt roads in our 2 wheel drive vehicles only to find we were trying to achieve the impossible or should I say dumb. We never made it to the pools but we hiked off-trail to a mountain of boulders where we scrambled up the rocks and where we were greeted by the rattling of one pissed off slumbering snake. We made our moves around the rattler and climbed the boulders to get off some nature shots and admire the beautiful landscape…which was occasionally disturbed by the sounds of 4 stroke engines in the distance BRRRRAAPP-BRRRAAPP.

While riding one of my favorite trails in th Angeles Forest known as the Strawberry Peak ride I made an error that had me tumbling off the tight trail and over a small cliff. As soon as I began to tumble down I thought to myself, this was it, I’m finished but a cactus stopped my fall. As I did the normal bodily check to make sure nothing was broke I tried to make my ascent back to the trail but it was too steep and loose for me to make it up. I sat for a a minute when all of a sudden a hiker called down to me from the trail. I told her I was ok but couldn’t climb out. She then reached into her pack and through down a line of 550 paracord. I tied the end to my bike and climbed out. We then pulled my bike from the drop. She then explained to me how just a week ago she used the same cord to pull some people from car accident in ravine. Ever since then I ride, hike and venture into the woods with 100 ft of paracord.