Poetic pragmatism, neo-transcendentalism, bikes, burritos, basketball.
A tiny company called Stephenson’s Warmlite makes some of the world’s best gear for camping. I’ve long admired their bomb-proof tents and burly sleeping bags, not to mention the unabashed, straight-from-the-70s nudism in their vintage paper catalogs [a PDF is available here, for now]. Which is why I couldn’t help but be deeply charmed by [...]
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I tend to obsess over outdoors gear. The pinnacle (or nadir, as the case may be) of this obsession was the spring/summer of 2001, when I hiked the Pacific Crest Trail. Over four months, I sampled a ton of gear — six pairs of shoes, a few different shirts, jackets, socks, shelters, cookware. I had dozens (maybe [...]
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Thomas McGuane takes a shot at describing what it’s like to land a tarpon: The closest thing to a tarpon in the material world is the Steinway piano. The tarpon, of course, is a game fish that runs to extreme sizes, while the Steinway piano is merely an enormous musical instrument, largely wooden and manipulated [...]
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This photo is from an excellent 70s photo book called Handmade Houses. I bought it after I read this inspiring little piece on Inhabitat, and it has got me thinking about getting back to basics. In this economy, basics may be all there are. In the winter and spring of 1997, I helped my friend Steve [...]
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Sarah brought over an excellent old book called The Trees of California, by Willis Linn Jepson. It was published in 1909, and it had some amazing photos of the redwoods up north. The caption reads: “Fig 15. REDWOOD (Sequoia sempervirens Endl.) Making the “undercut”, which determines the direction of the fall, on a tree 16 feet [...]
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Last Friday, we improvised a parlor game during a visit to Sarah’s parents’ East Bay homestead. They’ve got tons of books on California history, including a gem called California Place Names: The Origin and Etymology of Current Geographical Names by one Erwin Gudde, a Cal professor and friend of Sarah’s fam. There wasn’t much “game” [...]
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I stumbled upon a treasure trove of old outdoors books at Iconoclast Books in Ketchum, Idaho this weekend; this one’s from 1970. The cover ultimately doesn’t make much difference, but I like this one. If only hiking through sun cups like these was as serene and lovely as the photo implies. Also, the introductory text instructs Yosemite [...]
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When I start a camping trip, the Van Halen song “Panama” [Video on YouTube] often pops into my head — I wish I could represent Eddie Van Halen’s reverby guitar opening in words, but I was humming it and singing the chorus — Pa-neh-ma ... Pa-neh-ma-ha — as this picture was taken. That’s the Wind River Range coming into view [...]
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I’m usually the person who recommends going anywhere but Yosemite in the Sierras because it’s expensive and tends to be over-run with people even in the high country, whereas the Emigrant Wilderness, for instance, tends to be pretty sparsely visited, even on the busiest of weekends. But let’s keep that on the shhhh. Anyway, I [...]
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During my hike on the PCT in 2001, my two favorite pastimes were swimming and eating. When I was walking — which was most of the time — cool swimming holes and sizzling cheeseburgers filled my daydreams. When my hiking partner, Nick, and I talked, it was more often than not about swimming and eating cheeseburgers: How far to [...]
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My name is Doug LeMoine. I work both on, and for, the Internet. You can find more about me in the About Me page that I wrote about me.
