Of all the risks climbers face when tackling Everest, COVID-19 is the one making headlines, this week with China marking a literal dividing line at the mountain's summit. There is no word yet how they’ll enforce this border at the top of the world, ...
How to Make Moonshine: A Down-and-Dirty Guide to White Lightning
No matter how hard I try, I can never escape my redneck past. In fact, the older I get, the more I just embrace it. When you say the words “West Virginia,” three things come to mind: Marrying your sister, John Denver, and kick-ass moonshine. Let me ...
Roadkill for Dinner: Why Harvesting Roadkill Is Actually Ethical and Tasty
Roadkill for dinner? In a short time, it could drive you to madness. After a while, your standards related to what you will and will not consume dramatically lower. In normal circumstances, one would not order a freshly trampled raccoon from a ...
Fish of the Union: The Top 6 Species Claimed as State Fish
Every state lays claim to some unique animal, flower, tree, historic reference, or geological feature as uniquely their own: Idaho gems and potatoes, California gold, Florida sunshine, Georgia peaches, Michigan wolverines. While most states ...
Off Script: Free Range Q&A With Dave Jewett, Timbersports Legend
Dave Jewett does not have a blue ox that follows him around, but he's as much a giant in the Timbersports world as Paul Bunyan is in American folklore. What started as a sure, why not? moment when he joined a junior-college woodsmen team in 1987 ...
Lesser-Known Bigfoot Legends in The US and Around the World
Ask any bar full of townies in any semiremote region of the world if there’s such a thing as Bigfoot, and they'll probably give a guarded side glance to the grizzled old-timer sitting alone with his whiskey. He’s seen things that no one will say they ...
Century-Old Sturgeon Caught in Detroit River
A 6-foot, 10-inch, 240-pound sturgeon was recently pulled from the Detroit River and recorded by biologists as one of the largest in the nation. The big female was estimated to be at least 100 years old. For context, when this fish was born, ...
Reel Warriors Reconnects Veterans Through Offshore Fishing
The pain and isolation that many veterans carry home from deployments can occupy some of the deepest parts of their being. When it comes to hope and healing, those depths can seem simply unreachable. Through offshore fishing trips, Reel ...
4 Tips for Choosing the Right Road Running Shoe
Whether you prefer the urban hustle, quiet country roads, or well-heeled suburbia between the two, running can be an enjoyable, long-term exercise regimen and not the painful grind so many people perceive it to be. The key is finding the right ...
Off Script: Free Range Q&A With Paul Bourcq, Fly-Fishing Ambassador
The fly-fishing industry is most definitely not just for old white guys anymore. The sport is worldwide and getting younger, and it has never been more accessible or diverse as it is now. Even with the ongoing shit-show that is influencer culture, ...
What You Need to Know About Fishing Kayaks
Kayaks make an ordinary angler a fishing ninja. They’re stealthy. They can get into target-rich skinny water that a larger boat can’t reach and would be impossible to wade, and they hold all the gear you’ll need for a day on the water or a multiday ...
10 Fishing Podcasts Every Angler Should Check Out
You can’t swing a dead possum without hitting an “outdoors” podcast these days. All you need is a microphone, a laptop, a subscription to a podcast hosting service, and a half-assed idea of what you want to talk about. Okay, maybe even half of ...
Local Smoke: 5 of the Best Barbecue Joints in America
Barbecue is personal. It captures the flavor of a region, a community, or a culture. It celebrates struggle as much as it does success. Those who work in wood, fire, smoke, and meat are storytellers. They carry on traditions, which is why we flock to ...
Winning the Half-Marathon Mind Game
Hall of Fame distance runner, collegiate cross-country coach, and author Rich Davis said that "long-distance running is 90% mental, and the other half is physical." It’s funny because it’s true. And it’s applicable to both trail and road ...
Everest Base Camp Sees Its First COVID Case
Not even the top of the world is out of the pandemic’s reach. Reports out of Everest Base Camp have confirmed that the first case of COVID-19 has finally hit their ranks. Three climbers had shown symptoms of high-altitude pulmonary edema, or ...
How to Choose the Right Trail Running Shoe
Rolling uphills and downhills. Rocks, tree roots, and muddy stretches. Creek bed crossings. Brush-lined, single-track paths. Tall grass, slippery leaves, and steep switchbacks. At first glance, trail running can seem intimidating. The truth is, not ...
For A Custom Motorcycle Build, Visit New York’s Interstellar Motors
Walking down a second-floor hallway of a decades-closed post office to the Interstellar Motors custom motorcycle shop, the last thing you’d expect to see is ballet studios with handmade welcome signs and a dozen moms shepherding pint-sized darlings ...
Boat Building: Pat Smith’s Handcrafted Cedar-Canvas Canoes
Pat Smith’s boat shop is not a place for those with OCD. One step inside and you get the smell of Captain Black pipe tobacco, cedar sawdust, epoxy, and varnish. "A Whiter Shade of Pale" drifts from the transistor radio in the back of the ...
7 of the Toughest Trail Races in America
If you think it’s totally normal to run until you hallucinate, reach total muscle failure, lose toenails, or can no longer feel your feet, you’re a perfect candidate for one of America’s toughest trail races. It takes a special type of person to ...
The Hunter Recruitment Project Introduces Veterans to Fly Fishing
Conversation the night before covered the usual bases. Everyone knew the shit that everyone else had seen and no one really wanted to rehash most of it anyhow. Everyone spoke the language, the shorthand of combat experience, and that acknowledgment ...
Zebra Mussels: The $1.5 Billion Invasion
The pike is as visible 20 feet away and 10 feet down as it would be in a fish tank in some doctor’s waiting room. Suspended in gin-clear water in the shadow of a forest of milfoil, he spooks before a single cast can be made. It’s the curse of the ...
Off Script: Free Range Q&A With Dalton Villines, Axe Thrower
Dalton Villines could easily be a fan favorite on The Walking Dead. As a matter of fact, the folks at AMC might want to take note ASAP. He'd be as deadly with axes as Daryl is with his crossbow. The Kingston, Arkansas, native and Marine veteran ...
Monarch Butterflies, On Brink of Extinction, Garner Congressional Attention
The western monarch butterfly — the iconic creature that’s a universal beacon in generations of childhood memories across the country — is but a wing-flap away from disappearing completely. The literal butterfly effect of this could further ...
How to Make A Slow-Cooked Pulled Venison Roast
When speaking of venison recipes, tenderloins and backstraps tend to be the heroes, with some version of sausage or stew meat not far behind. The good-old venison roast simply doesn’t get the love and attention it deserves. In the slow-cooked meat ...
6 Basic Tips to Train Like a Trail Runner
You don’t have to be a wiry, mesh-tank-top-and-short-shorts-wearing, Gu-eating, ultra-zen human mountain goat to run trails. There are actually a lot of average-person trail runners. Why? It’s easier on your body than running on pavement; each and ...
Growing Up Heathen: A Look Into One Outlaw Motorcycle Club Family
Jim Rayel’s grandfather, Bob Rayel, was the vice president of the Heathens Motorcycle Club in Reading, Pennsylvania, in the 1960s. He rode an American-made Triumph, wore a steel German army helmet, and had a rebel streak with scrap to match. As ...
Sporting Art: Zippo Lighters Designed with the Outdoors in Mind
Early man in Africa and Eurasia first harnessed the power of fire 2 million years ago, discovering its usefulness for not only warmth and light but also protection from predators — and the ability to cook food. The earliest cave paintings, ...
Rick Wilcox: The Most Accomplished American Mountaineer You’ve Probably Never Heard Of
Chunks of ice break free from about 70 feet above, clacking off lower bulges before landing in heavy, dull thuds on the snow-buried slope only feet away. “Ice!” The climber that yelled down is pegged to the face of the wall by two ...
Pro Tips For Shooting Better Outdoor Photography
Shutter speed, aperture, exposure, focal length, depth of field, composition. There’s a lot to take in if you want to up your photo game. Whether you’re using an iPhone, a point-and-shoot digital camera, or the latest and greatest Sony Alpha, putting ...
Portraits of Strength: The Unseen Suffragist Photographs
In December 2020, David Whitcomb, an attorney in Canandaigua, New York, bought a historic building in neighboring Geneva. While renovating the space for a new office, he discovered a secret attic that held a trove of old photographs, props, and early ...
