#OptOutside

It’s better to spend the day outside than it is spend it packed into a store fighting over deals. That’s how REI feels and a lot of people agree. They had this idea in 2015 to encourage their co-op members to choose nature over consumerism on Black Friday. It was a big thing when they announced it. Many other stores and outdoor brands quickly followed … Continue reading #OptOutside

Slow Fishing

“All you need is a credit card and you can be an outdoorsman on Instagram.” If you look at a cache of photos on any given hashtag–#campvibes, #camptrend, #liveauthentic, whatever–you’ll find a few photos of people doing cool shit. You can see people hiking the PCT, traversing glaciers or camping in Trolltunga. But most of all, you’ll see people standing in a field with their … Continue reading Slow Fishing

Whitewater River. One last hurrah: Day Two

So. We thought the Minnesota trout season was over. We were wrong. Thanks to some new regulations, fishing in state parks is catch-and-release all year. It seems we’re in for for more adventures. But first, to close out a stellar weekend on the Whitewater. Temperatures in the campground hit 25F that night, which was fun because the forecast said the low would be 38F. *takes … Continue reading Whitewater River. One last hurrah: Day Two

Whitewater River. One last hurrah: Day One.

Well, kind of one last hurrah. But more on that later. While I was fishing Skunktown Creek in Iowa, my buddy Phil had a productive weekend on the Whitewater River in southeast Minnesota. He posted a photo of one of his fish, a 16″ brown that was more orange than anything else. It was a gorgeous fish and it was in that moment I decided … Continue reading Whitewater River. One last hurrah: Day One.