Appalachian Trail

#BlackLivesMatter, Appalachian Trail, Black Lives Matter, Continental Divide Trail, Diversity, Hiking, Interview, Outdoor Recreation, Outdoor Retailer, Pacific Crest Trail, Walking / 26.06.2023

Having served in the United States Army through the Iraq War, Will “Akuna” Robinson suffered from severe bodily injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder. When he returned home in 2003 after a tour of duty in Al Asda near the Syrian border, he found civilian life challenging and was full of despair. As he struggled through physical and occupational therapy, trying to manage chronic pain, he self-medicated with drugs and alcohol to make it through each day. Thankfully, he found support where he was raised in Southeastern Louisiana near...

Appalachian Trail, Climbing, Color The Crag, Covid-19, Diversity, Film preview, Uncategorized / 17.11.2020

Taking a break from his daily training session Aden Conrad stopped to chat with his friend Malik Martin. A talented athlete, this aspiring sport climber needed just a few minutes to rest and allow the lactic acid to ease its way out of his powerful forearms. As they casually spoke, Malik took a quick succession of pictures of Aden with his Nikon camera. Just a few clicks of his shutter and the photojournalist captured a moment in the life of a young man transformed by the power of...

Adventure Film, Alpinist, Appalachian Trail, Climbing, Diversity, Essays, Film Festival, Film Review / 13.10.2017

After a long day of watching movies and a late night of drinking, I slept with a man I love. Certainly no lapse of judgement, my friend Jeremy Collins invited me to share his bed in the Boulder Adventure Lodge at 1AM rather than drive twenty miles back to Golden through a sloppy storm of rain, sleet and snow. A few weeks earlier at another one of the many film festival events that we attend together, he joked with a crowd during a Q&A that we had shared...

Appalachian Trail, Diversity, Interview, Podcast, Through-Hiking / 22.06.2017

Outside Magazine recently featured a wonderful essay by the writer Rahawa Haile. This young woman from Miami, Florida had successfully through-hiked the Appalachian Trail. Walking solo, she made the journey of 2,179 miles from Georgia to Maine under the power of her own two feet over several months in 2016. In her fascinating story, one passage in particular stood out. "Throughout my youth, my grandmother and I took walks in Miami, where I’d hear her say the words tuum nifas," Haile wrote. "It meant a delicious wind, a nourishing...