Outdoor Recreation

Diversity, Fly Fishing, Healthy Living, Influencers, Outdoor Recreation, Stand Up Paddling, Urban Revitalization / 29.09.2014

There is nothing more wonderful than the delight of an enthusiastic child. Of the all children who came out to Hunts Point Riverside Park to try Tenkara Fly Fishing for the first time Adrian, age 8, was by far the most over joyed with the prospects of getting a bite. “I really want one of these,” he said holding out his loaner fly rod. “I want to catch fish.” Adrian picked up the basic skill required to cast his line out over the Bronx River. A first time angler from...

Adventure Activism, Business, Diversity, Outdoor Recreation / 28.08.2014

In a Washington, DC hotel room I resigned myself to the image in the mirror. Years ago I swore among other things that I would never work a job that required me to wear a tie. And as I dressed for an appointment at the prestigious National Press Club in denim jeans, a long sleeve shirt and a blazer I finally abandoned my last attempt at conformity. I slipped loose the top button of my collar, grabbed my camera bag and made for the elevator. Still known in...

#ORShow, #ORSummer, Business, Fly Fishing, Magazines, Outdoor Recreation, Outdoor Retailer, Summer / 21.07.2014

“Many (people) go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish that they are after.” Henry David Thoreau ~ (1817 – 1862) Craig Amacker releases almost every catch. It’s not fish he’s after, but the experience of a day on the water, tiny moments of time when he’s directly connected to nature by a thin nylon filament. “It’s my escape, but it’s also my occupation,” Craig said as we cast our lines over the Wisconsin River. “It’s all about when that fish strikes and you know...

Adventure Activism, Camping, Diversity, Environmental Justice, Environmental Protection, National Parks, Outdoor Recreation, Special Events, Yosemite / 13.06.2014

In the fading light of a late spring evening, gospel singer Sista Monica Parker sat humming on a bench at the Yellow Pines Campground in Yosemite National Park. There she waited patiently for others to gather. Quiet at first, her melodic voice gained strength as she swayed to the rhythm of a hymn perhaps not heard in the Valley for more than a century. The sound slowly swelled into a powerful chorus that echoed off the granite walls of El Capitan and Half Dome. Even the birds fell...

Adventure Activism, Camping, Diversity, Environmental Justice, National Parks, Outdoor Recreation, Yosemite / 09.06.2014

  The outdoor industry has enjoyed a long history of diversity across a wide variety of people from many different backgrounds. Over the weekend a group of African-American outdoor enthusiasts made the long journey from the Presidio in San Francisco to Yosemite Valley in order retrace the path the Buffalo Soldiers took in 1903 to take up their duty station as defenders of the first National Parks. The enduring legacy of their efforts more than 100 years ago is reflected in the faces of those who love the outdoors...

Book Review, Fly Fishing, Life Out Loud, Outdoor Recreation, Product review / 05.06.2014

I haven’t cast a fly rod in several years.  Back then I didn’t have much luck. That is to say I had plenty, all bad. Casting lines with my friend and master fisherman Craig Amacker on the Wisconsin River I spent more time untangling my hooks from low hanging branches than actually tempting trout. With all the best equipment and under the instruction of a talented angler I had to assume that any failure I experienced that day was all due to my own lack of skill and expertise. Fishing was...