The Joy Trip Project

Moab Utah 9:20 AM MST The Red Rock Bakery I have all the gear I’ll need for a long time. Making breakfast this morning while camped along the Colorado river near Moab I had my choice of three different stoves, two Teflon coated cook kits and four variations on the spork to prepare a bowl of oatmeal. All the excellent gear I have I’ve received from manufacturers for my consideration in a prospective story or product review. That’s a common practice in my line of work. But as I begin to expand my career to include stories that will likely be sponsored in part by the very companies I report on I wonder if my integrity as a journalist might be called into question. A few days ago I ran into the very talented young photographer Becca Skinner at the MSR booth during the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market in Salt Lake City. There with her friend and my first mentor Ann Krcik Becca hoped to begin the process of building the critical industry relationships she’ll need to get a stove of her own. The folks at Mountain Safety Research have been very generous to me over the years and with Anne’s guidance I’m sure Becca will have no problems getting her first pro-deal. “It was like walking around with the Queen of England,” she said, “Anne knows everybody.”

I have way too many friends on Facebook. That’s more of an observation than a confession, but that bit of reality becomes more clear to me every time someone with whom I am well acquainted online but have never met in person happily greets me in the real world. That happened at least three times at the Open-Air Demo during the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market. And in the process I did something I’m not terribly proud of. And my bad behavior has revealed a truly dark side of my nature I thought I was above. Turns out I’m a gear whore.