A Better Black Friday
plus, a last chance for Owhyee Canyonlands, a winter fest in waterfall heaven, a killer camping deal, Lake Mead's new worries, and lots more
howdy
Say what you will about the current corporatization of REI, with its union-busting and walk back of its return policy and all that—at the very least, you have to give them credit for going well against the grain on Black Friday.
Back in 2015, the company announced it would close all of its stores nationwide on the day after Thanksgiving—one of the biggest and busiest days of American consumerist frenzy. Instead, they encouraged people to #OptOutside—to forgo a manufactured bargain for a genuine outdoor experience instead.
Almost a decade later and they’re still holding firm to that, making the day-off a permanent benefit for their employees back in 2022. I don’t know about you, but that
idea is now my default setting on Black Friday, and you probably couldn’t pay me to go to a big box retailer on that day.
If you’ve been reading this newsletter for a while, you know that in my move up to the Northwest I have had to adjust to the deep gray of winter, and one of the best remedies for that is by getting up on the mountains for snow sports. I’m learning how to ski as an adult (let’s be honest, basically in my 40s), and for most of that I’ve been learning on these old beaters I picked up at a used sporting good store.
Last season, I finally felt like I was decent enough to start having some fun on the medium difficulty runs, but the skis were the thing that was holding me back. So I scrimped and saved to pick up a pair of Dynastar M-Cross skis, after a very helpful employee at Portland’s Next Adventure listened to me reiterate over and over again how I was looking for control over speed.
My husband, sister, and I all woke up early on OptOutside Day and trekked up to Timberline Lodge, had some bloody marys in the car that my sister packed up, and hit the snow. And hey, wouldn’t you know it, the new skis actually did work! I was finally able to turn without (a lot of) swearing, and even managed to pick up speed even though that poor employee at the outdoor store had to listen to me say how much I was deprioritizing that aspect of the sport.
I also got to debut a highly visible new ski getup from my new (current) employers at Columbia Sportswear. Not a plug—I did buy this look—but I can also attest that it is super warm, the vents work when needed, and oh boy are you visible.
Anyway, I hope your holiday weekend included something as magical as a ski-in taco hut. And if not, it might be time to track something like that down.
In unrelated news, did you know Skiers Toe is a thing? I just learned about it! And may need to adjust my boots. (do not Google this if you are squeamish)
Modern Hiking
Good stuff from the Modern Hiker site
Boy I wish I could tell you about some of the new trails I added to the site this week, but I’ve been locked out of my email due to some weird 2-factor authentication nonsense from GoDaddy and I’ve been locked in a Kafka-esque nightmare of websites checking to see if I’m a robot or not. Please send some good tech vibes my way so I can get this cleared up soon.
Your Parks
Your Places
So, We Getting Owyhee Canyonlands or What?
Time is running out for protection of Oregon’s Owyhee Canyonlands. The stunning, undeveloped area in southern Oregon has had bipartisan support for a national monument designation for a while but won’t be passed by Congress because Congress is completely inept. Oregon’s governor and senators wrote to President Biden to ask him to name at least a portion of the area a national monument under the Antiquities Act in August. Then they asked again in September. They asked again in late November. And … we’re still waiting, I guess?
Look, I wish Congress could get things passed, too – especially when they have local bipartisan support. But I’ve watched the proposed Rim of the Valley expansion of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area around Los Angeles get stalled and stonewalled year after year after year and that has a huge amount of bipartisan support, too. Hey Congress! This is how people lose faith in institutions and turn toward charlatan tyrants! Just saying!
Anyway, I don’t know what Biden is doing right now but he could at least sign a few papers before he leaves and help protect this little chunk of exemplary land from the next administration, which is going to be awful for the outdoors.
The bill in Congress, which would provide a bit more protection than an Antiquities Act designation that I guess we just decided can be overturned willy-nilly even though the law really does not say that, needs to be introduced by one of Oregon’s senators in the next few weeks … so … bug these people if you live in Oregon (and remember, both of them are pretty dang good on a lot of issues, so don’t be a troll):
Want to help keep this newsletter going? Keep me caffeinated and buy me a coffee!
Lake Mead’s New Problems
Nevada’s Lake Mead National Recreation Area has a problem. Well, actually, it has a number of problems, including the fact that an ongoing, climate change-driven drought is slowly dissolving the entire lake. But in addition to that, people are driving all over the newly exposed former lakebed and also making their own campgrounds everywhere, which is also not good!
Park officials have documented over 800 miles of illegal roads, and they expect the actual amount to be at least double that. RV encampments have also formed along the shores of the lake, sometimes swelling to over 300 people camping illegally.
Officials in Nevada have received $8.66 million in conservation funds to begin repairing this damage, and they have already closed one officially designated campground.
Winter Fest at Silver Falls
Mark your calendars for December 14th and 15th, because that’s when Silver Falls State Park—one of my favorite places in Oregon—is holding its annual Winter Festival. From 10AM to 4PM each day, rangers will be leading guided hikes throughout the park. There will also be workshops on mushroom hunting, plants and animals, craft projects and other fun stuff. And if you complete at least six activities, you can get yourself a free commemorative Silver Falls ornament! The event is free, too, although you’ll need a parking pass.
Pick up a signed copy of one of my books — order now before the holidays!
Tech Talk
Gadgets, Technology, and Hype
Get Your First Camping Kit
If you want to start camping but you’ve never done it before, getting all that gear can be a bit daunting—not to mention a serious hit to the wallet. I’m sure we’ve all wandered into an outdoor retailer with good intentions of buying just that one thing we need and walking out with a huge stack of gear and an even larger receipt. It doesn’t have to be this way!
The folks at Men’s Journal have spotted a killer deal at REI, which is offering up a basecamp bundle from Kelty that packs in two sleeping bags, two sleeping pads, and a tent for $180.
You could easily spend around that on any one of those items, so if you’re thinking about dipping your toes into sleeping outdoors, you probably don’t want to sleep on this deal, which ends December 8th!
(And if you’re getting this newsletter after December 8th, you could have had a heads up on that deal if you were a paid subscriber hint hint hint)
One More Thing
Oh yeah, before I go …
I’ve never really been one for Twitter, but earlier this week, the European Federation of Journalists announced they would no longer post on (god I hate to even write the dumb new name of this website) X. The group represents almost 300,000 journalists in 44 countries, and I truly hope this hastens the decline of what was once supposed to be “the world’s digital town square.”
I still need to get some things connected behind the scenes but other sites seem to be having good response from traffic from BlueSky, so I’ve set up a Modern Hiker account on there to see if it’s worth keeping tabs on. Feel free to follow me there and say hello if you’re into that sort of thing.
And if not, I totally get it.
Either way, until next time – Happy Hiking.
