Interesting takes on environmental issues.
www.grist.org
Thursday, May 31, 2007
NEMO Equipment Losi Tent - Built for Speed
The NEMO Equipment LOSI Tent is a spacious 2 person, all season backpacking and camping tent.
Your tent is your home in the wilderness, so don't sacrifice comfort and stability for a few ounces. NEMO used the lightest weight materials and a unique pole structure to build the Losi™ tent extra sturdy and extra spacious. Two doors and two vestibules eliminate jostling for position and gear storage, and an optional Pawprint™ liner joins sleeping pads to make a double bed. With a full mesh canopy for summer evenings and large side vents for continuous airflow on rainy nights, Losi™ is essential for the avid backpacker.
For the ultimate in camping comfort, check out the LOSI Pawprint Floor Accessory, featuring pillow pockets and sleeping pad sleeves, it's also machine washable!
NEMO Equipment LOSI Tent Specs:
- 4.9 lbs, (2.2 kg)
- 32 sq. ft.
- 26 sq. ft. vesibule
- Optional Carbon Fiber Upgrade
Monday, May 28, 2007
Gallatin Good Times
Hi all,
We were testing out our creek boats on the Gallatin this weekend before heading to Hyalite and other more burly creeks around. The water levels have been pretty crazy. A Bozeman Daily Chronicle article a few days ago indicated that the snow pack was about 20% of last year at this time, which results in a much shorter spring runoff and lower rivers. Luckily, we’ve been getting a lot of rain here and it’s helping keep things green, and the rivers alive for a while. Cheers everyone and I hope your Memorial Day was a great deal of remembrance and good times.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Pacific Outdoor Equipment now online....
We're proud to announce the addition of Pacific Outdoor Equipment products to Powderfin.com. Not only are these some of the best sleeping pads, dry bags, and river duffels in the business, but they're also headquartered right down the street here in Bozeman, MT.
It's always nice to do business with local companies, especially when they have similar philosophies. P.O.E. is an innovative company with their minds on creating useful products with minimal environmental impact. In fact, for they're 2007 Eco Thermo 6 Sleeping Pad (pictured below), they recently won the Outside Magazine Green Gear of the Year Award.
We're excited to be on board with P.O.E., and we hope our customers are too! If you'd like to learn more about the company, check out their website, or our Pacific Outdoor Info Page. As always, we're here to help with product questions via email or toll free at 1-800-986-0656.
Creekboating and Infinity Mountain
Creekboating often draws a “what is that?” response for family and friends. It’s kayaking… but it’s the kind of kayaking you watch and say, “holy crap I can’t believe he/she just did that”. It has a higher inherent danger level and requires more river intelligence and skill than most traditional play-boat runs. Generally speaking, you’re talking about a class 4 or 5 river with steep gradient which may include waterfalls, giant holes, log jams, sieves, potential pitons, swift water rescue skills, boat extraction knowledge… the boats them selves come in many shapes and sizes, but have higher volume than play boats and usually a displacement hull and sort of bulbous features.
With that said, I have my first creekboat, and I can’t wait to put a few scratches in it! It’s a Bliss-Stick Huka… check it out. As a beginning creek-boater, I look to people pushing the sport for inspiration. Montana has no shortage of people running rivers that make my knees week, but the majority of them don’t have sites that are regularly updated on their adventures. Someday I’ll paddle that runs through my mind constantly when I take a look at what Robin and friends are up to at Infinity Mountain. They're still getting the site dialed in... but the pics are incredible. Check it out and understand the level these guys are at. They also backcountry ski, climb, hike, and generally make use of their surroundings in the best way… something we really dig at Powderfin.
Tagged: Powderfin, Outdoors, Outdoor Gear, Infinity Mountain, Creekboating, Kayaking, Bozeman, Montana
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Clearwater River Cruise
Last weekend I was fortunate enough to check out a river here in Montana that was new to me. I travelled up to Missoula and met a friend who had some visitors in town from Greenville, South Carolina. We decided to rent a raft and head up to the Clearwater River, which feeds into the Blackfoot due East of Missoula.
We put in at Salmon Lake and rowed through it to the mouth of the river...luckily the wind was at our backs, or it would have been a looooooooooong day. It's a gorgeous lake, with some pretty impressive houses on it. Not exactly in the backcountry, but beautiful all the same. The river sections of the float between 3 different lakes were a lot of fun to row through, featuring some mild whitewater that bumped us around enough to soak the girls...making the rest of the trip a bit cold in the Montana spring wind.
Luckily, everyone on board retained great attitudes, including the dogs, Zeus and Cody. Our friends from SC, Lagare and Hunter enjoyed being on the river, and we all got to see a new section of Montana by raft...always a nice thing. Hunter (above) has a pretty cool gig going at home, where he started a website called www.whatsgoinongreenville.com... it's still under construction, but stay tuned to see how it develops.
After a day on the river in the wind and sun, there's nothing like a good meal at the campsite to re-fuel. On this particular night we dined on some Tenderloin Steaks cooked in butter and some instant mashers. It didn't suck.
We didn't do much fishing on this trip, mostly just sightseeing and hanging out. However, the water is gin clear while most other rivers are muddy right now, and I hear there's some Northern Pike in the upper stretches. Next time I'll be slingin' Yellow Bunny Strips and we'll see what happens
We put in at Salmon Lake and rowed through it to the mouth of the river...luckily the wind was at our backs, or it would have been a looooooooooong day. It's a gorgeous lake, with some pretty impressive houses on it. Not exactly in the backcountry, but beautiful all the same. The river sections of the float between 3 different lakes were a lot of fun to row through, featuring some mild whitewater that bumped us around enough to soak the girls...making the rest of the trip a bit cold in the Montana spring wind.
Luckily, everyone on board retained great attitudes, including the dogs, Zeus and Cody. Our friends from SC, Lagare and Hunter enjoyed being on the river, and we all got to see a new section of Montana by raft...always a nice thing. Hunter (above) has a pretty cool gig going at home, where he started a website called www.whatsgoinongreenville.com... it's still under construction, but stay tuned to see how it develops.
After a day on the river in the wind and sun, there's nothing like a good meal at the campsite to re-fuel. On this particular night we dined on some Tenderloin Steaks cooked in butter and some instant mashers. It didn't suck.
We didn't do much fishing on this trip, mostly just sightseeing and hanging out. However, the water is gin clear while most other rivers are muddy right now, and I hear there's some Northern Pike in the upper stretches. Next time I'll be slingin' Yellow Bunny Strips and we'll see what happens
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Yellowstone and Teton Adventure
Hello all,
If you’re lucky enough to live in Bozeman, you can make a trip down through Yellowstone and Teton in a day or two (more if you want to really get away). Abbey and I headed down on Saturday for our annual Spring hiking and picture taking adventure. If you make it down to Teton be sure to drive to the South Jenny Lake parking lot and do the hike to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point. I think it was about 5 miles with a few detours. Spring is awesome because the animals are active and there is much less tourist traffic to deal with. Our longest wait was a heard of buffalo hanging out near the west entrance to Yellowstone. Abbey just got the Joby SLR Zoom Tripod and loves it.
Cheers
If you’re lucky enough to live in Bozeman, you can make a trip down through Yellowstone and Teton in a day or two (more if you want to really get away). Abbey and I headed down on Saturday for our annual Spring hiking and picture taking adventure. If you make it down to Teton be sure to drive to the South Jenny Lake parking lot and do the hike to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point. I think it was about 5 miles with a few detours. Spring is awesome because the animals are active and there is much less tourist traffic to deal with. Our longest wait was a heard of buffalo hanging out near the west entrance to Yellowstone. Abbey just got the Joby SLR Zoom Tripod and loves it.
Cheers
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Friday, May 11, 2007
Wrinkle Neck Mules… what you’ve been missing
Let me start by saying I’m not a “country” fan, at least not by today’s standards. In fact I avoid most new popular country music like the plague. However, every now and then I find a bluegrass, jam-band, or down-home-country group that I can’t get enough of. I can’t even remember how I stumbled upon Wrinkle Neck Mules, but Wow. It’s music that represents Montana so well its ridiculous… and they’re from Virginia. Anyway, here is what I want you to do…
1. When you’re winding down after a hard day’s work or play with a beverage in your hand. Go to their My Space page.
2. First, click on the song “Push the Pedal” and listen to the whole thing (maybe 2 or 3 times).
3. Then, when you’ve gotten the vibe, click on "Sugar and Sunshine" and enjoy.
Ok, now that you get the idea and you’ve downloaded them from iTunes, or bought the CD. There are a few other tracks to check out as ranked by my favorites… “Minor Enough”… “Liza”… “San Gabriel”… “No Consolation”… and a few more that escape memory right now.
For more… here is their home page.
1. When you’re winding down after a hard day’s work or play with a beverage in your hand. Go to their My Space page.
2. First, click on the song “Push the Pedal” and listen to the whole thing (maybe 2 or 3 times).
3. Then, when you’ve gotten the vibe, click on "Sugar and Sunshine" and enjoy.
Ok, now that you get the idea and you’ve downloaded them from iTunes, or bought the CD. There are a few other tracks to check out as ranked by my favorites… “Minor Enough”… “Liza”… “San Gabriel”… “No Consolation”… and a few more that escape memory right now.
For more… here is their home page.
Tagged: Powderfin, Outdoors, Outdoor Gear, Wrinkle Neck Mules, Moboogie.com, Country Music, Bozeman, Montana
Thursday, May 10, 2007
The Mighty Mo
As you can see from our kayaking/rafting posts, many of the rivers here in Southwestern Montana are pretty blown out right now, as runoff is in full swing. In order to try to find some trout in a period of high-water, my friends Jason, Jeremy and I decided to meet up with our guide buddies Zandy and Trevor over on the Missouri. They had just moved back to the area for the season, but didn't have any trips booked quite yet, so we thought we'd pay them a visit from Bozeman. Our ol' pal from Missoula, Jessica Hazzard Jones, brought her dog Ruby to round out the crew. We stayed over by the little town of Craig, and it proved to be an excellent place to kick off the summer here in Montana. The sun was high and bright, the wind surprisingly calm, and the fish were lookin' up!
Saturday (Cinco de Mayo) ended up being more of a booze cruise than anything else, but we loved every minute of it...caught a few fish on nymphs, then just played music and drank wine on our journey back down to Craig...(read - Local Joe's Bar). It was a hell of a float, and as shown below, Hazzard showed us how they do it over in Missoulatown.
1)
2)
Yep, that pretty much sums up Saturday. Sunday was a different deal, we were lucky enough to have Zandy and Trevor row us on their home water. They didn't dissapoint, getting us into a few beautiful rainbows and more than a few hungry, fiesty, gorgeous browns. Jessica caught her first trout on a dry, thanks to Zandy's instruction. Trevor gave me ample opportunities to poke sipping browns, a few of which I flailed on, but stuck enough to make my wrist ache by the end of it. All in all, we had an amazing day. One hightlight was a brown that jumped 3 or 4 feet out of the water after being hooked, something we rarely see. We caught several nice browns on dries that day...none of which were small.
It was the first weekend that we realized... "nice, the winter's really over". That's a great feeling when you live in Montana, and we're all psyched to have finally rounded the corner.
If anyone's interested in fishing the Missouri River with a seasoned guide, give these guys a call and they'll put you on fish.
Saturday (Cinco de Mayo) ended up being more of a booze cruise than anything else, but we loved every minute of it...caught a few fish on nymphs, then just played music and drank wine on our journey back down to Craig...(read - Local Joe's Bar). It was a hell of a float, and as shown below, Hazzard showed us how they do it over in Missoulatown.
1)
2)
Yep, that pretty much sums up Saturday. Sunday was a different deal, we were lucky enough to have Zandy and Trevor row us on their home water. They didn't dissapoint, getting us into a few beautiful rainbows and more than a few hungry, fiesty, gorgeous browns. Jessica caught her first trout on a dry, thanks to Zandy's instruction. Trevor gave me ample opportunities to poke sipping browns, a few of which I flailed on, but stuck enough to make my wrist ache by the end of it. All in all, we had an amazing day. One hightlight was a brown that jumped 3 or 4 feet out of the water after being hooked, something we rarely see. We caught several nice browns on dries that day...none of which were small.
It was the first weekend that we realized... "nice, the winter's really over". That's a great feeling when you live in Montana, and we're all psyched to have finally rounded the corner.
If anyone's interested in fishing the Missouri River with a seasoned guide, give these guys a call and they'll put you on fish.
Zandy Zechella (706) 614-0780 - Trevor Madden (406) 459-9221
Zandy has a new Montana Fly Fishing Guides website. Check it out to book a trip.
Crazy Creek now available at Powderfin.com
Today at Powderfin.com, we're proud to announce the launch of Crazy Creek Camping Chairs, a staple in the outdoor industry for 20 years. Located in Red Lodge, MT, we're excited to do business with another Montana company, especially one with such useful and innovative products such as Crazy Creek.Below you'll find out more about the company, as well as some links to get you to the various new product categories we've added. Feel free to contact us with product questions!
The Crazy Creek Story
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Beartrap Canyon Rafting/Kayaking
Hello!
Sunday was a great time in Beartrap Canyon. You know something crazy is going to happen when there is a raft with 3 foreign exchange students. The only major rapid at 1800 cfs was Kitchen Sink, a class IV shown in the video. It’s not a good place to swim because rescue is pretty difficult until the swimmer reaches calm water at the bottom of the rapid. Mica, the German exchange student and one of the strongest paddlers, got tossed at the beginning. She swam the majority of it before I was able to pull her out. A little shaken up, but still smiling! Other rapids like Green Wave and Kicking Horse were fun wave trains. As a whole, it was a great time with the sun shinning and good/goofy company. Rafting and kayaking at it finest.
Sunday was a great time in Beartrap Canyon. You know something crazy is going to happen when there is a raft with 3 foreign exchange students. The only major rapid at 1800 cfs was Kitchen Sink, a class IV shown in the video. It’s not a good place to swim because rescue is pretty difficult until the swimmer reaches calm water at the bottom of the rapid. Mica, the German exchange student and one of the strongest paddlers, got tossed at the beginning. She swam the majority of it before I was able to pull her out. A little shaken up, but still smiling! Other rapids like Green Wave and Kicking Horse were fun wave trains. As a whole, it was a great time with the sun shinning and good/goofy company. Rafting and kayaking at it finest.
Tagged: Powderfin, Outdoors, Outdoor Gear, Beartrap Canyon, Madison River, Kayaking, Bozeman, Montana
Saturday, May 05, 2007
The Way We Roll
The Friends of Powderfin are at it again. We’ve been running the Gally for the last couple of weeks and yesterday was both the coldest run and the only time we convinced someone to take pictures and video of us. The Gallatin was running at 1,800 cfs… last year it got up to 4,500 and my knees get weak just thinking about it. Will it get that high again?
Tagged: Powderfin, Outdoors, Outdoor Gear, Gallatin River, Kayaking, Kayaking Video, Bozeman, Montana
Thursday, May 03, 2007
The Gally Rising
It looks like spring runoff is here. I was on the Gallatin Wednesday evening at 2000 cfs and it was great to be back on my home river, it’s a lot like seeing an old friend. Last year the Gally reached about 4500cfs and was incredible ride. If you’re ever in the Bozeman area and get a chance to paddle the Gally at high flows you'll know what I mean. At this flow, I’d say the majority of the run fell into the class III+ range. Higher and it gets to be a solid class IV. All went well; with some fun play spots and one sort of beat down in a retentive hole, but I made it out ok. If you ever have any questions about paddling in the Bozeman Area, let me know. For those who haven’t decided to leap into kayaking, rafting the House Rock section of the river is also a great experience and there are a few excellent raft companies to choose from. I'm going to try to get out on Friday and hopefully I have some photos or video for ya!
Tagged: Powderfin, Outdoors, Outdoor Gear, Spring Runoff, Montana Kayaking, Gallatin river, Bozeman, Montana
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