I have sort of an embarrassing problem with this month’s urban outdoors column (and I’m not talking about the above illustration which often portrays me wearing suspenders and shorts, like a Von Trapp family singer.) Here’s my problem: I haven’t actually been “outdoors.” Instead, I spent the month in a series of hotels and airplanes, […]
Jess Walters: The Urban Outdoors Read More »
I love to go backpacking, but sometimes I don’t feel like driving to far-flung places just to reach a trailhead to then hike with 30 pounds on my back. That’s why Heart Lake in the Bitterroot Mountains is a quick and easy weekend getaway to the backcountry. It takes only two hours to drive from
Roadtrip: Backpacking to Heart Lake MT Read More »
In May of 2005, Ed Viesturs, one of America’s leading high altitude mountaineers, completed his extraordinary quest to climb all fourteen of the planet’s 8,000 meter peaks without supplemental oxygen. OTM got in a few words with Ed recently to ask him about his climbing exploits, his new book, and his visit to Spokane on
Ed Viesturs: Still Climbing Read More »
First, a story. Brian Smith was a 20-year-old kid in 1989 when he moved from Houston, Texas to Walla Walla, Washington. Just weeks after arriving, he borrowed his dad’s Volkswagen, and with a friend from church, decided to go bombing around in the woods of the nearby Blue Mountains. As he steered the car up
Bigfoot is Not Dead: An Inland Northwest Cryptozoological Expedition Read More »
My brother and I were making preparations for our annual State of the Spokane River Float (this mostly involves getting my brother out of his home-detention ankle bracelet) when a Montana “friend” made a snarky comment about our beloved river. “Do you actually go in that water?” he sniffed, like a French wine snob over
Jess Walter: The Urban Outdoors Read More »
Most hard-core rock climbers are good for a hair-raising story or two-that 100-foot fall on one piece of protection, the unexpected night spent hanging in a harness in zero-degree temps or the 36-hour death march with no water. While Timmy O’Neill has his own set of cliffhanging tales, he’s more likely give you something like
Climbing Freak Timmy O’Neil Comes to Town Read More »
THE BRADBURY PRESS The Front (self-released) You can separate this Seattle band from the current trash-heap of country-fied rock bands by virtue of some nice songwriting and a tremendous lead vocalist by the name of Darren Golden. Golden sounds like some sort of alt-country Eddie Vedder leading a band that draws equal inspiration from Lucinda
Music Reviews: August 2006 Read More »
Camping is one of those simple, all-American activities that’s gotten way too complicated in our high-speed, high-tech modern world. Gear is great for getting you out for a safe and satisfying adventure into the wild, but you don’t need a Patagonia shopping spree or even a Cabela’s catalogue to outfit yourself for an old-school camping
Old School Camping: Going Lean, Mean, and Green Read More »
Welcome to a new feature where we ask some of the best outdoor athletes in the region what equipment they use for their favorite sports. This issue we feature North Idaho off-road tri phenom, Brandyn ROARK Gray, who is working hard to make the jump to full-time sponsored athlete in Xterra series triathlons. She supervises
What’s Your Gear?: Off-road Tri Read More »
Hovering seventy feet above the “Going-to-the-Sun Road” and grasping onto a garden hose bolted to the rock wall, we slowly walked forward with our toddler perched on my husband’s back. We knew she wouldn’t remember her first backpacking trip in Glacier National Park, but we wanted to complete an overnight hike, and we knew it
Backpacking with Baby Read More »
