Posts in adventuring

This summer I worked to develop my technical kayaking skills – not just rolling, but also comfort in bigger and faster waters than I'd previously experienced. In August, I got a fabulous opportunity to build skills and experience amazing waters. Alex, one of the incredibly awesome sea kayak guides and coaches here, invited me on a day-long paddle to Cattle Pass and then onward to Friday Harbor. Thanks, Alex!

With some time off between kayaking and skiing, I decided almost on a whim to head out on a fabulous bikepacking trip from Pittsburgh to Washington, DC.

I had the dubious pleasure today of ending a trip early. We talk a lot about safety during training, and it became pretty clear that I couldn't keep this group of clients safe in the long run if we stayed out on the water. So we ended the trip early and came back to shore. This was a fabulous learning experience for me. It also showed me how well-prepared I actually am to keep people safe out there. On the whole, I'm proud of my actions, though there's plenty I would do differently next time. Here's how the whole thing went down.

On our training trip, we all learned a ton. Much of that learning came from our peers. Sometimes that meant someone "flipping their boat" (jumping out of it) because they were left unattended on a launch. Sometimes it meant our friends feeling cold because we'd forgotten hot water. But one learning experience stands out as entirely provided by mother nature. We had an unplanned lightning drill on our third day. It was a nerve-wracking experience, but it also showed us how well our training prepared us, and brought us closer together through a shared experience.

Today was our first "real" kayaking day trip during training. I mentioned it briefly previously, when we had to cancel because of weather. But today was the day! It dawned bright, clear, and early. The weather turned out to be perfect, a solitary clear day between giant storms. Tides were fairly small and fine for our plan. In summary, it was an ideal day for a kayaking day trip!

Before coming to Seward (as discussed here), I had the enormous pleasure of traveling around New Zealand for nearly seven weeks in March and April. In order to stay flexible and get off the beaten track, we decided that we'd be traveling in a van. Most people – my aunt, uncle, and three young cousins – slept in the van, while I set up my hammock nearby. I've always loved hammock camping, and this trip was no exception. Over the course of seven weeks of camping nearly every day, I learned a ton. My three big areas of growth were: way more confidence in my tarp setups, managing all my gear inside the hammock, and improvising a tarp tent from my equipment. Before I get into that, I'll summarize my hammock setup, and I'll wrap up with a list of things I'm still working on.

Well, after lots of adventures, I'm excited to share that I'm now in Seward, Alaska! I'll be here through mid-September, when our season ends. I've spent the last few days before training getting to know Seward and my coworkers. It's been a real joy.

This week I had the tremendous pleasure of accepting my first outdoor industry job: during summer 2018 I will be guiding kayak tours with Kayak Adventures Worldwide in Seward, Alaska. This company has a fabulous training program and a tight-knit community. On top of that, Seward is one of the most spectacular places I've ever seen. I couldn't be more excited. Here's how I went from "it might be fun to work outdoors?" to "heck yeah I'm going to work outdoors!"

Recently I've been out west downhill skiing in glorious Park City, Utah. All that time around snow has prompted a lot of questions on wintry topics. It's led me to think about the physics of skiing again – here are some of the things I've been pondering.

Earlier this week, I had the lovely opportunity to visit Niagara Falls in the middle of a pretty chilly winter. I was there for a little under a day, just long enough to see the falls once from the American side at night and once from the Canadian side during the day. Both views, of course, were breathtaking.

One of my favorite parts of seeing Niagara Falls in the winter is the accumulation of frozen mist on, well, everything. The Falls generate mist at a prodigious rate (how fast?), and often the mist blows over the viewing areas. In the winter, if it gets cold enough, the mist freezes on contact. Over time this leads to truly majestic ice accumulation, like on this lamppost. Guess which way the wind usually blows!

Here is my exploration of the Falls, through questions.

After moving out of New York City in January 2018, I spent a month exploring various locations, a week on a nerd cruise, and then several weeks adventuring in New Zealand. From there I've worked in the outdoors seasonally.

It has been and definitely will continue to be an adventure. Hopefully it will also be fun!

Recently, getting restless thanks to the gorgeous weather and the constant hustle and bustle of living in New York City, I decided it was time to head into the woods for a night. After a bit of research, I settled on Harriman State Park as a destination: it’s relatively accessible via public transit but far enough from the city to feel like a different world.