It’s probably Utah’s biggest mountain biking event… 24 Hours of Moab. Not only is it a mountain bike endurance race, but also a gathering of gear heads, a vibrant tent city among the red rock, party central with beer, food and music, and a chance to say goodbye to another summer of pedaling among Utah’s stunning scenery. 2010 marks the 16th year of 24 Hours of Moab, and once again over 4,000 racers from around the world are slated to put fat tires to the slickrock and singletrack outside Utah’s mountain biking mecca in a remote venue 12 miles...
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Backpacking in Bryce Canyon NP is a hybrid experience. It’s not quite a desert, and not quite a pine forest. And to be completely fair, Bryce Canyon really isn’t a canyon at all. It’s more like a handful of canyons with similar terrain. Hybrid, indeed. The fact that Bryce can’t be easily summed up only adds to its mystique, and made it a “must-do” backpacking trip on my Utah tick list. The most popular trail for backpackers is the Under-the-Rim Trail that extends from Bryce Point all the way to the southern end of the park at Rainbow Point....
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Packing dog food for a backpacking trip is adventurous in itself. Most dog food is bulky, heavy, and prone to bloating when your dog jumps in the lake with their dog pack on. On a recent backpacking trip I had the chance to put the dog food from Peak Waggers to the test. The meal “Dog-Gone Cottage Pie” was in a vaccumed sealed bag. It’s made of dehydrated natural beef, potatoes, vegetables, and organic bulger wheat and oats. The first test happened about ½ a mile into the hike to camp when Lucy, our German short hair pointer /...
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There’s no two ways about it: Bryce Canyon is incredible. Located in the high desert of southern Utah, Bryce is a place where your imagination can run wild. A Paiute Indian tale explains how the hoodoos of the canyon came to be: “Before there were any Indians, the Legend People… lived in that place. There were many of them. They were of many kinds — birds, animals, lizards, and such things — but they looked like people…. For some reason the Legend People in that place were bad…. Because they were bad, Coyote turned them all into rocks. You...
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Say goodbye to summer the mountain way at the 30th annual Tour Des Suds mountain bike hill climb in Park City. High Country locals know how to mark transitional changes with a a rowdy party, and the Tour des Suds is the ultimate, debauchery-on-wheels celebration to say goodbye to warm weather and welcome in the cold. The Tour des Suds is a 7 mile hill-climb-on-bikes that goes from Park City to the top of Guardsman Pass for a total elevation gain of 1,700 feet. But this is no ordinary mountain bike race. The Tour des Suds is a costume...
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In case you haven’t tortured yourself enough on your mountain bike this summer, the Widow Maker Mountain Bike Hill Climb is on the horizon, and it’s not too late to sign up for the pain. This year is the 10th annual Widow Maker, and it takes place on Saturday, September 18 at 10am at Snowbird. If you’re even thinking about doing this, better read the course description first – the race starts at the bottom of the Gad Valley at Snowbird, where you grind up the service road that goes across Big Emma to the top of the Wilber...
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Ok, full disclosure. I have worked for a few outdoor industry companies and some of those have been outdoor footwear companies. So I’m pretty biased with what it takes to make a good trail running shoe. However there are a couple of things that I’m adamant never enter a shoe designed for running on trails. Quick run down of these before I get to my review of the Salomon XA Comp 4 GTX. First is stability. There’s no reason for it when the terrain you’re running on is completely uneven thus negating what stability can actually do for the...
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You can almost smell winter in the air when Utah Avalanche Center Fundraisers are on the horizon. In fact, the big party at the Black Diamond Store in Salt Lake City is on September 16th, and tickets are on sale right now. Like every year, the Utah Avalanche Center depends on backcountry users to help fund their operation so they can continue to keep you safe from avalanches with their daily safety reports and exhaustive snowpack research in Utah’s mountains. These early-season fundraising parties are also a good way to get stoked for the upcoming ski season as you...
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Driving on the most desolate stretch of Highway 6 between Price and Green River over Labor Day Weekend, a strange vision lumbered in the distance. What looked like a large moose through waves of desert heat clarified into a man pushing a pack-filled cart as we sped closer. He was  followed by another man carrying a large backpack. The cart held a sign on the front with the words, www.kivawalk.com . . . across America.   We stopped to investigate and discovered that the man with the cart is Jonathon Stalls, and as the sign indicates, he’s walking across the United States to raise awareness...
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Congratulations to Tom Rathke of Layton, Utah, the winner of our “Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest” pack o’ goodies giveaway. Tom won a North Face backpack filled the following: 2 Tickets to The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest at the Clark Planetarium TIMEX Expedition watch Complete set of National Geographic (every page of every issue) on DVD Official National Geographic Mt. Everest map and movie poster, sponsored by The North Face and REI 25% off coupon for the National Geographic online store We recieved a bunch of great, creative, and wild entries, and we thank everyone who sent in...
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“127 Hours” is a film about Aron Ralston, who famously got his hand smashed and stuck between a boulder and a slot canyon wall in Utah’s Blue John Canyon. What made Ralston famous is the fact that he was trapped there for days (hence the title “127 Hours”) and when rescue never came, he cut off his hand with a dull knife to free himself, saving his own life. Danny Boyle, the director made famous for the film “Slumdog Millionaire,” chose Ralston’s story as his next project, and based the movie on Ralston’s book, “Betweeen a Rock and a...
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