Absolutely Andrew

Category: The Great Outdoors

  • To Build a Fire, Part 2

    This is the continuation of this. I made the fire on the third and final night.  I had made one the night before, but it was nothing compared to this one, so I’m leaving it out.  I pulled out my hatchet and began splitting the wood–first into large pieces and then some smaller ones for…

  • To Build a Fire, Part 1

    The trouble with him was that he was without imagination. He was quick and alert in the things of life, but only in the things, and not in the significances. Jack London, To Build a Fire This quote has nothing to do with this post.  It’s just one of my favorite lines from one of…

  • The Legend of Pony Creek

    I have been busy for the past month or so on what you might call a “Side Project”.  This is really just my way of saying that I’m working on something that I’m not ready to announce to the world.  No, it is not a baby.  My father wrote this post for me about one…

  • Backpacking Granddaddy Basin

    For Labor Day weekend, Tara and I went on a backpacking trip in the High Uintas in Granddaddy Basin.  We managed to cover 25 miles in 3 days—our longest trip yet.  This is what happens when you live close to tons of backpacking.  You inadvertently become a weekend warrior and never take a trip longer…

  • Video of the Whatever: Backpacking in the Uintas

    Video from the lake we camped by when we were backpacking in the Uintas over Labor Day.  

  • Camp Shower

    The following is an excerpt from our road trip to Tara’s hometown earlier this summer.  We went through Jackson WY, Yellowstone, Bighorn NF, The Black Hills, and The Badlands on our way to Yankton.  This is from our 3rd night on the road in Bighorn National Forest. *** It’s 10:30 in the evening and Tara…

  • Outdoor Post #5: I Defend Myself

    It only seems fair that I should get to give my side of the story as a follow-up to Tara’s debut post on our first backpacking trip. *** Andrew introduced me to backpacking when we had been dating for about 9 months. That’s right.  Before we had even been on a “real” car-camping trip, let…

  • Outdoor Post #4: Ozark Highland Trail

    It’s been some time since the last installment of my guest outdoor series.  This is because it took me a fair amount of coaxing to get the author to actually contribute to this blog.  This post is written by non other than my lovely wife, Tara, as she recounts our very first backpacking trip together.…

  • “Was that girl topless?”

    This past weekend, Tara and I tried out a new style of camping: Yurt camping.  A yurt is a Mongolian style dwelling.  Chances are, you’ve seen one before, you just didn’t realize that it was called a yurt.   There is a fair number of these dwellings throughout Utah backcountry.  We chose the ones at…

  • Outdoor Post #3: Mt. Newcomb

    This third post comes to us from my little brother, Garin.  This is actually a scholarship essay that he shared with me.  I was so moved by his depiction of possibly one of our biggest family traditions that I immediately asked him if I could post it.  A high school senior with hopes of attending…