Joe’s Valley

Joe’s Valley

Orangeville, UT—We left Bishop, CA at the start of April and slowly made our way to Utah after a productive and adventurous time in the Eastern Sierras.

Utah’s weather has been a little unpredictable, so we’ve tried to work around it as much as possible. For the last week or so, the storm clouds form over the mountains surrounding our camp and bring wind gusts, lower temps, and spitting rain during the afternoons. The amount of rain is pretty small, but it soaks everything enough to spoil climbing for several hours. A few times we’ve left camp with weather conditions that promised to make for fun climbing into the evening. We pack our things and prepare ourselves to be out into the night. We bring headlamps, LED panels and snacks to sustain us for night sessions on the boulders nearby. Then the storms rear their ugly heads just when we are finishing our warmups and are ready to try harder problems. We huddle under the rocks expecting it to pass, but it’s not happening. The rock is soaked and our packs are too. All you can do is laugh it off, go home, make dinner, and try again the next day.

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Fall in the Red

Fall in the Red

BEATTYVILLE, KY—Once again, Jess and I find ourselves at the Red River Gorge. We are happy to consider this place one of our homes away from home. It’s one of the areas in the US where we’re most happy and in balance with work and play. Aside from natural beauty, it has most of the amenities that make living and recreating here a joy.

For us, staying in the southern gorge at Lago Linda Hideaway is the best. Linda’s is a quiet campground known for chill campers, hot showers, wifi, and plenty of space to run the dog or go on walks around the lake.

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FStoppers Interview

FStoppers Interview

Rifle, CO—I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by Mike Wilkinson, staff writer for Fstoppers, about how Jess and I live and work on the road. It was a lot of fun thinking through Mike’s questions and he did a great job weaving all my ramblings together.

Read out the interview HERE.

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Squamish, BC

Squamish, BC

Squamish, British Columbia—The Egg left Montana shortly after our last official project for Year 1, the photoshoot with nature-inspired metalsmith April Hale. After saying goodbye to our hosts in Missoula, we made our way further west towards Spokane by way of Coeur D’Alene where we stopped for a brief, but needed dip in Lake Coeur D’Alene. I think the temps were in the upper 90’s that day and the beautiful lake was filled with folks stand-up paddling, boating, swimming, and kayaking. It was amazing!

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Montana Wilderness School

Montana Wilderness School

Bozeman, MT—Last week I had the opportunity to capture a glimpse of life in the backcountry with students participating in a Montana Wilderness School (MWS) expedition.  Four teens and two instructors were on days 14 and 15 of what would be a 20 day trip in the field—hiking for over 100 miles, summiting several iconic peaks, and camping each night with bear spray close at hand (this area has one of the highest concentrations of grizzlies in the nation).  Students were cooking their own meals, taking turns in leadership roles, and planning their route each day without the use of any electronic devices or cell phones. The also followed strict “Leave No Trace” principles to reduce their impact on the sensitive wilderness ecosystems.

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