Free Outside Adventure

Hiking Climbing Backpacking and Exploring the Outdoors

[itsthefreeoutside]

southern sayings

View On WordPress

[itsthefreeoutside]

The Beauty of Community - Scummy Summer Slammer 

Adventure Recap! The Scummy Summer Slammer is a 3 day group run on a route from Bozeman to Yellowstone nearly entirely on trails for 80 miles

The Beauty of Community – Scummy Summer Slammer  Beyond the training, goals, and learning how to race, running is a personal activity that helps so many other aspects of my life. That is a large reason why I often run alone or occasionally with a small group. I don’t enjoy the spontaneously competitive group run, so I shy away from them. But, after being out of town for the last two years, I was…

View On WordPress

[itsthefreeoutside]

Race in Circles for 12 hours at night? SIGN ME UP! (Race Recap)

I enter every race with some sort of goal. I am competitive, but a goal has to extend beyond depending on the performance of others, so I aim to find something that will push me and ignore placing when determining if a race was a success. Sometimes the goal is survival. One of my proudest races was a 100-miler that went very poorly. BUT, I got myself to the finish and persevered through a number…

View On WordPress

[itsthefreeoutside]

Cocodona 250 Race Recap

Cocodona 250 race recap

The race started off with a bang. Actually, I cannot remember if they actually just yelled, “Go.” 5:00 am in Black Canyon City, and the sun was threatening to rise, but I still opted to use a headlamp. I have learned to be a cautious starter in these long endeavors. So, I played it safe and slowly jogged along a couple of groups back from the leaders. My headlamp lit the way, and I focused on…

View On WordPress

[itsthefreeoutside]

Cocodona 250 PreCap and Gear List

Cocodona 250 is back and here is my race precap and gear list for the big adventure beginning on monday.

It is 2023, and I am a couple of days away from lining up for my third Cocodona 250. What keeps me coming back? I am not totally sure what makes this event so fun, but it really is. The atmosphere, volunteers, and the other runners make it a fully immersive multi-day experience. It is different from FKTs, just as fun but totally different. It is like socializing while doing an FKT. With two…

View On WordPress

[itsthefreeoutside]

Daylight Saving Time is Dumb and here is why

As the clock springs forward, we again find ourselves thrust into the annual daylight-saving time ritual. For those living under a rock, or maybe in a rock, or on a Mars-bound spaceship built by Elon Musk, this is the time of year when we pretend that we can manipulate time by moving our clocks forward. Time doesn’t move forward, but our clocks do. Not our biological clocks, but the myriad of…

View On WordPress

[itsthefreeoutside]

Jackpot 48 - The least introspective 87 loops

The stupendously entertaining recap of Jackpot 48

So, what would possess someone to enter a race of endless loops for 48 hours? Well, since I am no Nascar fan, I do not know what has possessed me to enter these loop races, but hopefully, describing what happens within 87 loops around a 2.3-mile route will justify my decisions… or not… who cares. I decided to do a 48-hour race sometime last year. I had no plans for when I would enter such a…

View On WordPress

[itsthefreeoutside]

Last Person Standing Race Report

Last Person Standing-The best race report you will ever read about running the same circle 133 times

What the heck is a Last Person Standing event and what is the point of running one? Well, this and a few other questions I hope to answer in this frenetic, chaotic, and intriguing race report encapsulating running 133 one-mile loops on the exact same course starting every quarter hour.  Did I have fun? I think so. Was I bored? I don’t think so. Can I make a race report about endless circles…

View On WordPress

[itsthefreeoutside]

Teton Crest Trail

The Teton Crest Trail is about 40 miles (64 km) trail running and backpacking route in Grand Teton National Park. The Wyoming trail runs along the crest of the Teton Range, a mountain range in the Rocky Mountains, and passes through some of the most stunning and rugged terrain in the park, including alpine meadows, high mountain passes, and forests. It offers breathtaking views of the Tetons and…

View On WordPress

[itsthefreeoutside]

Thru-hiking: Physical vs. Mental Challenges

The Mental Vs. Physical Side of Big and Long Adventures

Running, hiking, and backpacking are all a combination of physical and mental challenges. It is using strength and an accompanying mindset to accomplish a goal. The goal is simple yet complex, taxing yet basic. The merging and alternating adversity of a thru-hike make the journey the true reward. More than completing an adventure, it is about continually proving that mentally and physically, so…

View On WordPress

[itsthefreeoutside]

John Muir Trail FKT Gear List

John Muir Trail FKT Gear List

I did not take a lot on the John Muir Trail. In fact I neglected most of the ten essentials. But, I knew that this would be the bare minimum to get me from Yosemite Valley to Whitney Portal. Overall, I did not take a tent, sleeping bag, or many of the traditional items that thru-hikers and backpackers will take on the JMT. My style was all functionality, efficiency, and the gear that would be…

View On WordPress

[itsthefreeoutside]

Cocodona 250 Race Recap 2022

Cocodona 250 Race Recap 2022

My knee was covered in KT Tape, but I let go of all the anxiety and stress of a potential DNF (Did Not Finish). It was the start line of the Cocodona 250, and I had never been calmer. The race would simply unfold before me, and I would do the best I could. Two hundred fifty miles is too far to conceptualize, and moving forward for three days is too difficult to imagine, so I simply planted myself…

View On WordPress

[itsthefreeoutside]

How to plan a backpacking trip

Planning a backpacking trip can feel overwhelming, but I have broken it down into a few simple steps.

I went on my first backpacking trip before I could walk. I don’t even remember it, but my parents were passionate about getting outside. It seems after 30k miles of backpacking that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. My first true experience with an extended backpacking trip came on a thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail in 2011. I was scared my first night out there alone and had to…

View On WordPress

[itsthefreeoutside]

What do you actually need to do before a thru-hike?

What do you actually need to do before a thru-hike?

There are so many checklists out there and books wholly dedicated to preparing for a thru-hike. But, I have never read any of them, I never used a checklist, and I never even opened up the websites that claim to be the one-stop-shop for all your thru-hiking needs. In fact, I think these sites overcomplicate preparing for a thru-hike and make it seem unattainable or scary to too many people. I was…

View On WordPress

[itsthefreeoutside]

Five gift ideas for outdoor lovers and bonus ideas

Five ideas for outdoor lovers-Instead of the traditional "10 products to give this year," which are often written by writers who have never used the products and are simply handed a list by the publication, I wanted to provide real gift ideas. #holidays

As we enter the holiday season, everyone is continually asking each other what to give as gifts. While I think we may take gift-giving a bit far seasonally—I decided to compile a shortlist of items I have used, approve, and would be great ideas. Instead of the traditional “10 products to give this year,” which are often written by writers who have never used the products and are simply handed a…

View On WordPress

[itsthefreeoutside]

Clamming on the Oregon Coast. Within 5 minutes the torrential rain started and it only got more fun. Is it alarming that my feet no longer get cold? *Did you know the entire Oregon Coast is public land? (at Seaside, Oregon) https://www.instagram.com/p/CWQuA7kpeIm/?utm_medium=tumblr

[itsthefreeoutside]

Five Things I add for casual backpacking trips

Five Things I add for casual backpacking trips

Not everything I do is at breakneck speed. In fact, most of my adventures, backpacking trips, and thru-hikes have been things other than FKTs and record attempts. When the pace is a little more casual and less stressful, there are a number of things that I end up adding to my pack. Here are a few of them. Email Address: Subscribe Sweatpants In the shoulder seasons especially, and even at…

View On WordPress