2021 Outdoor Retailer

Historically, the Outdoor Retailer has been this ginormous gathering of outdoor recreationalists, store owners, marketing reps, buyers, sellers, promoters, and media folks like me who cover the “stuff” associated with getting outside. Think thousands of vendors and tens of thousands of visitors to the Colorado […]

Getting Out is Not Enough

Editor’s Note: An abridged version of this opinion piece was published in the Colorado Sun. Two dogs, now gone, showed me how to consider the outdoors. Belle appreciated the landscape as a whole. She stopped, not just at the summit, but to tend to sounds […]

Pandemic Storm

Someone sent me a playlist of dance songs this morning. By eight o’clock, with two cups of tea in me, I was dancing around the kitchen and living room, feeling relaxed and free of cares. The dogs watched. “Who is this woman?” It was different […]

Winter Is Coming Cinnamon Rolls

My cinnamon rolls probably are not very good for you. But eating well isn’t about sticks and berries at every meal. I’ll pick chef Samin Nosrat over calorie counters and vegan extremists every time. Eating and making food is about what gives you joy and […]

Months of Moments

A note from the Editor: This essay is part of the Cayuse Corona Community, a recurring feature. Here, Maddy Butcher knits ideas and events into a piece that reflects on the pandemic experience. Leave a comment and be in the running for giveaways! Pasture Moment […]

Hokas Make Me Happy

Coming back from injuries stemming from scoliosis has been a slow and humbling process. Dr. Ellen Tomsic warned me that I could not approach recovery like a typical jock, or in the manner I’d practiced for decades. Going hard and running through pain is what […]

After the Fire

The East Canyon fire was just another 3,000-acre fire of the 2020 season. No lives and nary a structure lost; just a blink in the long, smoky wince of 31,000 fires and two million acres so far this year. Read about the evacuation. But suddenly, […]

Necessary Change: Simple, Not Easy

Each year on behalf of Cayuse Communications and the Best Horse Practices Summit, I travel to Denver for the Outdoor Retailer (OR), an enormous schoomze-fest at the Colorado Convention Center. It’s run by the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA), a 4,000-member trade group for outdoor recreation, […]

After the Fire, Giving Thanks

Editor’s Note: Alan Scott was in the neighborhood evacuated for the East Canyon fire, a Type 2 fire which quickly burned 3,000 acres here in southwest Colorado. Scott watched anxiously as planes dropped fire retardant on and around his home as the fire raged all […]

Wildfire Evacuation: No Time to Think

Last Sunday was like most others. After a lazy breakfast of tea and toast, I was ticking off my property project list. In the late morning, I gathered equipment – loppers, bug dope, and two quarts of water for myself and the dogs – for […]