Alpha Air works for every outing

As cold days come to Colorado and Utah, I’ve got a new Go-To jacket. It’s the Alpha Air from LL Bean. As comfortable as your favorite high school hoodie and as warm as a ski jacket, it’s better than either because it stretches and […]

Alpha Air works for every outing

We found great trail snacks

Here’s the thing with being outside and active: you get hungry. Read about getting out and cognitive decline. And the more you tune into your body, the pickier you become about what goes down the gullet. If you listen, your body will tell you what […]

Species Parade, Week One

“Wilderness. The word itself is music,” wrote Edward Abbey in Desert Solitaire. There are songs of wind and of light and shadow. There’s a fabulous rhythm to animal movement. And, of course, there are the more literal songs of birds: buzzes, chips, whistles, screeches, caws, […]

Brilliant Backyard Booze

Rain and gardening neglect have given me scads of mint, which might have been planted intentionally at some point, but now grows weed-like in our yard. With semi-arid conditions and ledge for soil, it does well where next-to-nothing else will. (I miss my Maine garden, […]

Brilliant Backyard Booze

All work and no play makes Jake a dull boy

It’s a proverb taken to heart by many in the Beehive State, especially those of us who’ve chosen Utah first for recreation and then later do we figure out ways to stay here and make a living. Skier and mountain biker Will Hamill did just […]

Finding Mob in Moab

Finally, a trip south! Sure, UtahOutsider checked out Lake Powell last year. But we’d yet to visit Moab and parts in southeastern Utah. With Edward Abbey’s Desert Solitaire tucked in the glove box, we headed to the country’s park showcase (There are a whopping five […]

The Case Against Dogs

Dogs: beloved companions on nearly all UtahOutsider hikes and rides. Because of dogs, I see more wildlife and feel more a part of the wilderness. As four-leggeds with keener senses of smell and hearing, I consider them a bridge to the wild. Often, I follow […]

For your trail or Paleo diet, we got yummy

At the Summer Outdoor Retailer, we met fine folks from The New Primal, a small South Carolina company. They make wicked good jerky. And I say that as someone who needs a strong and well-reasoned temptation to veer from my usual vegetarian ways. The New […]