Resources

Few issues in the outdoor adventure culture are more contentious than the question of bikes in wilderness. Regardless of your stance, a solid education in the evolution of wilderness as concept and practicality is a right useful thing to have. Begin your journey with Rod Nash’s seminal 1967 book, Wilderness and the American Mind. That, and 1491 by Charles C. Mann, plus Rambunctious Garden by Emma Marris, may very well reframe how you look at North America, its land, and the management of it.

Author Mike Ferrentino is a writer with betamtb.com, the new mountain bike title from the folks who brought you Bike magazine (RIP), where Ferrentino for many years penned the Grimy Handshake column. @ekimonitnerref

Photos: Ken Etzel, kenetzelphoto.com, @ken_etzel. Garrett Grove, garrettgrove.com, @grove_garrett

Let us not forget that these supposed big brains of ours evolved in nature, under the sun and moon, many eons before screens were an eerily glowing presence in anyone’s life. The positive effects of being outdoors are rapidly being quantified by researchers, and they are legion, from lower blood pressure to reduced anxiety, and that’s true in kids, also: Children enrolled in forest kindergartens don’t get sick as often as those who study indoors and they have healthier gut bacteria, too.

If you think nature-based education might be an option for your groms, check out the resources at Forest School Association, forestschoolassociation.org, and Free Forest School, freeforestschool.org. But even if your children are older or you don’t have kids at all, there are plenty of nudges to be found. 1,000 Hours Outside is aiming to balance screen time with outdoor time; among other tools, it offers free printouts for tracking your hours outside (it’s okay if you print one “for a friend”). Want more? Richard Louv’s 2005 Last Child in the Woods catalyzed interest in “nature deficit disorder”; it’s a fine read, but feels a bit long in the tooth. More recent, Florence Williams’ The Nature Fix was published in 2017 and offers a deep look at the science behind the salutary effects of nature for people both young and not so young.

Durango, Colorado-based Krista Langlois is a regular contributor to Adventure Journal. kristaleelanglois.com, @cestmoilanglois

Photos: Winky Lewis, winkylewisphoto.com, @winkylewis

We’d like to formally nominate George Schaller for the Presidential Medal of Freedom. What’s that, we don’t have the power? Regardless, he deserves it. Not only has Schaller written some of the most insightful and clarifying books on biology, starting with The Mountain Gorilla in 1963, he’s won a Guggenheim Fellowship, the National Book Award in Science, and a National Geographic Lifetime Achievement Award for his efforts to better understand the wild kingdom. And—this warms our cryptozoology-loving hearts—he refuses to rule out the existence of Bigfoot.

Author Emily White writes from the Olympic Peninsula, Washington, and she is as elusive online as a snow leopard.

The longest and deepest canyon in Texas’s Big Bend National Park, Boquillas runs for about eighteen miles, with rapids up to Class 2, and can be canoed with Bobski’s Desert Sports over three or four days on trips stretching thirty-plus miles. desertsportstx.com

Chandra Brown is an affiliate faculty member at the University of Montana and the founder and director of the Freeflow Institute, which runs river-based field courses for writers, artists, and other creatives, typically led by literary or art rock stars. Example: In June 2022, David James Duncan, author of The River Why, will facilitate a six-day course held on Idaho’s Salmon River. Scholarships are available. freeflowinstitute.com, @freeflowinstitute

Photos: Elliot Ross, elliotstudio.com, @elliotstudio

Writer and photographer Peter Campbell was so moved by his experience helping save a man’s leg in Nepal that he turned his career to medicine so he could provide care in remote locations. He also works with Service to School, which assists veterans in getting higher education, where he directs the Health Professionals team to help vets pursuing medical degrees. service2school.org

Next time you’re in southern France, swing by Chauvet-Pont d’Arc. There’s a remarkable replica of the cave that you can explore, which will likely blow you away. archeologie.culture.fr

As Ancient Art Archive founder Stephen Alvarez notes, “Rock art is everywhere.” But it is extremely fragile, and people have even used masonry saws to cut it from the rock and steal it. If you find yourself in the presence of rock art, don’t touch it (oil from your fingers can damage the pigments) or try to trace it. Also, don’t geotag locations and please be conservative about what you share—vandalism is one of its greatest threats. ancientartarchive.org, @ancientartarchive, alvarezphotography.com

Leave No Trace is more than just, well, “leave no trace.” The LNT Center for Outdoor Ethics conducts research and provides materials for specific ecosystems, navigating social media postings, and more. lnt.org, @leavenotracecenter

Ryan Stuart’s most recent story for Adventure Journal was on the poetry of trail building, in AJ17. @ryanpstuart

Over the course of the last two-plus decades, Stevil Kinevil has worn many bike industry hats: factory mechanic, bike shop service manager, quasi-gonzo journalist, illustrator, wordsmith, and crash test dummy, though since 2009 he has operated the All Hail The Black Market web project. allhailtheblackmarket.com, @allhailtheblackmarket

Photos: Morgan Meredith, currently the creative director at Santa Cruz Bicycles, is the former photography editor of Bike magazine. @morga_deth

For a fantastically deep dive into George Mallory and the early British expeditions to Mount Everest (as well as a fascinating account of how WWI informed those efforts), pick up AJ contributor Wade Davis’s Into the Silence.

Photographer, writer, and filmmaker Jake Norton has been a part of eight expeditions to Mount Everest and has summited three times. He retraced Shackleton’s 1917 crossing of South Georgia Island and has served as ambassador for the United Nations Mountain Partnership. jakenorton.com, @mountainworld

After traveling full-time in their self-converted Ford Transit van, Megan McDuffie and Michael van Vliet are now set up in Bend, Oregon. freshoffthegrid.com, @freshoffthegrid

Oli Hillyer-Riley’s book, No Wahala, costs £20 and all profits go to help the people of Tarkwa Bay. You can purchase it through his website. Based in London and originally from the south coast of the U.K., the lifestyle and sports photographer grew up skating and surfing; if he’s not in the city, you’ll find him by the sea. olihillyerriley.com, @olihillyer_riley