Hiking with Camera

When I taught backpacking to University students, the majority of the content came down to decision-making. How we go about making decisions in the backcountry can be the difference between a safe experience and a harrowing one. Values Decisions in the backcountry balance risk and reward. Underlying that balance are the values we hold. So […]

I made my first attempt to summit Rainier in 2006 and made it to our 11,000-foot base camp. However, my conditioning was lacking, and hearing stories of groups coming back down after 15-hour summit attempts, I realized I could not continue with my team. Since then, Rainier has always been in the back of my mind, […]

In the past few months, I’ve shared what I carry on my overnight trips, however, I have a finely tuned system that works for me. Not everyone can get away with what I bring and leave behind. I highly recommend that every backpacker have their own checklist for what to bring. I can’t tell you […]

On this hot summer weekend, we decided to head out for a relaxing trip in the Chinook Pass / Bumping Lake area. Leaving late on a Friday, we decided to take it easy, camping at Dewey Lake on Friday night, American Lake on Saturday, and taking a short day hike out to Cougar Lakes, being sure […]

It’s been a few weeks now since we installed solar on our Mantis, and so far we are loving it. Instead of plugging our Mantis in when we get home, we just turn off all the power draws (including the fridge), and let the solar panels bring the power back up and keep the batteries […]

Now that we’ve had a few weekends to take out our Mantis camper from TAXA Outdoors, we’re finally ready for the grand tour of our new home away from home. We love how open it is. There are so many windows already. Add to that the pop top with over 90% covered in mesh windows […]

If you’ve followed our journey on the TAXA Trailer Owner’s Facebook group, you’ll probably know we’ve struggled a bit with our tow vehicle. What you probably don’t know is how painful this decision process has been. We started the search in February, well before our Mantis was delivered, so we had plenty of time. We […]

We just got back from our first trip with our new Mantis, and we have learned quite a few lessons already. There were some warranty issues that we discovered, and TAXA has already jumped on acknowledging those and let us and our dealer know what the planned fixes are (some were able to be fixed […]

Over the years, I’ve carried my fair share of heavy gear. On backpacking trips, my record is in around 14 pounds of camera gear alone. Though I know folks who’ve carried more than that. Still, my goal is not to have the heaviest load. Especially as I left my 20s, carrying a lot of stuff […]

One of the most common questions I’m asked is about hiking with a camera. What do I bring? How much does it weigh? And how do I carry it? The short answer is, it depends, but let me take a bit to explain how I carry my camera in different situations. General Philosophy I know […]

Adobe recently released a new version of Lightroom that included two new hallmark features: HDR and Panorama. I’m still experimenting with the HDR tool and have yet to get any really good results, but the Lightroom 6 Panorama merge tool has quickly blown my mind away. Series of photos that would have taken hours to […]