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 […]

One of the early enhancements we made to our Cricket was a cell signal booster. We went on 26 trips in the first year of our Cricket. That’s every other weekend plus a few longer trips (4–16 days), and we continued going out throughout the cold winter months, so having a good cell signal allowed […]

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 […]

I tend more towards backpacking than car camping, yet the ability to bring a basecamp—a home—with me on trips has always been appealing to me. I am lucky enough to be married to a wife who has shared that appeal, and so a little over a year ago, after watching the progression of small camping […]

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 […]

Photo credit: Lou Toni for the feature image above I’ve been using Fujifilm for just over a year now. About three months ago, after gathering dust, I finally sold my beloved Canon 6D an lenses. (I did keep my nifty fifty and Canon Elan 7NE. I couldn’t entirely give up Canon, and that is my […]

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 […]

Having worked with the Lightroom Panorama Feature for a few weeks, I’ve walked away with a few valuable tips on how to make use of this new feature and on making the eventual merge easier while you are on the shoot. 1. Orient Perpendicular to your Panorama As you shoot for a post-processing panorama merge, you will quickly discover […]

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 […]