MOUNTAIN KHAKIS - Built For The Mountain Life Blog

MK Ambassador, Steve Stracqualursi, Fishes with Runar Kabbe

 
MK ambassador and striped bass aficionada Steve Stracqualursi had the pleasure of showing Runar Kabbe (widely experienced fly angler and sea bass expert in Norway) his preferred local striper haunts recently.  Runar made the trip from Oslo, Norway to Portland, Maine earlier this month, arriving on the heels of Hurricane Carl.  Fortunately for them, the weather and massive new moon tides proved to be ideal for fly fishing and a good measure of fish cooperation can be seen in their trip images.  Steve focused their angling efforts on a band of Southern Maine coast consisting of rock, river, marsh and sand.  They never had to venture farther than five or six miles from their Scarborough base for a world class experience.  They were even able to use mountain bikes as a mode of travel to various coastal “put ins”. You can see photos from their sessions on Steve's Flickr Photostream.  You can also read Runar's trip report (if you know Norwegian) on the Nordisk Fiskeutstyr blog and see some excellent images too. 

Note that Steve did comment that he was still using the MK Granite Creek Convertible Pants under his waders but that the cooler September conditions were starting to demand something a bit heavier.  You can see a Steve's review of the Granite Creek Convertible Pants on his fly fishing themed blog called Way Upstream.

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RECAP: Jackson Hole Therapuetic Riding Association

Jackson Hole Therapeutic Riding Association gratefully acknowledges polo guests and polo players, sponsors and auction donors, supporters and all of the wonderful volunteers that participated in our 8th Annual Stomping the Divots on Saturday, August 7, 2010 at the Melody Ranch Polo Fields. Thank you for such a fabulous evening. Healing with horses continues to make a difference in so many lives. We appreciate this opportunity.

MK Ambassador, Rodney Eason, Recaps Livestrong Philly!

Over 3,000 people rode last Sunday in pouring rain north of Philadelphia. Our team tried our best to chase down Lance Armstrong (0204). Because of the weather, most of the 100 mile riders had their ride shortened to 70 miles. I was able to finish 70 miles in about 4.5 hours (excuse the helmet head in the picture). There were times that it was raining so hard, that it stung every part of the body.

At the beginning of the race, Lance Armstrong gave us send-off speech (lance 3). He ended by saying, I have ridden in Philadelphia before and well, this is a hard course! It was a kick-butt course. But every tough hill reminded me of all of the loved ones that I have lost to cancer, including my father. Hills and rain were nothing compared to what he went through so it made me ride faster.

I have had melanoma twice so riding in Livestrong had a personal connection as well.

I had the only Mountain Khakis jersey in the ride and it was by far the coolest one!

Summit Up - Post 48 "Finding Maryland's Real Highest Point"

When climbing the highest point in Maryland, I would recommend that you follow one valuable bit of advice: do not be fooled by false summits. I came close to being fooled myself; really close, scary close actually. When I say scary close, I mean that I had taken all of my pictures, filmed my video, packed my gear, and starting to walk down when my co-climber suggested that we check out where a side trail went. It turned out that it went to the summit I was supposed to have been standing on in the first place.

Like many of the other highpoints that I have climbed in the past, Backbone Mountain, sits right on the border of the state. In this situation, it sits on the Maryland/West Virginia border. Part of the hike actually is in West Virginia. It is because of this that there are a few extra markers indicating the state line that look an awful lot like the markers that are used to indicate a highpoint. Add some age and moss to the markers, and you have a recipe for confused highpointers.

The best way to avoid this problem is to use GPS coordinates while hiking. These are available on a number of different highpointing sites. I should have known better on this one, and I won’t be making this same mistake any time soon. A false summit, and finding the correct summit, is a challenge that most don’t think about until they start reaching some of the easier highpoints. When climbing a 14er, there is little doubt on where the top is. Put yourself in the middle of the woods, when the trail goes up and down all the way to the peak, and it gets a little more complicated.