Each winter I volunteer by staffing and leading camping trips for the local Sierra Club’s Wilderness Basics Course. During the 10-week course, we train upwards of 200+ students, to participate in the outdoor experience safely and with a minimal impact on the environment.

This year I had a unique student, and older women who was very tentative about any type of camping experience. As it turns out, she was not new to the outdoors, but she was convinced that hiking and camping were lost to her as she was in the middle of chemotherapy treatment for cancer. I convinced her it would be OK and that she could survive the initial car camping trip. I gave her a ride to the campsite, and carried the huge amount of gear she thought she would need to survive.

She survived the first camp-out, regained a little confidence, and was soon signed up for the first backpacking trip. To make a long story short, she went through the rest of the course, slowly gaining strength and experience, and we celebrated the end of the final trip with high-fives and hugs, an overnight snow camping trip in the Sierra in which several feet of snow fell on us and we hiked in snow shoes multiple miles. The last time I heard from this student, she was full of energy and full of life, working on gaining a little more outdoor experience so that she can begin to lead young cancer survivors into the outdoors. While I can not take responsibility for her recovery or the direction she is taking, I like to think that my service time has provided a vehicle in which this student and the 200+ others can learn and pass on environmentally responsible outdoor adventuring.

Since this time, breast cancer seems to be touching my life all the time, and I was reminded that I am certainly not alone in feeling the effect of breast cancer on friends and loved ones through a series of posts on the Verde Blog which you can read here and here.  These posts focus on one active families battle with cancer, and his call to action through his bicycling blog; Fat Cyclist . As a family my, I can empathize with him, but cannot imaging the pain that cancer has wrought on his family.  I only hope I can do a little part by spreading the word to a few people.

Fat Cyclist Causes:

Lance Armstrong Foundation

Huntsman Cancer Institute

Cactus Eaters

Dan White, the author of the fantastic book, of the same name, about his experience hiking the PCT write this entertaining if not cryptic blog.  He is on semi-hiatus because an obese cat sat on his arm causing a blog interrupting injury.

The Mountain Culture

Cloudveil’s official blog,  with loads of information on climing, backcountry skiing and other such interesting activities

The Sierra Blogging Post

Th Official blog of the Sierra Trading Post.  Loads of interesting information.  Their latest post is about funding to get kids outdoors.

The Ultralighter

A blog focusing on Ultralight Backpacking.

Packit Gourmet

A blog focusing on backcountry cooking

Have a great weekend

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REI Super Clearance! Jan 9-19

The Art of Backpacking

A nice site,  with good info.  I look forward reading the posts.

Calipidder

A great blog form the Bay Area I have enjoyed a long while.  I am remiss for not adding it my blogroll long ago.  Well written trip reports, and great photography.

Hiker Hell

A fantastic site for the our morbid side.

Colorado Outsider

A good new blog with all things Colorado.  I really enjoy reading blogs dedicated to a specific region, and Colorado is one of those places I love and have spent significant time exploring. 

Here is a good place to start

the percentage of boys who spend time outdoors walking, camping and gardening is down to just 8%, from 16% in the late ‘90s.  That’s an eye-opening drop in just a 10-year time span and I believe that it could have larger ramifications than just an increased occurrence of childhood obesity.

He goes on to talk about the connection between outdoor people,  and their work in preserving our wilderness areas. If you have a kid,  or know a kid,  make it a point to show them the wonders of the outdoor world,  and lets reverse that disturbing trend.

The San Diego Union Tribune featured a story about a free clinic each Sunday, sponsored and taught by the members of the San Diego Fly Fishers.   This free class for beginners looks as like the perfect opportunity to get a taste,  and a head start on the skills needed before dropping a bunch of cash on gear.  They provide loaner rigs and instruction.  Look for me soon on the shores of Lake Murray.

On a related note,  check out Tom Chandler’s  great blog on flyfishing called The Trout Underground.

The responsibility for ones safety in the backcountry has been on my mind as I have just recently read Bill Bryson’s book A Walk In The Woods and am in the middle of Dan White’s book Cactus Eaters. Both of these books feature woefully ill prepared hikers departing on epic journeys on the AT Trail and the PCT trail respectively. Both books are great reads with lots of humor and insight on the human condition as one challenges oneself to a life changing journeys. Neither book would be as entertaining if something truly tragic would have resulted from the lack of preparation. While I suspect some of the drama unfolding in these books are a result of creative license, the unnecessary peril portrayed should give pause to the readers. I guess my convoluted point is; would a device like the SPOT provide these guys with a false sense of security, pushing them father, or is it a safety net that will save many lives? …You decide.