Cooped Up? Get Uncooped.

Get some P & Q in the backcountry with your friends and fellow recreationists on a hut-to-hut trip this winter. With the European concept catching on here in the States, there are more and more opportunities to either plan your own trip or book with a guide. The famous Tenth Mountain Division Hut System based out of Aspen provides "how-to" advice for those interested in experiencing the serenity, challenge, and beauty of the backcountry in...

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I'm experiencing photo-induced nostalgia for nothern Minnesota. I snapped this shot during a winter-camping trip at Rainbow Lake. The nostalgia is somewhat tempered when I check the weather and find out that it's frigid and snowing in Duluth right now, with 35 degrees as a daytime high. Here, on the other hand, it was upper sixties and sunny. My boyfriend and I drove up the Sonoma Coast on Route 1. We picked up fish tacos...

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It's often said that 'if you know how to walk, you know how to snowshoe.' Well, almost. There are techniques to keep in mind that may forestall a header into the frozen froth. The pros at Afterglow Lake Resort in Phelps, Wisconsin suggest the following when traversing the outdoors in snowshoes.When ascending a slope:'kick the front of your snowshoe into the snow and press down to compact [the snow] into a step. Make sure that each...

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 An informational tale...“I’m going to dig my own grave,” I announced. None of the other people clustered around the fire looked alarmed. In fact, a few of them smiled.It was late afternoon on Saturday, February 11th, at a campsite on Boulder Lake in northern Minnesota. The others were fellow college students. We were out here for a night of winter camping. Snow trenches, or, more evocatively, “snow coffins,” are body-sized holes you dig out of the...

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