Thumbs Up

Another great find from the Netflix instant view department, Thumbs Up is a web series that follows graffiti artist David Choe as he hitchhikes and rail hops his way from L.A. to New York. Along the way you get to see what kinda of person it takes to become a hitchhiker, and also what kind of person is still willing to pick one up.

You can find parts of seasons 1 and 2 on Netflix, or watch the entire series here. Either way its gonna get you inspired to see the rest of the country, especially when you know it can be done for free.

Hartshorne Park

It's been a few weeks since I've had a good hike so today's trip to Hartshorne Park was well overdue. I've been pretty opinionated lately, I'll try to keep it short.

The trail itself was pretty flat and simple, but that's a good thing. The entire park was very well maintained and clean, and would be great for anyone looking for an easy hike or even a decent bike ride.  My only complaint would be the lack of a big payoff. I don't really need a destination on every hike, but it's always nice when there's something to look forward to on the trail. Unfortunately the only landmark was this scenic overlook.

Somewhere behind these trees is an excellent view of Sandy Hook. Pretty disappointing. So much so that we actually had to check a map to make sure we weren't fooling ourselves.

Nope. Scenic Overlook Fail.

Alright, well atleast we had the beach ahead of us. I mean, Sandy Hook was only across the street.

The walk to the ocean was hot and long. Evan and I took the first chance we could to get out of the sand and into water. I know this isn't glamorous but the ocean wasn't looking too good today. They clearly hadn't cleaned up the coastline for beach season yet so there won't be any photos. I don't wanna do any more damage to the Jersey Shore's already glowing reputation.

An end to An Outdoor Life

When I came up with the title to this blog I was looking for something simple and effective. A title that would suggest that I was going to be sharing my opinions on various outdoor activities, and also using the site as a personal journal of my activities. I may yet keep An Outdoor Life as the title of the blog, but I wanted to post my ideas for what the title may become.

the outsiders' life
the outsider's life
the outsider
the outsideateer
the anteater
the outdoor-er
the rocketeer
james caan in the rocketeer
sleepless in the great outdoors
the greatest outdoorblog ever
hobocamp
the hobos livingroom
basecamp
an outdoor activities blog
summercamp
the backpackers guide to the galaxy
the backpackers guide to mostly north jersey
the backslacker

If I do change the title be assured that I'll get the new title to you as quick as possible.

Bouldering

It was around September of last year that I became interested in the subculture of rock climbing known as bouldering. For those that don't know, bouldering is a version of climbing that requires no rope, since your destination point is never really over twelve feet (anything above this height is referred to as "soloing," and honestly pretty fucking stupid to do).

My interest in bouldering came after a trip to the Stairway to Heaven overlook, a mountain trail near Vernon, New Jersey. At the base of the mountain is a series of boulders from six to ten feet tall placed relatively close to one and other. On the way up my travel companions and I decided to fool around for a while, climbing up these small obstacles that were just hard enough to make it slightly dangerous but tons of fun. I was informed shortly after that what we were doing had a name, and could be done in the comfort of air conditioned gyms, with gymnast mats to fall onto instead of slightly smaller rocks.

Now as much as I love bouldering I have to admit it is a pretty embarrassing hobby to undertake. I relate it to parkour or aggressive inline skating; its a version of an awesome sport but for slackers. Ultimately I know what I'm doing is a half assed version of rock climbing. I don't really like heights, I don't wanna buy equipment and I don't wanna work hard when I could just be having short blasts of fun instead. This is the same I when I started "blading" in middle school. Couldn't afford a skateboard, couldn't figure out how to ollie and already owned roller blades. PERFECT! It was fun learning almost every trick in one weekend at Rutgers campus.

Alright I'm lying, I couldn't do that super badass trick where you roll backward down a flight of stairs. Which by the way is almost never useful. At no point when skating away from the cops for trespassing did I head anywhere with a staircase, and if I did my first reaction would not have been to turn backward at full speed.

The point is that some sports are tailor made for half assed people. Parkour, or freerunning, is pretty much just running for people that wish they were gymnasts or ninjas. Its not even as noble as actually running, your only really going for twenty feet at a time and it's barely at the pace of a jog. I do find it ironic that parkour and bouldering were both invented by europeon gymnasts. These people were minimalists were trying to create a beautiful and fluid sport, but just like in the art world minimalism can be mistaken for laziness.

My real beef with bouldering are the enthusiasts that keep popping up in Youtube videos and at my local rock gym. They're Linkin Park fans that still wear black Jncos and have flame tattoos on their forearms. They're the kind of people that listen to the Final Fantasy soundtracks and are honestly considering buying a Fushigi ball. Its a contingent of half assed people that can't, won't or don't wanna take the time to actually learn to rock climb and I kinda don't wanna be lumped in with them (I have some bad tattoos and Jncos in my past).

With all of this spouting off I have to admit that I can't wait to get my ass back to the Rock Gym in Fairfield though. I even think its time to bite the bullet and actually buy a fucking harness for rope climbing. Maybe this way I can go back to bouldering with the idea that I can enjoy climbing anything; not just staying under ten feet because I'm too lazy to learn how to belay. Plus, I don't even know where to buy Jncos these days.

Sasquatch

After my last post I started to worry that I was jumping the gun a bit. After all, what hipster is going to leave the comfort of Starbucks to risk a possible squirrel attack... or even worse, a tan? Than a miracle happened. All of my Joe Rogan-esque paranoid delusions were completely justified with one simple walk on the D&R Canal. Coming from the direction of Princeton on a fixed geared bike was an honest to god hipster.

I could tell It was a hipster from its cutoff shorts and baggy tank top, but the fact that this lost soul was riding a fixed gear road bike on a dirt path was perhaps the greatest gift of all. Not only is it completely impractical, its down-right unnecessary. There is no reason on earth to ride a bike down that path except for leisure. It's not like there is anything in Griggstown New Jersey that a hipster would need. I do realize that without proof I'm just a rambling wreck, like a UFO abduct-ie or a vegan, so I did my best to grab a quick snapshot of this crazy diamond but I was too late.

Terrible photograph I know. But does it really matter? Maybe wonders of nature don't need to be photographed. Maybe just the idea that what your looking at is real can be enough.

Hipster Hikers?

For some odd reason, yesterday my lady friend received an Urban Outfitters' catalog in the mail. This was pretty confusing considering the only thing we've ever bought from this hipster mecca are a few books I've given away as ironic gifts and a necklace with an owl on it. I'd love to pretend that I didn't look at it and threw it away in disgust, but instead I gave it a once over. I'm honestly glad I did or I wouldn't have found this gem.

I gotta say I'm intrigued. I've never seen hipsters in the wild like this before. As someone who rocks J.Crew it's not like I haven't seen this style before, but I've never seen it promoted on a hipster level. I figure they're too busy designing terrible forearm tattoos and making shell art for their girlfriend's loft to be outdoors, and near water no less.

This leads to a few interesting points: What if outdoor activity is the new basement show? What if these self imposed outcasts actually start sporting bandannas for a purpose? Is the fixed-gear mountain bike the new tall bike? Can you really swim in cutoff jeans?

As a fan of  Terry Richardson I also gotta wonder, is the shitty hand held snapshot going to become the new way companies advertise? I can only imagine Merrill ads featuring some grainy shot of a lanky tattooed man-child and his girl wearing a tank top without a bra skipping across a creek together, both looking slightly drunk from the night before. I actually considered becoming the first outdoor sports photographer to go this route, but thinking about having to spend a day in the woods babysitting a bunch of grown men brushing their bangs out of their face would lead to manslaughter charges (they'd be left behind after the first water break).

Still, if this is the future I guess I'm gonna have to accept it. I guess it's time to run over to the mall and pick up a shiny day-glow raincoat for myself, maybe some orange shorts or fake wayfarer reading glasses. After all, nothing says outdoors-man like slip-on Keds with no socks.

(A little trivia for you: A true fixed gear bike can really only brake by lifting the back tire slightly off the ground and pedaling backward. This is accomplished with a strap on the pedal. Both of these bikes have been equipped with hand brakes and the foot straps are unused on the underside of the pedal. These people aren't even real hipsters. For-shame Urban Outfitters!)

Bike Snob NYC

I haven't been following the Bike Snob's blog that long, but I've read his book a few times through and laughed my ass off. As someone that has biked through New York I can tell you it's an experience like no other.

In case your wondering, the huge chain has since been retired due to complete uselessness. I figured I'd give it a shot once, but it's really just uncomfortable (and looking back, fucking lame).

The Bike Snob really hits the nail on the head when it comes to city biking. From all the recent rule changes, to the heavy ticketing, to bike lanes that are more of a burden than anything else lately, the Bike Snob breaks it down with a level of sarcasm that would give Norm MacDonald nightmares.

BikeSnobNYC

Yankee Stadium

This past Saturday I happened upon some free Yankees' tickets and couldn't pass up an opportunity to visit the new stadium again.

At some point in my mid-twenties I came to the terrible realization that I had been following baseball for about a decade and was, in-fact, a Yankee fan. This is after years of being a hipster/punk that was too cool for anything so stereotypically American (and about a year of following the Padres out of a half-assed attempt to support what I consider to be the greatest city in the country). Fuck it tho, I'm a proud Yankee fan and honestly too old to give a fuck about what the generation under me thinks.

(click for full view)

Getting back to a more positive note; I shot this with the panorama function on my girlfriend's Olympus Stylus Tough-6020. Its odd how well it lines up toward the top of the picture, but so poorly toward the bottom. I gotta give it a good review though. Knowing that if I drop it in a river, or fall on it off a boulder, it'll still probably work is pretty reassuring. Especially since technically, it's not really mine.

...because he's Derek fucking Jeter. (it's an Onion reference)

And don't think because this post is pretty Yankee heavy that there's gonna be long, one sided discussions on Robinson Cano's OBP or Rivera's stats vs left handed batters in July on Thursdays since 2004. This is an outdoor blog, but told from my perspective. Its gonna get a little personal now and than, but I'll try to stay on track the best I can. Just be happy there aren't any pictures of waterfalls for once.