During my years working with Patagonia in Ventura, CA, I had the opportunity to serve two terms on Surfrider Foundation's national board of directors. Through that org I collab'ed with a salty crew of coastal stewards and surf-centric activists. Here - under the guise of SF-related "research" - we're granted secret-handshake access to the fabled Bixby Ranch and all its mysto surf spots. My trusty '66 microbus got us there (and back) in timeless style.
Photo: Reeve Woolpert
I live to travel, particularly when waves are part of the equation. A few Octobers ago, my friend and I headed to Nicaragua in search of hollow surf paired with cultural grit. Our plan was to stay away from all the gentrified surf camps and "destination" surf spots we'd heard so much (too much) about. Instead, we took an antithetical approach to finding our waves, towns, experiences and came away with a few beauties like this one. Photo: Bruno Venturini
This was a good day at work. In my role as PR wrangler/media concierge for Montana, I hosted journalists in the field. This was for an editorial trip into the Tobacco Root Mountains where we stayed at a backcountry yurt for most of a week. I put the trip together and got to hang with the editor, photo editor and guide/host, exploring, shredding pow and feasting like kings back at our Mongolian-style clubhouse. Photo: Simon Peterson
Another work trip, this one a multi-day, stand-up paddle board expedition on the Yellowstone River. I pitched this idea to a respected (prolific) watersports journalist right when the inland use of SUP's was starting to go off. Five days on the longest, undammed river in the lower-48 -- from where it exits the nation's first National Park - down Paradise Valley past Livingston and on towards Big Timber - we camped on small islands and cobble beaches along the way. Nice content gathering mission that produced a feature-length article for my client + copious residuals. Photo: Mark Anders
I've been fortunate to work with a lot of rockstar photographers in my outdoor/travel/marketing career. While happy to namedrop (if you're curious), I'll stick to Bob Allen for this ramble. Bob and I have done editorial trips to the Selkirks in BC, the Chugach Range in Alaska and the Centennials in Montana. Perhaps more importantly, I get to hang with and learn from Bob on random weekend rides like this one in the Northern Bridgers. Bob was teaching me the finer points of pan/blur exposures on this Shafthouse mission. Photo: Bob Allen
I have a history of making goofy faces when cameras come out. Here "hamming it up" on my local river - the mighty Gallatin. We've purposefully chosen to live in places where each day provides "vacation" moments: the Outer Banks of NC, the Tetons, Ventura/Oxnard, Puako, Hawaii and southwest Montana.
I've been traveling to Mexico for 30+ years and always come away with fresh insight into life & possibilities. Here's a story I wrote that weighs some of the harsher realities of 3rd world travel with the raw rewards of unsanitized experience, VAMOS AHORITA!