I know, that's normal. 

But this isn't our podcast - it's our friends' at The Forgotten Art Project! 

Their oeuvre is interviews with creators who are figuring out how to follow their passion projects, and they were kind enough to invite us to sit down with them a few weeks ago. For us it was a really great opportunity, and while no matter how much you do it, it's always weird to hear yourself talk, for you all we hope it will be interesting. 

The interview is about an hour, and it's the most comprehensive description you'll find about what we do, and the personal reasons behind why we do it - from the impact of thru-hiking and trail running to my dad's sudden illness and death. I think, as well as anything we've put out, it gave us a chance to get to the heart of what we're about, so we hope you'll check it out, and keep The Forgotten Art Project on your radar!

Listen or download from their site here, or from your favorite podcasting app.

Life's crazy! In May we decided to sell our home of 13 years in Seattle and start looking around at other options. As of last Friday, we are home owners in Tacoma. As of today, we're rootless landlords.

Stuff moves fast in the Puget Sound real estate market, and we managed to thread the needle between selling our place and closing on another within a whirlwind week long period, and before we'd even closed Angel had lined up people to look at the new place to start renting. 

I don't know where to even start with all of that - we're excited to be setting up shop in Tacoma. We love our new little place. Our renters are awesome and we think they'll take care of it.

The context makes more sense if you're up to speed on the next point.

Ah! It's adventure time again!

The reason we scrambled to get set up, and to get our place rented out so quickly, is that as of today we're going to be peripatetic until roundabouts December! Our Element is tuned up and loaded with all of the things we need to survive, and we're going to be on the road for the next few months. We'll be in and out of WA.

The short explanation is that Angel took a job as the medical director for the Destination Trails 200 Mile Trail Race series, so tomorrow we're headed to Southern WA for the Bigfoot 200, followed by the Tahoe 200 in September, and the Moab 200 in October. In between, we'll have a series of events (Truckee, Seattle, Bremerton, Bend, and Moab are on the schedule), and we're hoping to finally get out to the trails for a good chunk of time after a Summer of deferred fun in service of the house hunting and moving processes. The loose plan is to knock out the chunk of the Tahoe Rim Trail that we didn't finish on the PCT in late August. Gnar! We'll be in and out of WA for work and weddings and so forth, but for the next few months, our home is a Honda Element.

We'll be full on with work at the 200s, but no doubt we'll share some stories from the road along the way!

And, ah! Back to visit our spirit animals, the Kiwis! 

One of our best friends is getting married in New Zealand, so immediately after the Moab event, we'll be hopping a plane to get to the ceremony! It's a long flight, and you can't just make it a quick trip, so after the wedding we'll be drifting around, and you can expect dispatches from the road while we're there in November! 

NZ can be pricy, so we're going to be dirtbagging it to keep the trip as cheap as possible, and that will probably mean a ton of time on the trails, some hitching around, and some crashing on couches.

We're currently putting together thoughts on how we can incorporate collecting stories to share with the world into that process. Any creative suggestions?  

In addition to sharing inspiring stories with you from our live events through our podcast, we have a bigger vision: 

​Explore Costa Rica with Marcel.  Marcel is an expert in surfing, SUP, free diving, and mountain biking.  Marcel can be hired for instruction, single-day adventures, multi-day adventures, and location finding services.

Language: Marcel is fluent in English and Spanish.  Also, he is also very happy to communicate in Spanish for people learning Spanish.

( Lee en español abajo)
​
Surfing:  

• 28 years surfing experience
  • 11 years in Venezuela
  • 17 years on Costa Rica
• 10 years surfing instructor experience
• Certified with the International Surfing Association (ISA) 2017
• Competitor in the Longboard Division: Second place, 2017
• Leader of the National Circuit 2017

SUP:  

• 5 years SUP experience
• National SUP Surf 2016 2nd Place Finisher
• National Champion SUP Surf 2017
• National Sup Race 2017 - 3rd Place

Free Diving and Spear Fishing:  
I started snorkeling in Venezuela (Caribbean) with my dad and I had a boat and we would go snorkeling with a small harpoon on board...Later I started to fish lobster and octupus with my friends in the archipelago called Los Roques, but I stopped doing it when I arrived in Costa Rica. 

5 years ago I started again with a friend that was a solo fisher and after I got certified en Level 1 with FII (Freediving Instructors International). Actually, I work as a guide in a company called Soul Spearfishing Costa Rica (Facebook) and am working toward Level 2 certification with FII. 

Mountain Biking: 
I was mountain biking in Venezuela from age 14 to 16 years old. Then I started to compete and received a lot of trophies and medals until 21 years old. That's when I came to Costa Rica for vacation and I stopped mountain biking and started surfing. I cycled sporadically, only for maintenance, until 3-4 years ago when I started to take MTB more seriously again and even though I haven't participated in a lot of races because I have a lot of work with surf clases, I am preparing myself for a "stage race" or a race in steps called "La Ruta de Los Conquistadores" that is in November and other races that are smaller to the national level.

A basic experience of life is that it's easier to figure out what you believe than it is to figure out how to behave as a response. That is, it's easier to define your values than it is to decide what actions you need to take in order to live them out. 

Talk is cheap, and all that, but it's also true that even the most committed among us can't do everything. In fact, we can't do most things. Time and resources are limited, and all of us hold important values that we won't be able to take meaningful action on. That's something most people sort out individually as teenagers when pesky guidance counselors badger us to pick something to do after high school, and lament in our old age as we look back on the paths we might have taken, but didn't.

​But building a business that's still in its formative stages, it's a reality that we're constantly butting up against. We feel motivated to do way more than we realistically can, and this is a constant process of prioritization and sticking with a focus even when there are plenty of worthy, or even pressing, distractions. The vast majority of our energy goes into the one thing that's really at the heart of this project: building connections between people in the outdoor community through story. We're doing that because of our values around inclusivity, equality, local economies and environmental ethics (which are stated explicitly, if not comprehensively, here), but every day presents new options of other things we could, and maybe should, be doing.

Even if you aren't also creating a DIY, niche market side hustle, I'm guessing you can relate to the sentiment, which is why I've come to think that maybe the most important thing we can do in the outdoor community is to play matchmaker between cool people doing cool things. Because, to crib a quote from Angel, we believe that individual and organizational actions can accumulate. None of us may be able to do everything, but if we use what we're good at to support other organizations and people who are doing the stuff that we value, then they might be able to do those things more effectively. And if we can be a venue through which good people and good organizations get to know each other, it seems like everyone wins.

Since we opened shop in 2017, our instincts have been towards trying to partner and support other like-minded, local organizations with similar values, and while we've encountered those everywhere we've been, for some reason there seem to be a disproportionate number in Oregon. My theory is that a bunch of weirdo dirtbags move there without jobs because it's amazing, and have to figure out something to do with their lives so they start businesses and nonprofits. Whatever the reason though, we're excited to be heading down again for events in Portland and Bend in a few weeks, on July 10th and 12th, respectively. (Shameless plug: Buy tix here!)

At our Portland event in particular, we're excited to try something for the first time by teaming up in an explicit partnership with Oregon Wild, who are doing exactly the kind of work that we think is valuable and want to support. We've been planning the event with our friend Jamie Dawson from the organization, and will be accepting donations for them both at the event and during the ticket sales process on the website. While raising a bit of money might be the most concretely helpful thing we'll do for them, the fun part is that we'll be encouraging storytellers to focus on experiences that happened on Oregon public lands, as a way to distill the personal, emotional importance of the place. We think it'll be a great chance to experience some Oregon love, and to share that love with a wide audience through the podcast later. And, we hope, it'll create content that Oregon Wild can use to help other people understand the importance of the land that they're advocating to protect.

(SIde note, if you're a reader planning to come to the Bend event, your Oregon stories are more than welcome as well to share the heart of what makes your state such a great place to live!)

If you aren't acquainted with Oregon Wild, they're a nonprofit based in Portland focused on "Protecting Oregon's wildlands, wildlife, and waters for future generations".

Specifically, they're the people going to bat politically to make sure that protected lands stay protected, and that lands that should be preserved, are. Among a variety of other things, Oregon Wild are helping train and organize grassroots advocates through their Wild Ones program, organizing groups in Portland, Bend and Eugene that teach democracy skills training, and going to bat legally on behalf of supporters on the wonky issues that come up when government regulations are changed or challenged. Under a Federal government that seems actively hostile towards wilderness protection, Oregon is home to one of the most threatened regions in the country, in the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, which is under the same government "monument review" process that recently opened Bears Ears and Grand Staircase in Utah to mining interests. There are strong pushes to open lowland old growth forest to logging in the monument and along Federal Wilderness areas on the Rogue River, and large areas that are currently protected are under serious threat of losing that status.

Our events are always in good fun and everything, but we're also happy to team up with Oregon Wild on this one to say screw that. 

And if you're interested in learning more or supporting them, come hang out with us in Portland at the Skyline Tavern on July 10th, or check out their website! Or, subscribe to our podcast and stay tuned because the stories will be coming down the pipe!

Travel is a beautiful thing because it teaches you how small and connected the world actually is, and we're feeling that this week because Volcan de Fuego is erupting in Guatemala.

Located about 30 miles from Lake Atitlan, where we studied Spanish in 2016, and just a few miles from Antigua, a beautiful colonial city we visited on the same trip, whole villages have been destroyed, and more are being evacuated as I write, in an area where we have friends and good memories. It's heartbreaking to watch - this is a beautiful area full of beautiful people. The eruption started on Sunday, but it is still very much an active situation, as flows are continuing at time of writing, rescues are ongoing, and towns are still being evacuated.

If you are interested in helping locals out directly, Javier Navichoc, our friend, and a Navigator in our network, has a guiding nonprofit called Trek for Kids that raises money through volcano tours in the area, and he is collecting donations to assist those affected. You can Paypal them directly by clicking here. And even a small amount helps - for perspective, the average Guatemalan lives on $200 US/month, so $10 - 20 goes a lot further there than it would in North America (where I'm guessing most of you are reading from).

Javier is a great guy, this area is his home, and he's on the ground already. We donated through Trek for Kids because it's the closest thing we can do to giving money directly to people in the volcano's path, and we're confident that the money will go to good use. 

But if you're interested in other ways to help, this article gives a rundown of what's happening there, and also lists some other good was to support. 

For those of you tracking closely, you might have noticed this week that we didn't put out a podcast on Monday, and have probably been less active on social media than normal. That's because, a few weeks ago we made a decision we've been debating for a while, and decided to sell our place in Seattle and make a move. Some kind of move. We're not exactly sure what kind of move yet. We wanted to let you know a little bit about what's up with us here so you won't worry, and because we're pretty stoked about it. We'd also love to hear your ideas. What should we do next?

We've been tossing around the idea for a while, for a variety of reasons, but mostly it comes down to the way that thru-hiking ruined us as productive members of society. Since finishing hiking the PCT in 2015, we've never really re-settled. We moved back in to a unit we've owned since 2005 in a Co-op on Capitol Hill in Seattle, but we've also been in and out for 2 - 3 months of every year traveling for business or pleasure. We've both worked as nurses again, but never full time, and we haven't been able to stomach the thought of recommitting to spending the majority of our time following a regimented work schedule. The vast majority of Angel's working time, and an increasing amount of mine, has been devoted to this business, and our post-PCT life could be accurately described as a quest to figure out how to make enough money to live on while doing (primarily) things that we want to.

The topic of weight, body size, and the outdoors is something that storytellers at our events are talking about, and I want to talk about it too. But I don’t want to reinforce the common idea that to be an outdoor enthusiast you have to be a certain size or shape. I want to help make room for people who frequently don’t feel welcome in the outdoor community - and that includes people of size - to use Jenny Bruso’s term. But I also want to celebrate people's stories like Demetri Zouboukos in Episode 63 of the Boldly Went Podcast, where weight loss was a major part of the process in overcoming barriers to accomplishing adventure goals. So it's complicated. 

Weight is a topic that I’ve dealt with professionally for years, because I’m a healthcare provider by training - a nurse practitioner. I want to help people be healthy not just because I want them to be able to experience the outdoors (which I love), but because it’s my original vocation. There are plenty of great things about that, but my experience as a healthcare provider has also been an experience of what’s wrong about the way we approach weight.

If there's a more interesting person than Gracetopher Kirk on the Pacific Crest Trail in 2018, I don't know who it is. Gracetopher's a queer writer and photographer who you might remember from this piece we shared a few weeks back. They've been published as one of Oregon's Best Emerging Poets, and are the most inspiringly intrepid of dirtbags, tackling the PCT on an absolute shoestring after spending last year recovering from a broken back that interfered both with hiking plans and employment possibilities. This year, they scrounged gear together, made a tent from salvaged material from a dumpster, and are crowdfunding for food by writing along the way.

At last check, Gracetopher's more than 200 miles in (Cabazon, for our hiker nerd friends), and moving along well. After coming to one of our Portland events before starting the trail, they've also been sending us dispatches along the way, which we're stoked to be able to share with you all.   

They've sent us a couple of pieces describing the process of finding and creating their dumpster tarp, as well as the origin of their trail name MacGyver (unsurprisingly, those events are related), and we'll share those with you eventually.

But by way of introduction, I feel like a recent personal reflection they sent us on privilege on trail is a better place to start in getting to know them, and tracking their journey.

Gracetopher sent it after seeing and participating in a thread on Facebook about the relationship between privilege and the outdoors, which goes to show that even potentially contentious Facebook conversations will sometimes produce something worthwhile. (There's a metaphor in here about how social media is like a dumpster we all keep digging through because sometimes we find a useful tarp, but I'm feeling too lazy to work it in.)

The term "privilege" has become one of those zeitgeisty buzzwords laden with baggage gathered in a thousand social media arguments, but it's also come up repeatedly as a barrier to participation in the outdoor community as we've heard stories from moms just trying to exist in the outdoors, interviewed Sophia Dannenberg, a mountaineer and the first African American to climb Everest, and spoke with a mom whose daughter is a world class skier and long distance hiker with Down Syndrome. 

Gracetopher's commentary gives some helpful insight into ways that issues related to privilege impact their experience in the trail community, and it's a chance to get perspective from a type of voice that doesn't get much of a platform traditionally. Is it surprising that overall the trip's been great, but that they've already had to deal with some weird bullshit from creeps on trail? I don't know. I can say that Gracetopher's an inspiring human, and I'm happy they're out there, blazing those literal and figurative trails. And I'm happy that we have a chance to share their experiences with you all.

(A small disclaimer: Gracetopher's agreed for us to share this, but because they're a working writer, I want to be clear that this isn't intended as a representative polished piece of work. It's a conversational contribution about privilege in the outdoors from someone living directly in the middle of the challenges that come along with being queer and poor on the PCT. They recorded it by dictating into their phone along the way, so this is wild, organic fruit grown directly in fertile SoCal PCT soil.)