Back in December of 2017 I decided to sign up for my first Ultra Marathon after only previously ever running a local 5K as an “organized race”. This was the TARC (www.trailanimals.com) Winter Ultra at the Middlesex Fells Reservation in Massachusetts. This race was 32 miles of rugged, knee crunching terrain and 6000-ish feet of…
Review: Ultimate Direction AK Mountain Vest 3.0
After a couple of years of trail running with my trusty Ultimate Direction Wasp I decided it was time to retire it and move on. When I purchased the Wasp I was transitioning from primarily hiking to running and was seeking something that fit more like a backpack and less like a vest. Since then,…
Running the Pemi Loop – A Classic White Mountain Death March
September 22, 2017 I’ve been training hard on my local terrain in Massachusetts as well as hitting the White Mountains when I can. Trail running regularly with as much elevation gain and technical terrain as I can get my hands on. I wasn’t training for a race. There would be no medal or award ceremony…
Field Tested: Altra Lone Peak 3.5 Trail Running Shoe Review
Thru Hikers, Backpacker’s and Trail Runners will be excited to see a new version of the Altra Lone Peak on the shelves! The Altra Lone Peak 3.5! For the past 2-3 years or so I’ve been trail running and hiking wearing the Altra Lone Peak trail running shoes. These shoes have evolved over the years…
Field Tested: Katadyn BeFree 1.0L Water Filter
When I first got into hiking and backpacking I would carry an MSR Sweetwater pump style water filter. This type of filters uses a lever/plunger assembly and tubing to filtrate the water through a carbon filter for drinking. While they do work really well for filtering gross dirty water in a fast manner, they are…