Learning From Mistakes - Minimalist Winter Backpacking

I thought I’d dig up an old trip of mine for this week’s post.  Several years back I was feeling pretty stir crazy in October, it had been over 40 days since I’d spent a night outside and that particular year I seemed to have the camping itch even worse than usual.  So early one Saturday in late October I tossed a handful of things into a backpack and drove up to the snowy Rockies. Read more

5 Best National Parks in the Continental US for Photography

5.  Rocky Mountain National Park - Taking photos of alpine mountain settings usually involves a very heavy pack that gets heavier with each foot fall, once you’ve packed up a tent, food, stove, sleeping bag, clothes, and other extras, by this time the camera either doesn’t fit or you just can’t bear to add the extra weight of lenses, tripods, and multiple camera bodies.  Rocky Mountain National Park has the solution for this.  Trail Ridge Road runs for ~30 miles above tree line providing loads of access to trail heads that start above tree line allowing you to get right at the alpine goods.  The park opens early too so you can come in to capture the alpineglow at sunrise.  The parks lakes and stark mountain peaks are so varied that people will often ask “Where did you take that?!?” Read more

Burn off Fat in the Cold; Go Snowshoeing

Winter is always a problem, during spring, summer and fall there’s more than enough stuff to do in the mountains or even around town that’s outside and physically challenging.  Once the cold rolls I want to fire up the xbox far more than I want to step on the scale.  Winter just didn’t seem to provide a lot of opportunities for exercise.  Skiing is expensive and there’s always congestion traffic in order to get up there and most back-country sports require a huge dollar and time investment in order to get started.   Several years ago I stumbled upon a craigslist ad for some snowshoes and found them surprisingly cheap.  My original idea was to rip the crampons (metal spikes that go under your feet for walking/climbing on snow) off of them to make some cheap mountaineering boots.  Instead I discovered the best winter activity out there. Read more

How to buy hiking boots that fit

For nearly any sort of prolonged outdoor activity your footwear is the most important gear you’ll own. Good boots make long backpacking trips sightseeing bliss, and make any sort of tricky scrambling seem intuitive vs terrifying.

Most people never get the true pleasure out of their footwear. Many people complain about boots having to “break in” despite going on multiple trips in them. Often people buy boots based on their styling or color, vs lightness or construction.

Differences between synthetic and leather boots

In the past decade most boots have undergone a massive change. Most boots of yesteryear were heavy leather tanks, nearly indestructible and about as light as an anchor. Now most manufactures have abandoned that style of boot making in exchange for lighter boots that use synthetic materials. These boots have some serious advantages, first off they’re crazy light easily weighing half to a third of a full leather boot of the same size. Second because the synthetic materials are also much flexible than leather, many of them don’t have a “break in” period, you just pull them on, and go. They often cost less than full leather boots as well. Read more

Wild Caves: Nature’s Sensory Deprivation Chambers

There’s something special about being in complete darkness.  You’d expect it to feel claustrophobic, full of tension and anxiety, after all humans have feared the dark as long as we’ve been around.  Oddly enough being in complete darkness is astonishingly peaceful.  When you’re deep underground in tight cramped conditions and you’re trying to avoid thinking about the uncountable tons of rock precariously suspended above your head your heart pumps pretty fast.  Turn off the lights and just sit in total darkness and silence and instead of feeling trapped and enclosed you feel like you’re in a void more expansive than space and overwhelming you instead you just feel peace.

Caving is a unique experience, it challenges the mind in amazing ways from route finding, 3 dimensional navigation and overcoming fears, while working the body in a kind of excessive that it usually doesn’t see.  There are typically two kinds of caves, Show Caves and Wild Caves.  Show caves are actively managed by a national park, private company, campground, or someone.  They often have lights strung up in them and many times have had paths cleared through them that remove the need to do any climbing. Read more

Top 5 Show Caves

Caving is a unique experience, it challenges the mind in amazing ways from route finding, 3 dimensional navigation and overcoming fears, while working the body in a kind of exercise that it usually doesn’t see.  There are typically two kinds of caves, Show Caves and Wild Caves.  Show caves are actively managed by a national park, private company, campground, or someone.  They often have lights strung up in them and many times have had paths cleared through them that remove the need to do any climbing.

If you’ve never gone caving before and if you don’t know if you’re claustrophobic or not you should try a Show Cave first.  Show caves commonly have lights strung up in them and marked paths.  Often you can go as part of a tour group or walk the paths at your own speed.  You do not need specialized equipment for most of these caves and if you do they are typically included with the cost of entry.  Although a guided tour dosen’t sound all that exciting show caves have a lot of nice features.  Many of the tours bring people through areas where there is no light pollution or turn off the lights for a bit so you can experience true darkness. Read more

How to Go for a Fall Color Drive

Seems pretty simple right?  Hop in the car, navigate to the nearest road out of town, apply some pressure to the right pedal, and it’s all taken care of right?

Here’s some tips on how to ensure you get the most spectrum for your gas dollars. Read more

Farewell to UM; An Ode, A Lament

“Hang on tightly, let go lightly”.

It was Clive Owen’s refrain in “The Croupier” and it’s damn good advice.  Having spent the last two and half years consumed by my passion for Urban Monarch, our readers and my partnership with Greg however, it’s not the easiest to follow.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel a touch of sadness when faced with the prospect of Urban Monarch free days. It’s become a part of me.  So many great memories.  From the simple thrill of brainstorming over coffee @ Leela’s to the extravagant debauchery of our epic Las Vegas boondoggle, UM has proven a deliciously naughty mistress indeed.  I feel blessed to have welcomed so many new friends into my life through UM as well (Goat, Steve, Jess, Caroline, Telan.. I’m looking at you for starters).  The education I’ve received from Greg on all things blogosphere, Google analytics and the like has been priceless, and the pride I’ve felt knowing thousands of people all over the world are reading and responding to my writing has been fulfilling in ways even a million dollar payday never could be.

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Camping For Beginners

“You can’t be serious.”

This was the response from almost everyone I know when I told them I was going camping for a good friend’s birthday. It was somewhat of a shock to my system as well. Prior to this past weekend, my experience with camping was limited to several amazing trips in a high school friend’s luxury RV. Between the bunk beds with down comforters, satellite television, fully stocked kitchen and shower, we weren’t exactly ‘roughing it’. This time around, when Zach mentioned honest to goodness tents and ‘really, really warm clothes’, I knew I was in for an exciting time.

I was also in for an education. For those of you who’ve spent more than the occasional afternoon in the woods, much of this may seem like common sense. For anyone who considers themselves “camping impaired” (like me), hopefully it will prove helpful for your next trek outdoors.

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The New Urban Monarch

Welcome to the new Urban Monarch.  Things have changed a bit around here over the weekend, but don’t despair, the old functionality, content, and real opinions are all still present.  We’re just hiding under a fancy new home page and if I do say so myself, a beautiful new logo.

Think we’ve sold out?  We wish!  As our regular readers know, we’re total product whores over here.  A million thanks go out to the bottle service nights we’ve enjoyed, the sleep tracking alarm clocks that still wake us up every morning, and the headphones that block out so much background noise I’ve almost been hit by two cars and a bus.  We think this new layout will only further our image and help open a few more doors.  Read more

Name Your Favorite Categories

Urban Monarch has a brand new design and interface waiting under wraps. As we move to this new platform, we are consolidating and reorganizing our post categories. We’ll be thinking about the popular posts from the past as well as the posts we want to write in the future.

The most important thing to us is what you want to see here. Belly up to the comment bar and let us know what your favorite categories are here on Urban Monarch. If you shout out a category (existing or a new one) Cash and I are going to give it a heavy weight when narrowing down our new structure. Read more

greg is brilliant

Anyone who’s lucky enough to actually know Greg is unlikely to forget what a genius he is. Mainly because of the constant reminders. From him.

In all seriousness though, I have to give massive props for a post he did almost a year ago that saved me ridiculous headaches this past week.

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