"Don't Piss on My Leg and Tell Me It's Raining" (08/15/09)
This one follows right on the heels of my trip to New Hampshire. Cathy and I decided to head down to Southern Ohio and Kentucky. I took on the role of trip organizer, wanting to make sure I maximized the outdoor experiences and left no attraction unturned. First stop was the city of Cincinnati. I had been through here in college when a friend had his car broken into. I decided to give the city a second chance. Just like the Eagles to Michael Vick, I am a forgiving soul. Continue Reading
Ohio: Hocking Hills
"Old Man's Cave and Beyond" (04/16/08)
Decided to spend the weekend with my father in Hocking Hills. It is about 30 miles south of Columbus. The link above will detail out the trails and some lodging options. The map image also shows the location of some of the hikes. The area is beautiful. We hit it just after the winter thaw so we basically had the trails to ourselves. We dropped our stuff at the Nestled In. A nice set of 3 cabins varying in size from 2 people to 12. It is also very close to many of the trail heads. Continue Reading
West Virginia: Fayetteville
"Its 25 Degrees, Who Wants to Go Rafting?!" (10/25/08)
My buddy from DC called me in August and told me he was going to be heading West (3 hours car ride was "Heading West" in his mind) and wanted to know if I wanted to meet up to try out some camping gear and maybe get in some rafting. It would be a 9 hour drive down from Detroit but I convinced my brother to also head in from Philly and we had ourselves a tribe. Continue Reading
"CrossCountry Skiing" (12/25/08)
Winter is in full force here in Michigan and I need to get out outside as I am going stir crazy. Yesterday I tried skiing around the golf course after we got dumped with 8 inches of snow. Unfortunately I did not understand the concept of groomed trails. So instead of cross-country skiing I ended up cross-country walking. So I headed out again, you know that whole, "When at first you don't succeed ..." crap. Continue Reading
"Winter Survival" (11/25/08)
Thanksgiving weekend and we had some time on our hands so my brother and I decided to test out our luck at winter camping. We headed to Northern Michigan and to our surprise the day before the area got dumped with about a foot of snow...a true test.Here is the directions we followed from Detroit. Continue Reading
"American Indian Camping Weekend" (09/07/08)
Last Weekend I had the opportunity to participate in a camping weekend with a local Detroit nonprofit:American Indian Health and Family Services. We met up on Friday night at Island Lake Recreational areas Organizational campground. First order of business was gathering firewood, setting up our tents and getting water.
"Smoke and Trout" (12/09/07)
It has been about a week or so since I got back from Utah. A friend of mine was doing interviews down in the south for residency at hospitals so we made a bit of a road trip out of it.After leaving Detroit on a Tuesday am, we staying in Cleveland for a night and headed down to WV. Continue Reading
"Outdoor Adventures" (09/01/07)
This Summer I had the opportunity to work with a great groups of kids. Once a week we headed out into the wild and engaged in various outdoor activities. We spent our time Orienteering, Mountain Biking, and Canoeing. We had new volunteers every week and we had a great core group of 5 or 6 kids. We all learned a lot about pushing our limits and achieving extraordinary heights. Continue Reading
"Hiking the Poto" (06/01/07)
When Starting the outdoor company I was about 10 years removed from hanging out in the woods. On an impulsive decision on a late afternoon in 2007 I decided to go camping. I live in Detroit so the closest trail of substance was the Potawatomi trail in Pinckney State Recreational Area. Home to some great mountain biking trails as well. Continue Reading
Utah:
"The Grand Circle" (01/27/07)
I created this Blog to document my own travels. My name is Darren and I own and operate a domestic adventure travel company. I have a blog that I do for customer trips and a website that lists all the trips I offer but until now I really had nowhere to list my own travels and my unsanitized musings on my experiences and their effect on my life's purpose. In a couple weeks I am heading out to Utah to complete the Grand Circle.heads. Continue Reading
"More Than Just Home of Beer" (06/27/06)
Milwaukee was the site for this party, and we had some big farm-feed goliaths in the house. Just to drive that point home, these fellas were semi-pro football players with daytime jobs as bail bondsmen..ouch. Continue Reading
West Virginia: Fayetteville
"Squeal Like a Pig!" (06/25/06)
I was heading back to the location that started it all. My first trip when starting the company was rafting in West Virginia. I was going down this season to check out the new hot spots in the city and to spend some time with my friends at the rafting company. Continue Reading