Commence The Growing Of The Beards
For the past two years my brother and I have organized a group of men who travel into the [somewhat] wilderness to spend four days in communion with nature and each other. These trips originated out of a desire to organize a non-traditional bachelor party as well as an intention to foster some of the most important relationships in our lives (i.e., friends, family, nature) during the days we would otherwise be caught up in the parade of life. The trips usually coincide with the late summer, hurry-up-and-do-this-before-everyone-goes-back-to-school heat wave that hits the western-midwest. The reaches of the Rocky Mountains have been our destinations, and this year will be no different.
Last year we made a trek strait west from Colorado Springs near the Southpark region of Colorado. (See posts from last year’s trip here and here and here and some photos from the 2007 Mantrip here.) In fact upon summitting one foreboding peak range we could see the miles and miles across Southpark as well as back east towards Pike’s Peak. This year’s trip will venture further north into the Estes Park area and will include several confirmed veteran participants from the last few years as well as a number of friends who I’m excited will be joining us for the first time. This is an open invitation to anyone who may be in the area or may want to travel the weekend of Labor Day. (email me if interested) There are only a few stipulations, beginning with the following rules:
First, stop shaving your beard. Right now. Until you return home. The only shaving allowed from now until then is that which is done with a bowie knife.
Second, plan on leaving your cell phone and/or computer at home.
Third, bring your tobacco pipe or cigars.
Fourth, girls are welcome if they too can grow beards.
I sincerely hope you all can come along.
Mantrip2008: A Short Summary
So for those of you who had hoped for every little detail of the weekend’s mantrip, I’m sorry to say that it’s not gonna happen. Not only would I not be able to recount and retell ever detail but it just wouldn’t be manly to share all the stories. Guys- you’re invited for next year. Girls- we just have to leave some things up for mystery.
But I am going to share some of the photos, which actually tells as much of a story as anything. I’ll be posting them all in blog posts below (so actually their publish times will be earlier), one for the events that took place and the second for the pictures I took of the surrounding area.
If you like, you can find more trip pictures on my flickr. I’ll also be posting some panoramic shots and videos that I don’t yet have the time to edit.
People/Events
Mantrip2008 Photography: People and Events
Ten of us made the trip in all. Of course coming from Oregon, I came the furthest. From left to right: Dave, Pete, Christian, me, Nick, Johnson, Sam (my brother), Joe.
Ninja strikes must take place in all group photos, mantrips are no exception:
Mantrip2008 Success
Our venture into the wilderness for the 2008 Mantrip is officially over, and officially declared successful. (by me, of course) I haven’t the time at the moment for a full recap or to publish some of the many photos or videos I shot over the weekend, but here’s a little preview of the weekend’s events:
I fear I won’t be finding the time even tonight to do much editing. Maybe not even this week. I’ll be hanging out with this fella tonight and my parents are flying in to hang out for several days on Thursday. I’ll try to get as much done as possible though, so please keep in touch!
Mantrip: T Minus 3 Hours But Then Add 5
Ok Frontier, you could have told me that the actual driving time from Parker’s house to PDX was exactly 36 minutes and 22 seconds instead of the 20 that I had planned on and that you bump people from flights even if they’re walking up to the check-in counter while you’re on the phone with the gate people who are telling you to bump me.
So nothing feels better than being in the airport at 5:45am hearing the “final boarding call for flight-whatever to Denver” while you sit at a closed coffee shop and haven’t even checked your bag yet because your flight doesn’t leave for another four and a half hours.
This is my temporary basecamp (to stick with camping terminology) right now:
And hey if you look close enough you can see this very blog post in that picture. Its like its the future or something.
Doris the Frontier check-in lady just walked by with her breakfast. She doesn’t have a nametag, but she looks like a Doris so I’ll just call her that. I think she knows me pretty well by know. We hung out for a while earlier. You know, when I was missing my flight?
So what do you think, should I stop complaining and start seizing the carp, so-to-speak?
Here’s where we’re going this weekend:
For the trip this year we decided to keep it closer to familiarity, or at least I did since I don’t live in the midwest anymore and therefore couldn’t contribute very much to the trip planning. We would have all met up in Colorado Springs and ventured forth into the wilderness from there, but now I’ll be trying to find a way to venture separately into the woods and meet up with the other “ventures” at one of the proceeding locations.
Our first thought and probably the most likely final destination is Eleven Mile Canyon. Less than an hour drive from the Springs, its probably the most likely destination since I won’t get to take part in the initial campground exploration. We camped there a time or two back when I lived in Colorado, and thoroughly enjoyed the nearby cliff jumping and river rapids. Thats also where my Colorado friend the Navy Seal (seriously) shot me in the back with a paintball gun after he was out. I can prove it, the shirt is still stained.
Location C is much more of a vague destination because I haven’t camped in the Buena Vista area, but hear great things about it from my good friend Dave Wilson. The picture at right is Dave. We had some good times in Colorado Springs before I moved away.
And yes, thats really Southpark, Colorado, although Southpark isn’t really a town, its that whole high elevation valley you can see on the map. Its a place I’d love to live some day before I die.
So as I sit barefoot in my little basecamp in the Portland airport I’m realizing that beyond missing out on about 5 extra hours of time spent with the guys and Stephie, who was gonna pick me up at the airport but can’t if I don’t get there before 2pm, this isn’t so bad. I’ll post a blog or two, read a book or write in my neglected journals, and maybe if I’m really bored, visibly play with the camping knives I packed in my check-in baggage for the trip. Just be glad I didn’t bring the .40. Ok I’m just kidding. I’m a big fan of airports on the grounds of people-watching, though I don’t really feel in this moment relaxed or ethnic-ly interested enough to care. I guess I’ll just seize the carp, whatever carp there may be available for seizure.
UPDATE: Doris is actually Vinian. Or at least I think thats how you spell it. If this were 1940 her name would be Doris though, I’m positive.
UPDATE #2: So the title of this post probably should have been “Mantrip: T Minus 3 Hours And Then 5 More”. The problem with the current title is that its true mathematical logic would imply that the mantrip had actually started 2 hours prior to publishing of the post. ( T = – 3 + 5; T = 2 ) I hope you all know that I meant something more like T = – 3 – 5. That negative sign is critical, though it would be awesome if it were actually a plus.
Mantrip: T Minus 12 Hours
As I make my way towards Colorado for the second annual mantrip, last year’s trip is still fresh on my mind. I’ve been looking through the pictures from last year remembering the different parts of the trip.
So I fly out of PDX tomorrow at 6am, and big kudos to Parker for being willing to drop me off that early in the morning. My awesome friend Stephie is gonna pick me up in Denver and give me a ride to Colorado Springs, from which our adventure commences once the Nebraska troupe arrives. It will be hard to be in Colorado and not get to spend more time with the friends who aren’t going on the trip but hanging with Stephie on that short ride from Denver to the Springs makes it a little better.
In about 12 hours I’ll be picking up the food supplies at the nearest Wal-Mart while waiting for Sam and the rest of the Nebraska folk to arrive. We’ll then head up into the hills (er- mountains) and pick out a spot as far from civilization as we can find. Throughout the weekend we will:
Here’s some enjoyable photos from last years manly adventures:
The Mantrip2007 Participants
My brother, Sam, and I doing our Norris and Van Damne impressions. Actually this photo wasn’t on the mantrip, but was taken on another venture by Sam’s wife Mary. Mary’s not invited on the mantrip.
And finally, a beard update. This amish-looking beardiness is a good month long prep for this years mantrip.
So farewell for a few days my dear blog readers. I will return on Tuesday with a sunburn and possibly just a mustache.
The Mantrip Approaches
I should have written about this weeks ago but I guess its how life goes. You may remember my post back in May about the Mantrip that my brother and I have been planning. The basic idea is to take a weekend (plus a few days) and find the most remote spot in the wilderness possible. We build things, we chop down trees (dead ones), we shoot at varmints, we grow beards.
I’m excited for this year’s trip which has fallen on the weekend of August 8th. Its suddenly only a few weeks away! I’m also excited for the group that is coming this year, including the veteran Joe Croghan (a friend from high school), Nick Anders who’s been a good friend and off-and-on-roommate for the last 3 years, two or three of Sam’s brothers-in-law, and of course my brother Sam and I. Am I forgetting anyone? Probably, but I can’t remember who is for sure and who isn’t. There are quite a few participants who’s plans just couldn’t be worked out, and for that I mourn their loss, but there’s always next year.
Meanwhile, those of us preparing for the trip have sworn off shaving (at least those of us who can grow facial hair have. Sam’s brothers-in-law are in high school). I have yet to get photo updates from the other fellas who are confirmed for the trip but Nick and I are trading pictures of beard growth. I thought you all out there would love a peak at our [patchy] proof of manliness:
Nick swears he’s gonna shave it all off except for his mustache just before the trip. I might have to join him in that venture. Just as manly, just in a different way.
I’ll try keeping you posted if I can get some images of the other fellas and their pre-trip-beard-growing endeavors.
Mantrip/Beards
I’m brainstorming ideas for what we’re calling the Mantrip. Back in college some of the fellas in BX enjoyed doing what we called Mantrips. They would usually consist of a group of us guys heading out into the wilderness (or near-wilderness) to spend a few adventurous, stinky, freshening days as brothers. The maintrips I remember taking back then were usually centered around the celebration of one of the involved brothers getting married. Our most memorable was one in particular for the bachelor party/trip for a friend named Bobby VanKirk. Anyone who spent some time in Beta Chi or even at Hastings College at all back in the day would have heard of, if not known, Bobby. That trip involved several adventures, including camping in open buffalo country, tipping canoes several times on the Niobrara, a 12 hour hike up the tallest mountain east of the Rockies (can’t remember the name, its somewhere the Black Hills), almost getting murdered at the Wounded Knee battlefield in South Dakota, and watching a swarm of cop cars swoop down on one our party’s vehicles.
These great memories spurred in me a desire to continue the tradition. Last summer over the first weekend in July I organized a trip for my brother who was to get married about 3 weeks later. We got together with several other friends and spent a weekend in the Rockies just west of Laramie, WY. One of my greatest memories from a summer that was one of the best times of my life.
So Sam (my brother) and I have decided to keep the tradition going, even now that I’m 2000 miles away. We’re currently making plans for the 2008 Mantrip, and we generally plan on taking time each summer for the rest of our lives to spend some time in nature together. Whether it stays as is, with a group of friends and family going, or whether it ends up some day just being Sam and I, I really don’t care. I’m excited for the future, and I’d encourage anyone out there to make sure they put time aside in the future for these kind of trips, even if its not camping or something similar.
We’re currently brainstorming ideas that can add some vitality and “manliness” to our trips, maybe ideas that will someday become as much a part of the memories as anything. Beards is a must, as is guns and knives. Last year we had a couple handguns, a couple .45s, but failed to actually shoot anything. (Had hoped to cook some chipmunk dinners) We’re also thinking about bringing back some of the ideas from my college days, including the “Direct Travel Clause”, introduced by my buddy Patrick back in the day. The clause basically states that when driving to your camping/mantrip destination, you take the absolute most direct route you can find from where you are. There’s a winding little trail up and down the side of a mountain or through a roaming buffalo reservation? You take that road. Shortcuts are manliness, even if it adds time to the trip. The experience is the point.
All that being said, I’m greatly looking forward to our trip this summer, likely to come about some time in August. Please let me know if any of you out there might want to come along, we’re always down for fellowship with bros.
One more thing, wouldn’t it be great to achieve this just in time for the trip? Very manly:
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