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Field Notes

Filson in the Field: Packrafting the Remote Waters of Alaska

The state of Alaska tends to breed ideas larger than life. There is just something about the sheer amount of untrammeled wilderness there that seems to spark a fire in folks. So, when we decided we wanted to put some of our newest gear to the test, we reached out to some of our favorite guides for outing ideas. Eschewing more traditional adventures, we decided to spend five days exploring the rivers surrounding remote Chelatna lake just outside of Denali national park and preserve. This is the story of that trip.

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3 Min
Exploring Denali_1200x628_V2
Field Notes

Exploring Denali: a wild & rugged wilderness

Denali is a land that quite literally ebbs and flows with the seasons. Spring and summer snow melts down from mountains that climb to the roof of the Alaska Range and swell the Toklat, Savage, McKinley, Sanctuary, and other rivers that ripple across Denali. Harry Karstens, who became Denali’s first superintendent in 1921, was one of the early explorers who navigated the basins of frozen rivers and streams while delivering mail to distant roadhouses and checking up on desolate miners’ camps. More than 100 years later, the waterways of this rugged wilderness are now the playground of well-experienced pack rafters, self-reliant thrillseekers who inflate their portable craft to run a river, then pull the plug, pack it away, and hike over a mountain to reach another headwater.

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3 Min
person in silver helmet and black jacket riding a motorcycle down a rocky embankment in the high desert of the Utah Canyonlands
Field Notes

The Utah Traverse

It’s often easy to get lost in the severe beauty of southern Utah in the high desert lands of the Colorado Plateau. The parched and arid red sandstone landscape is unforgiving, mountains and ridges appear everywhere shimmering in the distance, and plunging canyons seem to materialize out of thin air. While it can take your breath away it also demands respect from anyone journeying through it.

So, when four friends decided to take their off-road motorcycles on an epic weeklong trip across this region, they knew that things could and would probably go crooked quickly. But that is the beauty of doing the Utah Traverse.

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5 Min
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Food & Recipes

Filson Food: Pheasant with Tarragon-Lemon Carrots

“A whole roasted pheasant takes time to pull off correctly. Rush the process and you’ll end up with a dry, lackluster-tasting bird that will make you wonder why you didn’t buy a chicken. But take the time and care needed, and the result will be fit for any occasion. There are few sights more glorious than a properly roasted bird at the dinner table – and few tastes as rewarding as an aged and brined pheasant.”

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3 Min
person squats next to a fire in a campsite with two dirtbikes and pinetrees
How-To's

How to Build an Overland Camp Kitchen

Brendon and I have been traveling by motorcycle for just over a decade. We’ve ridden on many different style bikes—from a sport bike, to a cruiser, to a big adventure bike. Recently, we’ve moved on to a simpler, and separate, set of Honda dual sports. Our motorcycle travels have taken us through parts of western USA, most of Canada, and an additional 14 countries—with trips lasting anywhere from three hours to three years. Currently, you can find us wintering on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, prepping for the next overlanding adventure. Along with our motorcycles, our goals and priorities have changed over the years. Living close to nature and feeling a strong connection to it is one of our main pursuits. As we explore and experience new places, the methods have evolved to reflect a more sustainable version of travel. Hotels—and, more importantly, restaurants—have been happily substituted for longer trips where we camp and cook for ourselves. Every day brings a new experience, and eating meals packed full of nutrients in order to restore our energy and keep us well fueled is essential.

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3 Min
Overland Moto Checklist from Radius Offroad_1200x628_V2
Field Notes

Overland Moto Checklist from Radius Offroad

“As a professional motorcycle racer and passionate off-road rider, I’m always in search of longer more adventurous rides every time I’m on the bike. I’ve learned from years of riding trips and racing multi-day events around the world that anything is possible, so you better be prepared. Being properly equipped is a key component to having a successful trip. Following these packing basics and tips will ensure that you have a successful trip in your future.” — RORY SULLIVAN, OWNER OF RADIUS OFFROAD

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3 Min
two people riding motorcycles on a dirt road with a pine covered hill in the background
Field Notes

Washington Backcountry Discovery Route

A massive volcanic mountain range, the Cascades, bisects Washington. Along the flanks of this iconic range, national forest land offers intrepid motorcyclists a network of backcountry roads and trails through some of the most adventurous terrain in the Lower 48. In 2010, Washington local Paul Guillien was part of a team of four riders that first traversed a long-distance route through the Cascades, starting at Washington’s southern border with Oregon and ending at its northern terminus at the Canadian border. Guillien and his mates dubbed their 593-mile off-road adventure the “Washington Backcountry Discovery Route.”

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3 Min
person in helmet and jacket standing motorcycle up in a forest
How-To's

DIY: Ammo Can Panniers

The objective of this build is to come up with a low-cost solution to the more expensive factory-produced or aftermarket panniers used on adventure touring bikes.

Most factory-produced pannier racks have become inexpensive enough and a homemade one takes considerable time to build. So we will concentrate on just the Ammo Can part of the build. The bike used in this installation came used with the factory racks installed, but the installation could be easily modified to fit almost any rack, including homemade. I chose easily available and inexpensive hardware to keep the cost down. You can substitute whatever is available locally. Also, the length of the hardware can easily be modified; if only longer bolts are available, simply cut down the excess threads.

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10 Min
person holding a large chainsaw in one hand and a coil of rope in the other in a pine forest
How-To's

Filson Fundamentals: Field Chainsaw Maintenance

Whether felling, bucking and limbing, or cutting up logs for firewood, it doesn’t take long to burn through a tank of fuel when running a saw at full throttle. A finely tuned, sharp saw is a pleasure to own and a life-long tool — only if properly maintained. Every re-fuel and oil is the perfect time to do a quick once-over to make sure your saw is in top running condition. Anyone who’s put their time into a chainsaw knows a sharp, well-oiled and finely tuned machine is an absolute must for reducing the time it takes to get the job done. These are the basics.

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5 Min
aerial view of snow covered ice drifts amongst rocky outcroppings
Profiles

The Bering Strait Crossing

In the northernmost reaches of the world, just a few clicks south of the arctic circle, Russia and Alaska are separated at their closest point by just 55 short miles and the frigid waters of the Bering sea.
t’s believed that a land bridge once connected these two regions, and that 20,000 years ago, humans walked across that natural formation to settle in the Americas from Asia. In the centuries that followed, those land masses slowly pulled apart and became separated by the Bering Strait.
For most of modern history, traversing this passage meant braving the seas — and even then, only when the ever-shifting ice floes would allow it.
But where some saw only unforgiving waves lapping up against the shoreline, a handful of visionary engineers saw a golden opportunity — a crossing that would allow safe travel and even faster transportation between North America and Russia.

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5 Min
a large collection of old nautical
Profiles

Anacortes Junk Co.

Marine Supply? Hardware? Antiques? Museum and gift shop? It’s a bit of all of these. Wander over wood floors that creak like the deck of a ship to find less glamorous but just as useful galvanized cleats, cubbies of hard-to-find pipe fittings, and various sizes of chain and rope. That part for your vessel you were certain only existed in your imagination—it’s somewhere here—might be a bit dusty. Think some of the stuff lying around might be junk? Perhaps, but as Steve Demopoulos heard his grandfather “Mike,” say many times, “It’s only junk until someone needs it.”

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5 Min
person in a museum painting a mural of popeye
Profiles

The Underdog: Exploring the Origins of Popeye

His voice is one that is impossible to forget—sounding like a rusty chainsaw trying to cut through steel, it randomly swerves between high and low notes. An almost incoherent mishmash of words pours forth from his mouth. Simple words are mangled, and a nearly consistent mutter fills the space between his sentences. It’s like his mind is a leaky vessel that can’t quite contain all of the thoughts within.

But when you look at the individual from which that voice emanates, it makes sense. His screwed-tight face and bulging chin immediately draw your eye’s attention. As he talks, his corncob pipe continually bobs up and down, much like a ship on the sea. His sailor’s hat sits jauntily tilts forward, and his massive forearms, each one emblazoned with an anchor, provides a sense of menace, of someone not to be trifled with. He is unforgettable.

He is Popeye the Sailor Man, one of the most unlikely comic heroes ever created.

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5 Min
rockfish roasting over red hot coals
Food & Recipes

Filson Food: Campfire Cajun Rockfish

Like many of the other reef fishes on the Pacific coast, rockfish has a mild, white flesh, which makes it a versatile fish that takes on the flavor of any seasoning added. Rockfish is superb fried, baked, or pan-seared, but my favorite way to enjoy it is grilled whole. Early in my evolution as an underwater hunter, I brought home countless rockfish. On late nights at the fillet table, this was our go-to way to produce a mouth-watering meal with just minutes of prep, without having to fillet the fish first.

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5 Min
person swimming underwater with large flippers and a harpoon gun
Profiles

Subsea Hunter: Freedive Spearfishing with Lucas Murray

As many land hunters can attest to, part of the reason they choose to hunt is to get in touch with an instinctual, ancestral aspect of themselves. There is something primal about the pursuit of an animal that we find alluring. Breath-hold diving in the pursuit of fish is particularly addicting as it connects us to two innate and perhaps often-forgotten aspects of ourselves: the physiological dive reflex and the pursuit of prey.

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5 Min
smoked salmon chunks on a grate on a wooden bar top
Food & Recipes

Filson Food: Smoked Wild Alaskan Salmon

Nearly every Alaskan who harvests salmon has a smoking recipe or two (or a dozen!) Up their sleeves. Including everything from traditional strips to kippers and pressure-canned to frozen, pieces of smoked salmon grace freezers and line pantry shelves in many Alaskan homes. The following is a basic recipe that was passed onto me by my dad and tweaked to suit my own taste. Smoking salmon always involves a learning process no matter how many times it is undertaken, and flavor profiles can easily be adjusted to suit.

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5 Min
person adjusting a tan hat wearing a green coat with a crossbody bag with a pistol in it
Signature Materials

Signature Materials: Lightweight Active Rain Shells

Since 1897, Filson has manufactured clothing that’s kept men and women warm and dry in the Pacific Northwest and across the globe–in rain-soaked forests, snowy rangelands and everywhere in between. When pushing through brambles and briars or climbing through barbed-wire fences, you need heavy-duty gear that stands up to punctures, tears and abuse. But for covering miles of rugged terrain in the backcountry, a different type of rain gear is required. Lightweight, waterproof jackets that can be stuffed into tight spaces are a must. Let’s take a minute to clarify some of the terms we use to describe our lightweight active-use rain jackets.

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10 Min
cooked seafood stew with mussels, white fish, clams, and crab
Food & Recipes

Filson Food: Northwest Cacciucco

This version of cacciucco uses seafood sourced from the Pacific Northwest instead of from the Mediterranean, as would be typical in Italy. The seafood used in this dish was caught along the coast from Seattle to Alaska. When I think of Filson I think of heartiness, and this dish is definitely hearty and rich and tastes of the sea. On a cold, wet, or snowy day, this stew will hit the spot. This is Filson’s take on an Italian classic.

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5 Min
metal bust of caribou
Field Notes

Forever on the Move: The Isolated Existence of the Arctic’s Caribou

By the time that they have lived out their life cycle, a caribou of the Alaskan herds will have traveled enough distance to have circled the globe. Like so many of their other animal brethren, humans included (though are more sedentary in modern times), movement is what they are designed to do. They live their isolated existence, far from human eyes, forever on the move, forever on the hunt, as they have been forever.

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5 Min