We (Garrett Mincks and Bradon Young) have been best friends since the second grade. We have been side by side pretty much our whole lives. We attended all the same schools, including college, in which we joined the same fraternity and lived together for three years. We even worked many of the same jobs throughout our lives, including our first ‘real-world’ employment as Henry’s Marketplace produce clerks (Garrett was 15, Bradon was 16).
You know the old saying opposites attract? No statement could be closer to the truth for the two of us! First there is Bradon, the levelheaded, pseudo father figure of the group. Bradon is soft-spoken, respectful, wise beyond his years, and likes to think things out before he does them. Then there is the polar opposite in Garrett, who is sort of an ADHD poster child. He is high strung, whimsical, notoriously optimistic, and very outgoing. He is enthusiastic about practically everything, and possesses an adventurous curiosity for life.
In addition to being opposites, perhaps the main thing that brings us together is our individual obsessions for cutting edge music. We both constantly download/ buy everything from techno and disco to alternative rock and hip-hop to classical and eighties. Throughout 2008, we dj’d many nightclubs and parties together. Bradon used the stage-name Dj Non-Profit because of his frugal lifestyle and prominent involvement in student organizations. Garrett used Dj Adderall because he had many good ideas and couldn’t decide…. when it came time to print business cards his bottle of ADHD meds (called Adderall) were on the table, he saw the irony, laughed, and said what the heck.
We both recently graduated with the same degree (big surprise there) in Business Management from San Diego State University, and are about to embark on a 15-month trek around the world. We’ve been planning for about 3 years now. To finance it, Bradon worked diligently valet-ing cars and interning for various companies. He was able to save more than enough money. Garrett served in restaurants, dj’d various events, and interned for a real estate company. Though he made a considerable amount, it was not enough and took out a loan.
So here is the itinerary as it stands now, but it is definitely subject to change:
September 27 - Fly into Auckland, New Zealand - spend 3 weeks
Oct. 18 - Fly to Sydney, Australia - 7 weeks in the west coast & outback
Dec. 6 - Bali, Indonesia - 3 weeks
Dec. 27 - Tokyo, Japan - 3 weeks
Jan. 17 ‘09 - Hanoi, Vietnam - 14 weeks in SE Asia (Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia and Singapore)
April 22 - Cairo, Egypt - 10 days on a guided tour w/ Contiki
May 3 - Istanbul, Turkey - 17 days driving throughout country
*Because the 2nd half of our adventure is far away, all remaining flights must be booked during late Dec. ‘08. So, the following is our plan. Confirmed flights will be posted asap.
May 20 - Athens, Greece - 11 days
May 31- The Pink Palace Hostel (check posted links) - AT LEAST 13 days
June 13- Eastern & Western Europe - 15 weeks - we mapped out an ideal route & it’s posted. But everyone recommends just going with the flow so that’s what we’ll do.
Sep. 27 - Reykjavik, Iceland - 1 week
Oct. 4 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 9 days on the coast
Oct. 13 - Buenos Aires, Argentina - 2 weeks
Oct. 27 - Cusco, Peru - 2 weeks (including 3 day Amazon tour)
Nov. 10 - San Jose, Costa Rica (2 weeks)
Nov. 24 - ?? Are we broke yet ??
A lot of people ask what inspired us to do such a trip, but to be honest there was no real big inspiration. We both just want to explore the world, or as Garrett likes to say, ‘attend the global classroom.’ We’re recent grads and figure that right now is the best time to go—no family, no real responsibilities, and the world in front of us!
By Molly Ewen, A16 Apparel Buyer
Aug 28- Sept 1, 2008
Day 1: We took advantage of the beautiful weather in Vancouver and went kayaking around English Bay and Stanley Park for the day. Rented single person sea kayaks (spray skirt, PFD, etc all included) from Eco Marine Ocean Kayak Center down in Granville Island- great package deals and prices.
Day 2-3: Weather maintained, so we headed up the Sea to Sky Highway for some world class climbing in Squamish. Headed to Murrin Lake for a day of sport climbing. Murrin Lake is know for numerous sport routes for every level, all of which are easily accessible, picnic areas abound, and of course, the scenery is simply majestic. Shannon Falls were our next destination. Shannon Falls is the 3rd largest waterfall in Canada. The parking lot and trailhead are right off the highway and easily accessible, which is good and bad. The place can get crowded FAST with picnickers, sightseers, hikers, etc. Go early to enjoy the most wonderful views and peace and quiet. It is a moderate to challenging hike up, but the view from the top is worth it. At the end of the day, we headed into Squamish to chow down on some grub and local brews at the Howe Sound Inn and Brew Co. Climbers pretty much eat anything, but I have to say this really hit the spot! They serve a delectable menu of homemade goodness from classic burgers and pizza to gourmet salads and spicy curries and everything in between, all at fair prices. I highly recommend the Hefeweizen Apple Crumble!
GEAR REVIEW
TECHNICAL CLOTHING
For climbing, I always wear my Prana Organic Cotton Cargo Pants, Icebreaker BodyFit 200 Long Sleeve Scoop and/or Bodyfit 260 Tech Top, and Arc’Teryx Gamma SV Softshell. All are perfect for climbing and hiking in inclement weather. Very comfortable, durable, and keep me warm and toasty regardless of the changes in weather. For Kayaking, I wore the Prana Elisa Capris, Icebreaker Tech Tee lite, Olukai Haiku flip-flops, and Kaeonon Klemm polarized sunglasses.
FOOTWEAR
I am all about comfort, especially for all day/multi-day trips. Montrail Continental Divide are my new favorite trail shoes as they provide great traction and support for a pronator like myself. For climbing, I live by my La Sportiva women’s Mythos. The most comfy and versatile climbing shoe, and happens to fit me like a glove.
ACCESSORIES
Climbing gear: mix of Black Diamond & Metolious draws; all Metolious hardwear (cams, buts, biners); Bluewater Accelerator 10.5 dynamic rope.
BOOKS / MAPS
Guide books: Squamish Select and Squamish Climbing Guide from Quickdraw publications.
THINGS TO BEWARE OF OR TO AVOID NEXT TIME: There is a lot of construction on the Sea to Sky highway in preparation for the next Winter Olympics. Be prepared for traffic- we encountered some slowing, some stopping, falling rocks, lots of sightseers stopping randomly to snap a photo, etc.
TIPS: It’s always best to notify your Bank and Credit Card companies of your travels, particularly when traveling internationally. This is not only a safe guard to help protect your identity, but it can also help you save a few bucks in the end. International ATM’s usually need a 4-digit pin, so you may need to change your ATM pin. Also, if you are like me and never use Traveler’s Checks and rely on Credit Cards and ATMs, familiarize yourself with your Bank/Credit Card’s traveling fees. Most banks charge a flat fee for every ATM transaction, and may limit the amount you can withdraw in one transaction. Also, credit cards may hit you twice by (1)charging an exchange fee for every credit card purchase, as well as (2) charging you up to 3-5% of each purchase total. These charges can add up quickly! Because I contacted my bank and credit card before I left, I was able to negotiate all the fees down quite a bit, and even remove some.
I participated in the 8,000 Meter Challenge, sponsored by Jansport. This entailed hiking the three highest mountains in Southern California, in one day – starting at 5.a.m. at Mt. Baldy, proceeding onto San Gorgonio, and finishing by 5.a.m. on the top of San Jacinto. This involves 38 miles of hiking and more than11,000 feet of elevation gain. Together, with approximately another 150 people qualified to be in mental institutions, we proceeded to do so.
Heading up during the workday to miss the traffic in the LA area, we left Wednesday early afternoon and arrived in plenty of time to get a camping spot at Manker Flats Campground at the foot of Mt. Baldy, and set up tents and bags. We then proceeded to enjoy an excellent spaghetti dinner hosted at a local lodge by Jansport, along with a slideshow by Skip Yowell, founder of Jansport, about his company and some of his adventures. We left as early as possible to maximize sleep for the long day ahead.
The next morning, we were ready to hit the trails! First up was Mt. Baldy, starting at 5am at the Manker Flat trailhead and heading up via the Sierra Hut route. A 11-mile round-trip bear of a mountain, the hike is unforgiving going up, with a constant uphill grade, and just as unforgiving (and maybe more so) going downhill, killing calves and quads in the process. We made decent time heading up, shaving almost half an hour off our practice runs on the total round trip. To make good time, it’s necessary to at least maintain a steady jog downhill, which we attempted to do. Once the mountain was done, we got into the van and got going to the next mountain.
San Gorgonio is the crux of the 8,000 meter challenge. Normally a fairly strenuous 15-19 mile round trip (actual mileage varies depending on who you’re talking to and how bitter they are), it reaches demonic proportions after doing something like Mt. Baldy. While not as consistently steep as Baldy, the varying grades become a steady uphill by the time you reach High Creek campground, halfway up the mountain. High Creek was still running at the time of the challenge, so people were able to refill water (we had cached some in case it dried out two weeks previous on a training run) there and catch their breath. Once sufficiently girded for the summit, it was an intense push to get up to the top of San Gorgonio, and fatigue combined with the increased altitude slowed our pace down considerably. Once at the top, we took a quick snack and picture and began racing downhill 9 miles – which is probably the most painful part of the hike.
One unique twist is that the challenge is somewhat of a race to make the last ride up on the Palm Springs Tramway up to the trailhead for San Jacinto, which is at 8pm. Unfortunately, due to pacing and injury issues, my small group finished San Gorgonio at 7pm, thus putting us in a very tight squeeze for time. We therefore decided to grab dinner at a restaurant, then take the back route from Idylwild to San Jacinto, via the Devil’s Slide Trail and the PCT. While this would only add 2 miles, it would also increase the total elevation gained by more than 2000 feet. The other negative would be that we would need to hike our full packs for a much longer distance instead of the hydration packs we had been hiking with the rest of the day.
Due to the increased driving time and stopping for dinner, we finally were on the trailhead to the top of San Jacinto at 11PM. Six hours to make the summit, and 7.5 miles to gain 5,000 feet in elevation. Normally an easy task except for the fact that we were 29 miles into our legs already, already more than a standard marathon length. With headlamps armed and little more than willpower and a happy delirium, we slogged up the mountain slowly and surely. At 4am, we reached the San Jacinto summit and enjoyed a 5 minute respite in the summit hut, then headed slowly down, half-asleep, to Round Valley Campground at San Jacinto, where we laid out sleeping mats, sleeping bags and instantly passed out for 2 hours. We then woke up at 8am to hike another 3 miles down to the Palm Springs tramway where we would descend down to Palm Springs for a breakfast courtesy of Jansport, to congratulate the finishers of the 8,000 meter challenge. I was proud to count myself among one of them.
GEAR REVIEW
TECHNICAL CLOTHING
I wore my standard hiking gear – EMS Techwick T-shirt and Boxer Briefs and the EMS Explorer convertible pants with the legs removed. It was important for me to wear what I knew would be comfortable throughout the entire day and not chafe or wear strange. For socks I had two pairs of Icebreaker mini-crew socks that I switched through between mountains. My favorite piece of gear is of course my Adventure 16 Headsweats hat – it keeps my long hair in control, keeps the sun out of my eyes and eliminates pretty much all sweat running into my eyes, which is a real pain with eyeglasses. I carried two incredible pieces of gear along with my base clothing. 1) Mountain Hardwear Phantom Anorak – a windshell that weights 2 oz. and rolls up into your palm, it is perfect for ridgeline and summits so you don’t lose too much energy on the top of the mountains after a long sweaty climb getting cold. 2) Patagonia Down Sweater Jacket – My must have for any backpacking trip, it was perfect for when it got chilly around 2am on San Jacinto – I wore it near the top and the entire way down and used it as a pillow in camp.
KITCHEN
Jetboil PCS : We only used this for the morning of the event to heat up some water for coffee and oatmeal. When all you need to do is boil a few cups of water, nothing does the job like the Jetboil.
SLEEPING BAG
Marmot Helium 15 : This is my go-to sleeping bag for any ultra-light adventure. It’s 1lb. 15 oz., compresses to 15% of my pack space, is toasty enough to keep me warm in almost any situation and serves as a great blanket in warmer climates. With a water-resistant shell, at the end of the trip I was able to just unpack and “cowboy” it in the sleeping bag sans tent at Round Valley campground.
SLEEPING PAD
Thermarest Z-Lite: This pad is still the king of ultralight backpacking – as a complete closed cell solution, it has no danger of leaks or tears causing the pad to become useless in the middle of a backpacking trip. The best thing about this pad is that it’s totally worry-free to pull from the outside of your pack to lay on the ground for a lunch seat or a mid-day nap mattress without having to unpack all your gear and inflating a pad. What you gain in weight savings and utility, you unfortunately lose in comfort. Since we weren’t too worried about that factor (after 40 miles, I’m pretty sure I could sleep on a bed made of sharp rocks), it made perfect sense to bring the Z-Lite.
FOOTWEAR
Montrail Hardrocks : I had actually tried a variety of shoes on our practice runs, including the Salomon XT Wings and the Inov-8 Roclite 290’s, both very fast and light trail-runner / runner hybrids. It’s always good to know your own feet and joints, and I realized that I couldn’t go that light without sacrificing a lot of balance and support that I needed quite badly. Therefore when it came time to pick a pair of shoes, the Hardrocks were it – a great blend of durability, support, and weight. It was perfect for my feet for an event of this distance, since it kept my feet comfortable (not too sore and I didn’t feel every rock on my sole, unlike lighter shoes), as well as giving me the support so I could jog down mountains without feeling it in my knees afterwards. Indispensable as well were my Inov-8 Debris gaiter – with all that dust and scree, it becomes a huge pain to keep picking stuff out of your shoe. My scree gaiters were light and breathable so my feet didn’t overheat, but kept everything out.
BACKPACK
Osprey Aether 45 : My favorite backpacking pack, I’ve put over 3,000 miles on it and it’s still going strong. Unfortunately, it’s been discontinued but the line lives on in larger sizes. My favorite feature on this pack is the roll-top.
HYDRATION PACK
Nathan Elite 2.0 Hydration Pack : Probably the best pure hydration pack I’ve ever used, it holds a 2 liter bladder, two 10 oz. flasks, an 8 oz. Gu flask, 4 Clif Bars, 3 separate Gu Packets, my wind shell, emergency first aid kit and my Buff. Ultralight and extremely breathable, it also rides very well on the back due to a unique tensioning system.
ACCESSORIES
Aquamira : Brought it for the best lightweight non-iodine water purification in case of an emergency. Gu Energy Gel and Nuun Drink Tablets : This is the fuel that kept me going – lightweight but chock full of energy boost. Nuun Tablets – sugar free and carbonated so it doesn’t sit in your stomach, full of electrolytes and easy to drop a tablet into a flask instead of worrying about mixing powder and getting it all over the place.
OTHER GEAR
Leki Super Makalu ES : Almost the best piece of gear I would have used on this outing, as it saved me so much wear and tear on my knees, leaned on them to pull me uphill when my legs were losing strength, used them as balance for jogging downhill, saved me from a couple bad ankle rolls. Lightweight and extremely durable. I try to never go hiking without using poles, but on a trip of this distance, it’s an absolute must.
TIPS:
For this trip, a few things are essential – lots of practice with actual trail miles, since the muscle groups you’ll need are different than road miles or the treadmill, especially the quad and calf muscles for a lot of downhill miles. If you’re in the Southern California area, actually hiking the three trails you’ll be doing is an excellent idea since you’ll know what to expect on each mountain and pace yourself properly. And the most important thing is a sense of willpower, positive spirits, and also the sense to not push yourself beyond your limits. The willpower you’ll need to push yourself across – even at good health your body is just too fatigued and you’ll need more to get yourself up to the top. Positive attitude is required because of the magnitude of the event, and also because it’s in the spirit of the 8000 meter challenge, which is primarily an industry event meant to highlight the passions of the people in it.
HIGHLIGHT OF TRIP
For me, the highlight of the trip was the hike up to San Jacinto. Hiking up the Devil’s Slide Trail to get to the peak, starting at 11pm, it was one of those crazy things that you really don’t realize that you’re doing until you look back at it the next day. Three of just dragged ourselves (and each other) up to the top, fatigued to the point of delirium. Frankly, I can’t think of anything else I’d rather do!
THINGS TO BEWARE OF OR TO AVOID NEXT TIME
Obviously, making better time would have enabled us to make the tram, but sometimes, the best adventures come from those unplanned events. I loved the way we finished. That being said, if I do this again, I’d really like to make the last tram up!
Job Title: Catalog Print Production Artist Location: Corporate Office (San Diego) Status: Part-Time Experience Required: Catalog production experience and a minimum of 2 years industry experience required.
Skills & Abilities: Must have strong production skills with a good sense of design and be a self-starter, highly organized and collaborative-minded. Excellent communication skills and strong proficiency using InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop.
Contact Information:
Please send a cover letter with your resume, rate requirements, and samples in PDF file or link to your web portfolio to jayg@adventure16.com.
More on the 8,000 Meter Challenge by Kevin Lee, A16 WS Manager
(For more on the 8000 Meter Challenge, see Shian Sung’s blog entry above.)
GEAR REVIEW
Injinji Nubambo socks. Inov8 trail gaitors. Patagonia long sleeve silk weight capilene top. Headsweats Protech running hat. All of these items worked great during the event.
If I had to pick one piece of gear that worked better than expected during the recent 8,000 Meter Challenge, I would have to say my Injinji Coolmax Performance Series socks won top honors.
Injinji socks are not your ordinary socks because they have a very unique patented five-toed design. This design combines both the comfort and dexterity of being bare foot along with the protection of individual seamless anatomical toes sleeves for your toes. Injinji socks fit like a glove and don’t bunch up so they provide blister free protection not only for your toes, but for your entire foot too. The material blend of 75% Coolmax, combined with a little nylon and spandex, did a fantastic job of wicking moisture away from my foot the entire day.
During the 8,000 Meter Challenge I wore my Injinji socks the entire 40 miles and 14,000+ feet of climbing up and 14,000+ feet of climbing down without a single blister. While competing in many ultra marathons and triathlons since the early 1980’s, I used to slather my feet with petroleum jelly and use standard polypro liner socks to achieve the same Injinji blister free results. Now I don’t have to throw away my Vaseline and dirt encrusted socks after each long event! Injinji socks truly rock and I won’t ever do another long trail event without them!
TIPS: Test all of your gear prior to the event and keep it as light as possible without sacrificing durability and reliability.
HIGHLIGHT OF TRIP: Reaching the top of San Jacinto after 23 hours and 15 minutes.
THINGS TO BEWARE OF OR TO AVOID NEXT TIME: Don’t go out too hard on the first mountain and do your conditioning homework to make sure you are in shape to take on this type of challenge. I would highly recommend pre-hiking each of the three trails to establish a good idea of how long it is going to take.
Cold Water Campground–Mammoth Lakes Basin (Eastern Sierra)
By Jeanie Dessel, A16 Operations Manager
We spent two weeks car camping at the Cold Water Camp Ground. From this campground we hiked from the Duck Pass trail head to Arrow Lake, Skelton Lake, Woods Lake and Barney Lake, fishing the stream inlets and outlets with great success.
GEAR REVIEW CLOTHING: Icebreaker BODYFIT320 and 260 tops were perfect for the trip. It performed outstanding and I was glad we had multiple pieces. I used the Marmot Precip jacket for one rainy day and wished my whole family had one. Great piece for the price.
KITCHEN: Coleman 2-Burner Stove. Perfect for car camping. Used the adapter hose to hook up the stove and Coleman lantern to one propane bottle.
SLEEPING BAG: Used the The North Face Cat’s Meow, which was not big enough for one person and a dog. The A16 down bag was more like a comforter–perfect for car camping.
SLEEPING PAD: Both of my boys used the Coleman queen size air mattresses that were durable enough for them and their dog. No leaks!
TENT: Coleman 4-person camping tent. Great for two boys and their dog.
FOOTWEAR: Vasque Blurs were outstanding for day hikes. Offered great support and traction.
DAYPACK: Gregory day and a half packs were large enough for all day supplies while in the backcountry.
ACCESSORIES: Maglites, bug juice, Nalgene bottles for the entire family. Wish we had a water filter.
BOOKS / MAPS: Used a USGS topo book specifically for the Mammoth Lakes area. Great information and was able to locate a lake that we never had hiked to before.
TIPS: Should have had a water filter. We had to carry 2 to 3 quarts of water in each daypack for our all day hikes. Streams were plentiful so a filter would have been a better choice.
HIGHLIGHT OF TRIP: Fishing native trout (Browns, Brookies, and Rainbows) from the higher elevation lakes and streams. Visiting my fathers resting place. FAMILY TIME….
THINGS TO BEWARE OF OR TO AVOID: Bears like Nestle Ice Tea and Budweiser in the can. Should of brought Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Starbuck’s Mocha drinks in bottles!
200 Long Sleeve Scoop and/or Bodyfit 260 Tech Top, and Arc’Teryx Gamma SV Softshell. All are perfect for climbing and hiking in inclement weather. Very comfortable, durable, and keep me warm and toasty regardless of the changes in weather. For Kayaking, I wore the Prana Elisa Capris, Icebreaker Tech Tee lite, Olukai Haiku flip-flops, and Kaeonon Klemm polarized sunglasses.
TIPS: It’s always best to notify your Bank and Credit Card companies of your travels, particularly when traveling internationally. This is not only a safe guard to help protect your identity, but it can also help you save a few bucks in the end. International ATM’s usually need a 4-digit pin, so you may need to change your ATM pin. Also, if you are like me and never use Traveler’s Checks and rely on Credit Cards and ATMs, familiarize yourself with your Bank/Credit Card’s traveling fees. Most banks charge a flat fee for every ATM transaction, and may limit the amount you can withdraw in one transaction. Also, credit cards may hit you twice by (1)charging an exchange fee for every credit card purchase, as well as (2) charging you up to 3-5% of each purchase total. These charges can add up quickly! Because I contacted my bank and credit card before I left, I was able to negotiate all the fees down quite a bit, and even remove some.
San Gorgonio is the crux of the 8,000 meter challenge. Normally a fairly strenuous 15-19 mile round trip (actual mileage varies depending on who you’re talking to and how bitter they are), it reaches demonic proportions after doing something like Mt. Baldy. While not as consistently steep as Baldy, the varying grades become a steady uphill by the time you reach High Creek campground, halfway up the mountain. High Creek was still running at the time of the challenge, so people were able to refill water (we had cached some in case it dried out two weeks previous on a training run) there and catch their breath. Once sufficiently girded for the summit, it was an intense push to get up to the top of San Gorgonio, and fatigue combined with the increased altitude slowed our pace down considerably. Once at the top, we took a quick snack and picture and began racing downhill 9 miles – which is probably the most painful part of the hike.
respite in the summit hut, then headed slowly down, half-asleep, to Round Valley Campground at San Jacinto, where we laid out sleeping mats, sleeping bags and instantly passed out for 2 hours. We then woke up at 8am to hike another 3 miles down to the Palm Springs tramway where we would descend down to Palm Springs for a breakfast courtesy of Jansport, to congratulate the finishers of the 8,000 meter challenge. I was proud to count myself among one of them.
GEAR REVIEW
We spent two weeks car camping at the Cold Water Camp Ground. From this campground we hiked from the Duck Pass trail head to Arrow Lake, Skelton Lake, Woods Lake and Barney Lake, fishing the stream inlets and outlets with great success. 
TIPS: Should have had a water filter. We had to carry 2 to 3 quarts of water in each daypack for our all day hikes. Streams were plentiful so a filter would have been a better choice.