That was an awesome Deathmarch, it turns out canoe camping is really fun. Mace has some great photos on his Flickr page.

Summer Death March : Canoe-tastraphe! is on for this weekend, Corvallis to Independence. We have a classic TW crew lined up - Mace, Dabby, Coach Dan and Rev. Phil. Join us if you dare!

Summer Death March : Canoe-tastraphe!

That's right, the first aquatic Death March! Officially on the calendar for August 9-11 (and possibly much longer if anyone has time off).



















I was hoping to roll this into a much larger event including elements of Chvnk, Sprokettes, etc but that event seems to have mutated into a short float from Oregon City and a very long party on Ross Island. Which would be fun, but I've been dreaming of a much longer, river exploring adventure. So I plan to put in just north of the Eugene rapids on Friday morning and see how it goes. I hope to make it to Independence or Salem and possibly as far as Oregon City. It should be fairly easy to join in for a day or two, there are lots of places to launch and cell phones should work along the river.

I realize many Team Wreck members have little or no experience with canoes, kayaks or rafts but I think that's part of the Death March experience, being a little out of your element, snowshoeing, spelunking and now this.
Portland is awash with kayaks and canoes. You could borrow one, buy one cheap on craig's list, or build a raft. I would be glad to help, I think we could build a sturdy 8'x8' raft out of plastic barrels, 2x4s, plywood and steel cables for less than $60.

Willamette Water Trail

Willamette River Guide PDF

Detailed account of a trip up the Willamette with photos


You may wish to reread Huck Finn, Kon-Tiki or The Journals of Lewis and Clark for further inspiration.

Spring Death March

The Spring Death March was a lot of fun. We finally made it to Crack in the Ground and it was even better than expected. Mace took some lovely photos.

Spring Death March : Crack in the Ground - April 12-14

Mace has Friday, April 12th off so we're bumping it up a week. Leaving Portland early Friday morning, returning Sunday afternoon. Bring warm clothes and gas money.

Spring Death March

First reschedule! Looks like I'm working the weekend of March 22-24 and the Rickreall Gravel Classic is April 6 so I'm bumping the Spring Deathmarch to April 19-21.

Based on advice from integral team mate Mace I'm considering a trip to the desert, continuing our quest to visit Crack in the Ground and Hole in the Ground. We attempted this journey many years ago and had several adventures along the way, including meeting a very strange family camped by a dry lake, spelunking in ice caves, driving backwards at a high rate of speed and the now infamous tent peeing episode. We can do better! If you have ideas or suggestions please leave a comment.

February 1-3 -- Team Wreck Stuporbowl Party

The Kid and Wade are coming down to ride Blackrock and help me with some arborist work in the woods, feel free to join us.

The Rickreall Gravel Classic

On April 6th Milkshake is throwing an 80 mile gravel race that starts and ends at the farm.

Here's the route.

For those of us that are less ambitious I'm presenting a race within the race, 20 or so miles with stops at a few wineries, ending up at the top of Eagle Crest (the easy way) in time to cheer and heckle the real racers as they make the ascent (the hard way).

Announcing Quarterly Death Marches

That's right, I'm scheduling four Death March events for 2013. 

March 22-24

June 21-23

September 20-22

December 20-22

These dates are a little flexible. If a key team member has a brother getting married the same day I would consider a reschedule. The main point is I want to be locked into at least four fun camping trips next year.

Possible destinations:

Alvord Desert

Drift Creek wilderness

Spelunking at the Oregon Caves

Plains of Abraham, Mt. St. Helens (we tried this once, got rained out and were saved by the miraculous advent of Tarpytown)

I'd love to do a winter DM where we snowshoe up a mountain and build a snow cave, I've never done that.

Please leave your ideas in the comments.

Winter DeathMarch pt. 2

 If it's got the Bass Pro Shop seal you know it's good.

 Some members of our party thought we were tracking a bear. It turned out to be a dog, but his name was Bear, so I guess we were all right.

                                                    A creepy old mine shaft.

                                                    Snow spider!

Mace, his log, and some old mine equipment.

The Final Deathmarch

All photos by Cory the Kid.

  The Kid was worried it might not be hard enough so he suggested we carry some logs.

 Did we climb this hill? I have no idea because I forgot the map.

 We trudged through a winter wonderland all afternoon.

The payoff was a cozy little campsite near these falls.

Winter Deathmarch 2012 : Opal Creek

December 15-16, 2012

A throwback to the original deathmarch. Expect a 5 mile hike each way carrying everything you need for 24 hours. Please assume it will be 34 degrees and raining steadily and pack accordingly.
I don't imagine many team members will come out for this excursion but those that do will have some good stories to tell.

Scenes from the Mini-Secret Rickreall Closed

All photos by Cory the Kid.

Rickreall Open 2012

It's on. July 13-15, 2012. An old school Open with bikes, BB guns, bocce, points and prizes. 100 points to anyone that rides their bike down so start training now. More details to come.

A Volcanic Deathmarch

I've been threatening this for years, now it's on. September 16-18 we head for Mt. St. Helens to ride the Ape Canyon/Plains of Abraham/Windy Ridge loop and enjoy a midnight mystery hike through the Ape Caves.

Journey Down the North Umpqua

photo by Gabrial Amadeus, see more here.

Another fun weekend on the Umpqua. Big thanks to Scoutmaster Milkshake for the motivation, Dan for the van and keg and Mace, Maitland, Gabe and even Dabby for maintaining positive, winning attitudes.

Conspirasteve Down Under!

Conspirasteve was kind enough to let me do a little light editing of his latest screed, here's a sneak preview:


I would like to offer congratulations to our brilliant, yet humble and possibly drunk readership. Because once more, left clicking onto our verbose and bravado filled blog has filled yours truly with joy and left our enemies dismayed. But enough I say. Enough! It is time to dispense with our much maligned soliloquy for the serious business of science!

While I, Conspirasteve, have been preoccupied with other endeavours, including, but not limited to: Extreme pogo sticking, heckling body surfers and yelling at concrete. A little known "clique" in the Conspirasteve Nation have been "tirelessly" investigating the above title. I have been informed that these experiments were conducted in a controlled environment, possibly a clean room, most likely a hotel room and a bathroom. Rumors of single malt scotch impeding the progress is being investigated. None the less! Our internal auditing is of no consequence to you, our patient yet highly stylistic readership. The time for truth or consequence is upon us!

While stationed in our previous headquarters in the Northern hemisphere (herein referred to as PHQ), there was some debate amongst various factions of the Conspirasteve Nation regarding which direction the toilet bowl would "swirl". Now that we are ensconced in the new and marginally improved HQ, located in the Southern hemisphere (herein known as the HQ.New Style), we are ready to put it to the test.

While the author of this esteemed blog has at times taken some extreme positions on various issues TRUTH will not be, and shall not be a position in which we shall "opine". There are some absolutes in this world, my insouciant yet heavily burdened readers! These are "body surfing bad, tacos good" type scenarios which are immutable. With these positions in mind, and without further ado, we at last present the findings of of the Conpirasteve Nation's "Mystery of the Toilet Bowl Revealed" findings:

Yes indeed, the toilet bowl swirls in the clockwise rotation here in the HQ New Style as apposed to the PHQ's standard counterclockwise swirl!!!

With these findings, we here at Conpirasteve Nation, deeply buried within the in the Bunker of Truth(tm), do heap congratulations upon EZ E's mom for correctly predicting the outcome of our month long experiment! To borrow from the local patwa: Good on ya mate.

Up next! : In-laws and out-laws, a case study in duality

Death March Down Under : The Final Walkabout

Last night much of Team Wreck was on hand to say goodbye to Beefa as he heads off to the southern hemisphere. A plan was hatched to follow him there in the summer of 2012 for the ultimate Deathmarch. So start saving your pennies, it's an expensive ticket but I guarantee it'll be worth it.

Also, follow Beefa's exploits on his new blog, Conspirasteve Down Under.