Fat Tire Fun in Florida!

Ocala, FL.  This weekend we had a blast at the Fat Tire Mountain Bike Festival in Ocala, FL.  This weekend long festival, hosted by the Ocala Mountain Bike Association, is in its sixth year.  The festival provides an opportunity for riders from all over the southeast to get together and enjoy the beautiful trails near the Santos Trailhead.  With over 80 miles of trail of varying level, there is fun for all levels of riders. With almost 1,000 riders pedaling the trails, it is important to consider ways to minimize potential impacts to the land, and to take on pictures and leave only tracks!

   One of the highlights of the weekend was the Free Ride Demo at the Vortex Dirt Jump area of the park.  Here riders jumped, bounced, soared, and hit the dirt through an amazing free ride course.  In addition, there were numerous bicycle companies like Trek and Specialized, offering from demos of mountain bikes throughout the weekend.

After a day on the trails, 350 people camped out for the weekend.  The campground was swarming with bikes, trikes, and unicycles.  We even saw a Fat Tire Flyer (shown above) from our friends at New Belgium Brewery, based in Fort Collins, CO. 

Of course, no festival would be complete without a visit from the Big Guy himself.  Bigfoot was super excited to try out the fun park on a bicycle, weaving and bobbing his way around the dirt.  Above, Bigfoot meets Renee Blaney, former professional mountain biker and founder of the festival.  Bigfoot challenged the kids (and the "big kids") to slow down and ride through the middle of the muddy trail, instead of around it, as to not widen the trail and trample vegetation along side the trail unnecessarily.  

Finally, at the end of the festival, one lucky winner named Sunny, was jumping for joy as she went home with a brand new North Face Daypack.  Sunny became a member of Leave No Trace over the weekend and she couldn't help but be excited about all of the fun she had at the festival, and the good feeling she has from helping to support Leave No Trace programs.  Just look at her excitement!  Thank you to The North Face for their continued support of Leave No Trace, and a special thank you to our host Robert Arrieta, for a fun week full of outreach in Ocala, FL.
Respect the Resource...Kate and Tracy

Going Back to School

Recharging at the Grand Canyon

After a wild week jam-packed with events across the state of Arizona, we're base camped outside of Tucson in a beautiful state park. We're letting our batteries recharge as we soak in the desert sun before heading back to school tomorrow when we start our Leave No Trace Master Educator course with NOLS. The Master Educator Course is an intense five-day educational experience focused on Leave No Trace techniques and teaching. We're excited to be joining land managers, trail crew leaders, and other interested individuals on this course. Naturally, we'll let you know how it went when we get back. As an added bonus, Katie from the Center will be joining us on this course! We're excited to see her and learn as much as possible while trekking through a "sky island" in Arizona. See you next week, interwebs!

Plannin' Ahead Like a Boss,

Quinn & Frank

Subaru Master the Mountain Crested Butte

Great day today in Crested Butte with the Subaru Master the Mountain Event. I think there might have even been a Leave No Trace Bigfoot sighting? People tell me he was telemark skiing on the slopes today, but I wasn't fast enough to get a photo, maybe tomorrow?

Explore Your Parks-Denver, CO

Barr Lake State Park, CO

 Today we spent the morning at Barr Lake State Park to celebrate the Explore Your Parks event. The North Face started this exciting event last year, which encourages communities to come out and explore local parks in their area for FREE! Today's event included kayaking, biking, educational activities, and a special guest appearance from Bigfoot!

Team West spoke to hundreds of kids and families about the importance of Trashing Your Trash while enjoying time outdoors through the interactive game- How Long Does It Last?

We even had a surprise visit by the fabulous Outreach Department of the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics- Dave Winter and Betsy Workman!

Thank you to The North Face for starting this event, one that allows families to get outside and explore their natural, local world!  We look forward to the next Explore Your Parks event.  To find an event near you- click here!

Explore Responsibly...Kate & Tracy

350 at The North Face Endurance Challenge

Saturday we joined Kevin from The North Face and over 1,500 runners and fans at the Kettle Moraine State Park in Eagle, WI for fourth stop of The North Face Endurance Challenge! After a chilly start to the day, the sun came out and warmed the trails for all of the athletes. It was a perfect day for a race!
October 24th was also the International Day of Climate Action orchestrated by 350.org. Currently the concentration of carbon in the atmosphere is at 390 parts per million(ppm) . In an attempt to bring that number to a healthy level of 350 ppm and to help spread awareness of the dangerous levels of carbon in the atmosphere, we collected 350 signatures on our poster about the Bigfoot Challenge. The big guy was honored to help us take action and be a part of one of the over 4,000 events going on world-wide. All of these events are meant to encourage world leaders at the United Nations to re-think policies at the final meeting of the Climate Change Conference in Copehagen, Denmark this December.
It was an honor to be a small link in such a huge chain of events. World leaders will be unable to ignore this grassroots effort to let the people be heard. We are one COMMUNITY!

Safe travels...Kate and Tracy

The North Face: Never Stop Exploring Speaker Series

Go the distance, climb to the limit, ski the steeps, leap off a cliff and fly. Six top athletes from The North Face® share tales of adventure and extreme endurance in a live speaker series that takes you along for the ride. Meet them on their nationwide tour in fall 2009. More information can be found here.

The North Face® athletes: ultrarunner Diane Van Deren; extreme skier and BASE jumper Karina Hollekim; ski mountaineer Kit DesLauriers; ultramarathoner Dean Karnazes; and alpinists Conrad Anker and Jimmy Chin.

Regional Schedule:
Northeast
September/October 2009
Presenting Athlete: Dean Karnazes
New Haven, CT
Hartford, CT
New York, NY
Burlington, VT

South
October 2009
Presenting Athlete(s): Dean Karnazes / Kit DesLauriers
Chattanooga, TN
Knoxville, TN
Birmingham, AL
Charlottesville, VA
Austin, TX

Midwest
October 2009
Presenting Athlete(s): Diane Van Deren & Karina Hollekim / Conrad Anker & Jimmy Chin
Chicago, IL
Madison, WI
Minneapolis, MN

Rockies
October 2009
Presenting Athlete(s): Kit DesLauriers / Conrad Anker & Jimmy Chin
Albuquerque, NM
Bozeman, MT
Jackson, WY
Fort Collins, CO
Boulder, CO
Breckenridge, CO
Santa Fe, NM
Denver, CO

Far West
November 2009
Presenting Athlete(s): Diane Van Deren & Karina Hollekim / Conrad Anker & Jimmy Chin
Bend, OR
Portland, OR
Olympia, WA
Seattle, WA

Get your tickets here!

Help Leave No Trace up to $10,000 this week!

By shopping at your favorite North Face store next week, May 4th - 10th, you can help Leave No Trace earn up to $10,000! REALLY!

The North Face is donating 5% of every purchase you make next week to Leave No Trace, AND then matching that 5% dollar for dollar! That means 10% of your purchase will be donated directly to Leave No Trace, with the potential to earn up to $10,000. Getting involved is simple: just mention Leave No Trace at checkout, or bring the above code in with you, to your nearest North Face store.

Have someone with a birthday coming up? Need new clothes for the spring time? Replacing your tent? Head to your nearest North Face store next week, and mention Leave No Trace at the checkout.

This fundraiser is only happening at North Face retail stores. Want to find the one nearest to you? Visit The North Face website.