Jeff Wallach » Adventure Travel

Golf Road Warrior Discovers New Way of Lighting Certifresh Cigar

Jeff Wallach — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 01:16:20 +0000

Please don’t tell our wives, but the Golf Road Warriors have been known to smoke a few cigars– daily, that is– in our adventures

Please don't tell our wives, but the Golf Road Warriors have been known to smoke a few cigars-- daily, that is-- in our adventures in the world's best golf destinations. But there have been many occasions on which I went to my little leather cigar case in my golf bag to discover a dry stick that was a shadow of its former self due to having been in the bag since a round played several ...

The Eagle Has Landed (Actually, It’s A Hawk)

Jeff Wallach — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 01:15:24 +0000

While I did not make any eagles on either the King’s or Queen’s golf courses at Gleneagles Resort, in Scotland, I did encounter a

While I did not make any eagles on either the King's or Queen's golf courses at Gleneagles Resort, in Scotland, I did encounter a golden eagle in the lobby of the luxurious hotel. He'd come to fetch me-- on the arm of his keeper-- for my falconry lesson. For thousands of years, humans have been using birds of prey as a means of getting food. While my new friend Nigel was not able to hunt ...

The Slide

Jeff Wallach — Tue, 18 May 2010 23:20:25 +0000

All photos by Leon Werdinger, Ottertrack Productions “In the very last analysis, none of us knows whether this is wholly a secular world.

All photos by Leon Werdinger, Ottertrack Productions "In the very last analysis, none of us knows whether this is wholly a secular world. But if there are Spirits, surely they must reside in the mountain West. Their special places, where they most prefer to dip and twirl and revel must be in the deep canyons. Of those places, they must savor most of all those mystical spots where the power is the greatest, where the big ...

Swimming with the Fishes: 10 Underwater Adventures

Jeff Wallach — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 15:51:30 +0000

A Guide to Schmoozing Sharks, Meeting Manta Rays, and Traveling with a Porpoise If bonding with underwater species is your idea of a good time,

A Guide to Schmoozing Sharks, Meeting Manta Rays, and Traveling with a Porpoise If bonding with underwater species is your idea of a good time, various commercial and educational opportunities exist worldwide to study, swim beside, dive next to, and possibly even communicate with a variety of large, friendly, dangerous, and/or simply curious sea creatures. In fact, outfitters may promise to put you in the water with just about everything but the Loch Ness Monster. And you ...

Northwest Rivers Wild (and Tame)

Jeff Wallach — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 04:29:04 +0000

In my own humble opinion as a former professional guide, there is no better way to travel than on a river, whether you’re after a

In my own humble opinion as a former professional guide, there is no better way to travel than on a river, whether you’re after a white-knuckle whitewater adventure or a floating meditation, a remote escape beyond the reach of cell phones or an afternoon romp on a day when the city is too hot to bear. There is just something about moving water. I have seen grown men weep at the beauty of water flowing ...

High Places: Metaphor and Individualism in the American West

Jeff Wallach — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 16:52:51 +0000

Sometimes we find ourselves in the most unexpected places without any notion of how we got there, or why we’ve come. Confused by our own

Sometimes we find ourselves in the most unexpected places without any notion of how we got there, or why we've come. Confused by our own lives, we construct metaphors; if we stare hard enough at these, circumstances often converge into clearer perspective and we see beyond entropy to a gleaming horizon of meaning. One night last winter I found myself in such a place. Dressing to go out for dinner with friends I was visiting-- fresh ...

Passport to Adventure: The Best International River Trips

Jeff Wallach — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 23:09:37 +0000

All photos by Leon Werdinger/Ottertrack Productions. As a former professional whitewater guide I believe there’s no better

All photos by Leon Werdinger/Ottertrack Productions. As a former professional whitewater guide I believe there's no better way to travel than on a river—whether you're after a white-knuckle adventure or a floating meditation. If you're searching for an international escapade that involves more than visiting crumbling churches, and want to combine thrills and culture on your next vacation, a river outing might just be your E-ride ticket. According to Leon Werdinger, a professional outdoor photographer and long-time ...

Darkness in a Sun-Bleached Land

Jeff Wallach — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 20:12:36 +0000

Photo by Leon Werdinger. Introduction to “In a Dark Land: Murder, Mysticism, and the Militia in the Remote Desert Southwest” In May

Photo by Leon Werdinger. Introduction to "In a Dark Land: Murder, Mysticism, and the Militia in the Remote Desert Southwest" In May and June of 1998, three men who had trained themselves in wilderness survival and military tactics gathered an arsenal of semi-automatic and automatic rifles, handguns, and pipe bombs and enough supplies to hold out through a prolonged siege, and then went on a tear through the heart of canyon country in the desert southwest. What ...

The Breaks

Jeff Wallach — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:55:56 +0000

On a cool, overcast morning, I stood on the muddy banks of the Marias River with Mark Albers, then Montana Director for the conservation group

On a cool, overcast morning, I stood on the muddy banks of the Marias River with Mark Albers, then Montana Director for the conservation group American Rivers. Albers was my guide not only to the territory, but also to the environmental challenges facing this remote wilderness. Just downstream from us, where the Marias joined with the Missouri River, Lewis and Clark made one of the toughest decisions of their western journey. As Lewis wrote in his ...

Playa Las Tortugas: Eco-luxury (for humans and turtles) on Mexico’s Newly-Designated Costa Tortuga

Jeff Wallach — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 23:50:32 +0000

Two hours north of the hip, bustling beach scene of Puerto Vallarta, lies Playa Las Tortugas, a place where the only crowds consist of feeding

Two hours north of the hip, bustling beach scene of Puerto Vallarta, lies Playa Las Tortugas, a place where the only crowds consist of feeding birds and nesting turtles. Along a wide crescent of protected coastline, Playa Las Tortugas nestles between a natural, palm-lined estuary and miles of untracked beach. Although PLT is the type of place you visit to escape the frenzied pace of more popular beach resorts, if you’re anything like me you ...

The Most Exclusive Day Hike in the World

Jeff Wallach — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 00:18:21 +0000

As a laughably strong wind blew me off the narrow boardwalk above First Bog in Pu’u Kukui Preserve I sank calf deep into black mud. Some

As a laughably strong wind blew me off the narrow boardwalk above First Bog in Pu’u Kukui Preserve I sank calf deep into black mud. Some experts estimate that each foot of bog here represents about 10,000 years of vegetative growth, so I had just stepped back—literally— into prehistory. Which seemed appropriate in this eerie landscape reminiscent of something out of Jurassic Park. And given that barely any humans have had the opportunity to walk ...

Dino Might

Jeff Wallach — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 01:18:32 +0000

After hunting dinosaur bones all morning with paleontologist Jack Horner and his wife Celeste in the badlands of eastern Montana— tramping

After hunting dinosaur bones all morning with paleontologist Jack Horner and his wife Celeste in the badlands of eastern Montana— tramping through slick gullies and across crumbling plains silly with prickly pear cactus, sagebrush, and rattlesnakes-- we stopped for lunch and a geology lesson atop a high escarpment. As I dug into my sandwich, Horner pulled a rib out of his battered green army pack and commenced gnawing. Although this particular rib did not originate in ...

Yak-Packing Utah’s Escalante River

Jeff Wallach — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:42:54 +0000

Although this may seem obvious, the one essential ingredient of a great river trip is an adequate river. Paddling an inflatable kayak down a

Although this may seem obvious, the one essential ingredient of a great river trip is an adequate river. Paddling an inflatable kayak down a stream without enough water, I've discovered, demands the combined skills of mogul skiing, skateboarding, stick fighting, pole vaulting, and bobsledding. My friend Leon and I faced this riparian pentathlon one April on southern Utah's Escalante River. When we reached the Escalante after driving one of the most dramatic routes in America, down ...