Any wine with a cairn for a logo is a must-buy!

I first saw this wine on the shelves a few weeks ago, snapped a photo on my Blackberry and sent it to a few hiking friends.  How could a wine with a cairn for a logo and a name shared by my favorite local hiking spot not catch my eye!  Look, I’m not an expert but I do know I like what I like.  And this wine has found a place on the list of wines I like.  The price lands at about $12 making it a possibility for any occasion.

I’d recommend it.

Disclaimer: Wine tastings and reviews aren’t a regular part of the Trail Sherpa experience and I doubt that they will become a regular part of our content offering here.  But there are a few reasons why I decided to try this wine and spend a few minutes writing up this post.

My motivations for this review

1. Thanks to the 2004 indy flick Sideways starring Paul Giamatti it’s become cool to bash on Merlot.  But the year before the movie released I married my wife at the Gainey Winery in Solvang where the yet to be released movie was filmed.  I’m indifferent about Merlot in general but sure do love the wine region north of Santa Barbara.  Did I mention that this winery is in Modesto and no where near Solvang!
2. The logo for the Red Rock Winery is a cairn that is highlighted by one red rock.  Appropriate name I guess.
3. Red Rock is the national recreation area to the west of Las Vegas and stands as one of my favorite hiking areas.  That’s where Bridge Mountain, one of my favorite hikes, can be found.  How could I not try a wine of the same name?
4. Lastly, though the story behind the name of the winery is not apparent to me at this time, I would guess that it is a story that in some way reflects the founder’s passions for the outdoors.

So how did it taste?

It was really tasty!  Tasted more like a Cabernet than a Merlot if you believe my wife.  The winery website says that the 2008 Reserve Merlot “opens with aromas of blackberry, raspberry and ripe cherry” and we both agreed.  Their website also suggests that this wine be paired with an assortment of dishes from goat cheese to pasta in red sauce.  We pushed the limits, enjoying our bottle with a gourmet mushroom pizza of my creation, followed by a salad with an assortment of garden fresh fix’ins and a small mound of chocolates.  The 2009 Reserve Merlot paired well with all courses.

Get your hands on some Red Rock wines

You can use the search tool on the Red Rock Winery website to find a retailer near you or visit your local Whole Foods.  Red Rock wines are also offered on the Barrel Room website.

Trail Sherpa | Wine Tasting: Red Rock Winery 2008 Reserve Merlot

The #1000Words series highlights the images we’ve captured on the trail that tell a story that resonates with us.  As the saying goes “A picture’s worth a thousand words” and we believe it.  Share your images in the comments or on Twitter using the hashtag #1000Words.

Tim’s great #1000Words series of posts inspired me to contribute one of my own.

View from the Summit: Split Mountain (14,064 ft)

Due to the heavy snowfall and late melt of 2011, we were unable to get over a pass on our big summer backpacking trip. After reaching the pass and realizing we wouldn’t be able to get to the other side we had to come up with a new plan. We decided that our new target would be the nearest California 14er, Split Mountain. Two days later we experienced the greatest summit day ever. The weather was as perfect as you can get in the Sierra, the summit had a comfortable lounging rock, the views captivated me, and the disappointment of having our original plans foiled was replaced by the exhilaration of looking at my favorite mountains from above.

All that I could think as I sat there on this perfect summit day: ” This is why. This is why I do it.”

Trail Sherpa | #1000Words: This is Why

The #1000Words series highlights the images we’ve captured on the trail that tell a story that resonates with us.  As the saying goes “A picture’s worth a thousand words” and we believe it.  Share your images in the comments or on Twitter using the hashtag #1000Words.

At 3000 years old Raintree makes old look good

One of my first hikes in the Mt Charleston Wilderness was on the North Loop to Raintree.  This majestic bristlecone pine is the oldest living thing in the Spring Mountains.  Standing guard just below Mummy’s Toe, it still looks massive.

Trail Sherpa | #1000Words: Raintree makes old look good

As outdoor bloggers, we are constantly looking for new ways to tell our stories and distribute them to the people that are interested in the great outdoors.  We’ve been discussing this process internally here at Trail Sherpa as a team for quite some time now.  We’ve discussed the best practices for telling a story online, how best to share those stories online, and most importantly, how to find and engage readers to build a community around our shared passion.

It’s the challenge that faces every outdoor blogger and the one that we were inspired to answer.

We spent months looking at hiking, backpacking, gear, and outdoor related blogs and websites.  We discovered a few trends:

• Most of us blog as a hobby, not a business.  Resources are limited, but passion and creativity most certainly are not.
• The story is more than the hike itself or the trail report; it can be about the mental and physical challenges as much as the author’s personal philosophy for interacting with nature or even the struggle between fear and the desire to overcome.
• Hikers and backpackers are committed to their experience on the trail. They often look for ways to improve those experiences by making custom gear or by seeking advice from fellow adventurers.
• Most of us are more willing to share on the trail than almost anywhere else in our lives.  We see that carry over to the online community we belong to as well.  The great outdoors is a community we all share.

So we set out to create a network of blogs and websites to help hikers, backpackers, custom gear makers, and outdoor organizations share their stories with the outdoor community.  We call it Sherpa Sites.

What is Sherpa Sites?

Sherpa Sites is a hosted blogging network designed specifically to meet the needs of hikers, backpackers, and outdoor organizations.  Like Blogger.com or WordPress.com, Sherpa Sites provides a platform on which you can build a website or blog in just minutes and begin publishing your content.  But unlike those two platforms, Sherpa Sites was built with specific functionality and design elements for outdoor brands.  Sherpa Sites are much more complete out of the box with outdoor themes, preformatted sidebar, integrated functions for eCommerce and membership, and SEO templating.  We’ve tried to do as much of the setup as we could so that you can start blogging effectively within minutes.  Of course, Sherpa Sites owners can further customize their sites as much as they want.

The Global Network

But Sherpa Sites is more than just a hosted blogging platform for outdoor bloggers.  Sherpa Sites is also a content network powered by the member blogs.  All content that is created on a Sherpa Site is syndicated to the Trail Sherpa website.  This increases the exposure for that blog and helps Sherpa Site owners build a readership quickly while at the same time providing a central content hub for the entire network.  With a Sherpa Site, your content and products are visible not just on your site but are also excerpted on www.TrailSherpa.com in global feeds that display the content from all sites on the network.  Global feeds for blog posts, trail reports, gear reviews, trail recipes, and products will provide your blog with visibility that reaches well beyond just your domain.

Goals for Sherpa Sites

Our goals for Sherpa Sites were clearly defined from the very beginning.  We want to:

• Make it quick, easy, and affordable for anyone to create an outdoor website or blog
• Design themes and functionality that help hikers, backpackers, and outdoor brands tell their stories more effectively
• Provide a platform that allows site owners to scale quickly and expand functionality as needed without concern for the back-end management
• Promote the members of the network by aggregating excerpts of blog posts, trail reports, gear reviews, trail recipes, and products on the Trail Sherpa site to foster readership for all sites on the network

Create a Sherpa Site

We haven’t set a firm launch date for Sherpa Sites yet but it will be very soon.  We are actively testing the platform now to work through the bugs and test functionality under various setup scenarios.  That’s a challenge given the countless ways the platform can be used to configure a website!

We are inviting anyone interested in Sherpa Sites to pre-register now.  Anyone that pre-registers will get a month free PLUS a chance to win 6 months free!

We will also provide pre-registrants with information on the platform as we move through testing and up to the release date.  There is no obligation for pre-registering but it is a great way to ask questions and learn more about the platform before it goes live.

Already have a site?  No worries, our design team can help you migrate your existing site to the network.  We can even discuss more ambitious options for anyone that is interested in a full overhaul of their site.  Just let us know how we can help.

Trail Sherpa | Sherpa Sites for hikers, backpackers, and outdoor brands

The #1000Words series highlights the images we’ve captured on the trail that tell a story that resonates with us.  As the saying goes “A picture’s worth a thousand words” and we believe it.  Share your images in the comments or on Twitter using the hashtag #1000Words.

I'm not the first person to shoot this scene but how could I resist!

My wife and I were expecting our first son when it hit us that life was about to change forever.  I wouldn’t call it “panic” but we decided to take a road trip to celebrate the change that was coming.  At 8 months pregnant, we made our way north into Wyoming, my wife’s home state, and into Jackson.  It was early May and 2008 had been a record year for snowfall.  We took this shot on our final day in the Grand Teton National Park as we navigated north to Yellowstone.  Seems like the perfect way to celebrate the next phase in our lives.

Trail Sherpa | #1000Words: Grand Teton National Park

The #1000Words series highlights the images we’ve captured on the trail that tell a story that resonates with us.  As the saying goes “A picture’s worth a thousand words” and we believe it.  Share your images in the comments or on Twitter using the hashtag #1000Words.

Hiking with kids is a perfect time to pass on knowledge

Father’s Day 2011 may go down as the best ever for me.  It was the first real hike I’d ever done with my oldest son, not quite 3 years old at the time.  We explored the desert approach to Oak Creek Canyon in what turned out to be a 4 mile hike.  Every other step was accented with a sharp “Dad, what’s this?”.  I was happy to pass on what I could…and make up what I couldn’t!  You have to love hiking with kids.

Trail Sherpa | #1000Words: Hiking with kids

The #1000Words series highlights the images we’ve captured on the trail that tell a story that resonates with us.  As the saying goes “A picture’s worth a thousand words” and we believe it.  Share your images in the comments or on Twitter using the hashtag #1000Words.

Are we really ever off the grid?

My wife and I owned a cabin in southern Utah and would spend time on the trails during our weekend escapes.  We loved it because it represented an escape, a distance between us and the rest of the world.  On a hike in 2006, we came across this phone.  It gave us a great laugh but it begged the question “Are we really ever off the grid?”.

Trail Sherpa | #1000Words: Are we really ever off the grid?

We’ve been testing every GPS mapping app and plugin we could find here on Trail Sherpa.  And the results have been disappointing.  That is, until we found Breadcrumbs.

Their web-based GPS track management app is very easy to use, intuitive for the first time user, and loaded with tons of cool features.  Did I mention the 3D rendering!  We used Breadcrumbs to embed a GPS track for our last trail report for Bridge Mountain.  Take a look.

The best part is that the team at Breadcrumbs is just getting started.  They recently released a new version that I have admittedly not had time to test much yet.  But make no mistakes, I will run it through the paces.  I know their team is very excited about it and they have a few new things in the works that I wish we could share.  But I promised to keep their secret and I will do just that.

Recently I had a chance to chat with the two lead guys at Breadcrumbs, Christoph and Stewart.  Below is a snippet from that conversation.

What is Breadcrumbs?

Breadcrumbs is a online GPS track management application that allows users to visualize (in 3D), organize, edit and share their GPS data and associated photos/videos. Breadcrumbs improves on the average desktop GPS management software and places it on the web; the application is free and can be used to track any outdoor activity, from hiking to skiing. We also have an active community and you can search over 50,000 tracks to help you plan your next adventure.

What inspired you to create this platform?

When I first bought a Garmin Etrex and started tracking my snowboarding runs I was really disappointed with the software Garmin provided. I ended up exporting data from their application and using Google Earth for the visualization due to its realistic representations. I then started thinking about how to attach photos and videos (I had a helmet camera), the only solutions available were long-winded and technical. Another problem that I encountered was that there was no easy way to share my adventures with friends and family. I decided to take the problems into my own hands, found a business partner and Breadcrumbs was born.

How do you use the service yourselves?

We are both outdoor enthusiasts one of us living in Vancouver, Canada and the other at the foot of the Alps in Austria so we have endless opportunity to take Breadcrumbs for a test-drive.

Whenever I am out biking, snowboarding or hiking I switch my GPS devices on and track my route. Once uploaded to Breadcrumbs I like to view the statistics on how long I have been out, how many miles I travelled etc. Looking at the track in 3D is also fun, especially if I have been somewhere interesting such as the Grand Canyon. As I live a long way from my friends and family, I also like to share my tracks on Facebook so they can see my adventures too.

What’s coming next for Go Breadcrumb users?

We are currently working on a complete overhaul of our website with improvements to the design, a new learn section with help articles and a dashboard showing a feed of your latest tracks to name but a few things. I think the changes will dramatically improve the user experience.

Also we now have 3 smartphone integrations which allow you to track you adventures on Android and Nokia devices and working with developers we hope to expand this selection further.

What do you see as the role for GPS data and apps in the outdoor experience?

Good question. Discoverability of new places is one great benefit, being able to search other people’s GPS data and view it on a 3D map, allows you to plan your trip in advance and make sound choices on where you go based on the group you are with. Apps make this even easier as they allow you to make decisions and search while you are away from your computer.

Another benefit is navigation. I have recently been getting into backcountry hiking/skiing trips and being able to upload tracks to your device and then follow them is a huge benefit. You have to be careful though, if the GPS device dies for whatever reason you still need to be able to make sure you can work the trusty map and compass!

Let’s not forget it is also fun to visualize your adventure and share what you have been up to with family and friends.

Final thoughts

These guys, and their service, have changed the course for mapping services for outdoor bloggers.  Lots of sites offer similar functionality but require that your post to their site and link to it from there.  Others are package nicely in WordPress plugins but offer very little flexibility in how that map is displayed.  And a vast majority of the plugins we’ve used fail to update with WordPress leaving users in a bad position every time a new version of WP is released.

Breadcrumbs is a solution for most of those problems.  What they are working on for their next release will be even better.  Give them a look and test their maps on your blog.  You can do even more than we have in our initial test and the new platform holds many new ways to engage with other hikers.  This solution is a step in the right direction and one that I think will quickly become a favorite for many outdoor bloggers.

Thanks again to Stewart and Christoph for letting me peak under the hood and for kindly sharing their time for this interview.

Trail Sherpa | Interview: Breadcrumbs – A GPS mapping app

I had an opportunity to use Rafflecopter recently for a giveaway we were doing on Trail Sherpa to accompany our first gear review of the Geigerrig Hydration System.  The promotion went seamlessly and one lucky hiker walked away with a new Geigerrig pack and hydration engine.  Trail Sherpa got lots of new visitors, increased activity, and a collection of new faces in Connect, our online community for hikers.

What is Rafflecopter and how can it help outdoor bloggers and websites?

Rafflecopter is a web application that allows blogs to run and host giveaways on their website with an embeddable widget. Holding a giveaway can be a pain, especially if you have a ton of entrants. Rafflecopter takes all aspects of running a giveaway that is difficult and makes it easy: from setting them up, keeping track of entries, as well as moderation. Rafflecopter also makes it simple for folks to enter, which in turn increases the amount of entries you might receive.

What inspired you to create Rafflecopter?

Rafflecopter was started after interviewing bloggers for another project we were working on. Realizing that almost everyone was running giveaway promotions through blog commenting, we saw this as an inefficient way to run giveaways from both a blogger and entrant perspective. The opportunity was there to streamline the process, so we decided to give it a shot

Any plans to integrate more directly with Facebook?  What about Google+?

We’d love to integrate with Facebook as well as Google +. But Rafflecopter was originally created to help bloggers. That said, we’re sticking to perfecting our current application before we start to expand into those areas

How many giveaways have been powered by your platform?

Many bloggers in different niches have been taking advantage of Rafflecopter; from small businesses with a blog, to mom/parenting blogs, pet blogs, tech blogs, outdoor blogs, etc. At time of this writing, over 40k giveaways have been created using Rafflecopter’s application. We’ve run giveaways with 50 entries all the way up to 150k+ entries

What’s coming next from Rafflecopter?

We’re getting really close to introducing a new updated version of Rafflecopter that will no longer track entrants by cookies. This will include a sign in system as well as some additional bells and whistles meant to make it even easier for you to track your giveaway.

Final notes

I’d like to thank Greg for walking us through our first giveaway and for sharing details on where their service is headed.  Their app is certainly something we will use again.  We even have it powering a giveaway for one of our Trail Sherpa Design clients right now!  Rafflecopter is set to release the new version of its widget in the coming days.  You can read about here.

Trail Sherpa | Interview: Rafflecopter

I have been reading lots of stories of hikes gone wrong lately.  I covered the topic of rescues in Yosemite in a post a few weeks ago. And this week another story of rescue hit the press. He went off trail and found himself stuck with no cell phone and without supplies.  He suffered from frostbite but apparently escaped without more serious injuries.  I am grateful for that.

But it begs the question.  How do so many hikers find themselves in this type of predicament?

In almost all of these stories there is an underlying mistake.  They all fail to prepare for the elements that they are trying to conquer.  So I thought it might be helpful to share a list of the 5 things to take with you on a day hike.

Here’s my list:

1. A cell phone – you may not always have a signal but the added weight is negligible even for the UL crowd. Plus it can be used for the light!  Mine even has a calculator for backcountry arithmetic.
2. A knife – I’ve only used my a few times on day hikes but you never know when a knife will be useful.
3. More layers than you need – My hikes here in the desert usually start with short sleeve temperatures but the deep canyons cool off earlier than sundown.  It gets cold fast and extra layers are always helpful.
4. Knowledge that someone knows your route – Ok, I had to twist that to make it fit, but I always write in on the board in my kitchen, on a tablet that I drop on the kitchen island, and tweet my wife from the trailhead to confirm.
5. More food and water than you need – I can hear the UL backpackers grumbling already, but for day hikes I always take more than I need.  Who knows, a night in a desert canyon with a torn ACL could feel a bit less challenging if you had water and a sandwich or bar.  The knee would still hurt like crazy.

What’s on your list?  Certainly the terrain and weather will dictate what you put in your pack.  But what are your must-haves for a day hike?

Trail Sherpa | The Basics: 5 things to take with you on a day hike