Adventure Blog: Cascade Locks, Oregon

I'm a strong believer that every adventure requires a mission.  To seek out, ravage through Mother Earth, and find a hidden gem.  The Earth is full of them, trailblazers discovered them, stacked rocks help us find them again.  It's taken centuries to create them, undisturbed by humans, and they are perfect the way they are.  Waterfalls are one of our favorite hidden gems to explore to because of their beauty, uniqueness, and positive aroma caused by negative ions.   Michelle, the genius that she is, found a hike with 3 gorgeous waterfalls, 2 brilliantly engineered bridges, and several breathe taking views of the Columbia River.  The hike was incredibly fun and didn't require too much energy; it was perfect because it was a nice stop/break from driving on our way to Portland from Smith's Rock State Park.  Parking was easy.  There's free parking at the Ridge Trail, located on the map below, click on it to get directions:

We packed 1 bottle of water each, some snacks, and set out on the trail.  I don't know why we didn't bring our hammock but it would have been very useful throughout the hike.  The massive Columbia River runs adjacent to the trail, allowing several beautiful viewpoints/hammock spots along the way. I don't want to give away too much of the adventure but it was incredibly refreshing, full of vibrant green and semi-foliage, and was my favorite hike of our Oregon trip.  The weather was somber and dreary, the clouds gathered above us threateningly, as if the Lord finally answered the prayers of a desperate farmer during a drought.  There was no sun and the mist was heavy; I was absolutely in love.  Because of this place, my heart will forever be camped out in Oregon.

The Horsetail Falls:

Ponytail Falls/Horsetail Creek:

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Adventure Blog: Crater Lake, Oregon

Those that are near can feel its energy.  This was the most mystical place that we visited in Oregon.  Warm with a light sweet and fresh breeze, the smell of nature was intoxicating.  I can still close my eyes and feel the piney aroma of the evergreens fill parts of of my lungs that I forgot existed.  It was like baptising my lungs in nature with air.

If you ever go to Oregon, make sure you stop at the deepest lake in the United States, Crater Lake.
This volcano is astonishingly beautiful and mysterious as it lies in her greatness.   Michelle and I were lucky enough to enjoy and get to know her on our road trip this month.  She's definitely a site to see, Michelle and Crater Lake haha.  Michelle probably knew all of this info about Crater Lake because she's super smart, so here are something important facts she taught me/what I learned.

Meet Alli And Our New Designs!

Ali is our new model! Check out her instagram page here: @_alli_danielle
Ali is a 20 year old aspiring model from Las Vegas, Nevada.  She's currently studying at the University of San Diego and rocking our new fall line, coming out soon!

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Adventure Blog: Thor's Well, The Spouting Horn, and The Rainbow Bridge in Oregon

Located on the beautiful Oregon Coast lies a special treasure, in a magical place in Cape Perpetua.  Hidden in plain sight is a natural phenomenon that I never thought existed.  Our adventure was incredible.  The weather finally felt like Oregon; it was damp, cold, and heavily misty, like walking through a puffy cloud of eeriness.  

Michelle and I navigated our way through the fog into the evergreen forest where we took shelter from the light rain.  I got to smell one of my top 5 favorite smells, that aroma that reaches so deep into your lungs that it quenches your soul and your energizes your mind. The "wet nature smell" is where it's at.  I was too excited and I accidentally broke our umbrella with 5 minutes of leaving the car.  It's been years since I used one of those things and I forgot how to use it haha.  We hiked a little more through some badass tide pools and a bridge which lead us to some stairs that went down to Thor's Well, The Spouting Horn, and this incredible bridge.

Thor's Well: The girl and I went at a bad time, it was low tide so it wasn't over swelling or doing anything too crazy.  It was still cool how it swelled tho.  It was a super sketchy well that would definitely ruin your day if you fell in it.  The moral of the story, go between low-high tide.

The Spouting Horn: Like I said, I didn't know these things existed, natural ocean geysers. This badass water volcano shoots out more than 15 foot high vertical explosions of h2o every time a good wave comes.  It's pretty cool and it makes for a sweet picture if you can time it right.  I heard it was way better during high tide as well but I still thought it was cool.

Simple/Cheap Ways To Repel Insects and Bugs While Camping

I hate annoying bugs and I want to kill them all! Unfortunately they are very important to our ecosystem and we shouldn't kill them. So here are a bunch of ways to repel insects and bugs while you are camping:

Lemon Eucalyptus Oil: I heard that this is just as effect as the stuff in insect repellent. It's also used to prevent deer tick bites. Spray it on your skin and be bug free!

Soybean Oil: Can keep mosquitoes away for about 1 hour and 15 minutes!

Dryer Sheets: If you put a dryer sheet in your pocket while you hike or camp, it can repel all sorts of insects and bugs like gnats, flies, and mosquitoes.

Garlic: If you eat so much that you sweat garlic, bugs will stay away from you. But your friends might too.

Herbs: Place basil, citronella, lemongrass, and mint plants around the campground to help repel insects and bugs.

Cinnamon: If you pour cinnamon on the ant hills, they go crazy and will leave.  Pour some in a half circle in front of you tent too prevent ants from coming into your tent.

Baking Soda: A less expensive alternative to cinnamon.  Repels ants/bugs and stops ant trails.

Baby Powder: Sprinkle around the camp ground to repel Bees and Wasps.

Chalk: Repels ants and stops ant trails

Get Rid Of Standing Water: Bugs and Insects love standing water like swamps, puddles, open cans, and beer/food/drink liquid.

Make A Trap:  If you get a cup, fill it with water, add sugar, make a cone out of paper/tape and place it so that it goes into the cup but doesn't touch the water; you can make yourself a trap for most bugs with wings.  Put it in random places around camp or the perimeter and catch all the bugs before they get to you.

Citrus Peels: If you have ants, especially red ants. The ants will eat the citrus and die because they cant handle the acid.

-B

Good Vibe Waterfalls

I'm semi addicted to chasing waterfalls and recently I discovered the reason behind this addiction, waterfalls make people happy.  It sounds crazy at first but it makes sense.  If we look into a microscope we'll see that waterfalls produce negatively charged ions in the surround air.  When a person inhales negative ions, their blood becomes enriched with good vibes.  There has been some research on this subject such as Pierce J. Howard, a Ph.D. and author of The Owner's Manual for the Brain: Everyday Applications from Mind-Brain Research.  Howard claims:

"High concentrations of negative ions are essential for high energy and positive mood," he reports. "Negative ions suppress serotonin levels in much the same way that natural sunlight suppresses melatonin. Hence the invigorating effect of fresh air and sunshine and the correspondingly depressed feelings associated with being closed in and dark."

He continues:

"The atmosphere we breathe normally is full of positive and negative ions," he adds. "Air-conditioning, lack of ventilation, and long dry spells remove negative ions." 

He adds:

"The best ratios of negative to positive ions are associated with waterfalls and the time before, during, and after storms," says Howard. "The worst are found in windowless rooms and closed, moving vehicles."

It's not just waterfalls that have this negative ion effect, the beach is another example.  Anywhere that has water colliding with water, will have an atmosphere full of negative ions.  One of my favorite things to do is to hike and search for waterfalls and now I know why.

-B

(source)

Adventure Blog: Exploring San Diego: Ho Chi Minh Trail

This trail is pretty badass, it can also be extended to be even more badass by hiking to Gliderport as a detour.  This is what separates a hike from an adventure.  I don't want to give anything visual away because part of adventuring is exploring and it's way more fun when you get to see the scene for yourself for the first time.  But I added some pictures at the end for you folks that don't give a F.  The trail isn't that long but it is kind of difficult and semi-sketch.  It's not easy which makes it a pretty sweet date/adventure.  Here is the entrance to the trail and a link to for DIRECTIONS.

Here's a list of things I packed and would suggest for your badass adventure but don't litter your trash please:

• 1 Fjallraven Classic Backpack
• 1 Beach Towel
• 1 Canteen filled with ice cold water
• 1 bag of trail mix
• 1 bag of chips/other snack
• 1 Good Company Apparel Summer hoodie
• 1 beach toy ie: frisbee, football, hula hoop
• 1 bluetooth speaker
• 1 external battery charger
• 1 phone chord
• 1 mini tripod 
• 1 board shorts/bathing suit
• 0 shoes, you can do this barefoot if you're badass