Anyone with kids knows that they grow. Fast. Clothes you buy in the spring may well not fit by fall. So why spend top dollar on camping clothing that, at most, will see one season of duty? Here is my selection for a great, inexpensive alternative to name brand outdoor clothing for kids.

Colorado is fortunate to have seven National Forests that offer some of the most pristine wilderness found anywhere. Earlier this month, Colorado submitted a request to Agriculture Secretary Vilsack asking him to adopt Colorado's Roadless Rules, which seek to protect just over four (4) million acres of roadless areas within those National Forests. This is an important issue locally and nationally. The U.S. Forest Service has built and maintains approximately 374,883 miles of road within the National Forests. Lay them out end to end and you could travel around the world 15 times! One estimate has suggested that only 6% of Colorado's National Forests lay more two (2) miles from a road. More importantly, roads may be the single most important object that falls squarely between the Forest Service's role of maintaining the multi-use of our public lands.

After his first snowshoe trip up at Brainard Lake Recreation Area, my oldest son decided he wanted to start his own web-page to detail his trips. Afraid of the competition, I told him he could be a Guest Author here on our blog. What follows is his story, as dictated by him and typed by me. While minor grammatical corrections might have slipped in, I tried my best to write down exactly what he said, exactly as he said it (as one long stream of thought).