Walnut Creek Adventure Troupe

How 2 4 y’all

Alεks — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 03:19:30 +0000

Improv @ Baker Beach

Alεks — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 21:40:48 +0000

Adventures past but not forgotten: Mendocino/Albany CornParty — anybody with pictures feel free (and by that i mean feel compelled) to submit on the Ning (yeah, laur and snowblake this means you).

The latest Snarles visit to SF resulted in a charades style off-the-grid beach improv spectacular — from the utterly offensive to the truly inspired we covered some ground this past weekend. Literary allusions abound as we cross the bridge to terabithia (or didn’t), took a few small steps in space or did some requisite industrial lifting. The four of us (Laur, Brake, Char, Leks) represented the (clapclapclap) four directions, and boy did we turn it out.

Philosophy Hour:

So crafty charades really work in a mesmerizing light show of fog, ocean and human behavior from the nude to the new age. But regardless of the specifics something really works about the beach — any conjectures? If not the beach, where does creativity str!ke?

Hit me in the comments, email, on the ning or on twitter! Just hit me baby.

Adventure Challenge Winner!

Alεks — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 21:35:04 +0000

Congratulations to Dimitri aka JimmyTree for winning our first online Adventure Challenge!

Prize-winning entry by Dimz

He’ll be getting a brand new shirt from next week’s Shirts on Sale listings. Want to suggest more prizes? Place your suggestions for Adventure Challenge rewards in the comments or hit us at the Ning!

Special thanks to this week’s Adventure Challenge Creator, Lauren. Keep your eyes out for our next Adventure Challenge coming soon!

dreams, memes, Big Sur-prises and Adventure Challenge!

Alεks — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:30:22 +0000

After an arduous trip across the western states,

Somewhere. or Nowhere, actually

I’ve landed on the California Coast to join our West Coast Correspondant, Lauren:

Lauren overlooking Julia Pfeiffer SP

Our first out-of-sf adventure together (with newest member Blake in tow!) started out beachside Carmel, haunting the steps of dubCAT members Char and Ang. After a few misty moments on the beach, we snoozed in a not-quite-quaint cottage before heading out to Point Lobos for tidepools, sea lions and very adorable crabs. 4am dreams of cataclysm aside, we were almost fully rested by the time we packed our fruits and chocolate into the xBox and started out.

Point Lobos Greens

tidepools!

Then we passed through a few amazing surprise vistas in the fog on our way to Julia Pfeiffer Park in Big Sur. The 80 drop waterfall onto the sand beach of the cove was breathtaking — the perfect way to escape from urban claustrophobia.

Marine Layer off Big Sur Coastal Highway

Leks & Laur at McWay Falls in Julia Pfeiffer SP

Lauren surprised us all with a fully channeled Gandalf-at-the-bridge re-enactment.

Meme quality!

ADVENTURE CHALLENGE

To take on this Adventure Challenge – submit your own picture or video of YOUR challenge to the Balrog with a staff (or creative instrument) on the dubCAT ning!

The Winner will receive a free shirt of their choice from next week’s ShirtsonSale listings. Choose from dozens of original designs from TeeFury, Teextile, Shirt.Woot and more! Contest closes Sunday, July 26th at midnight. You shall not pass up this adventure challenge!

dubCAT on Twitter

Alεks — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 22:39:49 +0000

For a daily dose of our troupes ramblings (literal and literary?) check out our new Twitter Page!

Sneak Peek at our new Badges

Alεks — Fri, 22 May 2009 19:24:10 +0000

We’re pleased to showcase a few of our Badge designs here:

These Badges represent the broad variety of challenges our members face and recognizes some of the special qualities our Adventure Partners have to offer. Every tree, like every snowflake (and Team Member) is unique. Some are deliciously tough characters with the kind of hickory grit hardwood you can’t help but respect, while others have a sweeping delicate grace that just makes them good company. The Bagdes reflect both lifetime and cumulative achievements of personality. Because after all, we put a lot of work into those.

The May of the year

Alεks — Wed, 20 May 2009 06:06:03 +0000

We’ve slid into summer almost before we were ready. Its sweltering, give or take a few cold fronts blustering through, and the dense leaves and overgrowth make the trails as opaque as the futures of most our members. Over half our collective is in a major move, whether to a new house, job, city, lifestyle or age. Good luck to everybody in their transient stage!

Have you ever began a journey and as soon as you start, the stress and concern that’s been driving you crazy melts away and you enter an entirely new mode? Personally I feel relieved and different immediately, like all of a sudden I’m in in Hermes’ colorful, zesty world of chance (and he’s way cooler than whoever was leading up to that point).

Women of the World & Walnut Creek

Alεks — Thu, 07 May 2009 08:00:19 +0000

The Troupe has been undergoing major advances in recruitment! Hooray! Thanks to everybody who gave us the gift of their presence this spring. As a very special Member Spotlight, let me introduce some of our fine new Adventure Partners!

Amanda: Adventure Partner; International and North American Extremities Liaison (INAE)

This woman of steel has been active in the adventure scene since the very beginning. She initiated many of the rural Arkansas Shady Shadows expeditions in the late 80′s and cross-crossed the globe as a student seeking exotic animals to tend.

Known for her outstanding compassion and dedication to the wellbeing of our many legged and feathered companions, she also has the chops to handle extreme enterprises of the tundra, desert and tropical environments. Amanda remains our most seasoned International partner to date. Ask her about Costa Rica, Mayalsia, Ethiopia, Namibia or Canada !

Stay tuned for her exclusive TrailTalk video interview. (Want to see it published faster? Check out our new Volunteer section for opportunities to join our Team!) Until then, take a look at more of our adventure partners after the jump:

Magsfins: Walnut Creek Troupe Adventure Partner

Known as Magsfins the Majestic, Magsfins the Munificent, and sometimes just Molly, this duckie brings a humour and much needed practicality to the trails. Magsfins also has extensive history in urban adventuring, improvising with household (and often municipal) fixtures. Our latest business in the park was, as always the perfect blend of imagination, allegory, and trying not to fall in the damn water or get scratched to hell. Mags, we almost made it! But go ahead and sass that tree. It needs it.

Stacey: Walnut Creek Troupe Adventure Partner

This homefry has it crackin. She may share our country roots but trust that Stacey girl to make the rule-breaking sweat pants and dangly earrings combo an essential (and truly fabulous) part of her Trail Traipsing Couture. Among her many contributions to the troupe, she helped institute and promote our Sashay and Fasion badge categories. Hoping to earn one? Get ready to deliver a Covershot worthy of Mark’s Art.

Danielle: Adventure Partner; Adventure Challenge Consultant

Are you up for an Adventure Challenge? You’d better be, because our our new Challenge Consultant is a veteren warrior of the peaks and passes of British Columbia’s Coast Mountains. When not inspiring us to new levels of audacious daring, she’ll improvise movement from her incredible bellydance and hula repertiore. Danielle defines a new generation of multi-talented body-aware trailblazers.

She also knows good chocolate ganoush (and isn’t afraid to ask).

Spring 2009:

Danielle displays the coveted "Trail Fresh" look

This is how we do

Mr. Knobbs hosts another one.

The closing moments couldn't be better. Thanks for an amazing spring!

Ecoshamanism and your Local Landscape

Alεks — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 02:21:06 +0000

“Many of us have and will receive the call to learn from indigenous shamans, and we should certainly honor and respond to that calling. But even more important is to learn and apply our shamanic techniques just like the ancient shamanic tribes did–by immersing ourselves in our land, learning from the spirits of our place, and learning how to navigate on our terrain. This implies that what is needed first is not the elaborate and complicated shamanic techniques of some faraway tribe, but rather a simple and down-to-earth encounter with the natural world in which we live.” Exerpt from Ecoshamanism by James Endredy

Holla! Those of us at dubCAT couldn’t agree more, which is why we encourage everybody to visit and support their local parks. No matter how small they are, even if they’re a patch of grass or a few trees fenced in at the end of the block, remember that all you have to do to is show up–the magic, the spirit and the adventure is already waiting for you!

Let your imagination guide you into a deep moment, or begin an immediate scavenger hunt. Ask for secrets and find out everything you can. Sit in the sun or snow, sit on the bench or in the grass, stand on the rocks, and most importantly give at least one tree a good lean. Google Map your closest park. Here are a few favorite moments from our members:

Lauren, Direct Contact: That bush needs a shake! I’m gonna shake it!

Char, Beholding: Look at the intricate interwebbedness of the trees branches here….it’s like synapses…

Ang, Venture & Exploration: Oo lets go in here. Oo lets go up here. Oo lets go down that slippery thing. Oo…

Aleks, Sensory Interpretation: I love being under this rock cliff, it’s like I can taste the cold here.

Jessie, Exuberant Vocal Response: Yes! Yes! Four leaf clover! Oh, a wren!

Amanda, Seated Rapture: Each oncoming wave of the ocean relaxes me deeper…

Adventure Addict: Jessie

Alεks — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 04:32:04 +0000

Sometimes you’re just born to Adventure. Some people develop their Adventure Habit later in life, and others, like Charlene and I, come from a line of adventurous souls. But whether you’re bloodbound to trek or the black sheep wanderlust in your tribe, what matters is whether you take to the trails in spite of the demands of our society. That’s why this month’s spotlight is on Adventure Addict Jessie! She personifies a wild committment to leaps, hikes, dives, sloshes and full-tilt emprise.

Her impressive array of daring activities includes white water rafting on the Green River in Whistler, British Columbia.

Also in Whistler, BC you could find her sailing through the treetops and over gorges on a ZipLine!

Visiting the vistas down under in Auckland, NZ , Jessie rounded out her NIN concert tour with canyoning in the Waitakere Ranges.

It’s plain to see where we get our zest and adrenaline thirst. Things weren’t always globe-trotting and wilderness wayfaring though, so Jessie has a unique breakthrough perspective to offer those cultivating their inner wild one. We LOVE having a mom like ours! We’re thrilled to add her to our editorial board, so you can look forward to seeing some posts by our original Adventure Addict!