Adventurous by Q Kelley

      Even after the arrival of proven Ultra 100 and 200 fabrics (which my Durston Kakwa is made from), I am still attracted to Dyneema. I must have caught the bug from "window" shopping for all the newest ultralight tents online. I am just obsessed with its translucency and alleged properties. It was like I was in grade school again, and I got a little taste of the newest fad with my Dyneema Eno Helios straps and longed for the day when I could buy some more of this material.      Ever since I began my job in purchasing at a metal fabricator, I have fallen in love with material science. Learning all the ASTM standards and nuances within chemical and mechanical properties was a lot of fun to learn while in my first job post-grad. This has translated very well into my obsession with ultralight backpacking in the months that followed. Now, over a year later, it is cool to hear that Dyneema is 15x stronger than steel by weight. I should know the strength of st...

      On November 17th, my wife and I had to say goodbye to our dog Koda. I can't even begin to describe the type of bond that we had, but he was truly my companion. We hiked together, chased bears together, and took on the wild adventure of life together. He was a year and a half old when he passed, but I can confidently say that he was living in GSP paradise when he was here.      I've significantly delayed posting because I knew I had to give him a proper tribute, but I didn't even know where to start. My family has never owned pointers or hounds before, and as long as we live on land, we will continue to own German Shorthaired Pointers in honor of Koda.      It all started when I wanted to socialize our older dog, Tucker (then a 3-year-old mini Goldendoodle). We tried bringing him to dog parks, but he would never play with other dogs. That's when I knew that Tucker needed to have a little brother. I also wanted a dog that was more than a ...