Darwin on the trail exploded on the scene of YouTube back in 2015 and he quickly became one of the fastest growing backpacking channels out there for through hikers and gear but last year Darwin abruptly quit YouTube and then he came back a year later in the time that he was gone a lot happened in his life and people were very upset that he left when he left YouTube and they were also really upset when he came back as well as well as people were you know excited and just very indifferent overall so it was a really unique situation by the way Darwin's name isn't even Darwin it's Nick Nick rake straw that's right Nick Rik straw I flew all the way to Flagstaff Arizona to talk to Nick and ask him all kinds of questions everything that I wanted to know and hopefully you wanted to know and a whole lot more you're probably thinking Dan you flew all the way to Flagstaff Arizona that is really expensive yes it is it's very expensive to do that and the way we we pay for it is by sponsors who sponsor this Channel and allow us and give us the ability to do that and our sponsor for this video is onx back country and if you want to be a supporter of this channel if you've ever wanted to support what we do here that brings you the content that we can bring you support our sponsors onx is a navigation app that allows you to literally plan an entire backpacking trip from your phone it works just like a GPS out in the back country allowing you to navigate find water find campsites plan see reviews and be able to backpack with confidence out there on trail all you've got to do is click the link in the description below for 20% off their $30 membership which brings the price down to like 23 bucks for the year and now they have an elite plan which allows you to see private and public lands and that way you know if you're camping in a legal area and my good friend Eric Hansen knows all about that so please be a supporter of this channel by supporting supporting our sponsors and click the link in the description below for Onyx Back Country so uh you're back yeah sort of I guess yeah on YouTube not sort of and uh but you left YouTube for a while I did I did you were gone for like a year yeah I I think I did the uh the inevitable I quit video uh in God what was it April 2022 okay and then I think that I kind of well maybe it wasn't even quite a year I kind of started like throwing a couple things to kind of like o I'm kind of feeling creative maybe I'll throw something up on the channel and I think April of this year 2023 um that is this year uh I I put up like a almost like a channel update of like oh hey I'm still here hello yeah um yeah man yeah so you left in you quit YouTube back in April of 22 yeah um what was your what what why did you do that I think you you surprised everybody yeah it's that's kind of a loaded question I remember going I remember send like did you see the latest Darwin video did you oh yeah I was like I was shocking now he's done yeah yeah yeah man I I think that um at the time I mean it's kind of a loaded question but also like a loaded answer at the time a bunch of reasons I was a little burn out um from longdistance hiking um I was a little burn out from YouTube videos in general you know you make so many of them it's like what at some point you kind of feel like what else do I have to say about this backpack or this shoe or the things that you kind of get known for right um and then I also had I don't think a lot of people know this and when I say it I think sometimes people get it confused I've owned a media production company since 2019 which I had no idea yeah so hence the studio like this wasn't this isn't was never set up for my YouTube Studio we used to do uh production work here Cent work um for various companies in the outdoor industry uh fashion industry um tech industry which I've shown you some of the stuff y uh so you know I was I was doing that and had like multiple employees and totally different from YouTube nothing to do with YouTube at all no YouTube content uh producing a lot of content for other people so I was really busy with that I was chasing some like new creative Pursuits and and passions and I was just like you you know what I think I've given a lot to it I wasn't feeling creative and I was tired of kind of uh hitting a wall a little bit feeling kind of you know showing up to start a YouTube video and kind of feeling drained or like I didn't really have it in me or Y I was noticing that I was uh didn't have the spark and the passion like I used to when I was making them yeah I was like reading comments people like are you okay yeah I'm okay and it's like no I'm not okay like I'm not not really okay and yeah just a bunch of stuff so I just decided to step away and you know at the time I wasn't sure if I was going to come back and make videos anymore because I was like well if I and even in in that I quit video it was like I quit sort of I quit for now but who knows maybe if I have something to say or something to share in the future I'll be back um but you know there has to be something in it for me um creatively right like were you were you thinking like I me really were you was there was there a part part of you that was like yeah I'm G to come back I know I'm going to come back um honestly no it was the opposite the more like I might come back was more of kind of like a a little like oh but shuck I might come back but really at that moment I was like no no this is probably it because everything comes to an end and I was just like well after doing the CDT it's like I'm I'm kind kind of ready to be done with through hiking longdistance hiking not backpacking and Hiking specifically cuz actually on the contrary like I took all of 20022 and like I traveled all around a bunch of different countries and hiked in different mountains and stuff like that so I wasn't done with hiking and backpacking yeah I was just done with through hiking and the channel was always built on through hiking content and through are you done with through hiking um for now for now I well the long Odyssey right like the the for six-month Odyssey yeah I'm done because it just it it's so you know after a while it just kind of drains you it beats you up and some people do it forever some people like repeat the same Trail over and over again I never really had an interest in that so I stopped I stopped because of that because I was just like you know I got to the end of the CDT and I'm like you know what I think I've had enough of this I think that I've gotten everything I needed to get out of longdistance hiking through hiking especially in the states spending like like you know seven years walking around the country I was like well I'm I'm ready I've not been to any other countries I've been to like Great Britain one time that was the only time I'd ever been out of the country so I'm like think I'm ready to visit places like Nepal and Ecuador and Fiji and like get in these other places and and see more of the world so yeah man yeah so when you left okay when you when you left YouTube did you have uh fallback from people um yeah yeah well I think a lot of people were kind of bummed out and upset because um you know they you kind of become like the person for something right like you're their gear person or their you're um a lot of people liked seeing me go on these hikes and Vlog it and stuff and I did film all of the CDT and when I got off the trail I was slowly starting to put out some of those videos and when I hit that wall and I was done I was done and I I was like in the middle of putting those videos out so it was like episode 6 you know I was only in Wyoming somewhere so I just still had like more than half the trail to show but I just didn't have the Creative Drive at the moment I was kind of so burned out on it that I just stopped so I think a lot of people got upset because I stopped making what they were looking forward to right like they were oh I want to see the next one oh I want to see the next one oh I want to see the next one so yeah uh people were bummed out for sure but I mean that being said I had so many people say such nice things of just like you know thank you like thanks for making videos for all this time and letting us come along on all these hikes and stuff like that because again if you watch that video it's kind of somber at the end of it I'm like yeah thank you guys for seven years like I love all of you and thanks for supporting me and watching me on my hikes and watching my goofy Gear videos and me wave my hands around and move my eyebrows like a on camera like you know like thank you thank you I appreciate it um but you know it end it ins somber like I I show a bunch of clips from where I left off on my CDT videos all the way to the end it's a real small like little one minute thing but I just show basically a ton of Clips going all the way to the end of the trail um so yeah but people were beautiful about it and nice about it and then you know I got maybe some sort of meaner people they're they're on YouTube I weird right mean people watch your videos they call them trolls trolls I wouldn't know something like that it's it's okay so you you're taking what is that a year and a half is that a year and a half yeah I guess like to getting back to making regular yeah like when did you come back technically technically I came back in April of this year so it had only been a year since I put the iquit video out but I still hadn't really come back until about I don't know August okay of like putting out like regular content like oh yeah maybe I'll put out a video every couple weeks or every other week if I'm feeling inspired to do it like if I got something to say if I got something to talk about yeah so I we first time I met you in person was at PCT days recently we've obviously talked prior to that yeah bunch of times but finally got to meet in person and I uh took a bunch of pictures with people at PCT days yeah I put your picture with me and you is one of the pictures on Instagram and then somebody was not very nice to you in the comment of that and I and that was my first indication that there were people that were upset with you coming back yeah weird right why is that I don't know I don't know isn't that the weirdest thing it's super weird people were bummed like I was hoping you'd have an answer for that oh man no no no when I when actually whenever I first started putting out videos like people would leave comments um and say stuff like what they say you said you were leaving so be gone and I was just like all right uh I said I was leaving I'm back maybe you just shouldn't watch the video like if if you really don't dig it I don't know I really don't know maybe pe people's feelings were hurt or I don't know you know it's kind of a weird sometimes YouTube's a weird world and the whole uh parasocial yeah um disorder of it all of like you know watching somebody and ingesting their content feeling like you know them and then like they kind of let you down so maybe I'll let people down I don't know I'm sorry yeah so what have you been doing well I mean in the time that you were gone what what's taking place that's a loaded gun um a lot a whole lot okay so you're saying when YouTube goes away you get more free time to do stuff um no free time to do other things that give me no free time um no so I I kept doing the production company and working on a bunch of stuff uh shot a documentary film um last year with Sawyer um over in Fiji which I know you did something very similar um I worked on a bunch of client stuff um I started a gear company uh randomly it was because I had the desire to make another backpack I made a backpack years ago and I kind of had another backpack in me so I was like well I just kind of want to make a backpack for myself and then that rolled into the idea of like oh maybe I should give it a brand and then that rolled into oh that sun hoodie that I was trying to make for three years that I it was almost impossible to make maybe that'll be a product and then it kind of evolved into this into this Gear Company you see what I did there you see the work play evolved you like that that was good so you know I spent I've spent eight years um literally beating the crap out of my body and and putting 14,000 miles on myself from through hikes and and backpacking trips and World Travel and bike packing trips and all this stuff I've used tons of gear obviously like you like being a gear geek right and constantly using stuff and trying new stuff I've helped other companies develop stuff so it kind of got to the point of like okay well how can I at at the time I was like well I don't feel creative with YouTube videos right now but how can I still be creative in the thing that I love doing and I was like oh like a gear company that makes sense I'll take those 14,000 miles and all the things that I've learned and stuff that I've liked and stuff that I haven't liked and what's worked for me and what wasn't you know what hasn't worked for me and basically create my own products out of it my own gear put my spin on things what so I took a look at some of the stuff yeah I we so we we went on a couple Niner back back in yeah diverse he took me to the desert and he and we were going to spend two nights in the desert and he's like you know what's like out I want to show you the the winter too I'm like oh we get to see winter and desert cool so then we just jumped up to yeah that was crazy so we went from be like desert like 45 degrees at night to Winter 20 degrees at night and snow it was pretty awesome it was yeah man I wanted to show you all that Arizona is it was cool and it was really interesting seeing you in a backpacking situation not a through hiking situation like night one was through hiking situation was like tarp shorts yeah yeah yeah yeah that's true that's true I was like I'm going to the desert I'm you were wearing shorts I literally felt like I was following this through hiker and I'm like oh man and we were on a long distance Trail to beginning the Arizona Trail yeah yeah but then night two you're you're wearing like hiking pants pants and he started a fire pants ladies and gentlemen he started he he's like you want to have a fire you think you have a fire when it's 20° outside damn sure I'm start a fire dude can light a fire I'll just tell you that right now he had that fire I Was A Boy Scout he was a boy scout for sure I was like wow that this is a good fire yeah and I literally I collected some firewood but then it was fun to just watch him keep going collect your more firewood I was very appreciative that so thank you like I'll just sit back and let you do all the work this is great so okay so you got this Gear Company yeah um and did you ask me to come out here to talk about your Gear Company I did not you did not ask me to not at all we just come outang actually the first night you're like can I can I talk and film a little bit about gear and I was like I don't know man like I was a little stand offish probably yeah I I wasn't even I was like weird like should I ask him if I can talk about his gear so this is not an ad well no and it's been weird for me because like being on the other side of it for so many years and like you know dealing with other companies that reach out to me they're like hey you want to talk about my stuff hey you want to talk about my stuff and me always kind of feeling that like whenever we started doing it I was like I don't want to do that like I want people to naturally like it now you know I've asked people like hey you want to check out a backpack but I don't want you to say anything about it just tell me what you think from one guy to another tell me to appreciate that yeah so no not at all I was probably the opposite like yeah you were it was you made me feel really awkward so thank you no problem buddy no so uh yeah well I I want to talk about some of the gear you made because you you were using it out there you were wearing your backpack you were wearing weing your jacket you had your this cook pot that I thought was like super cool yeah and our sun hoodie yeah you wearing the sun hoodie I don't know you at some point it's all going to be mine it's all going to be yours you had this like cool like water bottle pouch thing that you were wearing and stuff like that so how are you like I I I was blown away because I didn't know any of this was going on I I had heard you started a gear company or I thought maybe it was just like you made your own backpack or something and I was just like oh well that's cool you know cool he's done with YouTube he's going to go do the gear thing I thought maybe that was really why you left YouTube because it would be weird to be the gear guy that talks about geared but then you've got your own Gear Company like how was that so part of my mind my mind was thinking like maybe that's where he left EAS no that came after that was because I was just like okay well I want to again I want to do something new creatively that still involves the thing that I love which is hiking backpacking gear stuff like that so so who's your who like when you think of the the backpack that you're making and and all the gear that you're making who who's the who's the person that you're handing the stuff to who's the target person me number one okay because you know it all comes from like scratching your own Edge right it's like why I've always wanted to to make my own stuff and design my own stuff is always like well I like this backpack but man I wish it had this this this that would be the perfect backpack for me that would be the perfect jacket for me that would be the perfect hiking top for me yeah so that's always where it has to come from it always has to come from like scratching your own Edge and again after 14,000 miles of using tons of other people's stuff I want to start using my stuff like what are my ideas how can I improve on this is that halfway around the planet 14,000 miles somebody somebody comment below and tell me if 14,000 miles is halfway around the par and that's not to brag either that's that's that's not to brag I'm bragging I'm bragging he's bragging he's maybe a little bit maybe a little bit yeah trust me it's nothing to be proud of whenever like you you have it's something to be proud of folks whenever like you're you're 38 years old but like your knees feel like you're 72 bro I'm 45 and my knees feel like I'm like 90 so I'm right there with you yeah it's nothing to brag about whenever I like have to like hobble out of the bed in the morning and stuff like that um but no I mean it for me number one right I got to scratch my own itch and like what would I use so like when I designed a new backpack it was like well when I was on the CDT I was using an old pack that I designed a long time ago and I remember being on the CDT and being like Oh like now I wish that it had this and I wish that it had this and so that that came out of like well if I was ever going to go through hike the C again what would be my perfect pack like what would be the thing that I would want yeah and that's where that pack came out so again I was scratching my own Edge and then it was like oh well let's see if other people like this or want this so that's kind of how it started so the backpack was the first product yes yeah okay technically the sun hoodie was the first product okay oh yeah but it it came after because that again came from the scratching my own edch like I wanted there was I used like button- down shirts for years I use Sun hoodies for years and there was some specific things that I really wanted out of a hiking top what made a perfect hiking top for me what I was the most comfortable in what kept me cool um whatever so it was like anything that I've done it's just like I want it for me y first and then it's like oh does anybody else want want this kind of thing so going back to sort of the question I asked you earlier yeah about why I thought you left YouTube yeah now that you're coming back to YouTube how do you find H how how is this going to work for you being the gear guy talking about gear but you're talking about your own are you how's that have you thought that through you know what I mean no because I just try to be like honest and as like you know genuine as possible no matter what I'm talking about so it's like I'm not beholden to using anybody's stuff like I'm not sponsored by any gear companies so it's like no I'll use you know I still obviously like I'm not going to make you know I'm not going to make shoes I'm not going to make a water filter you know what I mean like I'm not going to do that so it's like well I'm going to use what I want to use and regardless of what it is whether I do it or whether somebody else does it but also like I don't know does that I don't know if that really affects anything it's still the thing that I'm going to use so no I don't think it's going to affect anything I'm just curious what what your thought process was on that cuz I think some some people are some people thinking like and maybe you are I would think this would be a I I would I certainly would do this if if I was in your shoes but some people are probably thinking well he's coming back to YouTube just to talk about his own products no I'm going back to YouTube because for like the first time in eight years I'm actually like geeking and that's the thing the funny thing about gear is like I want to talk about like mountaineering gear I want to talk about us that he's telling me he wants to do mountaineering so that's one of the main reasons I started making media again was because I was like again for the first time in eight years you talk about the same stuff so many times you get burned out on it and it's like you know sleeping pads I'll give you a perfect example of sleeping pads it's like I have used the same sleeping pad for almost eight years it's actually right here this is the same sleeping pad I used on the PCT this the same sleeping pad I used before that I I don't like that look at that look it's got like mold in it I'm sure um is that the xite yeah it's an old xite nice and crunchy and crinkly um but you know it's like for the first time in a long time it's like a lot of the new stuff that I'm diving into pants I haven't hiked in pants and like it was really interesting to see you I'm not I'm not going to lie like was you were literally a different person than I've ever seen like because you couldn't see my legs no well yeah that but like I felt like you all it was it was weird I really was thinking this I was thinking like this dude just let loose like he's be he's like he put on pants and started a fight yeah man he like let he's like full-on Backpacker cuz like okay tell you I thought you had a pretty decent definition between the difference between a thru-hiker and a Backpacker yeah yeah what tell me what your what's a thru-hiker and what's a Backpacker cuz last night you you were a Backpacker for real well it's I've always I've always liked to sum it up as like it's a massive difference through-hikers backpack but Backpackers don't through hikee right and the difference is when you when you backpack the whole point of backpacking or just going out for a hike is like I I want to go out and I want to enjoy where I'm at it's all about like I'm going to hike three miles in 5 miles in whatever it is and I'm going to set up camp and I'm going to make a fire and I'm enjoy the Stars I'm going to have a conversation with somebody it's about getting out right through hiking is about getting from point A to point B it's kind of like if you're under running you go do a 5k fun run because you're hanging out with friends and you're going to run around the block and we it's a good time if you run a marathon or an ultra marathon it's about the challenge can I do this thing so a through hikee is very much can I do this thing can I hike from Mexico to Canada can I hike from you know Georgia de main can I can I do this can I physically mentally can I stand to do this it is a challenge and for people that love hiking because of the adventure um and and the and the the Solitude and stuff like that they would hate through hiking because at some point the adventure goes away right like the adventure is there for like the first 500 miles but like anything it becomes mundane and it's like oh well you're doing the same thing you know hiking 20 30 miles a day you're eating the same food every day and this is months on end so on some point it becomes a about the challenge of getting from here to there so backpacking is more about I want to go out I want to relax I want to have an experience like just for this weekend or with friends or see something new through hiking is about I'm going to go out and I'm going to challenge myself to get from here that's not to say it's not not a journey in an adventure because it very much is and a lot of adventure comes from in Journey it's just a different type it's type two fun right like it's that's for sure and it's type two fun not just for a weekend and then you get in your car and go home and take a shower and eat a burger it's type two fun for four to six months of like literally making you know beating the hell out of yourself for four to six months which is pretty tough so it is about it's more at least in I've always thought through more about the challenge and there's an amazing adventure and an awesome experience that comes from that it's just different than backpacking it just always has been always has been so so what are you now I'm me I'm whatever you know I'm I'm a I'm a Backpacker I'm a hiker I'm a a an alpinist are you an ex through haiker alpinist I'm not an ex through hicker I'll always be a through hicker right like that's what I spent seven years8 years doing um have the Triple Crown whatever that means anymore um that's pretty incredible it is it is and it's it's nice to have that you know I kind of denied that for a long time I was just like ah it doesn't mean anything but you know when I look back at it like I that's an accomplishment gave a lot of my life that is a huge accomplishment thanks I I don't even I don't I don't even have like the the Burger King Crown like I just literally don't even have one of those so that's pretty awesome dude yeah man so I don't know it's it's I think regardless like I just love being I I love being on trail I love being out I love being in the mountains I think more than anything I love being in the mountains and it's something that's Tak me a long time to kind of honestly discover because I was like well what am I into through hiking for am I into it because of the views am I into it because of being out there the adventure the people the whatever it is a lot of it was people and Community for me for years um but like why mountaineering has really hooked me hard is because like I really love being in the mountains and being at places where nobody else is and like on a glacier like you know 18,000 ft you know above sea level and seeing stuff that a lot of people don't get to see and really taking the beauty of that so yeah man whatever I can do to like be out there and and be in the mountain won't see me there no no I'll get you out on it I'll get you out on it I'm telling you man I said the same thing to Eric Hansen like you'll never get me to bag a peak and then he forced me to bag a peak yeah I'll get you to go to Nepal with me and climb a like a 20,000 foot Peak dude oh my gosh yeah it's fun man and you know like I think that why I comment below if you'd want to see me and Darwin on a 20,000 foot Peak say no in Nepal say yes vote Yes um vote Yes to see Dan uncomfortable um I think that uh you know it's I've always loved I think why I fell in love with through hiking is because it got me out of my comfort zone I mean it's why I fell in love with backpacking I think it's why a lot of people fall in love with backpacking it's different from your 9 to-5 yeah for sure it's different from your mundane it's why you you plan all week to get out on a weekend backpacking trip and it's why it means so much same with a through hike like you spend all this time planning for a through hike and then you get off of it and you're really going through like post-t traal depression and stuff because because it it got you out of your comfort zone and it made you realize new things about yourself and it scared you and it you know it made you hunger it made you wet it made you cold like those are the things to me anyways like when I get myself out of my comfort zone when I do something that I don't 100% know what I'm doing it humbles me to the Bone and that's I think for me whether it was through hiking whether it was originally getting into backpacking bike packing um being creative and doing something like a YouTube video any of that it's about humbling me it's it's really because I think that yeah cuz I think a lot of us kind of like know think we know who we are we go through life and like we we get comfortable in our own skin and and you know we think that we know what we're doing and then like when you do something like for me right now mountaineering being up at 20,000 ft or you know 15,000 ft or whatever it is and like being attached to the side of a rock and like looking over and just seeing like the end of the Earth and it literally terrifies me like because I'm I'm scared of heights I'm scared of heights so it literally scares me but in that moment when I realize it I feel alive and it's humbling like that humbles me and being like I don't know I I I thought that I I knew who I was and and what this meant and I was comfortable and yeah hum I think being humbl is a big thing to me a real big thing to me I think it when you're humbled it allows you to get a different perspective on life it it lets you relook at your own life relook at um life outside of there I mean you you went you did a trip of Sawyer right and you and you went somewh El trip of Sawyer yeah yeah so so I think that it probably left an impact on you seeing how other people live massive and it because it humbled you it it made you realize like what you take for granted and it makes you realize um you know what's important in life and what's not important in life and I think that's the most beautiful thing like people can do for themselves is like put yourself in a situation learn something about a new culture or uh just a person down the street and like I just just think that that humbles you and makes you grow as a person and just kind of changes your outlook on life so what what's going to happen to the YouTube channel then are you going to do mountaineering um no I'll probably talk about mountaineering you know I I I think I made a video recently where I was like uh I want to start talking about winter backpacking and specifically uh classic backpacking traditional backpacking um wearing pants and you know being right because like I I need those skills I need to get back to those roots of how I started all of this because that's a part of mountaineering right like I want to climb to a peak yeah and scare the hell out of myself but in order to do that I need to Trek to base camp right I need to get to these places I need heavier duty gear stuff like that so for me it's like the really the thing that really excites me is the new thing I know nothing about but the cool thing about that is I get to dive back into the humble beginnings of like I'm a Backpacker and I'm figuring it all out for the first time and like what freestanding tent's going to going to be the best like what jacket's going to keep me the warmest what pants are like you know what I mean so for me I know a YouTube channel you can watch yeah tell me more um you know for me it's like it's exciting again and that's why I came back to making videos because when I thought about like you know cuz I was already doing it I was like buying you know boots and I was buying pants and I was buying all this stuff just like I did way back whenever I was was first getting into it and doing I was in the research stage and learning this new thing and I was like oh my God I feel like I did back when I first got into backpacking and then first got into through hiking and that's where my channel started because it was like I was kind of discovering who I was and what I like to do and I wanted to share that with other people so I was like oh my God this is the perfect time like I've come to the end of this like I don't feel creative and I don't want to do anything and I don't want to share anything because I had all these new things to be creative about and share with with people so yeah man that's that's why I'm doing it again it's just fun it's fun to do it again yeah I think a lot of people like he's he's here to sell his products like no I'm not I'm here to talk about the things I'm excited about whether it's the thing I'm making or the thing I'm doing or the thing that I'm testing and trying out and doing research on again well I I wouldn't be upset if you were trying to sell your product because I think that would be smart to be honest with you sorry I just do as a YouTuber and as a YouTube channel like sure you got an audience like why why wouldn't I but matter of fact let's sell your product right now because there was he did not ask me to do this at all I I I I was the cookpot it's super cool oh thanks man you designed it right well I mean it it's kind of like I told you it's like you can only like reinvent the wheel so many times like you're not going to reinvent the cook pot yeah but I've never seen a no but for me it was more of that scratch your own itch it was like oh well I love my cook pot that I've used for years um and here even though I got my own I'll plug it snow peak 700 snow peak titanium 700 mug used it for years right but now that I'm doing winter camping wearing things like thicker gloves like I wanted little features on a pot that I was looking across the board trying to think of buying a new pot I was like well I don't see that anywhere and then now having like access to being like oh wait a minute I could probably find somebody to make that for me yeah so again like that cook pot is scratching my own itch of being like I want something like you know a baale and a pore spout and a little handle the wooden handle was like that was that was literally the first thing I noticed was that wooden handle I was like oh dude that's cool yeah and that comes from literally like one burning my fingers all the time when I try to grab something off the top of a a cook pot on a stove but two like I'm wearing thicker gloves when I'm mountaineering and out in winter camping and like grabbing that little bitty like fold over thing is a total pain if it's cold outside yeah because you're wearing gloves so yeah again all that stuff just comes from scratching your own Edge it's just like oh I want that for me then I'm like I think this is pretty cool and then everybody I show it to is like that's pretty cool and I'm like well you want one too yeah yeah so yeah I if if you make a a one lit version you should put holes in the top of it so you can strain stuff just throwing that out there o you're welcome upgrade I like that 10% all I that's not bad that's a way better deal than I got from a lot of people yeah did you like that yeah yeah we've had some side conversations oh there it is folks what's he talking about I was told I was told by a buddy that's called vague booking yeah do you know that term no look it up okay emt's gonna put it on screen that was an I already know emt's putting that was an inside joke within an inside joke right there that's so funny yeah so uh the backpack it's a 40 L pack yep right and and uh you've been designing backpacks for a long time though so this is like a an evolution right of your of of your backpack into what it is now that you were wearing yesterday I mean I have not touched this backpack I've seen it I've watched him work I know nothing I have no experience with it at all it looked pretty awesome oh thanks man um I I love the Vintage look of your stuff yeah I I did notice intentional yeah we I found that out later like tonight when we were touring the I like things that are old old wood walls yeah no yeah and uh he's got that little it's a Brass Buckle on the top of it's actually it's it's like a aircraft aluminum it's just it it's made to look like old hammered brass it's super cool it reminded me of like a like a messenger bag kind of look almost to a degree like yeah just little things you know little things i' i' I've always got like a I got kind of a a little bit of an old soul and like when I think about when I think about backpack when I think about the outdoors I'm a big time National Park and National Forest geek um if you hang around here you'll see like a ton of like uh Smokey the Bear stuff I I just love old classic Americana outdoor stuff like I'm kind of romantic for it like the outdoors the way they used to be kind of thing so yeah so when we started the company I really wanted to put that into the brand of just like oh what do I think about when I think about like a classic back pack that's why we call our backpack the ranger do you well plug your website what do you have a website oh yeah uh evolved Supply cod.com evolved because it's not evolve I have evolved Supply code.com yeah okay emit make sure you spell that correctly yeah when you put that on screen spell it spell it don't mess it up man yeah that's cool and and but you're still doing are you still doing production work for people no I've kind of take a bit of I've taken a bit of a break um um yeah I took a bit of a break because again that kind of like I kind of hit a little bit of a creative wall with that um and I don't know again I'm just right now I I'm really like I hate to keep using the term but scratching my own itch it's like it's fun to do work for other people um and I I still do it here and there but like full time anymore I just decided to kind of take a break from it CU it's a lot of work and you know right now I'm so hooked back into backpacking Mountaineering climbing that I'm just like oh like I kind of want to if if I'm going to make if I'm going to produce content like do I want to produce content for somebody else right now or do I want to do it for me again and share the things that I like and that I want to do so that I chose that um yeah just sounded fun I don't know I'm all over the place yeah well I mean Al I mean I for real last night it was that was a Darwin I'd never seen it was it you saw Nick what's that you said you saw Nick I did yeah you saw pre- Darwin you saw pre- Darwin yeah yeah yeah yeah that's funny that was that was the that was Nick before coming Dar his name is Nick my name is Nick if you didn't know uh yeah so that yeah that was Nicholas Wayne rra oh oh yeah you just got the full arm I was about to say the third but that's not true yeah it was it was fun to see that because I felt uh yeah it was it was just interesting to see you in that environment we only hiked in what like maybe six miles last night yeah yeah yeah something like that yeah and uh I had to help him up the hill yeah he was struggling I was struggling uh no actually what happens when you use one trekking pole yeah uh no but we get up there man it was just fun to see you in that environment you were um glowing I feel like like with like you were you looked like you wanted to be out there yeah yeah absolutely so that was yeah that was super cool to see so that's that's fun to have that excitement back I think yeah man yeah it's it's fun you know it's again I started the channel because like I was excited about the things I was doing I just gotten off the at I I wanted to share those experiences with people because it's something that like excited me and and I loved it so I wanted to hopefully Inspire and share that with other people and then you know over the years you get used to it it becomes mundane to a point you get kind of burned out on it and so now I'm back in that world of like like oh man this is fun like I you know I get to like play with climbing gear and I get to play with boots and again like I can't emphasize enough pants pants like trying to figure out what's the perfect pants like that's fun so you know uh it yeah it's just fun again it's exciting again and it's fun and uh it's it's been interesting to get back into it and now like the whole I feel like the landscape's kind of changed a little bit so trying to rigate like oh like what do people want to see what do I want to make but it is also very much um again scratching my own itch what am I excited to make that's what I'm going to make so what can we expect from you are you going to be doing a video a week are you going to do the are you going to do the Tuesday q& A's are you uh that probably won't come back you don't think so all right I don't know maybe man I did like 38 of those actually I think it got more than I think it got into the 40s oh wow there's a lot of them yeah and that was a streak I went on for a long time doing those and they're fun they're easy to do but I think I I stopped doing those like when it was just always the same question always like it just ended up being the same question over and over again I was like I think I would even answer like I would answer the question be like you should go back and watch some of the past q&as because I've answered this question like four times um I don't know uh some Gear videos for sure um I've been doing a bunch lately because again I'm in that research stage right I'm trying out new tents I'm trying out uh new clothes I'm trying out new cook systems uh like a stove like I just switched to a new stove for the first time in eight years yeah um something I never thought you know because you're like this is the stove that I use and I'll never use anything different as Acker you you get used to what you're using and then like you know it works you know you can put thousands of miles on it and it's probably not going to fail you so that's what you end up sticking with it's not because you don't want to try new stuff but it's just like oh well I know that if I got to go out and Hike a couple thousand miles this thing will last because it's proven itself before mhm so you throw it back in the bag yeah um but now like getting into this completely new thing where I'm almost learning all of these new skills again applying stuff from the past but learning a bunch of new stuff it's like oh well it's time to play again it's time to it's time to do research again like what do I need am iing you uh researching tents that are like backpacking style tents or mountaineering style tents or a little bit of both cuz right now like I really that's another thing I typically have always hated snow I'm like known for not liking hiking in the snow I've had bad EXP experiencing the snow in the past mainly cuz it was on through Hecks and it was like a necessity not cuz I wanted to um but I live in Flagstaff Arizona and most people don't know this most people don't know this um Flagstaff is actually one of the snowiest uh cities in the country I did not know that right wild most people think Arizona yeah actually I said something about winter backpacking in the video and somebody commented uh says says he's going to get into winter backpacking lives in Arizona I'm like you should probably do your research at 7,000 ft there's a lot of snow here in the winter um you know last year we got like 150 140 in of snow something like that yeah I experienced some of it in the Grand Canyon yeah yeah you know we get a lot of snow here um 10t of it so I've always kind of like shied away from that so I've been really wanting to get embrace it I'm not a skier or snowboarder so I'm like well how can I embrace the winter and get out in the back country and like be in these places where especially during the winter like nobody's at yeah cuz nobody wants to go yeah you know battle the cold um so yeah so getting into that um and sharing a lot about that so the tinth thing is I want something that's going to hold up for mountaineering but I also want something that is going to be good in like just regular winter backpacking taking it out on like like what we did last night yeah like that tent worked out pretty well um would I take it mountainer that was a really cool looking tent interesting right it you said it's you said my tent's going to look like a spaceship it looks like a spaceship yeah I'm going to be putting out a video soon on okay on those tents so we won't spoil it here no we won't go over to my channel and check it out I don't know when this is coming out put his channel on the screen Shameless plug um yeah so yeah man I don't know it's just it's fun to do stuff again and it's fun to like collaborate and do stuff with people again that aren't through hikers and aren't in that world but are just you know General kind of into what I'm into right now so yeah well we should go on a couple trips that's what we need to do yeah man yeah you need to come out here and one we should go oh you should do like uh Dan Becker returns to the Grand Canon I would love to do that right I would really like to do that I've said that many times I will and let's not I'm not going to let it beat me let's not do it in a record snow year nope going to the north rim of the canyon like let me take you out on like the tono Trail or something and like really experience the canyon um yeah man yeah we should could teach you how to backpack yes yeah yes yes teach me more about these little gadgets these these pocket Bellows and these uh what was that little thing called the the little the pump oh uh the uh Flex tail zero pump Flex out dude I'll never carry one of those oh you will you will I'll get you I'll always I'll always inflate with my lungs of Steel did you hear did you hear it did you hear it buzzing off in the distance and were were you were you going I did well I couldn't figure I thought it was a helicopter going whatever I like what in the hell um yeah or you know like it's chairs yeah yeah it's going to be hard to convince me not you I joke about me teaching him he taught me everything I knew about backpacking before I even did YouTube I watched his videos for like two years straight or something like that so yeah no but uh well dude I for one I'm glad to have you back yeah man I think a lot of people are going to be glad to have you back thanks for having me in your studio so we I crashed his place so yeah no and um I think uh I think the the the um Community is going to be better off having you around all your experience everything that you're doing and this Gear Company I really hope it takes off for you because the stuff I saw I I haven't touched it but for what I've seen and knowing knowing what you have talked about over the years that you've been on YouTube is as far as like you know just knowing gear and testing gear and all that stuff I got to imagine that he's put a lot of work into his uh gear so I try yeah I would certainly at least go check out the website and uh thanks man I appreciate it and and if you if you buy me a cookpot anybody out there that would be well appreciated because they're super cool looking actually I'll probably buy one they're super cool looking but uh yeah man cool thanks dude thanks for coming out and hanging out it's been fun I appreciate it so yeah go check out went on the trail he is back and better than ever I don't know about that and I I'm better than yeah he's a he's a Backpacker he's a Backpacker I've always been a Backpacker he's always been a Backpacker I'm just getting back to my roots all right if you guys like this video make sure you hit the like button also subscribe for more make sure you hit the Bell notification and as always I will see you on the next one
