After a full weekend of adventurers in the back lands of this wildlife preserve, The Green Oval Guild took a Land Rover tour of the preserve itself. It was a weekend full of camping, off road adventure, and wildlife adventures. Check out some of the photos from the event below and be sure to check out The Guilds site for upcoming events. Before the weekend really got started the GOG held an auction to raise funds for The Wilds. Big thanks to Osprey, Teva footwear, Otter Box, and Base Camp X for helping us at NC sponsor this event. NC

What started as a couple guys talking about what was cool on the weekends is now everyone talking everyday about everything. Tom Brevoort? Yeah. He’s here. Guys that design really fast 10 million dollar water crafts? Check. Red Bull? We’ll never forget that free case that showed up last year cause they dug the site. Indy designers to real life Tony Starks, world class writers like Chris Clarmont and signer song writers like Sarah Solovay and Lauren Light, Land Rover driving off roaders and backpackers that decide to take down 6 states in 6 weeks. We’re all here, and it’s time for an upgrade.

NC is more then a blog site. It’s a network of people who dig cool stuff and cool people. It’s something for everyone, it’s pop culture, tech and your neighborhood. We’ve tested for over 70 brands like Petzl, Black Diamond, Teva, Merrell, Keen, Sorel, Osprey, and sixty some odd others like Nau and Base Camp X. We’ve formed friendships halfway around the world and helped others make their dreams a reality.

Now we get to the 2 year mark. NC has become big. Really big. Humbling how big you guys have made us really. So we met the other night and had another talk much like the one that formed this little brand. The subject? What’s next. It’s time to take NC to the next level, NecessaryCool 2.0 is on the way. More info, more content, more interviews, more of what you love, less of what you don’t. Streamlined for easier reading, browsing, and searching. Easy networking so you can reach us directly at anytime just to say hello. We’re taking things up a notch folks. As our newest member of the family said the other night in our meeting, “Strap in, this rockets taking off.” NC

-Jef Price, CF of NecessaryCool.com

So despite the last minute change of plans Oregon turned out great.  We began our hike at Eagle Creek and went a quick 7 and a half miles to our first camp site. I was really surprised by the terrain there. Having never been to the northwest before I thought it would just be like all the other forests, evergreen trees and plants, but here its more like a rain forest/jungle. There were tons of waterfalls throughout Eagle Creek and more ferns then you can imagine and moss covered just about every inch of everything in sight.  Day 2 we planned on heading towards a place called Tanner Butte but as we got 6 miles down the trail it completely died, we tried looking for the trail for a while but ended up having to turn around and go back to the same camp. Oh and did I mention it was raining the whole time…day and night.

Again with a change of plans on day 3 we headed to Wathum Lake. Unlike our last experience at a lake in Yosemite this one had no mosquitos and a great view. Day 4 was a well deserved rest day. We spent half the day cleaning up and bathing in the ~50 degree water and the other trying our luck at fishing. Fishing sucked just about instantly. So we tried our luck at catching crawdads(or for you San Diegans miniature lobsters). We got one right off the bat and then I thought our luck was gonna end just about there, but we tried for a bit longer and got 13 more ! Huge moral buster and good times, but really not a significant amount of food at all. Almost forgot to mention that no surprise it was raining all night…

Day 5 we planned on stopping and camping in the wilderness but because of our blistering speed we went all the way out and into somewhat of civilization. Unfortunately there was no actual campgrounds or anywhere to camp….so we staying up til 10pm and set up camp at a local park, hoping to avoid any people that would kick us out. Oh and also it was raining all night.

Overall Oregon was gorgeous, but also really, really rainy. Definitely did some serious character building throughout this leg of the trip. But hey if its not raining your not training!

-J.Rickwald, from the field

Thanks again to all the sponsors of this amazing journey, Teva, Nau, Osprey, BasecampX, by promoting and providing gear you’ve taken part in an extraordinary journey. NC

J. Rickwald and Lucas Melendez have returned from the first trip on their massive adventure. Yosemite went well and now the next adventure begins. Their 40 day tour is sponsored by NecessaryCool, Teva, Nau, Osprey, and BaseCampX.

Read on for more info and a personal note from J. Rickwald & Jef Price.

“Yes we are alive! Yosemite could not have gone any better. So here is how it went down. After a 4 hour delay from the bus overheating (woman driver) and mass amounts of traffic into the Yosemite valley, we finally got to the permit station. Unfortunately they told us that if we dared we could do our original planned route but half way through we could be seeing up to 12 feet of snow. So we came up with a different route.
The first day we climbed 3000 feet up next to Yosemite falls. It was a tough start to say the least, and I got some crippling leg cramps at the top of yosemite falls, but after that everything went smoothly. Night two was a gorgeous camp spot right across from Half Dome. Then we went back across the valley up past Vernal and Nevada falls and camped right at the foothills of Half Dome. We then set our sights on summiting Half Dome, but since we camped only 2 miles from the summit it really wasn’t hard at all (unless you ask Lucas). Half Dome was awesome from the top though. Panoramic view of Yosemite for as far as you can see. Next couple days we wondered around to Merced Lake and Morain Dome.
Total we covered around 52 miles. We met some great people along the way that reminded us why we are doing something like this.
Right now we are on the train to Portland so I will upload some pictures and write more when we get there.” – J. Rickwald

Our own Jef Price was originally supposed to have joined them on their trip in Portland, however do to injuries he sustained in an accident back in January, he was unable to attend…

“I’m excited and happy we’re able be a part of this adventure and bring so many great brands together to take part in it along side us. This trip is a once in a lifetime summer adventure, and I’m still upset I was unable to attend, however these guys are a great crew and like I said, we’re excited to be able to be a part of it.

Jon has a great future in front of him that he’s charging towards full throttle, with the help of the wonderful people at Nau, Teva, BCX, and of course Osprey, they’re making a journey that will stay with them forever and we’re proud to be able to tell you all about it.” – Jef Price, Co-Founder of NC

Keep watch for more info as we get it. NC

And that was it. Jef was sold, and 24 hrs later he was meeting with the staff and before he’d finished briefing them we were all in agreement, this trip would be the first sponsored adventure for/by Necessary Cool. Within a week we had full details (to be announced later), and about a week after that we had the first trip sponsors from outside venders.

“We’re very excited to let our readers know as our readership has vastly expanded, so have our goals, one of those being to sponsor more trips like this one in the future. We can’t just talk about adventure and photography and hiking, backpacking, these things are a part of who we are and we need to not just tell others, but help them have their own adventures and be the kind of site that takes part as well.

We can think of no better trip to be sponsoring then this one. Jonathan Rickwald has instilled us with the every confidence that this will be an amazing journey, and we’re proud to announce the partnership between Teva and Osprey to make this trip happen.” - (Jef Price, Co-Founder of NC)

If you would like to be a part of this journey, and are interested in becoming a sponsor, please contact President and  Co-Founder Jef Price at Jef@Necessarycool.com or here through the site. More info on the trip will be released in the coming days and weeks. NC

Big thanks to Meredith for doing a fantastic job on this design, the first run of sticker will be around in a few weeks. To request your limit run sticker, we’ll be giving a limited amount away to our followers on Twitter, and the rest will be given out at local venues. NC