The process to choose these towns took nearly as long as researching and writing their profiles did. I ferociously fought for Grass Valley, California and Fayetteville, West Virginia. I wrote the profiles of those two as well as San Marcos, Texas and McCall, Idaho.
Click the individual towns: Grass Valley/Nevada City, Fayetteville, San Marcos, McCall.
This feature was a painstaking process that started from an inspirational picture our Editor saw and decided to conceptualize a feature around it.
I shared the editorial side of this assignment with Paddler’s Editor, Mike Kord. I wrote the following entries:
1. Leave No Trace; 14. Set Up a Z-Pulley; 16. Be a Rescue Hero; 18. Pay Off a Foreign Cop; 20. Feed 20 Hungry Paddlers; 23. Circumnavigate the Grand Canyon Permit System; 25. Practice Paddling PR; 29. Vacation on 2K or Less; 35. Plan an Expedition
Our art director suggested the photographic concept to me which I collaborated with my good friend Nick Walker and my brother to carry out. We used my childhood GI Joes, which Nick shot in my parent’s suburban backyard and pool. Click for entire feature