1) What is your favorite place that you have been to on the planet?

The Grand Canyon.  The Grand Canyon is the reason why I even got into backpacking.  After being teased with a short day-hike down into the Grand Canyon on my first visit there, I vowed that someday soon, I would go all the way down to the Colorado River.  I found out the only way to do this was to book a night at Phantom Ranch or backpack.  Since there was a two year waiting list for Phantom Ranch... backpacking it was.  Now I can't get enough of backpacking.

2) Do you shoot pictures with a digital or film camera?

Digital all the way.  I love the instant gratification, being able to snap pictures without a second thought of "wasting film", instantly check picture quality, adjust easily for exposure, ability to easily upload to a picture sharing Web site, and make screensavers out of them.

3) When you have 2 hours to squeeze an activity on a Saturday morning,
what do you do?

It would probably be working on the Perfect Pace Website: entering details for a new trip, writing a trip report, or getting pictures or video ready for the gallery.

4) What is the number one reason why you don’t get outside as much as you’d
like?

Work.  Got to make a living.  If I won the lotto, I would be hiking all the time.

5) Where would you build your ideal vacation house?

I would have to say Palm Springs, California.  I love its proximity to the two highest mountains in Southern California.  Mt. San Jacinto for instance butts up right against it.  The famous Joshua Tree National Park desert in closeby.  Palm Springs is also a gay resort mecca.  And I love the heat...  I'm a desert rat.  

6) What adventure, that you have yet to do, is number one on your list?

One adventure that I would really like to complete sometime in my lifetime, is hike the whole Pacific Crest Trail which runs from the Mexican Border to Canada.  Now if I could just figure out when to work in that six month window.

7) What is the most significant gear invention?

The Jetboil.  I think most of the folks in my hiking group would agree, which is the reason why ninety percent of us have it. Jetboil is a cooking system that is light, fast, compact, dependable, and easy to use. I've gotten so many people to buy them, I wish now that I made commission off each sale :)

8) What is your number one priority when buying a car?

I recently just bought a new Nissan XTerra.  My biggest priority was comfortable back seats since I drive folks long distances on our outings.  The second thing I love about my off-road XTerra is its four wheel drive.  Perfect for those rough dirt roads to the trailheads.

9) What do you do to enhance your outdoor fitness?

I run about five miles on hills every other day during the week.  If I didn't do this, I would feel pretty sluggish on the long strenuous weekend hikes.

10) What was you scariest moment on an outdoor adventure?

Definitely my solo Sheep Canyon trip.  Quite a few mishaps occurred during that trip which included sinking in quick sand all the way to my chest until I figured out an escape.  To read more on the this story, <a href="http://www.perfectpace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=PerfectPaceApp.article&article_id=6">click here</a>.