Washington - Keep on Tuckin’, 2015

Exploring is delightful to look forward to and back upon, but it is not comfortable at the time, unless it be of such an easy nature as not to deserve the name. - Samuel Butler, Erewhon

WORDS Marcus Bandy PHOTOS Saemus Barnacleos

Each and every year that we take our Keep on Tuckin’ trek up into the Northwest, we make sure to hit the hills of Washington State. This year being no exception, except . . . well, the usual place we shred was a bust due to a stampede of campers, hikers, swimmers, and other various “outdoor types”; and of course all of their stinking cars too. After much cursing of the gods and their henchmen, as well as some later reflection, I vaguely remembered some other roads in the area I’d skated with the Five Mile dudes some years back. With that in mind, Morgan Owens called his team manager over at Omen to see if he had any leads or could decipher the garbled remembrances I was so dimly illuminating. Regardless of my memory’s impotence, Nate hooked us up fat with directions to a completely different hill he knew about, way, way up-and-out into the wilds of Washington. Thank you Nate Blackburn for saving the day! Gratitude is the attitude, good sir. Anyway, hundreds of miles of bovine-riddled countryside later and we arrived high up in the forested hills of WA with our van and skateboards pointed down a steep, winding, cow-patty-littered, gravel-cornered, yet fully skateable road begging us to rip the hell out of it—hard—and full. You know we obliged, and here are some of the pics we were able to capture during our daylong session on an epic road now named Crusty Cowtails. Check it!

Next stop, the wilds of Maryhill!

A huge thank you to all this year’s KOT supporters:

Muir Skate, Arbor Skateboards, RDVX Grip, & Push Culture Apparel