AT&T Rugged Lifestyle Technology Event and Dinner

Back in June, I had the opportunity to attend an AT&T hosted blogger event held at REI in Denver. To be honest, it's not the type of event I would usually attend since it's not exactly "bushcrafty", but I thought it would be fun to meet other bloggers. I'd also been interested in integrating an Iphone into my blogging arsenal, and thought this would be a great way to find out how other bloggers use their Iphones/Smartphones to stay in touch with their readers.

Of course, it didn't hurt that AT&T was offering free dinner at the Ale House, a place that that I had heard had great food and micro-brews- yum!

I also have a couple of friends in the Denver area that I hadn't seen in a while, who were kind enough to let me stay at their place while I attended the event, so I thought "What the heck!"

As it turned out, I had a really great time. I got to meet some talented bloggers, and checked out some cool new smartphone accessories such as backpackable phone chargers, and Otterbox's mil-spec Waterproof/Dustproof Armor Iphone Case:

Otterbox is calling the Armor the "toughest case ever built." It's designed to keep your smartphone dry, and can withstand ten foot drops and up to two tons of pressure (which may come in handy when I'm out bushcrafting and using my new Iphone for blog updates!).

The Event

I had been wanting to start integrating an Iphone 5 into RMB's arsenal of blogging tools, since up until recently, I'd been using a very archaic flip-phone. The thought of transitioning out of the stone age of cell phones was both exciting and daunting! It was great to be able to pick the brains of so many talented people.

As luck would have it, there was a genuine smartphone genius in attendance -- Jeb Brilliant, who writes a popular technology blog called The Mobile Perspective (with a name like "Brilliant" how could I go wrong?). Jeb was incredibly helpful, and also provided the photos for this post, so a special thanks to him for giving us permission to post them.

Jeb Brilliant (photo credit: www.thenokiablog.com)

Since I was the "wildest and wooliest" of the bunch, I inevitably got asked "interesting" questions like "Do you eat squirrels for dinner?" Or "Are you going to sleep in the woods after you leave?"

One of the cool things we got to do was climb REI's Denver Pinnacle rock formation:

This sign better explains how the Pinnacle was constructed:

Yours truly on the first of my two ascents. I was the only one to forego climbing shoes and instead wore my Danner Light II hiking boots. Hey, they still worked!

Jeb Brilliant suiting up to make his ascent:

Up up and away!

This side of the Pinnacle was a bit trickier than the main climbing area (I know because I climbed this same area right after Jeb)- great job Jeb!

Marisa, who writes the The PennyWiseMama blog, making her way up the rock face:

Go Marisa!

I also want to mention the other bloggers I met -- all were great people to talk to and very talented as well! If you have a minute please stop by and check out their blogs:

Suzanne Bastien- Crunchy Green Mom Blog

Aimee and Bryan Griese of Greeble Monkey.com

Amanda Larson- Coping with Frugality.com

Gretchen Yoder- MileHighMamas

Cheers! Jason

About the author

Jason Schwartz is the founder and senior editor of Rocky Mountain Bushcraft. He is a former Red Cross certified Wilderness & Remote First Aid Instructor, and has taught bushcraft and wilderness survival techniques to the Boy Scouts of America, interned with the US Forest Service, and studied wilderness survival, forestry and wildland firefighting at Colorado Mountain College in Leadville, Colorado. Jason has also written for magazines such as The New Pioneer and Backpacker, including writing the "Tinder Finder" portion of Backpacker's "Complete Guide to Fire," which won a 2015 National Magazine Award (NMA). Email him at rockymountainbushcraft @ hotmail.com (without spaces)