Everglades Foundation: Making Conservation Look Good!


These ladies really live their work!
Photo by Everglades Foundation

As regular readers of the Orvis News may have noticed, for the past year we’ve been deeply committed to the work being done to restore the health and well-being of Florida’s Everglades. Working in partnership with our friends at The Everglades Foundation we have been working to restore water flows south of Lake Okeechobee and to stop discharges down the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie Rivers….

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7 Ways Hiking in Vermont is Different from Hiking in Virginia

Written by: Wayne Rock


The author at the summit of 4,000-foot Camel’s Hump, Vermont’s 3rd highest and most-recognized
mountain—it’s the mountain featured on the Vermont State Quarter.
Photos courtesy Wayne Rock

1. You know switchbacks? Fuhgeddaboudem.
When I first applied for a job in the Green Mountains, I took myself to a place that had a highly drinkable amber on tap called Switchback Ale. I would later find out that this fine brew is. . .

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Cooper’s Alaska

Written by: Paul Fersen


Paul Fersen and his then-10-year-old son, Cooper, pose with a pink salmon in Alaska.
Photos courtesy Paul Fersen

Travis and David were a hundred yards downriver, pulling rainbows from a deep run. I leaned against the raft, with a cup of coffee watching a caribou move through the brilliant lavender. . .

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Adventures with Dad. . .

It’s all about the moments. A lifetime of moments etched into the psyche of every son and daughter. For each of us, those cherished slices of time are intensely personal, immortalized. . .

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7 Great Gift Ideas for Father’s Day

He was your first superhero. The guy who could (and still can) fix everything. The one who taught you how to throw a baseball, catch a fish, build a pinewood-derby car. He’s. . .

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An Epic, One-Day Vermont Craft-Beer Tour

Written by: Wayne Rock


Vermont is known worldwide for its craft brews.
Photos courtesy Hill farmsteead, Rock Art, Prohibition Pig, and Citizen Cider

Ask any of my friends about me. One of the first things they’ll tell you is “Wayne Rock knows his beer.” Truth be told, Vermont’s liquid gold was a considerable influence on my decision to swap. . .

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7 Tips for Spring Hiking

As spring slides toward summer, we are thinking more and more about being indoors less and less. And, with 2016 celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the National Parks Service, we are. . .

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Wayne’s Rock Solid Smoked Mint Julep


Vermont Bourbon – Have we gotten your attention?
Photo by Wayne Rock

Here we are in the first week of May, when a young man’s fancy turns to thoughts of…the Kentucky Derby. And Mint Juleps! In this case, the young man is Wayne Rock, a transplanted Southerner who now makes his home here in Vermont as an Orvis Retail Analyst. Wayne is an fantastic cook, and one of his current explorations is the world of smoking. He has everyone here in the Home Office chomping at the bit to try this amazing spin on the classic Mint Julep. To celebrate the Kentucky Derby we just had to share the backstory as well as the recipe. In Wayne’s own words:

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