Store Review: Cabela's

There are very few retail stores that I as a male am willing to endure. I can last about 5 minutes in Nordstrom, GAP, Express etc. before I am irritated and begin to fascinate about punching each of the patrons and employees in the neck. Most likely this is just the reaction that naturally occurs when I am subjected to the general public for extended periods of time. Aside from your run of the mill American mall stores, there exists a select few establishments in which I can browse for hours. Most of you who know me are aware of my deep love and fascination with REI and the wonders that lie within. However today I am going to share with you another retail outlet I recently explored. Approximately 125 miles east of Sacramento on highway 80 in Verdi Nevada is the Westernmost location of Cabela's.


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Coming in at over 125,000 square feet, this is one of the smaller Cabela's and yet the store is so vast it takes nearly an hour for a first timer to walk around, while the average customer spends 3 hours browsing. In that amount of time you are sure to work up an appetite, as I did, which you can satisfy at the built in Grill. I went with wild boar on wheat, with spicy mustard. Fantastic.
As for pricing of the goods, well Cabela's has the best pricing on one thing, weapons. With a huge variety of rifles and handguns to choose from, both new and used, the prices here are better than most places I have looked. Purchasing gear and supplies is another story. Don't look to Cabela's to have the lowest pricing you have ever seen. The trick is to buy only the promoted/sale items. Due to the size of the stores and the volume they run, they are able to deeply discount certain products. I picked up a military hydration pack system from Camelbak that retails between $110 to $150 for $45.

I will wrap it up by saying that if you are a hunting and/or outdoor enthusiast, Cabela's is worth the time and travel required to browse the largest outdoor store I have ever shopped.

Downieville Downhill

"Snuggled way up North in the Tahoe National Forest is a tiny little town that derives it's revenue from Fishing, Gold Mining, and Mountain Biking. Downieville is situated right on Highway 49 on the banks of the Yuba River which is where most of the gold mining and fishing takes place. More importantly the town sits at the base of one of the most fun and challenging sets of mountain biking trails in California."
On Tuesday I headed up with 12 other willing victims to hit the Downieville Downhill in Downieville CA. The downhill is a +/- 17 mile downhill ride by mountain bike. Since I don't have an extra $4k sitting around to buy one of these full suspension mountain bikes, we procured some from the local rental shop Downieville Outfitters. Be aware though that they only have 10 bikes to rent out on average and don't take reservations. We actually ended up talking two girls at a gas station into letting us rent their bikes for the day. Luckily they agreed so no one had to be left behind. The bikes in Downieville go from $40-60 for the day and a shuttle to the top of the mountain is going to run you $20. We thought ahead and brought a trailer so we could act as our own shuttle.



I thought it might be kind of cool if I could rig up a helmet cam and film the Third Divide which is my favorite part of this trail. Unfortunately due to a slight brain fart, my camera went down Third Divide in my friend's backpack as opposed to on my head. I did take a little footage of some slower riding after Third Divide where I learned that I need to adjust my camera angle due to the way I position my head while riding. This is how I learn I suppose.




It was a great trip and we were all exhausted by the end. Although I myself made it down safely, the rocks did claim their victims. 10 out of 13 people had an "over the bars" experience to take home with them. Nothing too major, just hand gouges, missing chunks of kneecap skin and your various cuts/scrapes. I recommend this for any riding enthusiast out there.