“Silent Sports” is the best local-style outdoor sports magazine out there. Well, maybe the ONLY one, too.
Their website is stepping up its game, with lots of content nowadays, but their paper issue is far more flavorful. $20/year. I highly recommend a subscription, but I’d even suggest pestering them — and adding some extra cash — for a copy of the March issue. It really covered the gamut at a high level: skin kayaks, fatbikes, extreme XC, skijoring, paralympics (rockin’ wounded warriors among ’em). But April has my “Hugh Heward” report which ain’t bad. : )
(You have to scroll to the very top of their page to find their Sub button.)
It’s an “Outside” for real people — and getting close to the level of creative relevance that fat mag also aspires to.
I don’t think I’m saying all this just because my stories are starting to appear in it more often. I’ve long enjoyed “Silent Sports.”
It’s the only Midwest outdoor mag! …C’mon!
It’s a reliable calendar/events guide but it’s much deeper than our “Outdoor Athlete” freebie tabloid.
Michigan has such a HUGE outdoor sports scene that we need a voice to show our stuff.
Michigan is certainly “Outside”-worthy — and “Sea Kayaker,” “Canoe & Kayak” and “Backcountry” (ski) — but we get nearly TOTALLY overlooked! We don’t have mountains or whitewater. SO WHAT! That means NOTHING to the field’n’stream freshwater action we have to offer.
And “Silent Sports” will run YOUR stories! They WANT to hear from us real folks doing Midwest outdoor fun. A Barry Roubaix report and pics would’ve been run instantly. Midwest adventure tales of any kind would find a welcome home there … to encourage others. Ya know, there are young people around here who think outdoor action means ROCK-CLIMBING, so they’re just not enjoying where they are! They’re driving to indoor gyms and planning on LEAVING the state. They’re missing out. I don’t mind a desert state, but I do like telling it like it is. I love elsewhere but I love here, too. Waterloo, for instance, ROCKS in so many ways. “SS” would cover it!
I’ve also long lamented the fact that it’s not well-known here in Michigan, especially in the LP. I’m agitating for better distro here. It’s true that it has a WI and MN emphasis, but that’s us, too. We’re all Great Lakes here. We do what they do except without seeing each other. Nobody crosses The Pond. …Not even to go to Canoecopia, it seems. (I want to!)
https://www.silentsports.net/
