Each summer, about 20 burly 30-somethings leave their jobs and families to spend a weekend at a top-secret location in the woods of eastern Snohomish County.
The guys, many of whom attended Cascade High School in Everett together in the late 1980s, call themselves the Outdoorsmen. For the invitation-only trip, they pack hatchets, ropes, blindfolds, orange cones, eggs and at least 32 cases of beer.
A suspicious-sounding load, to be sure, but each item plays a specific role in a grueling, daylong competition that tests each man’s strength, endurance and guzzling skills.
They allow no spectators, and they don’t talk much about the competition when they return. They didn’t allow cameras, either – until last year.
Filmmaker Scott Perry of Los Angeles heard about the Outdoorsmen through a friend who attended Cascade and persuaded the guys to allow him and his crew to film the event.
The result is a 90-minute documentary, “The Outdoorsmen: Blood, Sweat &Beers.” Earlier this year, the movie with its all-local cast premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. The movie makes its local debut at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Historic Everett Theatre.
What Perry’s cameras witnessed explains why the Outdoorsmen have difficulty describing the competition. During the all-day challenge, 10 two-person teams compete in 15 events, many of which combine physical feats with high-speed beer chugging.
Some of the events are silly, such as finding and drinking a beer while blindfolded. Others are tougher, such as the log toss.
“It’s absolutely hysterical,” Perry said. “I tried to make the movie the experience I had in making the movie – you go out and hang out with them while they do this insane weekend.”
Event co-founder and former Cascade High School jock Dan White narrates the movie, which begins with scenes of Everett and the guys packing to leave for the woods.
When they arrive at the competition site – a campsite on private property near a stretch of river – they set up camp, pop open beers and gather around a roaring campfire to catch up. Many haven’t seen each other since the year before.
“It’s a tradition – a camaraderie that is very strong and has been able to remain strong for 15 years,” said Doug Maxfield of Arlington, a 14-year veteran of the competition. “The older we get, the more we grow apart, but this is the one thing that draws us together.”
It was a scene just like that more than 15 years ago – buddies sitting around a campfire with beer – that the event was dreamed up by the high school friends.
The evening of arrival, the men are randomly assigned a partner, and early the following morning the competition begins.
There are the tossing events to see which Outdoorsmen triumph at chucking things – an egg, a hatchet, a tire, a rock, a log.
There are several running events, including the Death Race 3000, which has the pairs sprinting through woods, fording rivers and, of course, chugging beers to earn the best time.
At the end of the day, the winning team receives a coveted cup and some serious respect.
If not for the draw of a weekend in the woods with the guys, Jon Lovern of Snohomish probably wouldn’t have gone back after the first year.
“When I went up there, it was totally not what I expected. I thought it was going to be just a guys’ weekend out camping and drinking beer,” Lovern said. “I wasn’t expecting the intensity of it. These guys were serious. I didn’t know if I could really compete on that level.”
Lovern, who won the egg toss last year, said it will be exciting to see himself and his buddies on the big screen Saturday night.
Even more cool is that their tradition is now documented. He has watched the DVD at home five or six times.
“So these guys came out in the woods and filmed us doing what we would normally do,” Lovern said. “The film was kind of a bonus. So 20 years from now, I can pop in the DVD and watch myself when I was 20 years younger.”
No one knows how long the competition will go on – no one thought it would last this long. But no matter how busy their lives are, something keeps them coming back to the woods.
Perry thinks the Outdoorsmen weekend he documented revisits exactly what it means to be a guy.
“They have their normal lives – a lot of the guys are construction workers, auto mechanics, meat wholesalers – and they have their wives and their kids,” Perry said.
“This is one weekend a year where you get to go out and you don’t have to worry about the responsibilities of your life, family, job … they just go nuts.”
Reporter Jennifer Warnick: 425-339-3429 or jwarnick@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
