Outdoor

Ambassador Stories: Gabriel Gray

April 14, 2016

Adventurist and stand up paddle boarder Gabriel Gray has led an extraordinary life thus far. Gabriel is an outdoorsman, survivalist, firefighter, EMT Medic, USLA open water lifeguard, creator of The Fight to SOAR Project, and Garmin ambassador.

Gabriel hails from North Florida and has been paddle boarding for 9 years now. He was first introduced to the exercise while out surfing. A few friends came paddling up to him and after joking around with them a little bit, he gave SUP a shot. He totally fell in love with the sport. SUP soon became an integral part of Gabriel’s life and he’s now considered one of the pioneers on the camping/expedition side of the sport.

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Whether he’s on an outdoor journey or working at his local fire department, there are certain tools Gabriel leans on and Garmin products have proven to be at the top of his list. Gabriel uses the fēnix3 HR to record his training and when he goes out on expeditions it plays an important roll in the physical aspect, calorie intake, as well as navigation and mapping.

“I usually run between 10-20 miles a week, one day a week I’ll hike 5-10 miles with a 70lb pack, weight train for 1 hour 5 days a week and I’ll throw in a 6-10 mile SUP paddle in there as well”.

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Gabriel also documents all of his adventures with his VIRB XE. Gabriel will be working with the National Park Service for their 100th birthday as well as teaching a SUP camping clinic at the Buffalo River NPS in Arkansas. After that he’ll journey 6 days on a local river in the panhandle raising awareness of the dangers of fracking in Florida. He’s also traveling to Colorado for the mountain games in June and then off to Idaho in August for a big trip in the Sawtooth Mountains to SUP fly-fish the alpine lakes and rivers.

For Gabriel, it’s about being outdoors in remote places and spreading awareness. His hope is to inspire people to reconnect with the outdoors and protect what we have left. If you would like to keep up with Gabriel’s adventures and projects follow along on Instagram @grayoutdoors and his website Grayoutdoors.com. Don’t forget to share your adventures with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and use #HaveNoLimits.