Shoulder Season 1: It’s soon time to hike
Ski season isn’t over, but the end is nigh. (Seasonally, of course. Also, existentially. If the world gets another few bad winters, the ski resort economy in some countries will be in serious trouble. Doubt us? Check this collection of abandoned lifts and dirt slopes.) So it’s time to think ahead. To hiking. Or at...
Time to Upgrade?
If you’ve been going outdoors over the past few decades—whether once a season or once a week—there’s a good chance you’ve already got the gear you need. And some extra stuff you picked up at garage and clearance sales. Maybe, with the advance of years, you decided to upgrade your sleeping pad to something a...
From Vanguard to Vanquished
Retirement is traumatic so this might seem a bit frivolous…but why do so many retirement-related ads and articles show old people living out of a van? Granted, today’s oldsters probably invented van-life. While “KampKars” and “land yachts” have been with us since the start of motorized travel, Boomers made cross-country treks in a small, self-contained...
Koreans love the outdoors like Americans love spectator sports
Twenty-five years ago, when Koreans were known for having the world’s longest work week (nominally six days, often longer), they still found time to get outdoors. Hiking clubs were a big deal. Camping was less popular because it requires a couple days of leisure in a row, but it was still popular. Over the...
People in glass lookouts shouldn’t throw the first stone
Sometimes that old wine just can’t be decanted into a new bottle. Case in point: you have some property near Yellowstone. You want to make some money off it, so you build high-end cabins. You put in wi-fi and a flat screen TV and queen beds—equipping them like a modern condo in downtown Seattle...
No service, no sequester
You’ve got two weeks off, America, and there’s gas in the station wagon. The tent is packed, along with your camp stove and a jug of DEET. You were thinking of maybe Yellowstone or Yosemite. But now you’re anxious, which is exactly how you’re supposed to start your vacation. But this is a more acute...
Badlands glamping in Canada
Canada has badlands. I know. Big surprise. And they look pretty bad. Weirdly capped hoodoos and pointed hills and sharp banded walls where a river has cut through the landscape over the millennia. Also, scorching hot. Plus, as a bonus, Alberta’s badlands come with many, many huge dinosaur skeletons. (Some assembly required.) In...
New glamping option looks like a Tylenol capsule. Or candy.
It’s hard to believe that the hotel industry is threatened by glamping. For two reasons: one, it feels like a fad, a flash in the pan. And two, even though the media finds it a catchy subject, not that many people are going to give up the Super 8 or Hyatt for a night in...
Ultralight in the ultra-cold?
Camping in summer is perfect: a chance to shake off the stale atmosphere in your (probably) air-conditioned home. You live simple, work hard, sleep well and wake up a little sore. And camping in winter seems deranged. Correction: winter camping in the north, or at altitude, seems mad. This is true when you’re twenty, and...
Keep the camping fire going over the winter
If you live at my latitude, these are the weeks hope, when every trip to the basement reminds you that the camping gear is still there, still not packed away for the season. Part of you wants to believe you might get out again this year, but you know the odds get slimmer with each...
L.L. Bean AT 55 Pack: built for speed and some comfort
Backpacks are like golf clubs. You make your selection based on your size and how far you’re going. The first part is easy: you get a pack that fits your frame. The second changes constantly, which is why golfers lug around 14 clubs and why it’s not uncommon for hikers to have more than one...
Tent with a view
You might have a favorite campsite on a windswept precipice over the Pacific. Or a special, mosquito-net window on the Grand Canyon or the Chilkoot Trail. Very dramatic. But how pleasant is this scene of North Dakota badlands in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, with the Little Missouri flowing slowly under cloudy skies. This is a...
