News — Outdoors

Granite Gear are something of a force in the American outdoor market. Not as ubiquitous as Osprey or as intensely followed as Mystery Ranch, but gently getting on with their own thing: making strong, lightweight packs for long distance hikes for over 30 years. Their Crown2 is a ‘thru-hike’ staple, for backpackers spending weeks or even months on the trail. Since thru-hikers will go to great lengths to reduce fatigue over the distance, every gram carried has to be essential, but a pack breaking down mid-way can spell disaster. In 2017 Granite Gear updated their classic Crown, and later that...

When writing a story such as this, you’re supposed to set the scene. You measure, in words, the splendor of the mountains — the Culebra Range of the Sangre de Cristos, if that helps — and you identify the precise blue of the sky. But I can’t tell you a thing about the forest I walked through (although I’m sure there were trees and that they were lovely), because what were popping out of the ground were the most fascinating things I’ve seen in a long, long time, and my eyes were riveted downward, on the charred, burnt earth. From...