All tagged backpacking

Moving from Colorado to London Was a Shock. Hiking the Coast Kept Me Grounded.

Moving from Colorado to London Was a Shock. Hiking the Coast Kept Me Grounded.

Kassondra Cloos
Backpacker Magazine, Backpacking

In the United Kingdom, there are exactly two correct answers to the question, “You alright?” They are—trust me on this—“You alright?” and “Yeah, you?”

There are at least a thousand wrong responses to this phrase. I know because I’ve been working my way through all of them while section-hiking the England Coast Path. As a Coloradan transplant to London, I’ve been on a quest to better understand my new home country, where I often feel a little out of place. What better way to do so than by trekking an unfinished, town-to-town trail that will soon dwarf the Appalachian and Pacific Crest? When it’s done, at 2,795 miles, the England Coast Path will be the longest coastal path in the world. Along the way, one can visit dozens of castles, take boat tours to spy on puffins and seals, and visit hundreds of tearooms.  

The most memorable of my You alright faux pas happened on a rainy afternoon on the southwestern coast of Dorset last spring. I had just started hiking a famous section of the trail known as both the Southwest Coast Path and the Jurassic Coast. A friend and I had spent the day climbing grassy yet near-vertical hills with sheer cliffs plunging into the turquoise ocean below. In the dips, we motivated each other with the promise of sandwiches and Scotch eggs at the top of each hill. When we made it, we splayed ourselves on the soft grass and took luxurious naps in the fleeting sunshine, as if to photosynthesize between rain showers. 

Backpacking Kungsleden

Backpacking Kungsleden

Kassondra Cloos
Outdoors.com

The only way I can describe Kungsleden, a Swedish long trail that extends into the Arctic Circle, is that it’s the trail of dreams. On a five-day trek last August stretching 70 miles from Nikkaluokta to Abisko, I drank directly out of rivers and streams, waltzed along boardwalks that made easy work out of miles of scree fields, and ended most evenings with a swim in Arctic waters or a sauna session at a wilderness mountain hut. Thanks to Sweden’s Right to Roam, I pitched my tent wherever it made sense, and thanks to endless summer days, I hiked well into the evenings and barely needed a headlamp. 

The Best Women’s Active Underwear

The Best Women’s Active Underwear

Kassondra Cloos
Outside

The best underwear is the kind you don’t notice. When you do, it’s probably not doing its job. Finding out mid-run or mid-hike that your underwear just won’t stay in place sucks. A literal pain in the butt.

So with help from four other testers, who wear sizes extra small to large, I set out to find the best options for spending time outdoors. We tried 20 pairs of underwear—hipsters, bikinis, boy shorts, cheekies, and thongs—from nine different outdoor brands. All promised to be the ultimate you’ll-never-go-back underwear.

Read the full story from Outside Online. 

Bavarian Backpacks: Deuter Does it Again with Aircomfort Sensic System

Bavarian Backpacks: Deuter Does it Again with Aircomfort Sensic System

Kassondra Cloos
Backpacker Magazine, Content Marketing

Bavaria has the world’s most perfect snowflakes. If you hold out your mitten while hiking, you’ll have to do a double-take to make sure you haven’t accidentally collected tiny glass flakes carved by an artist.

Everywhere you look, there is storybook perfection in the shadow of Zugspitze, Germany’s tallest mountain, amid an outdoor culture a bit different from our own. You will, of course, find the stunning vistas you imagine when you think of the Alps: tree branches sagging under the weight of snow, castles jutting out of mountainsides, fog that adds an air of mystery to it all. But, you’ll also often find creature comforts we don’t associate with hiking.

Read the full story, sponsored by Deuter, at Backpacker.com.