Table of contents for May 2018 in Outside

TOM WALTON parks his bike and surveys the surrounding terrain. Where I see modest hills sheathed in uninspiring winter brown, he sees cycling gold. “The return on investment that we’ve had,” says Walton, kicking at the Arkansas dirt with his mountain-biking shoe, “proves that building urban singletrack is a great model for rural America.” Tom and Steuart Walton are both cycling nuts, and they’re trying to do for mountain biking what the family business did for retailing: change everything. In case you’re wondering: yes, Tom is one of those Waltons, grandson of Sam, founder of Walmart. And the modestly contoured Arkansas hills he’s hyping—maximum elevation maybe 1,500 feet—neighbor Bentonville, headquarters of the $500 billion company. The 34-year-old and his brother, Steuart, 36, are both cycling nuts, and they’re trying to…

GET SOAKED Hot Springs Cove, British Columbia Comprised of a half-dozen pools within 6,600-acre Maquinna Marine Provincial Park, Hot Springs Cove is nature’s way of telling us we’re loved. Most people visit as part of a whale-watching day tour out of nearby Tofino, but we suggest you hire an Ocean Outfitters water taxi ($160 round-trip; oceanoutfitters.bc.ca), wait for the crowds to leave, and spend the night. After disembarking at a small dock, you’ll hike a mile through moody rainforest to the springs, which spill from a ten-foot waterfall and combine with flood tides to reach a perfect 104 degrees. You can’t sleep at the springs, but a small first-come, first-served campground is located near the dock. Want more comfort? Get a stateroom aboard the five-cabin InnChanter, a 1920s heritage ship…

A. Outdoor Research Optimizer $399 BEST FOR: Redlining Most winter hard shells are oppressive in balmy conditions—or when hiking uphill regardless of the weather. But the waterproof and feathery Optimizer proved to be tough enough for ski tours and airy enough for spring showers. Credit Gore’s new Active fabric, which is more durable and 20 percent lighter than older versions. 12.9 oz (men’s) / 11.6 oz (women’s) B. Mountain Hardwear Touren Hooded $350 BEST FOR: Summit bids This soft shell is so accommodating, we forgot we had it on—even atop a blustery ridge near Colorado’s Continental Divide. The hood, front, and upper arms are made of Polartec Power Shield, which seals out gusts, while the back and underarms feature a thin stretch-woven material that dumps heat. 1.2 lbs (men’s) /…

ANDREW TALANSKY is almost always sore. The 29-year-old spent seven years as a professional cyclist racing for Slipstream Sports. He recently switched to triathlon and now spends hours training both on and off the bike. “I’m using muscles I haven’t used in years,” Talansky says. “My body is constantly inflamed.” Many athletes in his situation rely on common pain relief like ibuprofen, but when Talansky strained a hip flexor last fall, he reached for a bottle of cannabidiol (CBD), an extract from the cannabis plant, instead. “I took it for a couple of weeks, and there was a noticeable difference immediately,” Talansky says. “And it wasn’t just that my hip was feeling better. I was less anxious, and I was sleeping better.” Marijuana has long been considered an alternative pain…

ACCORDING TO the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a third of us don’t get nearly enough shut-eye. Our collective bleariness has spurred a $41 billion market for gadgets and accessories promising more—and higher-quality—sleep. In my eternal quest for downtime, I tested some of the most promising ones. Here’s how they stacked up. Eight sleep tracker $299 This mattress topper fits under a sheet and “turns any bed into a smart bed,” according to Eight. While I dozed, the sensor-studded pad gathered data like heart rate, periods of deepest slumber, and number of tosses and turns. It was easy to use, and I liked the warming feature, which let me set each side of the bed to a different temperature. REM Score: 8 (out of 10) Dreampad pillow $149 and…

Ethel Branch, attorney general for the Navajo Nation, sits on a leather couch in a Salt Lake City production studio, sipping bottled water and keeping a close eye on the television screen. Every few minutes, she picks up one of two iPhones laid in front of her to tap out an e-mail. It’s December 4, 2017. She’s been waiting for this day for eight months. A few miles away, at the Utah State Capitol, the President of the United States stands at a podium beneath a mural that reads PEACE WITH THE INDIANS. Looking at the cameras, Donald J. Trump makes a rough attempt at humor, allowing that, before arriving, he called “all of the friends I have in Utah.” President Trump asked them a crucial question about today’s announcement:…

Join a group. Meetup, Facebook, and Gociety are a few good places to start. Looking to join an organized hike? Members of the San Diego Trans County Trail Facebook group plan a large group trek each winter and provide downloadable GPS files of the route. Try a known hike. For options in Los Angeles, download Guidebook to the Inman 300 at outsideonline.com/inman300. Dan Koeppel keeps an archive of maps for many of his walks on Facebook, under the Big Parade page’s events section. A map for the Seattle Stairway Foot Tour, a 65-mile route with 15,000 stairs, is available at http://outsideonline.com/ seattlestairs. Liz Thomas posts maps and information about through-hikes she’s completed in Portland, Denver, and Chicago on her website at eathomas.com. And Mountaineers Books publishes a number of urban…

I love your website. I am an out-of-shape, somewhat unhealthy, 63-year-old American Indian woman. I am also currently the chair of the National Tribal Caucus, an advisory committee to the EPA, and have been a tribal environmental director for years. I grew up on subsistence living. I remember my brother catching brown trout just outside Yellowstone and fishing for salmon for a month near Neah Bay, Washington. I’m telling you this so you will know that I appreciate all you report on. It is near and dear to everything I have ever lived and worked for. Keep going. PAULA BRITTON Willits, California MERIT BASED I am a 14-year-old Boy Scout working on my communication merit badge, and my family has subscribed to your magazine for years. I have always enjoyed…

6 A.M. Start your morning with a quick 1.8-mile run around the loop in Uptown’s Audubon Park, filled with herons, egrets, and centuries-old oaks. 8 A.M. Hit up Bearcat Cafe on Jena Street for breakfast, where the menu is split between Good Cat (healthy) and Bad Cat (less so) options. Give in to sin and order the barbecue shrimp and grits. 10 A.M. Sign up with NOLA Paddleboards to check out Bayou St. John in Mid-City. The canal is lined with historic homes and abuts 1,300-acre City Park. From $37 for 75 minutes; nolapaddleboards.com 12 P.M. Head to Parkway Bakery and Tavern for a locals’-favorite po’boy. Top it off with a wedding-cake-flavored snowball—New Orleans’s version of shaved ice—at nearby Pandora’s. 1:30 P.M. It’s time to ride. Grab a Blue Bike…

A. R+Co Death Valley travel-size dry shampoo $17 Tailor-made for the perennial lunch crusher, this dry shampoo quickly removes sweat and restores volume. A few sprays and you’re ready for your afternoon meeting. B. Fitbit Flyer earphones $130 Sync these Bluetooth buds to your Fitbit Ionic or phone to crank tunes from your wrist. Built for the long haul, they’re rain- and sweatproof and have a six-hour battery life. C. Eating Evolved Coconut Butter Cups $3 Your sweet-snacks habit gets a performance reboot with these coconut cups. Made with chocolate beans and coconut butter, they’re chock-full of healthy fats to help you refuel and recover on the go. D. S’Well Traveler bottle $35 This triple-walled, 16-ounce bottle will keep your coffee hot for 12 hours or ice water cold for…

1. DON’T SKIMP ON SLEEP No more scraping by on four or five hours. For top performance, shoot for seven to eight (or, in my case, nine) every night. To support the recovery that happens overnight, I drink chaga tea before I turn in, which kick-starts the anti-inflammation process. And since overheating in bed frequently leads to restless sleep, I use a ChiliPad, which slips underneath the sheets and drops to a temperature as low as 55 degrees to keep me cool. 2. FUEL YOUR BODY Simple whole foods have powered our bodies for generations. You can’t game the system with meal replacements, fake ingredients, or fad diets. Start to think about food as a fuel source and you’ll see real results. It’s tempting to make nutrition feel restrictive. But…

Asta spent her first night in Colorado sleeping in an outfitter’s warehouse, replaying in her head the bear growls she’d learned online. She wanted to be ready. Although she’d slept outside plenty of times, usually under a bridge, she’d never camped in the mountains, and she was, to say the least, apprehensive. “I’m a little nervous, OK?” she says the next morning, practicing how to stuff her winter sleeping bag into the bottom of her loaner pack. She’s wearing leggings and a loose sweatshirt; her long hair hangs straight. “I was homeless for four years in Atlanta, so this is a new adventure,” she says. “I was afraid of the streets and the men, but this is different. It’s the mountains I’m intimidated by. Bears, lions, mountain goats, cheetahs—I don’t…

LAST FALL, Patagonia and REI began selling previously owned gear online. (Word has it that the North Face may follow suit.) To be clear, used-product sales aren’t untrammeled ground for these brands; REI has been holding Garage Sale events for its members for years, and Patagonia makes returned items available to employees at deep discounts. But an online store dedicated to secondhand stuff is new territory for both companies. REI dipped a toe in last October when it launched Used Gear Beta, a redistribution platform for its best gently used returns. And Patagonia’s program, part of its Worn Wear initiative, lets customers exchange older Patagonia apparel and equipment for store credit. Both companies vet the products, and acceptable items are cleaned and prepped for resale. Sites like eBay and GearTrade…

“IN 2015, I HOPPED a barbed-wire fence while I was hunting and ripped my brand-new $400 Patagonia Fitz Roy down parka. I cut a piece of duct tape in the shape of a heart and put it on my coat, but I didn’t like the way it looked. Nylon gear rips all the time, and I had lots of tears in my clothes, so I started buying materials online that I would cut into heart and star patches. In the tram line at Jackson Hole, people kept asking me about them. I was working in accounting but eventually realized that this was a business opportunity. I launched Noso Patches on Indiegogo in August 2016, asking for $15,000. I raised just over that, which bought me 600 yards of fabric and…

When I type“black people don’t” into Google, statements like “black people don’t like to work” and “black people don’t travel” show up. When I add “camp,” I get a Guardian article called “Why Don’t Black People Camp?” BlackAmericaWeb.com, a news site for African Americans, features a list of “22 Things Black Folks Don’t Do.” Number two is “Go camping or hiking.” Seven is “Go to national parks.” Later comes “Swim” (#17), landing just ahead of “Eat tofu” (#19). There’s reality behind some of these beliefs, but the big takeaway—that black people dislike the outdoors—is wrong. I’ve loved the woods and wild places all my life, and the same is true for my family and friends. According to a 2016 poll by New America Media’s Next 100 Coalition—a group of civil…

It’s after sunset and we’re somewhere near San Diego’s Goodan Ranch Sycamore Canyon Preserve, about 135 miles into the San Diego Trans County Trail—a 155-mile route that winds through wilderness and state parks, then into the heart of the city. Liz Thomas and a few of her friends have been hiking and camping for the past five days. They started on January 10 at the Salton Sea, near California’s Coachella Valley, and in less than 24 hours they’ll finish at the Pacific Ocean via Torrey Pines State Reserve. I met up with the group just before noon to walk part of today’s 27-mile stretch with them. But we’ve hit a roadblock, literally. It’s a four-lane highway that we’ll need to cross and then follow in order to reach our final…