6 Gifts for Your Urban Outdoorsman
(Graphic: Helen Jane Hearn/TueNight)
Does your man like to hit the trail, or just to look like he does? These gifts range from practical to elegant, inexpensive to extravagant, but each would get real use in either the mountains or the city.
1. The Cinder Cone
Some books are better as hard copies. Designer and surfer Foster Huntington, best known for his A Restless Transplant hit-the-road project, documented the building of a treehouse and skate park complex located in the mountains of Washington State. The Kickstarter-funded book shows that the 1970’s luxury hippy aesthetic lives on.
$35 A Restless Transplant Store
2. Backcountry Navigation with Map and Compass Class
GPS batteries die and cell phone signals fade, so knowing how to read a map with a compass might help your guy get back on the trail. REI offers a range of orienteering and backcountry navigation classes at locations across the US.
$50–80 REI
3. Light Up Dog Collar
There is no motivation like a dog to go hiking, whether it’s on the trail or through city streets and parks. This time of year, when it is dark more often than not, a lighted collar can help keep your man and his dog safe. Glow Doggie LED collars are made in Germany and are waterproof enough to allow swimming. They work for all sizes of dogs and can use rechargeable batteries.
$53–68 Glow Doggie
4. Titanium Flask
Snow Peak, founded in Japan in 1958, describes itself as an “outdoor lifestyle creator” and that self-assessment seems correct. Their elegant objects seem to be about outdoor inspiration rather than being serious tools. This oval flask, made from ultra light titanium, would be appreciated by someone interested in design, whether he ever left the city or not.
$150 Snow Peak
5. Filson Down Cruiser Vest
Filson has been manufacturing men’s outdoor clothing in Seattle since the Alaska Gold Rush. They have expanded their line recently—and introduced women’s cuts and sizes for the first time—but have maintained their quality and heritage aesthetic. This goose down-filled vest has a wool-lined collar for warmth and puts up a fight against water and wind with Filson’s oil-finished Shelter Cloth.
$295 Filson
7. Hamilton Field Khaki Watch
Many men’s “outdoorsman” wristwatches tend to have inexpensive quartz movements inside their overcomplicated cases. Hamilton, an historic American brand now owned by a Swiss company, has a line of rugged, masculine watches with mechanical movements. The dials and cases are beautifully detailed and they have a clear back to see the movement in action.
From $575 Hamilton
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