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COMPETITION | Win A Vango Radiate Sleeping Bag Worth £85 From Outdoor World Direct

We’ve teamed up with our friends over at Outdoor World Direct to bring you the chance to win a Vango Radiate single sleeping bag worth £85.00!

Win A Vango Radiate Sleeping Bag Worth £85 From Outdoor World Direct

If you saw our recent review of the Vango Radiate sleeping bag, you’ll know that this heated sleeping bag is a must-have bit of camping gear for camping in Autumn!

The Prize

1 lucky winner will receive a Vango Radiate single sleeping bag worth £85.

How to enter

There are 2 ways to enter;

1. Enter here on the blog

All you need to do to enter is leave a comment below here on the blog telling us about your Autumn camping plans!

2. Enter on Instagram

Alternatively, you can enter over on Instagram by leaving a comment on the competition post and tagging a camping-mad friend.

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Yipeeee! It’s #competition time! We’ve teamed up with our friends over at @outdoorworlddirect to bring you the chance to win a Vango Radiate single sleeping bag worth £85.00! HOW TO ENTER leave a comment below, here on Insta or over on the blog, telling us about your Autumn camping plans, and simply tag a camping-mad friend! Head on over to the blog for full terms and conditions! Link in bio 🔗👆🏽 #competitions #win #prize #contest #giveaway #vango #camping #sleepingbag

A post shared by Camping with Style (@campingwithstyle) on Sep 27, 2020 at 10:47am PDT

A winner will be randomly selected after the closing date.

Good luck!

Terms & Conditions

  • Open to UK residents only
  • Camping with Style reserve the right to withdraw or amend this competition at any time
  • Winner will be randomly selected after the closing date
  • Competition ends 6pm GMT Weds 7th October 2020
  • The prize is kindly supplied by Outdoor World Direct
  • The winner’s details will be shared with Outdoor World Direct and they will send the prize out straight to the winner
  • No cash alternative offered

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Camping Tips, Tricks and Adventures

BIFF Provides Vicarious Thrills for a Troubled World

Above: Notable BIFF celebrity interviewer Ron Bostwick (L) introduces music icon Robbie Robertson (R) from the film Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band during an in-person Q&A on the Opening Night of the Boulder International Film Festival, March 6, 2020. Photo credit: Randall Malone / Photomalone.com


It was certainly a case of flop sweat. My heart was racing and beads of perspiration formed on my brow. Yet I was hardly moving. Instead I spent last weekend watching a procession of outstanding films at the 16th annual Boulder International Film Festival (BIFF), enjoying pulse quickening scenes of “superpower dogs” lowered onto avalanche victims by helicopter; blind athlete Lonnie Bedwell paddling the Colorado river through the Grand Canyon; superfit Faroe Islands pastor Sverri Steinholm running along knife- edge ridges; storm chasers playing tag with tornados; and the late U.K. piano restorer Desmond O’Keeffe, delivering an upright to 14,000-ft. Lingshed in the Indian Himalayas.

Funniest moment was when actor Ryan Gaul, during a talkback for the film Jack, featuring a cat about to be euthanized (it’s funnier than it sounds), yelled “run!” and mockingly fell to the floor when the moderator sneezed. It was a moment of comic relief we all needed along with another shpritz of hand sanitizer.

BIFF attracted 25,000 films, filmmakers, and movie buffs from around the world to Boulder for a four-day celebration of the art of cinema. This year, the festival debuted the Adventure Film Pavilion at eTown Hall to celebrate the most exciting new adventure films of the year.

Adventure Pavilion moderator Isaac Savitz said his selection committee viewed 400 adventure films in three months to select 35 for the BIFF audience. If you didn’t like one, just wait a few minutes and another film was screened that would drop your jaw to the floor.

The 2020 line-up included four shorts programs and three features, including Home, about UK Adventurer Sarah Outen who traversed the globe by bike, kayak, and rowboat; Climbing Blind, about Jesse Dufton who attempts to be the first blind person to make a gripping “non-sight” lead of the iconic Old Man of Hoy seat stack in Scotland; and Lost Temple of the Inca, about Boulder scientist Preston Sowell’s journey to Peru where he discovers a lost temple of the Inca Empire. It was a behind-the-scenes look inside a cutting edge expedition at the headwaters of the Amazon river, a race against time as mining companies seek to ruin the Peruvian Andes Lake Sibinacocha region.

Legendary grizzly expert, Green Beret medic, and eco-warrior Doug Peacock, the real-life inspiration for the character George Hayduke in Edward Abbey’s novel The Monkey Wrench Gang, said in Grizzly Country, “Saving habitat is the most satisfying expression of joy I know. If you’re down and depressed get outside. It’s the best cure I know for the metaphysical icky-poos.”


Boulder resident Jeff Blumenfeld, a frequent contributor to Elevation Outdoors, is author of Travel With Purpose: A Field Guide to Voluntourism (Rowman & Littlefield), travelwithpurposebook.com


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Camping Tips, Tricks and Adventures

Scott Jurek’s Favorite Places to Run Around the World

Running is a great excuse to see the world. You can travel light, go far, and access places others only dream of visiting. For ultrarunner Scott Jurek, the opportunity to connect with the land and local people and cultures is one of his highlights when it comes to running destinations.

Between his Appalachian Trail speed record, seven consecutive wins of the rugged Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run, the U.S. record for the 24-hour road run (165.7 miles), two 135-mile Badwater Ultramarathon victories, and adventures all over the world, Jurek, 46, of Boulder, Colorado, has probably packed in more miles than just about anyone. So we felt it was high time to reach out to him to hear about his favorite running destinations.

“I’ve been fortunate to travel around the world,” he says, “but I like to remind people that you don’t have to go a huge distance to find adventure. There’s great stuff out your back door.” You don’t need to be a professional ultrarunner, either. Whether you choose to run or hike, bag fifty or five miles a day, fly around the planet for a trip of a lifetime or just lace up the shoes and go, the journey is what you make of it.

Khumbu Valley, Nepal

“The Himalayas were one of the most amazing places I’ve been. The scale of the mountains blew me away. You’re running at 16,000 to 17,000 feet—well, maybe not running, because of the altitude, but more of a jog—and another 10,000 to 15,000 feet above you are the peaks.”

“This was one of my favorite trips, because it wasn’t a race environment and I wasn’t trying to do anything crazy. My wife was climbing Ama Dablam, and we stayed at base camp, about a day’s hike from Namche. I did some training days with her, then I was able to do some three-, four-, and five-day solo trips from base camp, running on established trekking routes and staying in teahouses along the way.”

“We trekked in from Lukla, which allowed us to adjust to the altitude, but the first three to five days can be pretty tough. I recommend renting an altitude tent ahead of time to help with the adjustment, especially if you’re going for ten days or less. If you don’t, plan on a longer buildup to acclimatization. You might be hiking more, and there’s nothing wrong with that—everybody starts to feel it at 16,000, 17,000, and 18,000 feet, even if you’ve done some altitude training or tent time.”

“Fall is the best time of year to go, since that’s when the weather is the most stable. Some people go in the spring, early summer, but then you might be dealing with more snow.”

Tour du Mont Blanc, Mont Blanc Massif, France/Italy/Switzerland

“The Alps aren’t as big as the Himalayas, but Europe is more accessible for most people, and the scale of the mountains from the valleys still gives you an appreciation of just how immense the terrain is and how the mountains are embedded in the local culture.”

“I’ve spent a lot of time in the Mont Blanc area for the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB). Being able to run through three countries over 100 miles is a neat aspect of the route. Some people wait years to do this iconic race, but you can run or hike the Tour du Mont Blanc anytime on your own, even if you’re new to trail running or not used to ultra distances.”

“The European hut system is amazing, and most stretches between huts are only 10 to 15 kilometers [six to nine miles]. The beauty is that you have a warm, dry place to sleep at night and don’t have to set up a tent in the rain or carry much gear. Some offer full amenities, and you could be sipping a glass of wine and eating a great pasta dinner after each day of running. You can essentially do the route with only a credit card, but you’ll want gear to contend with the weather, which can turn fast. A dry change of clothes for inside the huts can make things a lot more comfortable as well. I’ve done it carrying only a hydration pack that has extra storage room. Most huts take reservations, and I would recommend calling ahead at least 24 hours, especially at the peak of summer. But if you’re willing to take some chances and wing it, you might be running to the next hut if you come up to one that’s full.”

“Don’t rule out les gîtes, or cottages, in some of the little towns. I’ve stayed at them when we’ve decided to stop earlier for the day. Sometimes they’re owned by a family and have five beds—that sort of thing—so it’s more of an intimate situation, but a lot of fun, too, because you can have dinner with the family, versus a hut where you’re most likely with a bunch of tourists. I’m a big believer in doing an adventure run, staying in the huts or the teahouses, and really connecting with the culture. That has always been one of my highlights with running destinations.”

Copper Canyon, Chihuahua, Mexico

“If you want a wild adventure, Copper Canyon is the place. It’s remote yet still accessible and set up for tourists. The magic and beauty of the area is that the terrestrial reverse happens—you drop into the canyon instead of going up into the mountains—and you just feel these canyon walls towering thousands of feet above you.”

“As much as I’m a believer of go explore on your own, Copper Canyon is one of those places where it’d be best to have a local with you as a guide. Sometimes you can even get a [indigenous] Tarahumara guide who can show you stuff that you’d never see otherwise. Navigation in the canyon is tricky. There are trails all over the place—a mix of roads, wider trails, and faint singletrack—with no signage. So you definitely want recommendations from the locals on where it’s safe. Or go down in March during the Ultra Caballo Blanco race, when other gringos, hikers, and runners are in the region. You can also stick to dirt roads for a fun adventure run. I think some trail runners are like, Oh, I only want to be on singletrack, but there’s a lot of beauty on the dirt roads and getting into these remote villages.”

“Even though I feel like Mexico is a safe place, you do have to be on your toes a bit more and be smart about traveling. Creel is the jumping-off point before you drop into the canyon towns of Batopilas and Urique, where the race is held for Born to Run fans. I’ve based out of both towns, and I hiked from Batopilas to Urique each year I did the race. You start in one valley on the canyon bottom, go over the top of the rim, and drop back down to another canyon bottom. It’s pretty spectacular.”

“February and March are beautiful. April starts getting warm, and heat can be an issue. Springtime temperatures reach 90 to 100 degrees, so it’s a good idea to carry lots of water. There are water sources along the canyon floor—that’s the fascinating thing with the Tarahumara, they know where all the water is—but not as many flow during the dry season. They are hard to find, so plan ahead. There are no gear shops, so you definitely want to have everything you need.”

Tenth Mountain Division Hut System, Rocky Mountains, Colorado

“There aren’t a whole lot of hut systems in the U.S., but you can do some cool routes using the Tenth Mountain Division huts in the Aspen-Leadville-Vail triangle. The huts were mainly designed for winter ski touring, but they’re open in the summer, too, and are great for hut-to-hut runs.”

“My buddy Ricky Gates hosts a six-day, 100-mile running adventure called the Hut Run Hut, which gives people the opportunity for a more catered, guided experience. You get to run all day, then stay in a mountain hut each night, and your gear is brought up for you.”

“If you do it on your own, it’s not like Europe, where there’s bedding or meals in the huts. You need a sleeping bag, provisions, and more gear than what you’d be able to get away with in the Alps. Some huts have caretakers and others don’t, so it’s worth making reservations ahead of time, because you might need a code for the lock, for instance.”

Presidential Traverse, White Mountains, New Hampshire

“I’ve always felt northeasterners are a special ilk of runners. They’re super tough, because the mountains and trails are tough. We forget that out west, and rarely end up going east to run. I’ve mainly been on the Appalachian Trail, so I haven’t explored a lot, but the Presidential Traverse, a good chunk of which is essentially on the AT, has definitely got to be on the bucket list, or getting to the top of Mount Washington. I’d also recommend seeking out some of the less popular routes—you’ll be on your own and won’t see as many people.”

“The Appalachian Mountain Club has a great hut system with full-time caretakers. These huts are not as cheap as the Tenth Mountain huts, but they’re a great way of exploring the White Mountains. They provide bedding and meals, at least for part of the year. It’s a way where you can go super lightweight, if you’re willing to pay. The other option is to bring your own tent and sleeping setup.”

Smoky Traverse, Smoky Mountains, Tennessee/North Carolina

“The Smoky Traverse, a section on the Appalachian Trail, is a great one, just from the immensity of it. You’ve got two 35-mile chunks—it’s 70 miles across—and you cross only one road the whole time. That, to me, is an epic run-hike that you can split in two days. The terrain is super hilly. You’ve got 6,000-foot peaks—a lot of people forget that the biggest peaks east of the Mississippi are down in the Southeast—so you get 3,000-plus-foot climbs. You’re doing a lot of that in the trees, and it’s a different atmosphere than, say, high-alpine country in the Northeast or out west but something I’d highly recommend. I think it has its own beauty and ruggedness.”

“There aren’t huts, like you have in the Whites, but if you’re on the Appalachian Trail, you do have shelters. You also go through these trail towns where you can grab food or amenities along the way. That’s pretty unique compared to the trails out west, where everything is spread out. Because the AT has become so popular, there are all kinds of bed-and-breakfasts and hostels along the way, so if you’re a trail runner who wants to do a five-day run, you can with some planning. When you have reception, you can call ahead to get a room or a bed, and they’ll sometimes shuttle you to and from the trail. I wouldn’t say it’s quite the European experience, but it’s a little closer to it in the sense that you’re not just out in the wilderness. You can do 10, 15, 20 miles day, then stay in a warm bed. The shelters are your other option, whether you’re in Great Smoky Mountains National Park or the surrounding areas. Bring a sleeping bag and bug net, and you can hunker down in a shelter easily and keep your runs lightweight.”

Backyard Adventures

“I think people sometimes feel like, Oh, I’ve got to go somewhere remote for an adventure, when in reality you can find adventure only an hour or two from home. I’m a big believer in finding journey runs. That might mean getting dropped off by a bus an hour or two beyond your surroundings and running back home or hitting a nearby trail that goes for 40 miles. Picking a route and doing an adventure run through small towns can give you a cultural experience as well.”

“I’m based out of Boulder, and one of my favorites is getting up in the Indian Peaks Wilderness. That area is just a 45-minute drive from Boulder, or a 30-something-mile run, if you want to run all the way from town. There’re different options for loops. I’ve done 50-mile loops up there. Rocky Mountain National Park also has good routes.”

“You don’t need to fly halfway around the world to have a unique experience. There are cool adventure runs out your back door.”

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Camping Tips, Tricks and Adventures

This 59-Year-Old Marathoner Just Set a World Record

For some, running a marathon is a lifelong goal. For others, it’s running a marathon in under three hours, which requires an average pace of 6:50 per mile. It’s an arbitrary time that’s so elusive that some politicians even lie about earning it—in 2012, then vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan said he’d run a marathon in under three hours, a claim that was promptly debunked in the media. But not Iain Mickle. He ran his first sub-three-hour marathon (which was also his first marathon) in 1977, and his most recent sub-three 42 years later, three days after turning 59. In doing so, he set a world record for the longest elapsed time between his first and most recent sub-three finishes.

“It’s an interesting record, because it implies some sort of consistency to your running career,” Mickle says. “But honestly, I didn’t even realize it existed until a few years ago. I had to go through an old copy of the San Francisco Chronicle to find some sort of record of my finish time at my first marathon.”

Mickle’s first marathon was a bit of a fluke. Although he was one of the top five runners on his high school’s cross-country team, he had never run that kind of distance before. Still, his father suggested they tackle the race together during his junior year. Mickle’s already-strenuous cross-country practices helped him train for the new distance, along with a weekly 16-mile father-and-son run. At the marathon, Mickle finished in around 2:50, outpacing his father by ten minutes. “I wasn’t much of an athlete,” Mickle says. “I tried soccer and baseball but didn’t do very well. Running was just putting one foot in front of the other. It didn’t take a lot of coordination, so I stuck with it.”

Mickle had a lot of time to improve between his first and second marathons. While he ran track at the University of California at Berkeley, focusing on the 5,000 meters, he didn’t run another marathon until he was in his forties. “It’s a good distance for older runners,” Mickle says. “Your speed goes first when you age, but you can get better at marathons. A lot of running is just training your brain. The brain’s job is to stop you from killing yourself. The more you run, the more your brain understands that it’s OK and you can handle the suffering.” When he was 53 years old, Mickle set his PR of 2:38:38 at the Boston Marathon.

Now, at 59 years old, Mickle puts a lot of effort into his training, logging 60 to 80 miles a week, including a long run on Sundays that varies from 13 to 20 miles. He tries to hit the gym once a week to work on stretching and basic strength training but typically avoids cross-training. “I feel like, if you have time to train, you should probably be running,” Mickle says. “The real trick is trying to stay healthy. To run under three hours, you have to put in difficult workouts, but if you do too much, you’ll get hurt, and you’re out for six months. It’s a catch-22.”

Mickle admits that while consistency is important, his real secret to athletic success is simple: friendship. Having a solid group to run with is what originally made cross-country attractive in high school, and it has kept Mickle motivated to keep running and push himself as he’s aged. He trains with a regular running group that meets multiple times a week to “suffer” together.

“I really enjoy my long runs and hard workouts because of the group of people I’m running with every day,” Mickle says. “It’s so important to have supportive people to run with. You need people to share goals with and be competitive with. It’s what keeps me going.”

Mixing it up also keeps things fun. Although the marathon is still Mickle’s favorite distance, he has no plans of running one this year. For 2020, he’s racing shorter distances and focusing on speed training, which includes tempo runs and track work. He has his eye on competing at the USA Track and Field National Club Cross Country Championships in December in San Francisco. He’ll turn 60 just before the event and is hoping to win his first national championship in the 8K race for runners 60 and over. Mickle is also toying with the idea of entering a mile race, which he hopes to run in under five minutes. “I’m not sure if I’ll do it, though,” Mickle says. “The mile distance scares the hell out of me. It’s so different. You can’t blink.”

After tackling these shorter races, Mickle hopes to run the Boston Marathon in 2021 and earn his first age-group win in that distance. As for his current world-record status, Mickle knows that he’ll probably lose the title by taking some time off from marathons. The previous record holder, Antonio Arreola, is looking to snatch it back at a race early this year. But Mickle says he likes that competitive back-and-forth. “The cool thing about this kind of record is that I know someone will break it, but if I run well at Boston in 2021, then I’ll have a chance to get it back,” Mickle says. “It’s cool, because it’s kind of like the last man standing will win.”

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Camping Tips, Tricks and Adventures

Tackling Disney World in an RV

There’s no better way to enjoy the happiest place on earth than to bring your RV along with you. Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground is an official Disney resort with all the usual perks. Even better, you can experience the magic of Disney while sleeping in the comfort of your RV. You’ll find additional Florida RV parks throughout the region.

Ford pickup with inflatable of Mickey Mouse in foreground.

Chickery’s Travels

Stay at the Fort

Walt Disney World’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground is the very best place to stay for several reasons. For starters, as part of the Disney World resort properties in Florida, guests get access to something known as extra magic hours. That means you can enter selected parks an hour early or stay an hour late. This option helps you make the most of your time in the parks. As a resort guest, you can also book dining reservations up to 180 days before your arrival date. This is critical if you’re hoping to dine at Cinderella’s Royal Table in the famous castle or Beauty & the Beast’s Be Our Guest restaurant.

A sign proclaiming “Fort Wilderness Campground.

Chickery’s Travels

Another great reason to stay at Fort Wilderness is that you can make your Fast Pass reservations up to 60 days before your arrival. Disney’s Fast Pass service allows you to reserve access to select rides, shows, and character greetings in advance. Those who aren’t staying at Disney resorts can’t make their Fast Pass reservations until 30 days out, so by staying at Fort Wilderness, you get a whole month’s jump on the competition for the most popular attractions. Fast Passes help increase your chance of getting on the rides that are most important for your family.

Cinderella’s castle rises majestically in the background as bridge crosses river.

Stinne24

Free transportation to all of the Walt Disney World theme parks, water parks, resorts, and Disney Springs is another terrific benefit of staying at Fort Wilderness. You can leave your vehicle at the campsite and save on parking as well as the hassle of traffic. Buses regularly depart from Fort Wilderness to destinations throughout Disney World. In addition, there are boats from the Fort’s marina to the Magic Kingdom and all resorts located on the Seven Seas Lagoon such as the Wilderness Lodge and Contemporary Resort. Fort Wilderness is fairly large so many guests use the internal bus system, rent a golf cart, or use their bikes to get around the campground.

A polka-dotted buss with Minnie Mouse painted on the side.

Chickery’s Travels

Spend Time at the Campground

The best part about staying at Fort Wilderness is that you don’t have to leave to get the Disney experience. The campground is fully themed and offers all the amenities of other Disney resorts. Join Disney characters Chip ‘n Dale for a campfire sing-along every night of the week followed by an outdoor movie. Bring your hot dogs and marshmallows to roast over two large campfires or purchase them from the RV food truck.

A bike rack with RVs in background.

Chickery’s Travels

The campground has two swimming pools, one of which also has organized activities, a splash pad, water slide, music, and a snack bar. Located adjacent to that pool is the Bike Barn where you can rent bicycles, fishing gear, and even kayaks if you didn’t bring yours along. Of course, you can bring your gear and enjoy free catch and release fishing on the canals or ride along miles of paths that crisscross the Fort.

Rectangular pool with slide in background.

Chickery’s Travels

There are plenty of recreational opportunities at the Fort’s marina as well. Known as the Settlement area, there are a couple of restaurants, a musical dinner show, an arcade, playground, and boat rentals. You can also enjoy fireworks and a floating parade, Electrical Water Pageant, from the beach each night.

Save, Relax, and Take a Break from the Crowds

One of the best things about staying at Fort Wilderness is that you can save money and calories by eating at your RV for many meals. For example, eat breakfast before leaving for your early magic hour at one of the parks. Then come back to the campground for lunch and a little relaxation. This will allow you to avoid the greatest mid-day crowds. You can always head back to the parks in the afternoon or evening feeling refreshed.

Overlooking a lake with row of canoes in the foreground.

Chickery’s Travels

Bring Your Pets

One great thing about RV travel is the ability to take your pets along for the ride, and Fort Wilderness is no exception. The campground is pet-friendly with numerous places to walk your dog and even a couple of off-leash dog parks. If you plan to spend a long day away from the campground, you can book a reservation for your dog at the Best Friends Pet Care which offers doggy daycare and overnight boarding right on Disney property.

Plan ahead

We all know Disney World is a popular place and Fort Wilderness is no exception. You can make reservations up to 499 days in advance, and you may need to if you want to spend Christmas vacation there. If you don’t want to plan that far in advance, pay a visit during the off-season or keep checking back for cancellations.

An RV with a map of U.S. on the side.

Chickery’s Travels

Choose the Right Site

When making your reservations, be aware that there are 4 different site types depending on what type of RV you have and where you want to be located in the campground. Prices range by time of year and site. They are listed from least to most expensive below:

  • Tent or Pop-Up – These are the smallest sites, and the only ones that don’t have sewer. They are perfect for pop-up campers or small Class-B/Vans.
  • Full Hook-up – These sites accommodate equipment on a concrete pad up to 10 feet by 50 feet.
  • Preferred – These are the same as full hook-ups except they are located adjacent to the marina area.
  • Premium – These are the largest sites with a concrete pad up to 18 feet by 60 feet.
  • Meadows Premium – These are premium sites located by the Meadows recreation area including the campfire program and the large pool.

The campground also has 15 comfort stations, which include private showers, restrooms, laundry rooms, and ice machines. With 800+ sites distributed among 21 camping loops covering 750 acres of pine and cypress forest, there is something that will appeal to any type of camper. While you can’t reserve specific campsites, you can request particular loops depending on how close (or far) you want to be to the action.

If you’re looking to maximize your time outdoors, our Florida RV parks finder is a great resource for finding your perfect campground.

 

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Camping Tips, Tricks and Adventures

Source:

Angela Maxwell Is Walking Around the World for Women

On May 2, 2014, with $ 12,000 saved, Angela Maxwell left her best friend’s home in Bend, Oregon, to start a five-year walk around the world. There’s no pre-approved path for the small ranks of pedestrian circumnavigators, the dozen or so people who’ve claimed they’ve walked around the world—so Maxwell devised her own route. She traveled the 175 miles to Portland, and then across western Australia. She next headed to Vietnam, where she hiked 60 miles from Da Nang to Hue and then spent three weeks recovering from dengue fever. A year into her circumnavigation, she arrived in Mongolia. One night, a two weeks’ hike from Mongolia’s capital city of Ulaanbaatar, in a valley surrounded by mountains, a stranger entered her tent and raped her. “It was the moment that every woman is afraid of before they go out into the world,” the 37-year-old former business consultant says.

After the attack—“it was over in minutes,” Maxwell says—her assailant left. Maxwell packed her gear, hiked a few miles to put distance between herself and her attacker, and sat down next to the cart that she used to carry her supplies; she worried that if she set up her tent again, she might be spotted. The next morning, she walked a day and a half to a nearby village, paid for a room in a family’s home, and sought out local authorities. She also called her best friend in Oregon, whose front door Maxwell had walked out to begin her trip. “I needed to actually say to someone I trusted that I had been raped,” Maxwell says. “We wept together, she wept for me, and after we felt that pain and that horror, she said, ‘I need to give you a pep talk. You knew this was a possibility. To walk alone in the world, as a woman, is to become a vulnerable target—not to most people but to those who wish to do harm. And now that this has happened, you have faced your worst fear. So now is your time to be the woman you set out to be. To be brave.’” 

Maxwell says she never considered abandoning her trip. Instead, she took the Trans-Siberian Railway to Moscow and then flew to the country of Georgia and walked from its capital, Tbilisi, to Turkey. Over the next three years, she pushed ahead. She traveled back and forth to Australia, where she had developed a relationship with a rancher. She ping-ponged from Sardinia and Sicily to Scotland, to New Zealand, to England, and then back to Italy to avoid overstaying her Schengen visa. But she struggled to keep her emotions in check: “I blamed myself,” she says. “I had disdain for anyone around me for the first month. I had images of Kill Bill–style cutting the guy’s head off.” 

As time passed and Maxwell began to tell her story—first on social-media posts, and then in a TEDx talk at the University of Edinburgh in February 2018—women who had experienced abuse reached out to her. Maxwell still remembers the first email she received after beginning to publicly share the outlines of her attack. “It was from a woman in her twenties, who had grown up being abused by the men in her life,” Maxwell says. “She found herself staying in her comfort zone, even though she wanted to go on an adventure.” Maxwell encouraged her to travel. “She sent me pictures from the Camino de Santiago,” Maxwell says. “And I realized it was my responsibility to answer all of those emails and help these women through it.” 

This summer she made her way from Virginia to New York City to Ohio, and after a one-month break in Georgia, she has returned to the road to finish her circumnavigation, with a final push from Columbus, Ohio, to Denver and then up and over the Rockies and back to Bend. When Maxwell arrives back in Oregon, likely sometime in early 2020, she will have walked nearly 24,000 miles. Most people change over the course of five years, and those changes are especially pronounced throughout an expedition across a dozen-plus countries. The attack in Mongolia, though, shaped and channeled those changes in Maxwell: if she left Bend an adventurer, she will return to it as an advocate. Maxwell has dedicated this U.S. portion of her journey to raising $ 25,000 in support of Her Future Coalition, an organization devoted to creating a safe haven for survivors of gender violence and human trafficking. (She’s raised $ 8,600 so far.) She is pitching a television show about women at work—whether as firefighters or farmers—in communities around the world. And she has become a digital pen pal and supporter of women who’ve suffered abuse but dream of traveling the world as she has.

Before she left, Maxwell’s parents had beseeched her to stay home. Her father and stepfather warned her against the perils of her trip. Both men died during her walk, her biological father from a heart attack in August 2016 and her stepfather from lung disease earlier this year. Now Maxwell meets parents whose daughters want to travel the world, and she strives, she says, to balance candor with encouragement. “That was the challenge. How can I talk about this so I don’t make people more afraid?” she says. “I say to them what I said to my own fathers: ‘I’m less afraid of being attacked than I am of being resentful of you for holding me back.’” In this, Maxwell has created a high-wire act of delicacy—to be an example of a woman who has encountered violence in the world and to also be an example of going forth anyway. “It is a tricky place to walk, and I’m still navigating it,” she says. “I won’t diminish what happened but neither will I let that be the memory I take away from this time in my life.”

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The History of Beer Is the History of the World

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According to Homer Simpson, beer is the cause of, and the solution to, all of life’s problems. Some scientists one-up Homer and claim that beer may be the origin of civilization. 

As any world-history student can tell you, the first civilizations emerged along the great river valleys of the world: the Tigris and Euphrates, the Ganges and Indus, the Yangtze and Yellow.

River valleys provided the fertile soils needed to grow the grains that humans were busy domesticating. The assumption had long been that it was the pursuit of stable food supplies that drove us to forego our hunter-gatherer lifestyles and cultivate those grains along the rivers. But some scientists now say it wasn’t hunger, but thirst, that sparked civilization. “A main motivation for settling down and domesticating crops was probably to make an alcoholic beverage of some kind,” archeologist Patrick McGovern told the Independent in 2010. “People wanted to be closer to their plants, so this leads to settlement.”  

Here’s how I think it went down.

One day approximately 7,000 years ago, someone hauled in a net full of fish from the river and called out, “Start the fires!” Fires were started, fish were thrown on the coals, and the weary fisher said, “I could really go for a cold one right about now.”   

Meaningful looks were exchanged, and one guy nodded and said, “I’ve been carrying these barley seeds. Give me a stick so I can furrow this rich soil and plant them.” And then a woman noted that she’s always loved the funky smell of the little cone-shaped flowers of this one vine, and perhaps those could balance out the maltiness of the barley. “I’ll plant some hops, too,” she added helpfully.  

And voilà, eight months the later, the first IPA was brewed. You see, in addition to being parched, these people were also proactive. And patient.

The beer tasted so good, washing down the grilled fish, that they decided to stay. And build homes. And grow more crops. And the homes became settlements, and the settlements became cities, and then the abundant crops produced food surpluses, which led to the division of labor and all else that followed: written language, the Upanishads, the Sistine Chapel, and those “dilly dilly” ads for Bud Light.

Perhaps it didn’t go quite like that, and I must admit I’m neither an anthropologist nor a historian. But I am a river scientist and a beer drinker, and it’s late in the day, so it all sounds plausible to me.

And I do have some evidence: the labels on beer bottles. Specifically, how often they feature rivers.

Something compels us to depict, over and over, representations of where we came from—rivers—onto the vessel that holds the elixir of civilization. Like the cave walls of Lascaux, in France, beer labels tell us stories about our origins and what we value most.

So here, in celebration of the recent World Rivers Day (September 22), I’ve reconstructed the history of civilization and rivers, as told by beer labels. 

Mosi Lager

beer
Mosi Lager’s vintage label (Photo: Courtesy Zambian Breweries)

Zambian Breweries (Lusaka, Zambia)

Like a beacon, the mist rising from a massive waterfall on the Zambezi River promises lush vegetation and flowing water in an otherwise arid land. Because the name of that waterfall is Mosi-oa-Tunya—“the smoke that thunders” in the Lozi language—it was more like a beacon with a soundtrack (also known as Victoria Falls). For early people, river valleys offered linear oases with channels full of fish and floodplain forests rich in game. 

Steelhead Extra Pale Ale

beer
(Photo: Courtesy Mad River)

Mad River Brewing Company (Blue Lake, California)

Is there a more badass name for a fish than steelhead (the migratory form of rainbow trout)? Even before agriculture, river valleys provided a great bounty of food, such as access to migratory fish. That’s still true today, as river fisheries support the majority of an annual freshwater-fish harvest of at least 12 million tons, providing the primary source of protein for hundreds of millions of people.

Hoptober Golden Ale

beer
(Photo: Courtesy New Belgium)

New Belgium Brewing Company (Fort Collins, Colorado)

Because river valleys offered water and bountiful food, they became obvious places to build shelters to store up fish, game, and fruits for the lean seasons—and then to celebrate that bounty. Hoptober depicts that type of autumnal fest, as people gathered along riverbanks to drink the beers they’d just started brewing and dance around the fire. Afterward they’d dream about the future and, inspired by the beer, ask big questions that challenged the hunter-gatherer status quo: Beyond barley and hops, are there other things we could plant in this fertile soil? If so, what recipes go best with a golden ale? And if that additional planting leads to food surpluses and a division of labor, will this round, rolling thing be of use for anything beyond party tricks?

Seizoen Organic Farmhouse Ale

beer
(Photo: Courtesy Logsdon Farmhouse Ales)

Logsdon Farmhouse Ales (Washougal, Washington)

The people followed through on their autumnal musings. They planted more grains and other crops, and with all that food rolling in, cities began to grow, and people began to specialize. Barrels of ale also kept rolling in, and the combination of people with time on their hands to think plus plentiful beer was a heady one indeed. Those who specialized in strategic planning clanked their mugs to toast their ambition with shouts of “Go big or go home!”

Clearwater Kölsch 

beer
(Photo: Courtesy Captain Lawrence)

Captain Lawrence Brewing Company (Elmsford, New York)

They did not go home. They went big. And a few millennia later, they’d gone nearly everywhere. One of those big ideas was building dams to store water for irrigation, drinking water, and hydropower, and by 1950, tens of thousands of dams straddled rivers across the world. 

Burning River Pale Ale

beer
(Photo: Courtesy Great Lakes)

Great Lakes Brewing Company (Cleveland, Ohio)

Industry clustered along rivers for their energy and because they conveniently carried waste downstream to… somewhere else. Although civilization was now happily awash in Chevrolets, Slinkys, and Zeniths, it was also awash in rivers plagued by dying fish, oil slicks, and the occasional fire—including the one in 1969 on Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River, memorialized by Burning River Pale Ale.

Lake Erie Sunset Pale Wheat Ale

beer
(Photo: Courtesy Collision Bend)

Collision Bend Brewing Company (Cleveland, Ohio)

That fire sparked local cleanup efforts and also catalyzed the U.S. Clean Water Act, which led to a dramatic recovery of the Cuyahoga and countless other rivers.

The recovery of these rivers didn’t just make them safe for fish again, they made them safe for breweries, which have flocked to the banks of rivers—including Collision Bend Brewing Company, whose label for Lake Erie Sunset illustrates the view from its brewpub, where the Cuyahoga enters Lake Erie and not far downstream from where the river caught fire 50 years ago.

Russell Street IPA

beer
(Photo: Courtesy Widmer Brothers)

Widmer Brothers Brewing (Portland, Oregon) 

Widmer’s Russell Street IPA also depicts its brewery’s location in a riverside neighborhood along Portland’s revitalized waterfront and rejuvenated Willamette River.

Perhaps we’ve come full circle in our relationship with beer and rivers: First, we were drawn to rivers to brew beer and conjure up civilization. Eventually, that civilization began using rivers as sewers and factory dumping grounds, and some of them caught fire. Shocked by the flames and fumes, we cleaned up our act, and once again, we’ve come down to the rivers to brew our beer and hopefully toast a renewed relationship between civilization and rivers.

But victory toasts are never final. New challenges emerge, and climate change threatens both rivers and beer production, calling on us to redouble our efforts.

Rivers, beer, and civilization have had a good thing going now for 7,000 years. Let’s not mess that up.

Jeff Opperman is the global freshwater lead scientist at the World Wildlife Fund.

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